Russia-Ukraine war live: Founder of British charity killed “in the fight against Putin’s troops”

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban arrived in Kyiv this morning for talks with Volodymyr Zelensky, Orban’s press chief said.

Orban and Zelensky will discuss the opportunity to create peace and current issues in bilateral relations between Hungary and Ukraine, said Bertalan Havasi.

In a relentless assault, Russian troops are breaking through Ukraine’s outnumbered and outmanned defenses, prompting the West to push for new weapons and strategies to strengthen Kyiv.

This, in turn, led to new threats from President Vladimir Putin to retaliate against the West – either directly or indirectly.

The West’s attempts to weaken the offensive and the Kremlin’s possible response could lead to a dangerous escalation in the third year of the war – and thus further increase the risk of a direct confrontation between Russia and NATO.

Russia used its firepower advantage amid delays in U.S. aid to step up its attacks in several areas along the 1,000-kilometer front. Relatively small units are probing Ukraine’s defenses for weak spots, potentially setting the stage for a more ambitious push.

Russian commanders are ordering their forces to kill Ukrainian soldiers who surrender, in an attempt to “instill fear” in hordes of Russian soldiers so that they do not surrender.

Many newly drafted and poorly trained Russian soldiers are aware that their lives would be wasted in human wave attacks, according to Ukrainian officials.

Petro Yatsenko, a spokesman for the Kyiv Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, said the order to kill Ukrainians who could be captured came from “the highest level” – the Kremlin. The instructions were designed to “instill fear and terror” among its own soldiers, he added.

The department includes representatives from various Ukrainian ministries, with the country’s military intelligence playing a key role.

Peter Fouche died on Thursday “on the battlefield” after being seriously injured “in combat against Russian forces,” Halyna Zhuk, commercial director and co-founder of Project Konstantin, said in a video message.

The Netherlands will soon deliver the first of 24 promised F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine, the outgoing Dutch government announced.

The necessary permits for the delivery of the jets to Ukraine have been granted, Defense Minister Kajsa Ollongren said today in a letter to parliament ahead of a change of government that preceded the formation of a coalition for months following last year’s elections.

For security reasons, it did not provide any information on how many aircraft the first delivery would consist of or when it would arrive in Ukraine.

The Netherlands was one of the driving forces behind an international coalition to supply F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine to strengthen its air defenses against Russia.

The Dutch government had previously delivered F-16 aircraft to a training facility in Romania, where Ukrainian pilots and ground crew are trained to fly and maintain the aircraft in action.

In April, Ollongren said she expected promised deliveries from Denmark, the Netherlands and the United States to begin within a few months.

Russian attack submarines have been in the Irish Sea twice since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022, three people familiar with the matter said.

The first deployment of a Russian Kilo-class submarine near the Irish Sea occurred about 18 months ago, while the second incident occurred more recently, the report added. Officials said the scale of the submarine movements exceeded anything British officials had previously observed.

US authorities were informed of the submarine movements, the report said, citing two people familiar with the matter.

The defense ministries of Russia and Ireland, the British Foreign Office and the White House have not commented on the report.

The Kilo-class submarine is a diesel-electric attack submarine capable of firing Russian Kalibr cruise missiles, as well as torpedoes and sea mines, according to Bloomberg.

Russia announced that its navy would conduct a series of comprehensive exercises with all its fleets from the Pacific to the Atlantic in 2022. This would be another demonstration of power in the military conflict with the West.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Coveney said at the time that they were not welcome.

At his meeting with top representatives of the US House of Representatives last night, Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged his allies in the US to provide more Patriot air defense systems.

“I met with a bipartisan delegation from the U.S. House of Representatives. We discussed important areas of further American assistance, including additional air defense systems. This is critical because the Patriot systems save lives and protect infrastructure,” he said.

He added: “I thank US President Joe Biden, both houses and parties of Congress, and the entire American people for their unwavering leadership in supporting Ukraine.”

In April this year, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said Washington would supply Ukraine with additional Patriot missiles for its air defense systems as part of a massive additional aid package worth six billion dollars.

The missiles are intended to complement the Patriot systems previously delivered. The package also includes more ammunition for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) and additional equipment to integrate Western air defense launchers, missiles and radars into Ukraine’s existing weapons systems, many of which date back to the Soviet era.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban is travelling to Kyiv for the first time today to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Financial Times reported.

This will be the first visit of the Hungarian president to Ukraine since Russia invaded the smaller neighbor in 2022.

Mr Orban, an outspoken critic of Western military aid to Ukraine, is visiting Ukraine a day after Hungary takes over the rotating presidency of the EU Council. He will meet with Mr Zelensky and other senior officials in Kyiv, just days after the two spoke at an EU summit in Brussels, people familiar with the matter said, the report added.

The European leader is one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s few closest allies among EU leaders and has frequently spoken out against many EU initiatives to support Ukraine in its defense against Moscow’s aggression since Moscow’s invasion in February 2022.

Ukraine has rejected the Russian Defense Ministry’s claim that its forces had captured two villages in eastern Ukraine and said fighting in the region continued to rage.

The Russian ministry said its forces had the settlements of Stepova Novoselivka in Kharkiv region and Novopokrovske in Donetsk region under control. Military statements from the Ukrainian armed forces partially refuted this Russian claim.

The Ukrainian military had earlier said it had repelled Russian attacks near two towns in the Donetsk region – Novooleksandrivka and Spirne – a day after Russian forces seized control of those towns. The evening report said fighting near both towns was ongoing.

The evening report identified the front around Pokrovsk as the scene of the heaviest fighting. At least 44 Russian attacks had been repelled in the last 24 hours, and 14 battles were still ongoing.

The military said Russia was maintaining a military presence across the border with the northern Ukrainian regions of Chernihiv and Sumy. Moscow’s armed forces had also increased the density of minefields and carried out acts of sabotage.

This area is currently being closely monitored for signs that Russia is planning to open a new front to put pressure on Ukraine’s outnumbered defenders.

It was the second day in a row that Moscow announced the capture of new localities. Russia has announced a series of gradual gains since capturing the town of Avdiivka in Donetsk region in February.

The Donetsk and Kharkiv regions remain flashpoints along the 1,000-kilometer-long front line in eastern and southern Ukraine.