Russia Ukraine war latest: Death toll in Lviv attack rises to 7 as Putin’s forces raid Prigozhin’s mansion

Establishing accurate data on the number of military casualties sustained since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began on 24 February 2022 is difficult for two reasons.

The severity of the fighting on the ground and the fact that both sides are inclined to keep their cards close to their chests to avoid damaging morale.

The Kremlin is unlikely to admit to high fatality rates among its troops because to do so would amount to a confession that Vladimir Putin’s spurious war to “de-Nazify” Russia’s neighbour state is not going according to plan.

Moscow is more likely to downplay its own (rarely offered) numbers and accuse its enemies of dishonestly briefing against it whenever outside estimates are offered that imply significant Russian losses.

Ukraine, meanwhile, posts a daily report on its Ministry of Defence website listing a cumulative total of the number of enemy personnel “liquidated”, alongside other combat losses, which stood at much higher total of 213,700.

Ukraine has submitted its request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) to the trade pact’s depositary country New Zealand, Japan’s economy minister Shigeyuki Goto said today.

The CPTPP includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, with the UK becoming the 12th member state.

Japan “must carefully assess whether Ukraine fully meets the high level of the agreement” in terms of market access and rules, Mr Goto told a regular press conference.

Russian forces caused over 100 explosions in a single day as it attacked six border communities in Sumy Oblast yesterday, according to the Sumy Military Administration.

The Russian military shelled the communities of Bilopillia, Myropillia, Krasnopillia, Hlukhiv, Esman, and Seredyna Buda. Sumy Oblast, located on northeastern Ukraine, shares a border with Russia.

Vladimir Putin’s forces fired at the border 15 times, attacking with mines, mortars, grenade launchers, and unguided aerial missiles, Kyiv Independent reported.

Nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg yesterday said the military alliance was “monitoring closely” the location of Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and his fighters.

The exiled Wagner boss is back in Russia weeks after his failed mutiny and his Wagner troops have remained at the camps they stayed in before an attempted mutiny against Moscow.

“We are monitoring closely where the Wagner soldiers are moving around and also where [Prigozhin] is moving,” Mr Stoltenberg told reporters.

“We have seen some preparations for hosting large groups of Wagner soldiers in Belarus. So far we have not seen so many of them going to Belarus. And we have also seen Prigozhin moving around.”

The Joe Biden administration has reportedly decided to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine and is expected to announce today that the Pentagon will send thousands as part of the latest military aid package.

The decision comes despite widespread concerns that the controversial bombs can cause civilian casualties.

The Pentagon will provide munitions that have a reduced “dud rate,” meaning there will be far fewer unexploded rounds that can result in unintended civilian deaths.US officials said yesterday that the cluster munitions would be part of about $800m in new military assistance to Ukraine.

The death toll from the Russian missile strike into a residential building in Lviv in western Ukraine rose to seven after two bodies were retrieved from under the rubble.

The roof and top floor of the building were destroyed in what Lviv’s mayor called the biggest attack of the war on civilian infrastructure in Lviv, a city 70km (43 miles) from the border with Nato and EU member state Poland.

“There definitely will be a response to the enemy. It will be a noticeable one,” president Volodymyr Zelensky said in an online post accompanying a video of the damage in Lviv.

Governor Maksym Kozytskyi said 70 per cent of the rubble left by the attack had been cleared by mid-evening. Emergency services said at least 36 had been hurt and that they had pulled seven people alive from the rubble.

Russian pilots flew a fighter jet “unprofessionally against both French and US aircraft” while conducting surveillance over Syria, the US military said.

The Russian fighter jets dropped flares in front of the MQ-9 Reaper spy planes and “flew dangerously close,” Lt Gen Alex Grynkewich, commander of the 9th Air Force, said in a statement.

“Once again today Russian fighter aircraft flew incredibly unsafe and unprofessionally against both French and U.S. aircraft over Syria,” the US Air Force tweeted.

“We fully support our French allies right to conduct security missions in the region.”

The UK will supply Ukraine with 17 specialist fire engines as the war-torn country continues to defend itself against the Russian invasion.

The Rapid Intervention and Major Foam Vehicles, sourced from the Royal Air Force, Defence Fire and Rescue and the Welsh Assembly, are due to arrive in the coming weeks, the Ministry of Defence said.

The Ukrainian military fire service has already conducted a week’s training at RAF Wittering to familiarise themselves with the equipment in preparation.

Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the vehicles would boost the country’s ability to protect its infrastructure amid the Kremlin’s campaign of missile and drone attacks.

They were delivered from locations around the UK to the Cambridgeshire military base, where personnel are inspecting and preparing them before their onward journey to Ukraine.

Due to arrive in the coming weeks, the urgently-needed equipment will help bolster Ukraine’s ability to respond to damage caused by Russia’s continued use of cruise missiles and one-way attack drones against Ukrainian infrastructure.

Ben Wallace said: “These specialist firefighting vehicles will boost Ukraine’s ability to protect its infrastructure from Russia’s campaign of missile and drone attacks and continue our support for Ukraine, for as long as it takes.”