Russia Ukraine news latest: Putin’s forces ‘caught in trap’ in Bakhmut as Kyiv’s troops advance

Rishi Sunak will head to the Nato summit in Lithuania with a renewed call for all members of the alliance to commit to spending 2 per cent of their gross domestic product (GDP) on defence to “deter the kind of tactics Putin has used in Ukraine”.

The PM will tell allies in Vilnius that plans to make Nato’s armed forces “more lethal and more deployable” start with “meeting the 2 per cent commitment”.

No 10 said the Prime Minister will travel to Vilnius with the dual message of strengthening Nato and stressing the need to continue to support Ukraine in its war against Russia’s invading troops.

Speaking ahead of his trip, Mr Sunak said: “When thousands of Russian troops crossed the border in February last year, it marked a grim new chapter in Europe and Nato’s history.

“In the 500 days that have elapsed since, we have witnessed the most terrible crimes and human tragedies in Ukraine.

“But we have also seen the Nato alliance come together like never before in support of Ukraine and with firm determination that Russia cannot succeed.

“That is work we need to continue this week. We cannot let the fog of war obscure the clear lessons our alliance must learn if we are going to outpace and outmanoeuvre those who seek to do us harm.

“That is why the UK is investing record amounts in defence, to make our armed forces more lethal and more deployable, and to ready our defence industry for the challenges ahead.

“And that’s something we need to see across Nato – starting with meeting the 2% commitment.”

NATO has not seen any movement of Wagner group fighters to Belarus, Russia’s ally in its war against Ukraine, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

“We are monitoring the situation very closely,” Stoltenberg told journalists ahead of NATO’s two-day summit in Vilnius.

Over the week-end, Poland began moving over 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concern in the NATO member that the presence of Wagner Group fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.

Ukraine said on Monday its troops had caught occupying Russian troops “in a trap“ in the shattered eastern city of Bakhmut, where its forces have been gaining ground as part of their counter-offensive.

Russian accounts of the fighting said Moscow’s forces have repelled or contained Ukrainian advances in the east and south.

More than 500 days into the invasion, Ukraine’s counter-offensive which began early last month has focused on capturing clusters of villages in the southeast and moving in on Russian forces holding Bakhmut.

Officials on Monday noted advances in both sectors.

“Bakhmut. The enemy is caught in a trap,” general Oleksander Syrskyi, in charge of Ukraine’s ground forces, said bluntly on the Telegram messaging app. “The city is under the fire control of (our) defence forces…the enemy is being pushed out of their positions.”

In the south, general Oleksander Tarnavskyi said on Telegram Ukrainian forces were “on the move” and Russian forces had lost the equivalent of hundreds of men over 24 hours.

Bilateral security assurances for Ukraine will complement decisions on the country’s future membership of NATO made at the alliance’s summit in Vilnius, secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

“Some allies are having bilateral and multilateral dialogues with Ukraine on a framework to have in place continued support for Ukraine (…) this will complement and supplement the decisions made at the NATO summit,” Stoltenberg said before the start of the summit.

NATO has not seen a change in Russia’s nuclear posture despite its announcement that it is stationing nuclear weapons in Belarus, NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

“The nuclear rhetoric of Russia is reckless and dangerous. NATO allies are monitoring closely what Russia is doing; so far we haven’t seen any changes in the Russian nuclear deployment posture that requires a change from us, but we will remain vigilant,” Stoltenberg said before a summit of NATO leaders in Vilnius.

With Russia’s war on Ukraine in its 17th month, and Western countries sending increasingly hi-tech and long-range weapons and ammunition to help President Volodymyr Zelensky defend his country, it’s easy to lose track of where Nato stands.

Secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg – the top civilian official at the world’s biggest security alliance –routinely praises allies for helping Ukraine’s troops to fight back. But when he does, Stoltenberg is talking about individual member countries, not Nato as an organization.

Ahead of the Nato summit in Lithuanian capital Vilnius begins on Tuesday, here’s a look at the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and what it’s doing to help Ukraine:

NATO allies will make clear at their summit in Vilnius how Ukraine can become a member of the alliance in the future, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday.

“I expect allies will send a clear, united and positive message on the path towards membership for Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said as he arrived for the start of a summit with leaders of NATO member countries.

By announcing plans to increase arms supplies to Ukraine, the United States makes clear that it is not interested in a diplomatic solution, the RIA news agency cited senior Russian diplomat Konstantin Gavrilov as saying on Tuesday.

Gavrilov also said in comments published on the day of a NATO summit in Lithuania that Europe would be the first to face “catastrophic consequences” if the war escalates.

Russia launched 28 kamikaze drones on the southern port of Odesa and Kyiv in early hours on Tuesday, Ukraine‘s military said.

Ukraine‘s Air Force said that air defence systems shot down 26 of the Iranian-made “Shahed” drones that Russia launched.

Over Odesa, 22 were downed and two drones hit an administration building in the port, the local governor said.

A grain and another terminal near the Odesa port caught fire, which was quickly extinguished causing no “critical damage” or injuries, governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app.

All drones sent towards Kyiv were intercepted, but debris damaged a number of houses in the region, the military said.

“The enemy attacked Kyiv from the air for the second time this month,” Serhiy Popko, a head of Kyiv’s military administration, said in a post on the Telegram channel.

Witnesses in Ukraine‘s capital heard blasts resembling the sound of air defence systems intercepting targets during the air raid.

In the Kyiv region that surrounds the capital, 12 residential houses and one multi-storey building suffered minor damage by falling debris, the military head of the region, Ruslan Kravchenko, said on his Facebook page.

There were no injuries reported.

Europe will be the first to face “catastrophic consequences” if the Ukraine war escalates, the RIA news agency cited Konstantin Gavrilov, a Vienna-based Russian diplomat and senior security negotiator, as saying on Tuesday.

Gavrilov, who blamed the United States for pushing towards such an escalation, spoke as NATO countries held a summit in Vilnius.