Ukraine-Russia war – live: Kyiv could beat Putin quicker by firing British weapons, military chief says

In a new investigation, the BBC discovered the UK based company is not only actively recruiting new sales agents in Russia but operating a significant production operation in Moscow.

Employees from a Ukrainian arms firm conspired with defense ministry officials to embezzle almost $40 million earmarked to buy 100,000 mortar shells for the war with Russia, Ukraine’s security service reported.

The SBU said late Saturday that five people have been charged, with one person detained while trying to cross the Ukrainian border. If found guilty, they face up to 12 years in prison.

The investigation comes as Kyiv attempts to clamp down on corruption in a bid to speed up its membership in the European Union and NATO. Officials from both blocs have demanded widespread anti-graft reforms before Kyiv can join them.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected on an anti-corruption platform in 2019, long before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Both the president and his aides have portrayed the recent firings of top officials, notably that of Ivan Bakanov, former head of the State Security Service, in July 2022, as proof of their efforts to crack down on graft.

Security officials say that the current investigation dates back to August 2022, when officials signed a contract for artillery shells worth 1.5 billion hryvnias ($39.6 million) with arms firm Lviv Arsenal.

After receiving payment, company employees were supposed to transfer the funds to a business registered abroad, which would then deliver the ammunition to Ukraine.

However, the goods were never delivered and the money was instead sent to various accounts in Ukraine and the Balkans, investigators said. Ukraine’s prosecutor general says that the funds have since been seized and will be returned to the country’s defense budget.

Ukraine could win the war more quickly it if had permission to fire British and other Western weapons against targets deep inside Russia, Ukraine’s head of navy has said.

Vice Admiral Oleksiy Neizhpapa told Sky News the course of the war would have been very different had Ukrainian forces been able to western munitions without restrictions from the very start.

“We must have the capabilities to make sure that Russia will give up forever the thought of even looking in Ukraine’s direction, including at sea,” he said.

Ukrainian officials say Russia has still not provided any credible evidence to confirm that a downed Russian transport plane was carrying 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war.

Russia claims the Ilyushin Il-76 military aircraft was carrying 74 people – six crew members, three Russian soldiers and 65 POWs being readied for prisoner exchanges with Ukraine – when it was shot down near the Russian city Belgorod, 40km north of the border with Ukraine, on Wednesday. Regional Russian officials said all onboard the plane had been killed.

Increasing attacks on Russian army enlistment offices are likely due to disaffection with the war among the public, Britain’s Ministry of Defence has said.

Russian authorities reported there had been 220 attacks on enlistment offices since the war began in February 2022.

Other statistics from media outlet Mediazona reported 113 attacks recorded since 26 July 2023.

Read the MoD’s latest update in full here:

Volodymyr Zelenksy has said he is “grateful” to everyone who stands with Ukraine as he listed several achievements his army made during the war in January.

“January yielded many positive results in our work with partners,” he said. “Despite numerous challenges and obstacles, Ukraine was able to maintain international attention on our fight for independence and strengthen our country’s resilience.

“The main argument in international communication is what one is worthy of and capable of enduring and overcoming.

“The world pays attention to those who are resilient and brave. I am grateful to everyone who stands with Ukraine, as well as those who fight and work for our country, our independence, and our people.”

Under the proposals, warheads three times as strong as the bomb which devastated Hiroshima would be based at RAF Lakenheath in Suffolk, according to Pentagon documents seen by The Daily Telegraph.

Russia launched drone and missile attacks targeting civilian and critical infrastructure across wide areas of Ukraine, Kyiv’s Air Force said on Sunday. Preliminary information did not show any casualties in the attacks, the air force said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russia and Ukraine have increased their air attacks on each other’s territory in recent months, targeting critical military, energy and transport infrastructure. The air force said Russia attacked the central Poltava region with two ballistic missiles fired from the Iskander ballistic missile system, and three surface-to-air missiles over the Donetsk region in the east.

Filip Pronin, governor of Poltava region, wrote on Telegram that the attack struck an industrial site in the city of Kremenchuk, sparking a fire. Pictures posted on social media showed emergency crews battling a blaze. Further southeast in the Zaporizhzhia region, Governor Yuri Malashko said an infrastructure site had been hit in a drone attack. Emergency crews were at the site, Malashko said, but gave no details of damage or casualties.

Ukraine’s air defence systems destroyed four of eight Russia-launched drones overnight, the air force said. The reports could not immediately be independently verified. There was no immediate comment from Russia.

Ukrainian documentary 20 Days in Mariupol has been nominated for Best documentary feature film at the 2024 Academy Awards.

The Independent sat down with the director a day after the nomination to discuss what it was like filming behind Russian lines and life in Ukraine since.

The Russian city of St. Petersburg on Saturday marked the 80th anniversary of the end of a devastating World War II siege by Nazi forces with a series of memorial events attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin and close allies.

The Kremlin leader laid flowers at a monument to fallen Soviet defenders of the city, then called Leningrad, on the banks of the Neva River, and then at Piskarevskoye Cemetery, where hundreds of thousands of siege victims are buried.