Russia Ukraine war live: Kyiv’s stark warning to West on two-year anniversary as Putin ‘behaving like Nazis’

Every day, they face a “human wave” of Russian soldiers, whose commanders seemingly have no qualms about sending men over the top into a battlefield now nicknamed “the meat grinder”.

Lord David Cameron warned the United Nations against “fatigue” and “compromise” over Russia’s war in Ukraine as he urged allies to keep up support for Kyiv.

The UK Foreign Secretary said the world must “recognise the cost of giving up” in a speech in New York on the eve of the second anniversary of Moscow’s invasion.

European countries are struggling to find enough stock to send to Kyiv, and US help worth 60 billion dollars (£47 billon) is stalled over political differences in Washington.

Ukrainian forces downed a Russian early warning and control aircraft on Friday, the air force chief said, a major win for the country as its army fights to repel persistent Russian attacks along the front line as the war enters its third year.

General Mykola Oleshchuk thanked Ukraine’s military intelligence for helping down the Russian A-50 aircraft on Russia’s military holiday on Friday. “Congratulations to the occupiers on the Defender of the Fatherland day,” General Oleshchuk said on a sardonic note.

Ukrainian media carried footage purportedly showing a massive fire that erupted when the big warplane crashed in the Krasnodar region on the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov.

Russian forces unleashed drone strikes across southern Ukraine overnight, resulting in one fatality and more casualties.

At least 12 drones were shot down over Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, and Odesa oblasts, Ukraine defence forces reported on Telegram.

One of the downed drones crashed into a residential neighborhood in Odesa, destroying part of the building and causing a fire.

A man was killed in the attack, while rescuers managed to get his wife out of the rubble.

The woman was hospitalised in serious condition. Two other residents of the adjacent apartment were taken to the hospital with burns and other injuries, as reported by the Kyiv Independent.

David Cameron has accused Vladimir Putin of behaving like the Nazis in a scathing attack as the world marks two years since Russia invaded Ukraine.

Speaking in New York, the foreign secretary urged Western allies to resist compromising with Russia as he addressed the UN.

“We’ve heard every excuse in the book. One minute he says it was about attacking Nazis, the next minute it was because there was a threat to Russia, then he tells us it was Nato provocation, then he says this country doesn’t really exist.

“These excuses are nonsense. It was an invasion, pure and simple. The only people behaving like Nazis are Putin and his cronies who thought they could invade a country, take its territory and ultimately the world would look away.”

Russia expert Mark Galeotti sifts through the carnage of the bloody conflict for clues as to what will happen next:

Four Western leaders, including the prime ministers of Italy, Canada, and Belgium, arrived in Kyiv today to show solidarity with Ukraine on the second anniversary of Russia’s invasion.

Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, Canada’s Justin Trudeau, Belgium’s Alexander De Croo and the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, travelled to the Ukrainian capital together overnight by train from neighbouring Poland, the Italian government said in a statement.

Ms Meloni was due to host a videoconference later in the day from Kyiv that will involve leaders from the Group of Seven major democracies, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy invited to join the discussion.

Russian drones attacked Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday for the second night running, hitting a residential building, triggering a fire and seriously injuring two people, the regional governor said.

“A residential building in Odesa was damaged by enemy shelling and a fire subsequently broke out,” the governor, Oleh Kiper, wrote on the Telegram app. “Two injured people were reported so far … and they were taken to hospital in serious condition.”

Flames reached into the sky from a number of buildings.

At least three people were killed in the first attack.

Ukrainian forces downed a Russian early warning and control aircraft on Friday, the air force chief said, a major win for the country as its army fights to repel persistent Russian attacks along the front line as the war enters its third year.

General Mykola Oleshchuk thanked Ukraine’s military intelligence for helping down the Russian A-50 aircraft on Russia’s military holiday on Friday. “Congratulations to the occupiers on the Defender of the Fatherland day,” General Oleshchuk said on a sardonic note.

Ukrainian media carried footage purportedly showing a massive fire that erupted when the big warplane crashed in the Krasnodar region on the eastern coast of the Sea of Azov.