Ukraine-Russia war latest: UK missiles ‘used in strike on military HQ’ as Kyiv says frontline ‘getting harder’

One of the good decisions made by Michael Gove, who as housing and communities secretary was responsible for the Homes for Ukraine scheme when it was set up two years ago, was to allow the project to be driven from the bottom up.

The scheme was an expression of solidarity from the British people to the Ukrainian people, and the role of the British government, as Mr Gove saw it, was to enable and support it – but mainly to get out of the way.

It was, and remains, an overwhelming success. More than 180,000 visas have been issued to Ukrainian refugees through the sponsorship route. The problems with the scheme, exclusively reported by The Independent, in no way undermine the policy in principle – on the contrary, they argue for improved safeguards in order to ensure continuing high levels of public support for it.

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Ukraine’s defence will be “catastrophically difficult” without western military assistance, a US-based think-tank monitoring the war has said.

“Ukrainian officials continue to warn that US security assistance is vital to Ukrainian forces’ ability to defend against current and future Russian offensive operations forecasted to begin in late spring and summer,” the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said yesterday.

It cited Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Head Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov who said that Ukrainian forces are preparing to repel a future Russian major offensive expected in late May or the beginning of June but noted that this will be “catastrophically difficult” without Western military assistance.

“ISW continues to assess that Russian forces are currently capitalising on Ukrainian material shortages resulting from the lack of US security assistance to make marginal tactical advances but that future Russian assaults may be able to achieve more significant and threatening gains, particularly west of Bakhmut, should the US continue to withhold assistance to Ukraine,” the think tank said.

Volodymyr Zelensky has lauded what he described as “unity” in helping Israel defend against Iranian air attacks last weekend as he called on Kyiv’s allies to show the same unity they displayed in helping Israel fend off Iranian drone and missile attacks.

He pointed out the help Israel received from the US, the UK and other nations despite not being a Nato nation.

“Israel is not a member of Nato… and no one was drawn into the war,” he said.

“They simply helped save lives. Shaheds (drones) in the skies of Ukraine sound just like in the skies of the Middle East. Ballistics strike the same everywhere if not shot down,” Mr Zelensky said.

The Ukrainian president, pleading for more western aid and assistance, has called for “political will”, especially from the United States, where an aid package remains blocked in Congress.

In what has continued to drag on since November last year, US House of Representatives Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to decide this week on how to handle president Joe Biden’s request for billions of dollars in security assistance for Ukraine and other US allies.

More civilians died across Ukraine on Sunday as analysts warned that delays in U.S. military assistance would see Kyiv struggle to fight off Russian offensives.

One man was killed after a Russian drone hit the truck he was driving in the Sumy region, the local prosecutor’s office said.

Officials in the Kharkiv region also said that they had retrieved the bodies of a 61-year-old woman and a 68-year-old man killed by a Russian strike the previous day. Ten Russian Shahed-type drones were shot down over the Kharkiv region overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force.

Volodymyr Zelensky met Ukrainian commanders as he considered action on the frontline of the 25-month-old war against Russia and the acquisition of weaponry from Kyiv’s allies.

The Ukrainian president, speaking in his nightly address, mentioned the meeting and said there are three sectors where Ukraine’s forces face difficult situations in standing against Russian onslaughts: Chasiv Yar, west of the destroyed Russian-held town of Bakhmut in the east and Pokrovsk and Kupiansk, further west and north.

Mr Zelensky said reports were presented on supplying arms and electronic warfare systems and ways to protect infrastructure hit for weeks by Russian missile and drone attacks.

The leaders also discussed intelligence reports on new Russian offensives that he has predicted will also soon take place.

“This is about what we must prepare for – all forms of enemy action,” Mr Zelensky said. “It is clear that the madness in the Kremlin is still strong and the occupiers will try to intensify their advances. We will respond.”

Russian forces have made small advances in recent weeks, securing control of villages in eastern Donetsk region since recapturing the key town of Avdiivka in February.

Russia and Ukraine traded blame before the United Nations Security Council for the attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency said have put the world “dangerously close to a nuclear accident.”

Without attributing blame, IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said his agency has been able to confirm three attacks against the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant since 7 April.

“These reckless attacks must cease immediately,” he told the Security Council. “Though, fortunately, they have not led to a radiological incident this time, they significantly increase the risk … where nuclear safety is already compromised.”

The success of Israel and its allies in largely thwarting a massive Iranian missile and drone attack shows what Ukraine could achieve against Russian aerial barrages if it had more support from its partners, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday.

A recent Russian aerial campaign targeting Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and other targets has wrought extensive damage, and Ukrainian officials have pleaded with the country’s Western allies to provide more air defense systems as the war stretches into its third year.

Israel’s defense system, with assistance from the U.S. and Britain — countries that are also supporting Ukraine’s war effort — is credited with preventing serious damage or casualties in Sunday’s attack by Iran using more than 300 drones and missiles.

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On Monday, both Democrats and Republicans gathered to condemn the weekend’s new development in the Middle East: a sizable drone and missile attack launched by Iran against Israeli targets.

Saturday’s attack by Iran refreshed the importance of the geopolitical consequences of Israel’s war in Gaza for Washington and led to a flurry of activity in the lower chamber, where Republican leaders have teed up a series of bills and resolutions in response.

The first pieces of legislation are set to pass the chamber Monday evening. They deal with a range of issues, including directing US representatives at both the IMF and World Bank to oppose financial assistance to Iran and tightening sanctions against Chinese firms known to do business with Iran’s energy sector.

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President Joe Biden urged the U.S. House to immediately take up Senate-passed supplemental funding for Ukraine and Israel on Monday as he hosted Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala in the Oval Office.

The visit came as Biden aimed to highlight the efforts other nations are making to support Ukraine. It followed the Czech government’s announcement that it is sending 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition to Ukraine, which Kyiv says is badly needed on the battlefield against Russia’s invasion.

“As the Czech Republic remembers, Russia won’t stop at Ukraine,” Biden said. He appealed to Congress to pass the supplemental funding so the U.S. could do its part to help Ukraine. “They have to do it now,” Biden said.

Fiala praised the U.S. president for his leadership in support of Ukraine, adding, “We are also doing our best.”

Two amputee Ukrainian soldiers said they are taking on the London Marathon because they want to show that Ukrainians are “unbreakable”.

Active Ukrainian serviceman Georgiy Roshka, 32, had his arm amputated in a bunker during the siege of Azovstal, while fellow soldier Oleksiy Rudenko, 28, lost his leg after he stepped on a mine during a combat mission in eastern Ukraine, and now both men use prosthetics.

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