Ukraine-Russia war latest: Lavrov ‘ready’ to meet US officials after reports of rift with Putin

In a decision made alongside Defence Secretary John Healey, Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton, the Chief of Defence Staff, the personnel and equipment are now on the way after his Belgian counterpart asked for help earlier this week.

Russia’s veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Sunday that it would be “impossible” to end the war with Ukraine without addressing the root causes of the conflict and taking Russian interests into account.

It comes amid recent reports that President Vladimir Putin had sidelined the politician after his hardline stance during a phone call with US secretary of state Marco Rubio, leading to the postponing of a highly-anticipated summit between Putin and President Donald Trump.

Local authorities have reported that an emergency shutdown is in place after several districts of the city of Taganrog in southern Russia were left without electricity on Sunday.

They did not mention what had caused the shutdown.

Russia’s defence ministry continued to claim that it had encircled Ukrainian troops in Pokrovsk on Sunday as it said that eight attempts to break out of the encirclement had been repelled, according to IFX.

It added that six Ukrainian attempts to unblocked surrounded units in the Kupiansk area had also been thwarted.

Ukraine denies its troops are surrounded.

Naive, self-sabotaging and riddled with Moscow’s agents, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons and an arms industry that produced a third of the Soviet Union’s supply, trusted the West and the Kremlin to protect it – and was left fighting for its life.

Now, thirty years on, the start-up nation redefining how war is fought has been forced into a bodge-and-make-do world of arms production, fusing old technology with IT know-how to break the bonds its allies tied to make Kyiv fight one-handed.

The latest innovation is a cruise missile with a range of 3,000km, a maximum speed of 900km/h and a payload of over a tonne which has been used in strikes deep into Russian territory.

The Independent’s world affairs editor Sam Kiley reports:

State-owned energy company Tsentrenergo said the attacks on its facilities were the largest since the start of the war in February 2022.

It said had halted operations at its plants in the Kyiv and Kharkiv regions.

“The last strike was not even a month ago and the enemy has now struck all our generating capacity at the same time. The stations are on fire!” Tsentrenergo, which generates about 8 per cent of Ukraine’s power, said in a statement.

“Our generation is now zero.”

The UK is supporting Belgium with military equipment and personnel after drone sightings near airports and military bases led to temporary shutdowns in operations this week.

“The defence secretary and I agreed at the end of last week that we would deploy our people and our equipment to Belgium to help them,” Richard Knighton, head of Britain’s armed forces, told the BBC.

He did not describe the details of the support provided. Knight said the actors behind the drones were not yet known, but noted Russia’s increased use if “hybrid warfare” in recent years.

German’s defence minister suggested that the drone sightings in Belgium were linked to threats to use of billions of dollars worth of Russia’s frozen assets to support Ukraine.

Ukraine is facing nationwide power outages as Russian strikes hit energy facilities in one of the worst onslaughts to affect the country’s civilian infrastructure.

At least seven people were killed in the attacks.

Russia launched a barrage of drones and missiles in overnight attacks on Ukraine, targeting substations that supply two nuclear power plants and killing seven people, Ukrainian officials said on Saturday.

“Russia once again targeted substations that power the Khmelnytskyi and Rivne nuclear power plants,” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said on X.

“These were not accidental but well-planned strikes. Russia is deliberately endangering nuclear safety in Europe.”

President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia had launched more than 450 drones and 45 missiles.

Satellite images taken on Monday showed the deadliest sector of fighting between both sides shrouded in smoke and battered by months of fierce fighting.