Ukraine-Russia war live: Zelensky says Russia lost 6,000 troops in Kursk incursion

The city of Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk has become one of the main targets of relentless Russian attacks to capture the remaining strongholds held by Kyiv’s troops in the region.

Explosions are almost ever-present in and around the city, whether direct shelling attacks, or the sound of artillery batteries firing hundreds of rounds on the front line, reinforcing the sense that something catastrophic is approaching.

Kostyantynivka is one of the few remaining towns of any size still in Ukrainian hands in the region. And it is now perilously close to the front lines. Outgoing Ukrainian fire could also be heard south of the city with a distinctive rapid whoosh-whoosh-whoosh signifying, says one civilian, one of the highly accurate US-provided multiple rocket launchers at work.

Russian attacks are being ramped up across the area – from the commanding heights of Chasiv Yar, less than 10 miles to the northeast, to the mining town of Toretsk, whose slag heaps can be seen eight miles to the south, and Pokrovsk – the key target for Moscow at the moment – some 33 miles to the southwest along a route already vulnerable to shelling by the approaching Russians.

A local businessman, Petro, says: “Our city has been a target for the Russians since 2014, but they have been hitting us hard, smashing away at Kostyantynivka since the start of the full-blown invasion in 2022. There has been an increase in their attacks since August and perhaps the Ukrainian invasion into Russia has made [the Russian troops] more ferocious and so they’re firing more. That’s how it feels.”

Askold Krushelnycky has more in this dispatch from Kostyantynivka:

The head of MI6, Richard Moore, has said it is “too early” to say how long Ukrainian forces would be able to hang on in Russia’s Kursk region.

Speaking at an FT event which Mr Moore also attended in London, CIA director William Burns called Ukraine’s Kursk offensive in Russia “a significant tactical achievement”.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry has expressed its deep concerned over reports about a possible impending transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia.

The ministry said the deepening military co-operation between Tehran and Moscow was a threat to Ukraine, Europe and the Middle East, and called on the international community to increase pressure on Iran and Russia, after CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

Reuters reported in August that Russia was expecting the imminent delivery of hundreds of Fath-360 close-range ballistic missiles from Iran and that dozens of Russian military personnel were being trained in Iran on the satellite-guided weapons for eventual use in the war in Ukraine.

On Friday, the United States, a key ally of Ukraine, also voiced concern about the potential transfer of missiles.

“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” White House national security council spokesperson Sean Savett said.

Funeral services have been held for victims of one of the deadliest Russian airstrikes since the war in Ukraine began, which president Volodymyr Zelensky said left 55 people dead and 328 injured in the city of Poltava.

Hundreds of mourners, including grieving families, local residents, and officials, gathered at the Cathedral of the Assumption in the city, some 200 miles southeast of Kyiv, for the solemn ceremony.

Relatives, many holding red carnations, stood over caskets placed outside the church, draped in yellow-and-blue Ukrainian flags. An air raid siren sounded during the service.

Local residents knelt in silent tribute as hearses carrying the victims passed by on their way to a military cemetery outside the city for burial.

Volodymyr Zelensky has discussed his peace plan to end the war with Russia and reconstruction with a focus on Ukraine’s energy system in a meeting with Italy’s premier Giorgia Meloni, the Ukrainian president said.

The two leaders met on the sidelines of the Ambrosetti Forum in Italy.

Russia’s defence ministry claims its troops have seized the Donetsk village of Kalynove.

Kalynove lies some 20 miles east of Povrosk, the key supply hub which Vladimir Putin’s forces are desperately seeking to seize in their current push on the eastern Ukrainian front line.

Three people have been killed and three others wounded by Russian artillery shelling of the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka, Donetsk’s regional governor has said.

Three men aged between 24 and 69 were killed and a multi-storey block, administrative building and a shop were damaged, governor Vadym Filashkin said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s counter-invasion of Russia saw it take more than 300 square miles of the Kursk region in its first month, raised morale at home and challenged a growing sense in the West that stalemate was the best Kyiv could hope for. Yet as a daring incursion looks set to become an open-ended occupation, doubts are growing about its long-term wisdom.

When Ukrainian forces crossed the Russian border on 6 August, Kyiv was tight-lipped about its objectives, both to keep Moscow guessing and also because it did not want to set itself up for a fall. It needed a victory for both foreign and domestic audiences.

Since then, though, the goals seem to have changed – and gaps opened between the military and political leadership.

Historian and author Mark Galeotti has more analysis on the incursion here:

Debris from a drone shot down in an overnight Russian attack was found next to Ukraine’s parliament building, Kyiv’s parliament said in a statement on Telegram.

Ukraine’s air force said earlier that Russia had launched 67 drones in a nationwide overnight attack.

The chair of the Ukrainian parliament has met with the speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle at the sidelines of a G7 summit in Italy for parliamentary leaders.

Ruslan Stefanchuk thanked the UK for its support for Ukraine and stressed the importance that this remains unchanged, as he highlighted the need for Ukraine to be granted permission to strike military targets in russia with Western weapons, according to a statement issued by Ukrainian officials.