Zelenskiy says the battle for Sievierodonetsk is taking a ‘terrifying’ toll on Ukraine – as it happened

Thank you for joining us for today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

We will be pausing this live blog for now and launching another in the next few hours.

In the meantime, here is a comprehensive run-down of where things stand in Ukraine as of 3am.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said the intense battle for Sievierodonetsk is taking a “terrifying” toll on Ukraine, describing the fighting as “one of the most violent battles in Europe”. The human cost of this battle is very high for us. It is simply terrifying. The battle for the Donbas will without doubt be remembered in military history as one of the most violent battles in Europe,” he said in an address to the nation late on Monday.

• All three bridges to the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk have been destroyed, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai. In a video update, Haidai said Russia had not “completely captured” the city and “a part of the city” was under Ukrainian control. Russian artillery is hitting an industrial zone where 500 civilians are sheltering in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, Haidai added. Ukrainian troops in the city must “surrender or die”, a Russian-backed separatist leader in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk warned.

• Ukrainian authorities said they have discovered a new mass grave of civilians near the Bucha in the Kyiv region. Investigators exhumed seven bodies from makeshift graves in a forest outside the village of Vorzel, less than 10km from Bucha, the scene of previous alleged Russian atrocities. Kyiv region’s police chief Andriy Nyebytov said: “This is another sadistic crime of the Russian army”. One man, he said, “has two injuries. He was shot in the knee with a gun. The second shot was into his temple”.

• Ukraine has called on the west to supply 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers before a key meeting on Wednesday. The maximalist request was made publicly by Mykhailo Podolyak, a key presidential adviser, amid concern in some quarters it is pushing its demands for Nato-standard weapons to the limit.

• Zelenskiy accused German Chancellor Olaf Scholz with being too concerned about the repercussions his support for Ukraine would have for Berlin’s ties with Moscow.“We need from Chancellor Scholz the certainty that Germany supports Ukraine,” he said in an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF. “He and his government must decide: there can’t be a trade-off between Ukraine and relations with Russia.” Local media reports have speculated that Scholz could make his first trip to Kyiv since the start of the war on Thursday.
• The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, has accused “traitors” of passing on vital information to Russian forces during the bombardment of the southern port city at the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine. Boychenko said the destruction of the city’s critical infrastructure, including power supplies, was well-coordinated because these “traitors” had provided Russia with the co-ordinates.

• About 1,200 bodies, including those found in mass graves, have not yet been identified, according to the head of the national police in Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko. Criminal proceedings have been opened over the deaths of more than 12,000 Ukrainians, Klymenko said. About 75% of the dead are men, about 2% are children and the rest are women, he said.

• Russia earned €93bn in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the war, according to research by Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea). With 61% of these exports, worth €56bn (£48bn), going to the member states of the European Union, the bloc of countries remains Russia’s largest export market.

• Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land since the Russian invasion, notably in the south and east, deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskiy said. At a news conference on Monday, Vysotskiy insisted food security for the country’s population was not under immediate threat: “Despite the loss of 25% of arable land, crop planting this year is more than sufficient [and] the current situation of crop planting areas... does not pose a threat to Ukraine’s food security”.

• The UN’s rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, described the “arbitrary arrests” of a “large number” of anti-war protesters in Russia as “worrying”. Speaking at the UN’s human rights council in Geneva, Bachelet also expressed concern about the “increase of censorship and restrictions on independent media” in Russia.

• Mikhail Kasyanov, Russia’s prime minister from 2000 to 2004, has said he expects the war in Ukraine could last up to two years. Kasyanov, who championed close ties with the west while prime minister, said he felt that Vladimir Putin was already not thinking properly and that he was convinced Russia could return to a democratic path.

• More than 15,000 millionaires are expected to flee Russia this year, as wealthy citizens turn their back on Vladmir Putin’s regime after the invasion of Ukraine, according to an analysis of migration data by London-based firm Henley & Partners.

• The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision demanding that it remove information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the facts of the war and that removing information is a violation of human rights.

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The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, has filed an appeal against a Moscow court decision demanding that it remove information related to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, arguing that people have a right to know the facts of the war.

A Moscow court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 5 million roubles ($88,000) for refusing to remove what it termed disinformation from Russian-language Wikipedia articles on the war including ‘The Russian Invasion of Ukraine’, ‘War Crimes during the Russian Invasion of Ukraine’ and ‘Massacre in Bucha’.

In a statement as cited by Reuters, Stephen LaPorte, Associate General Counsel at the Wikimedia Foundation, said:

This decision implies that well-sourced, verified knowledge on Wikipedia that is inconsistent with Russian government accounts constitutes disinformation.

The government is targeting information that is vital to people’s lives in a time of crisis.

We urge the court to reconsider in favour of everyone’s rights to knowledge access and free expression.”

Wikipedia, which says it offers “the second draft of history”, is one of the few remaining major fact-checked Russian-language sources of information for Russians after a crackdown on media in Moscow.

The Moscow court argued that what it cast as the disinformation on Wikipedia posed a risk to public order in Russia and that the Foundation, which is headquartered in San Francisco, California, was operating inside Russia.

The Foundation was prosecuted under a law about the failure to delete banned information. The case was brought by Russia’s communications regulator Roskomnadzor.

The Wikipedia appeal, which was filed on June 6 with details released on Monday, argues that removing information is a violation of human rights. It said Russia had no jurisdiction over the Wikimedia Foundation, which was globally available in over 300 languages.

Zelenskiy earlier asked the German Chancellor to show full support for Kyiv, accusing Olaf Scholz with being too concerned about the repercussions that would have for Berlin’s ties with Moscow.

In an interview with German public broadcaster ZDF, Zelenskiy said:

We need from Chancellor Scholz the certainty that Germany supports Ukraine.

He and his government must decide: there can’t be a trade-off between Ukraine and relations with Russia.”

His comments come amid speculation that Scholz could make his first trip to Kyiv since the start of the war on Thursday.

Online magazine Focus, citing Italian newspaper La Stampa, reported that Scholz and his counterparts from France and Italy would travel to the Ukrainian capital on Thursday, adding a specific date to a Bild am Sonntag report on Sunday that they planned to go before a Group of Seven summit at the end of June.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz declined to comment Monday on any of the reports.

In an interview late on Monday with German public broadcaster ZDF, Zelenskiy said:

To be honest, Germany joined a little later than some of our neighbouring countries, as far as the arms deliveries were concerned. That’s a fact.”

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has provided a little more detail on the fighting unfolding in Donbas, describing a tactical win against Russian forces.

In the battles in Donbas - and they will surely go down in military history as one of the most brutal battles in Europe and for Europe - the Ukrainian army and our intelligence tactically still beat the Russian military.

And this is despite the significant advantage of the Russians in the amount of equipment, and especially - artillery systems.

The price of this battle for us is very high. It’s just scary. And we draw the attention of our partners on a daily basis to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern artillery for Ukraine will ensure our advantage and finally the end of Russian torture of the Ukrainian Donbas.”

Zelenskiy reiterated Ukraine’s desire to free its entire territory and “drive the occupiers out of all our regions”.

Although now the width of our front is already more than 2,500km, it is felt that the strategic initiative is still ours.”

Volodymr Zelenskiy says he spoke with Netherlands prime minister Mark Rutte this afternoon to thank him for “defence assistance” his country was providing to Ukraine.

“Held talks with Netherlands prime minister Mark Rutte. Informed about the current situation on the front; thanked for the defence assistance provided to Ukraine by the Netherlands in countering Russian aggression. Discussed Ukraine’s European integration path. We count on the Netherlands’ support!” Ukraine’s president tweeted.

Here are some more images from Ukraine on Monday, sent to us by news agencies:

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It’s just past midnight in Kyiv, and here’s where things stand as Russia’s invasion of Kyiv enters its 111th day:

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy says the intense battle for Sievierodonetsk is taking a “terrifying” toll on Ukraine. The country’s president made the comment during his nightly address to the nation on Telegram: “The human cost of this battle is very high for us. It is simply terrifying. The battle for the Donbas will without doubt be remembered in military history as one of the most violent battles in Europe”.
• All three bridges to the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk have been destroyed, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai. In a video update, Haidai said Russia had not “completely captured” the city and “a part of the city” was under Ukrainian control. Russian artillery is hitting an industrial zone where 500 civilians are sheltering in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, Haidai added. Ukrainian troops in Sievierodonetsk must “surrender or die”, a Russian-backed separatist leader in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk warned.
• Investigators exhumed seven bodies from makeshift graves in a forest near Kyiv, with officials saying they were civilians killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the area. The bodies were found outside the village of Vorzel, less than 10km from Bucha, scene of previous alleged Russian atrocities. Kyiv region’s police chief Andriy Nyebytov said: “This is another sadistic crime of the Russian army”. One man, he said, “has two injuries. He was shot in the knee with a gun. The second shot was into his temple”.
• Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land since the Russian invasion, notably in the south and east, deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskiy said. At a news conference, Vysotskiy insisted food security for the country’s population was not under immediate threat: “Despite the loss of 25% of arable land, crop planting this year is more than sufficient [and] the current situation of crop planting areas... does not pose a threat to Ukraine’s food security”.
• Ukraine has called on the west to supply 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers before a key meeting on Wednesday. The maximalist request was made publicly by Mykhailo Podolyak, a key presidential adviser, amid concern in some quarters it is pushing its demands for Nato-standard weapons to the limit.
• The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, has accused “traitors” of passing on vital information to Russian forces during the bombardment of the southern port city at the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine. Boychenko said the destruction of the city’s critical infrastructure, including power supplies, was well-coordinated because these “traitors” had provided Russia with the co-ordinates.
• About 1,200 bodies, including those found in mass graves, have not yet been identified, according to the head of the national police in Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko. Criminal proceedings have been opened over the deaths of more than 12,000 Ukrainians, Klymenko said. About 75% of the dead are men, about 2% are children and the rest are women, he said.
• Russia earned €93bn in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the war, according to research by Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea). With 61% of these exports, worth €56bn (£48bn), going to the member states of the European Union, the bloc of countries remains Russia’s largest export market.
• The UN’s rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, described the “arbitrary arrests” of a “large number” of anti-war protesters in Russia as “worrying”. Speaking at the UN’s human rights council in Geneva, Bachelet also expressed concern about the “increase of censorship and restrictions on independent media” in Russia.
• Mikhail Kasyanov, Russia’s prime minister from 2000 to 2004, has said he expects the war in Ukraine could last up to two years. Kasyanov, who championed close ties with the west while prime minister, said he felt that Vladimir Putin was already not thinking properly and that he was convinced Russia could return to a democratic path.

The intense battle for Sievierodonetsk is taking a “terrifying” toll on Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Monday evening, as Russian forces moved closer to capturing the strategic eastern city.

Ukraine’s president made the comment during his nightly address to the nation on Telegram, AFP reports, noting the fighting was having a severe effect on civilians and his country’s military:

The human cost of this battle is very high for us. It is simply terrifying.

The battle for the Donbas will without doubt be remembered in military history as one of the most violent battles in Europe.

Ukrainian defence minister Oleksiy Reznikov last week said up to 100 of his troops were dying daily and 500 sustaining injuries in the intense fighting against Russian troops, in a rare public disclosure of casualty figures.

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Zelenskiy, on 1 June, said his army was losing “between 60 and 100 soldiers” every day, while other estimates are higher, with experts predicting the unsustainable losses could soon bring the conflict to “a tipping point”.

Russian troops have advanced on Sievierodonetsk as part of their large-scale offensive in the eastern Donbas region after failing to take the capital Kyiv. It is the largest city in the eastern Luhansk region, which forms part of Donbas, still under Ukrainian control.

Zelenskiy, who has expressed fears of losing support from the west as the conflict drags on, repeated earlier pleas for more and heavier military weapons from allies including the US and UK:

We are dealing with absolute evil. And we have no choice but to move forward and free our territory.

We draw the attention of our partners on a daily basis to the fact that only a sufficient number of modern artillery for Ukraine will ensure our advantage and finally the end of Russian torture of the Ukrainian Donbas.

Serhiy Haiday, the regional governor of Luhansk, said Monday that Russian forces control 70 to 80% of Sievierodonetsk, but had not encircled or captured it amid fierce Ukrainian resistance.

But he added that evacuations from the city and access to it were impossible because the last of its three bridges has now been blown up.

Here’s my colleague Pjotr Sauer’s latest report on the fight for Sievierodonetsk:

Russia is again attempting to assert that the main goal of its “special military operation” in Ukraine is merely to “protect” the Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.

According to Reuters, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov repeated the claim Monday to Russia’s RIA state news agency.

“In general, the protection of the republics is the main goal of the special military operation,” Peskov said.

Donetsk and Luhansk are two breakaway Russian-backed entities in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine.

Fighting in the conflict, which began with Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine, has focused largely on the Donbas region after strong resistance forced the Russian military to abandon its initial goals including the capture of the capital Kyiv.

Ukrainian investigators say they have now exhumed seven bodies from makeshift graves in a forest near Kyiv, with officials saying they were civilians killed by Russian forces during their occupation of the area.

The bodies were found outside the village of Vorzel, Reuters reports, less than 10km from Bucha. In that city, Ukraine has alleged, Russian forces carried out systematic executions in an abortive attempt to capture the capital.

Russia denies the claim.

In a Facebook post, Kyiv region’s police chief, Andriy Nyebytov, said: “This is another sadistic crime of the Russian army in the Kyiv region”.

One of the exhumed bodies was a man around 40, in plain clothes, Nyebytov told Reuters at the site of the graves.

“He has two injuries. He was shot in the knee with a gun. The second shot was into his temple,” he said.

Russia’s defence ministry did not immediately reply to an emailed request from the agency for comment.

Investigators said it would take time to clearly identify the bodies because they had decomposed.

Ukraine says mass graves were found in April containing more than 400 bodies.

The Associated Press has some extra detail on the uncertainty surrounding German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s reported visit to Ukraine to meet counterparts from France and Italy.

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Newspaper Bild am Sonntag said Scholz would travel to Kyiv to talk with French president Emmanuel Macron and Italian prime minister Mario Draghi before this month’s summit of G7 leaders in Germany.

Earlier Monday, a spokesperson for Scholz refused to confirm the report, and the AP says the chancellor also fobbed off reporters when he was asked about it this afternoon, saying he had nothing to add to his aide’s (non) statement.

Several European leaders, Germany’s opposition leader and members of Scholz’s own cabinet have visited Ukraine in recent weeks to express solidarity with the country in the face of Russia’s military assault, raising the pressure on the German chancellor to do likewise.

While Germany has contributed considerable financial and military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion three months ago, Scholz’s government has been criticised at home and abroad for being slower to do so than the US and some smaller European countries.

It’s Richard Luscombe in the US taking you through the next few hours of developments in Ukraine. Thanks for joining me.

Ukraine has lost a quarter of its arable land since the Russian invasion, notably in the south and east, deputy agriculture minister Taras Vysotskiy has said, according to AFP.

At a news conference on Monday, however, Vysotskiy insisted food security for the country’s population was not under immediate threat:

Despite the loss of 25% of arable land, crop planting this year is more than sufficient [and] the current situation of crop planting areas... does not pose a threat to Ukraine’s food security.

Ukrainian farmers managed to prepare relatively well for sowing before the war started. In February, Ukraine had already imported about 70% of necessary fertilisers, 60% of disease control products and about a third of the required fuel.

National consumption levels, he said, had fallen “due to mass displacement and external migration” as millions fled to escape the fighting.

More than 7m are estimated to have been displaced within Ukraine by Russia’s war, figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) show.

Another 7.3m have fled abroad, more than half of them to Poland.

Despite Vysotskiy’s reassurances, the UN has warned the conflict risks tipping tens of millions around the globe into food insecurity, with the risks of malnutrition, mass hunger and famine.

Earlier this month, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said about 20-25m tonnes of grain were blocked in Ukrainian ports, a figure which could rise to 70-75m tonnes by the autumn.

Read more about Ukraine’s food secuirty concerns here:

It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:

• All three bridges to the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk have been destroyed, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai. In a video update, Haidai said Russia had not “completely captured” the city and “a part of the city” was under Ukrainian control. Russian artillery is hitting an industrial zone where 500 civilians are sheltering in the eastern Ukrainian city of Sievierodonetsk, Haidai added. Ukrainian troops in Sievierodonetsk must “surrender or die”, a Russian-backed separatist leader in the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk warned.

• Ukrainian authorities said they have discovered a new mass grave of civilians near the Bucha in the Kyiv region. The bodies of seven civilians were found near the village of Myrotske, many with their “hands tied and their knees shot”, according to Kyiv region police chief, Andrii Niebytov. Work is currently under way to exhume the bodies at the site and to identify the individuals, he added.
  

• Ukraine has called on the west to supply 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers before a key meeting on Wednesday. The maximalist request was made publicly by Mykhailo Podolyak, a key presidential adviser, amid concern in some quarters it is pushing its demands for Nato-standard weapons to the limit.

• The mayor of Mariupol, Vadym Boychenko, has accused “traitors” of passing on vital information to Russian forces during the bombardment of the southern port city at the beginning of its invasion of Ukraine. Boychenko said the destruction of the city’s critical infrastructure, including power supplies, was well-coordinated because these “traitors” had provided Russia with the co-ordinates.
  

• Finland’s president, Sauli Niinistö, said Russia is using “weapons of mass destruction” in Ukraine. Both sides are using “increasingly heavy” weapons, Niinistö said, including in Russia’s case, thermobaric bombs. Amnesty International accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks on Kharkiv - many using banned cluster bombs - had killed hundreds of civilians.
  

• About 1,200 bodies, including those found in mass graves, have not yet been identified, according to the head of the national police in Ukraine, Ihor Klymenko. Criminal proceedings have been opened over the deaths of more than 12,000 Ukrainians, Klymenko said. About 75% of the dead are men, about 2% are children and the rest are women, he said.

• Russia earned €93bn in revenue from fossil fuel exports in the first 100 days of the war, according to research by Finland’s Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (Crea). With 61% of these exports, worth €56bn (£48bn), going to the member states of the European Union, the bloc of countries remains Russia’s largest export market.

• The UN’s rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, described the “arbitrary arrests” of a “large number” of anti-war protesters in Russia as “worrying”. Speaking at the UN’s human rights council in Geneva, Bachelet also expressed concern about the “increase of censorship and restrictions on independent media” in Russia.

• Mikhail Kasyanov, Russia’s prime minister from 2000 to 2004, has said he expects the war in Ukraine could last up to two years. Kasyanov, who championed close ties with the west while prime minister, said he felt that Vladimir Putin was already not thinking properly and that he was convinced Russia could return to a democratic path.

• River crossing operations are likely to be among the most important determining factors in the course of the war over the coming months, the UK Ministry of Defence said in its latest report. Ukrainian forces have often managed to demolish bridges before they withdraw, while Russia has struggled to put in place the complex coordination necessary to conduct successful, large scale river crossings under fire, the report added.

That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong today as I hand the blog over to my colleague, Richard Luscombe. Thank you.

All three bridges to the embattled eastern city of Sievierodonetsk have been destroyed, according to the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Haidai.

In a video update, Haidai said Russia had not “completely captured” the city and “a part of the city” was under Ukrainian control.

Earlier in the day, Haidai said Russians were continuing to storm the embattled city and “having a significant advantage in artillery” pushed back Ukrainian soldiers. “The Russians are destroying quarter after quarter,” Haidai said, adding that the Russian army had been “partially successful at night” and controlled 70% of the city.

The destruction by Russian forces of the remaining two bridges over the Siverskyi Donets River over the last two days leaves stranded civilians with no escape west to the neighbouring city of Lysychansk, which is also being shelled but remains in Ukrainian hands.

13 Jun 202213.24 EDT

Rupert Neate

More than 15,000 millionaires are expected to flee Russia this year, as wealthy citizens turn their back on Vladmir Putin’s regime after the invasion of Ukraine, according to an analysis of migration data.

About 15% of Russians with more than $1m (£820,000) in ready assets are expected to have emigrated to other countries by the end of 2022, according to projects based on migration data by Henley & Partners, a London-based firm that acts as matchmaker between the super-rich and countries selling their citizenships.

“Russia [is] haemorrhaging millionaires,” said Andrew Amoils, the head of research at New World Wealth, which compiled the data for Henley. “Affluent individuals have been emigrating from Russia in steadily rising numbers every year over the past decade, an early warning sign of the current problems the country is facing. Historically, major country collapses have usually been preceded by an acceleration in emigration of wealthy people, who are often the first to leave as they have the means to do so.”

Ukraine is projected to suffer the greatest loss of high net worth individuals (HNWIs) as a proportion of its population, with 2,800 millionaires (or 42% of all HNWIs in Ukraine) expected to have left the country by the end of the year.

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The world’s wealthy have traditionally relocated to the US and the UK but Henley said the United Arab Emirates is expected to overtake them as the number one destination for millionaire emigrates. “UK has lost its wealth hub crown, and the US is fading fast as a magnet for the world’s wealthy, with the UAE expected to overtake it by attracting the largest net inflows of millionaires globally in 2022,” Henley said in its report, which is based on “systematically tracking international private wealth migration trends”.

About 4,000 HNWIs are expected to have moved to the UAE by the end of the year, ahead of Australia, which is expected to attract about 3,500, Singapore (2,800) and Israel (2,500).

Large numbers of millionaires are also expected to move to “the three Ms”: Malta, Mauritius and Monaco.

13 Jun 202213.05 EDT

Dan Sabbagh

Ukraine has called on the west to supply 300 rocket launchers, 500 tanks and 1,000 howitzers before a key meeting on Wednesday amid concern in some quarters it is pushing its demands for Nato-standard weapons to the limit.

The maximalist request was made publicly by Mykhailo Podolyak, a key presidential adviser, on Twitter on Monday where he argued that Ukraine needed “heavy weapons parity” to defeat Russia and end the war.

That would require, he said, 300 of the multiple launch rocket systems (MLRS) – vastly more than seven or so committed thus far by the US and UK – and greater than the 60 or more that other advisers have previously said would meet its needs.

Podolyak’s full list also included “1,000 howitzers” of the Nato 155mm standard, several times more than what has been dispatched so far. The US, the leading arms supplier, had delivered 109 by the end of May.

A special meeting of defence ministers takes place on Wednesday in Brussels, which will be chaired by Lloyd Austin, the US defence secretary, to discuss future weapons donations, the third such meeting since the war began. Ben Wallace, his UK counterpart, is among those scheduled to attend.

It comes at a time when Ukraine’s military is struggling to resist an intense Russian artillery-led assault on its eastern Donbas region and losing, on some days, 200 soldiers killed in action in the heaviest fighting in Europe since the end of the second world war.

Read Dan Sabbagh’s full story: Ukraine asks the west for huge rise in heavy artillery supply

Britain’s foreign minister, Liz Truss, said she spoke with the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, about Russia’s blockade on grain exports from Ukraine.

Ukrainian authorities said they have discovered a new mass grave of civilians near the Bucha in the Kyiv region.

The bodies of seven civilians were found near the village of Myrotske, many with their “hands tied and their knees shot”, according to Kyiv region police chief, Andrii Niebytov.

The victims had been tortured, he said in a statement on Facebook.

Work is currently under way to exhume the bodies at the site and to identify the individuals, he added.

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