Russia Ukraine war live: Putin loses more than 1,500 soldiers in faltering Kharkiv offensive

The three Russian glide bombs pound into the residential tower block, ripping apart several floors. At least 10 are injured in a strike that is part of what has become a near-daily aerial assault on Ukraine’s second-largest city.

In his office a few streets away is Kharkiv’s mayor Igor Terekhov, who is quickly rushed into a meeting as our interview is put on hold. Images then start to flood social media showing the destruction wrought upon the civilian-populated area near the Peremoha metro station in the city centre.

When the interview resumes, Terekhov is forced to take three calls while emergency services rushed to the scene nearby to help the wounded. Aides intermittently grab the mayor to update him on the developing situation.

“His country is at war, so people are siding with the country at war,” Fury said in the ring after his loss – the first defeat of his professional career, while Usyk stayed unbeaten.

Ukrainian troops still control about 60% of Vovchansk and are fighting house-to-house to defend the border town in northeastern Kharkiv region from Russian attacks, officials said in the most detailed public assessment of the battle to date.

Capturing Vovchansk would be Moscow’s most significant gain since it opened a new front in the northern part of Kharkiv region earlier this month, stretching Kyiv’s forces in the third year of the full-scale invasion.

“The enemy continues to try, especially inside Vovchansk, to push the Ukrainian Armed Forces out of the town,” Kharkiv region’s deputy governor Roman Semenukha said on national television on Monday.

“About 60% of the town is controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, meaning that the assaults do not stop,” he added.

The region’s governor, Oleh Syniehubov, said the front line now runs along the Vovcha river which cuts through the town.

“Our soldiers are trying to defend the town house by house, street by street,” Syniehubov said. “The enemy’s plan to quickly capture the north of the region failed,” he added on national television.

Vovchansk’s police chief said last week that Russian forces had taken positions in the town and called the situation “extremely difficult”.

Russia reported some 60 drones and several missiles shot down over its territory overnight into Sunday, with Ukraine in turn saying it destroyed over 30 Russian drones. Russia’s renewed offensive continues to play out in Ukraine’s war-ravaged northeast.

Russian air defenses shot down 57 Ukrainian drones over its southern Krasnodar region overnight Saturday, the Russian Defense Ministry said Sunday morning.

Local military officials said drone debris hit an oil refinery in the town of Slavyansk-on-Kuban, but there was no fire or damage. Local news outlet Astra published videos appearing to show an explosion at the refinery as it was hit by a drone. The videos could not be independently verified.

As Usyk bids to beat Tyson Fury and become the undisputed heavyweight champion, Alex Pattle speaks to the Ukrainian’s promoter and compatriots about his role in the war and importance back home:

President Vladimir Putin on Monday appointed former deputy economy minister Oleg Savelyev as a deputy defence minister, according to a published decree, in a further sign of his intention to improve the efficiency of Russia‘s war economy.

Putin sprang a surprise last week by removing defence minister Sergei Shoigu and replacing him with Andrei Belousov, an economist and former deputy prime minister. The move was widely seen as aimed at getting more value from defence spending and cleaning up the defence ministry, which has been hit by a major bribery scandal.

Savelyev worked in the economy ministry from 2008 to 2014 and briefly served as a deputy to Belousov, who headed the ministry at the time.

After Russia‘s annexation of Crimea, Savelyev served as Minister for Crimean Affairs in 2014-2015. For the past five years, he has been an auditor for the Russian Accounts Chamber, overseeing state defence and security spending.

Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelensky today said he congratulated Andrej Plenković on his appointment as prime minister of Croatia.

He added that the two discussed Croatia’s support for the beginning of Ukraine’s EU accession talks, as well as “the possibility of Croatia joining the G7 Vilnius Declaration in support of Ukraine”.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps, speaking at defence questions, told the Commons: “We are very mindful of the situation in Ukraine and particularly in Kharkiv, where Russia are making, or trying to make, inroads.

“This is an existential battle for all civilised countries that believe in democracy and freedom and it is the case that we must ensure the world continues to keep up the efforts.

“It is not right for there to be pauses in our support and when there are, the sort of losses we’ve seen, I hope on a very temporary, and believe on a very temporary, basis, in Kharkiv around the villages to the north are an inevitable consequence of inaction.”

Mr Shapps later told MPs: “This bloody war is now killing up to 1,000 Russians a day, or causing casualties, and it needs to come to a stop.”

Ukraine said on Monday its troops were holding back Russian forces near Bilohorivka in the east, a village Moscow has claimed to be under its control.

“The defence forces for quite a long time today have been holding back the onslaught of the enemy, which is trying to somehow move forward in the area of Bilohorivka,” Kyiv’s general staff said on Facebook.