Ukrainian forces fighting around Velyka Novosilka claim its Russian takeover will amount to nothing more than a flag-raising exercise

A new school textbook introduced in Moscow on Monday claims Russia was "forced" to send soldiers into Ukraine in 2022, according to Reuters. Russian President Vladimir Putin has often characterized his war in Ukraine as an attempt to thwart Western forces backing Kyiv against Russia.

The remaining pipe bringing Russian gas to the bloc is the TurkStream line through Turkey, which provides Hungary with about 7.5 billion cubic metres of gas. Budapest, along with the pro-Russian government in Slovakia, have been lobbying the EU to pressure Ukraine into restarting the gas transit.

Ukrainian drones hit an oil refinery 250 miles east of Moscow in a huge wave of attacks on Russian power plants, say military sources. A large fire exploded at the refinery in Kstovo city in the Nizhny Novgorod region following the attack, the Ukrainian military said, adding it was assessing the scale of damage there.

Russia's defence ministry said on Wednesday that its troops had taken control of the village of Novoielyzavetivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, near the logistics centre of Pokrovsk, the latest target in their steady advance westward.

Ukrainian special operations forces have given an insight into the brutal, near-suicidal tactics of the North Koreans they have faced in intense fighting in the Russian border region of Kursk.

A ‘100-day plan' for ending the war between Ukraine and Russia has suggested the long-running conflict could be over in just a few months.

Russian gains in Ukraine have been slowed by personnel shortages, suggesting Moscow may not be able to sustain the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday that Ukraine could find a legal way to hold peace talks with Russia on ending their nearly three-year-old war, but Moscow sees no willingness on Kyiv's part to engage.

On 14 January, Australia summoned Russian ambassador Alexey Pavlovsky to answer questions about Mr Jenkins’s status. “The Russian Federation is obligated to treat all prisoners of war in accordance with international humanitarian law,” a spokesperson said in a statement at the time.

Billions of dollars of investment may be needed to rebuild Ukraine's power systems, brought to the brink of total decimation after years of relentless attacks by Russia.