Ukraine news - live: Frontline ‘very tough’ as Putin’s attacks ‘constant’, Zelensky says

President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned of “constant Russian attacks” across frontline regions in his daily address.

In a markedly sombre tone, Zelensky said: “The situation is very tough. Bakhmut, Vuhledar and other areas in the Donetsk region are under constant Russian attacks.

“There are constant attempts to break through our defense.”

Zelensky repeated reports from his previous address on Saturday of fierce fighting in the Donetsk region, amid reports of Ukrainian forces struggling to hold Bakhmut, at the epicentre of fighting in the region.

President Zelensky continued: “We are doing everything to ensure that our pressure outweighs the occupiers’ assault capabilities.

“We must speed up the events, speed up the supply and opening of new necessary weaponry options for Ukraine.”

President Zelensky also paid tribute to those killed in shelling in Kherson, where three people died on Sunday.

Four people were killed and five injured in an attack by Ukrainian forces on a bridge in Melitopol, a city in southeastern Ukraine.

Reported by Russian-installed head of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region, Yevgeny Balitsky, wrote on Telegram that a rocket was launched at the railway bridge from across the Molochna river.

The Zaporizhzhia region has been partially occupied by Russia since it first invaded in February last year, and contains Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

Balitsky added that the rocket was launched from a Himars missile system, which are in production in the United States.

He added: “At this time, renovation work was under way at the facility. According to preliminary data, as a result of the shelling, four people from the railway brigade were killed, five were injured, they are receiving the necessary medical care.”

Reporters from news agency Reuters were unable to verify the accuracy of Balitsky’s statement.

Russia’s foreign ministry said on Sunday it will not hold annual talks with Japan on renewing a pact allowing Japanese fishermen to operate near disputed islands.

The islands, off the northern Japanese island of Hokkaido, are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

As reported on Russian state media, the defence ministry said: “In the context of the anti-Russian measures taken by the Japanese government ... the Russian side informed Tokyo that it could not agree on the holding of intergovernmental consultations on the implementation of this agreement.”

Japan tightened its sanctions regime on Russian trade, institutions and individuals on Friday in response to the increase in shelling attacks.

Russia had suspended the diplomatic agreement in June which allowed Japanese boats to fish near the islands, though the Japanese chief cabinet secretary has demanded the talks to go ahead.

Three people were killed by Russian shelling on the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Sunday, damaging a hospital and a school, regional officials said.

The administration wrote on Telegram: “Today’s Russian shelling injured nine people: three people died (two men and one woman), six were injured.”

In an earlier post, before casualties could be identified, it was reported: “As a result of enemy shelling, a number of civil infrastructure objects were damaged: the Kherson Regional Clinical Hospital, a school, a bus station, a post office, a bank, and residential buildings.”

Ukraine’s ministry of health posted on Facebook that a nurse was wounded in the attacks.

Ukraine recaptured Kherson in November after Russian forces occupied the city in the early days of the conflict.

The city has since seen regular shelling and attacks from Russian positions across the Dnipro river.

Officials from Ukraine’s western allies have reported concern that the “window for Ukraine isn’t indefinite”, requiring more munitions and supply to break through.

Cited in a report from the Wall Street Journal, the unnamed officials from western nations suggest Russian forces will control any ‘war of attrition’, with Ukraine needing an expansion of supply of powerful military equipment to counter this.

Recent expansion of conscription, military training in Russian schools and continued ability to finance spending in the conflict have suggested Moscow has a greater ability to stay in the war.

According to the Ukrainian armed forces’ General Staff, Russia has lost 126,000 troops and thousands of pieces of military hardware since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February last year.

The report also suggests that officials have less confidence in the ability of Ukraine’s armed forces to carry out offensives seen last year.

Ukrainian president Zelensky said in an interview with Sky News that Ukraine needs “500 tanks” to liberate its provinces.

The Russian regional governor for Kursk, situated on the northeastern border of Ukraine, has reported shelling of the bordering region and strikes on Russian villages.

Governor Roman Starovoyt said on Telegram messaging app: “The village of Chervonozhovtneve of the Glushkovsky district of the Kursk region came under mortar fire from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

“12 hits were recorded. There are no casualties. Power supply lines were damaged, which left the village of Chervonozhovtneve and the neighboring village of Volfino without electricity.”

Ukraine’s military has not commented on the alleged attack.

Early talks on the supply of military aircraft and long-range missiles for Ukrainian forces could be a “game changer”, Ukraine’s defence minister has said.

Speaking with Canada’s CBC, defence minister Olek Reznikov said he had written a “wish list to Santa” for military supplies.

Reznikov said the list contained: “fighter jets, aircraft, and probably rockets… long-hand options to hit the Russians’ fuel depots, ammunition depots, and their commanders.”

Presidential adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky reported that Ukraine was in “fast track talks” to secure a supply of new missiles and military equipment.

Ukraine’s western allies have so far declined to supply military aircraft such as fighter jets. But Reznikov said that military equipment and weapons previously refused by allies, were now arriving in Ukraine.

The minister added: “For me, everything that’s impossible today [will be] possible tomorrow.”

Yurii Ihnat, spokesman for the Ukrainian Air Force, was quoted in the Spanish newspaper El Pais saying that their forces aim to receive 24 fighter jets, though Germany has previously said jets were ‘off the table’.

Russian forces have increased attacks in response to tank pledges by Western allies

The first tank crews from Ukraine to use UK-supplied Challenger tanks have arrived in the country, the Ministry of Defence has said.

Sharing photos of the crews on Twitter, the ministry added: “The UK will provide Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine alongside global partner nations - demonstrating the strength of support for Ukraine, internationally.”

Challenger 2 tanks will be used in Ukraine along with a range of armoured vehicles supplied by other western allies, including Germany, Poland and the US.

Read more on western nations supply of tanks here:

Further battalions of Leopard, Abrams and Challenger tanks could eventually be a game-changer, Andy Gregory reports

Russia will enforce mandatory military training in schools from September