Ukraine war live: Kyiv claims Moscow has lost 1 million troops

Foreign secretary David Lammy is set to discuss the Ukraine conflict with his Turkish counterpart Hakan Fidan during his first bilateral visit to Ankara.

The trip comes as talks on a new free trade agreement between the UK and Turkey get under way.

The UK and Turkey are also in talks to export Eurofighter Typhoon jets to Turkey.

Mr Lammy said: “In an increasingly volatile world, the UK and Turkey remain the closest of friends and partners as we work together to find peaceful solutions to conflict in the Middle East and Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine.

“Ours is a relationship which delivers directly for Turkish and British citizens at home – trade between our nations is responsible for thousands of jobs, while our security and defence links help keep our people safe.”

Ukraine has joined other countries bordering Russia in signalling that it will withdraw from the Ottawa Convention banning anti-personnel landmines, in the face of what they say are growing military threats from Russia.

Nato members Finland, Poland and the three ex-Soviet Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – have either withdrawn from the convention or indicated that they would do so, citing the increased military danger from their neighbour.

The moves threaten to reverse decades of campaigning by activists who say there should be a global ban on a weapon that blights huge swathes of territory and maims and kills civilians long after conflicts have abated.

Countries that quit the 1997 treaty – one of a series of international agreements concluded after the end of the Cold War to encourage global disarmament – will be able to start producing, using, stockpiling and transferring landmines once again.

All of Russia’s largest drone and missile attacks on Ukraine have come in the past month.

Russia launched its biggest aerial attack against Ukraine overnight, a Ukrainian official said Sunday, part of an escalating bombing campaign that has further dashed hopes for a breakthrough in efforts to end the 3-year-old war.

Russia fired a total of 537 aerial weapons at Ukraine, including 477 drones and decoys and 60 missiles, Ukraine’s air force said. Of these, 249 were shot down and 226 were lost, likely having been electronically jammed.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has been filmed draping coffins with the national flag in what appears to be the repatriation of soldiers killed fighting for Russia against Ukraine, the country’s state media showed.

It comes as the two countries marked a landmark military treaty signed in June last year in Pyongyang, which included a mutual defence pact and came before thousands of North Korean troops were sent to help fight Ukrainian forces in Russia’s Kursk region.

In a series of photographs displayed in the backdrop of a gala performance by North Korean and visiting Russian artists in Pyongyang, Kim is seen by rows of a half a dozen coffins, covering them with flags and pausing briefly with both hands resting on them.

The scene followed images of North Korean and Russian soldiers waving their national flags with patriotic notes written in Korean. Kim is seen at the gala seemingly overcome with emotion and audience members wiping away tears.

Germany expects that the EU’s plans for an 18th sanctions package against Russia will be adopted this week, a Berlin government spokesperson said on Monday.

“It will now be raised at ambassadorial level and reconsidered after a visit by the Commission to Slovakia later this week,” they said.

The European Commission on June 10 proposed a new round of sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine more than three years ago, targeting Moscow’s energy revenues, banks and military industry.

The Kremlin said on Monday that backers of US senator Lindsey Graham’s bill – that would impose tough new sanctions on Russia and its trading partners – should ask themselves how it would affect efforts to reach a peace deal on Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was responding to a question after Graham said in an interview with ABC News on Sunday that president Donald Trump had told him the sanctions bill could be brought forward for a vote.

Mr Peskov said Russia was aware of Graham’s stance and that it regarded him to be an “inveterate Russophobe.”

If implemented, the bill would impose 500% tariffs on countries that buy Russian goods like oil, something which China and India buy in large quantities.

Andrii Sybiha, the foreign minister for Ukraine, has hit out at his Slovakian counterpart for suggesting Russia should be forgiven for its actions in Ukraine.

“Let us return to respect for international law and seek ways to communicate with the Russian Federation,” Juraj Blanar said in an interview. “And perhaps even forgive everything that has happened.”

Mr Sybiha hit back strongly at Mr Blanar, warning that Moscow would “hit your other cheek as well”.

He wrote on X: “Juraj, Russia’s sense of impunity is the root cause of its crimes. It’s naive to expect a criminal to stop if their crime is forgiven instead of punished.

“Russia will hit your other cheek as well. And those who have lost no one in this war have no right to make such statements.”