Ukraine needs many more rocket launchers from west, says adviser

On Monday Britain said it would donate a handful of M270 tracked rocket launchers, carrying missiles with a range of about 50 miles, a few days after the US said it would donate four similar truck-based high mobility artillery rocket systems (Himars).

Haidai said shelling had increased tenfold in Sievierodonetsk and neighbouring Lysychansk, still held by Ukraine, and there were other reports of intense fighting involving machine gun, mortar and artillery fire and thousands of troops.

Ukrainian strategists said they had tried to lure Russian forces into overextending themselves in Sievierodonetsk, in the hope of blunting the operational effectiveness of the invading force. Although 120 Russian battalions remain inside Ukraine, Kyiv believes they are operating at 40% or 50% strength at present.

In Russia, the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, said the village of Tyotkino, near the border with Ukraine, had come under fire from the Ukrainian side that had targeted a bridge and some businesses on Monday morning.