Top EU diplomat calls for more military aid during Kyiv visit – live

Close to 250 of Vladimir Putin’s soldiers have been killed or injured in southern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, a Ukrainian military commander said.

Ukraine’s authorities said the casualties occurred on Saturday in Tavria, a village in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, just 23km from the major town of Tokmak, where Ukrainian forces are looking to advance for a strategic territorial advantage.

“Over the last day, the enemy lost 248 people (84 dead, 163 wounded and one captured),” Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who is in-charge of the strategic and operational group of forces in Tavriia, said in his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Volodymyr Zelensky thanked Ukrainian soldiers for their efforts in the war against Russia and said “ahead is our victory” in an event celebrating the country’s military.

The Ukrainian president made the comments on Sunday while marking the Day of the Defenders, a national event honouring the country’s veterans and those killed in battle.

In an address published by the Kyiv Post, he said: “Today we thank everyone who stood, stands and will stand strong. All those who were the first to take on a difficult battle.

Russia said on Sunday that air defences had shot down five Ukrainian drones over the western Smolensk region and one over the southern Krasnodar region.

Air defences shot down a Ukrainian drone in the Krasnodar region at around 0500 GMT, Russia’s defence ministry said.

At around 0600 GMT, Russia shot down three drones over the Smolensk region and at 0700 GMT shot down two more over the region, Russia’s defence ministry said.

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said during a visit to Kyiv on Sunday that Ukraine needed more military aid and he promised ongoing EU support.

“Ukraine needs more capabilities & needs them faster,” he said in a statement posted on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. He said he had discussed “continuous EU military assistance” during his first in-person meeting with Defence Minister Rustem Umerov.

“We are preparing long-term security commitments for Ukraine,” Borrell added.

This week the European Defence Agency said in response to questions from Reuters that seven EU countries had ordered ammunition under a procurement scheme to get urgently needed artillery shells to Ukraine and replenish depleted Western stocks.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said in a speech released on Sunday that nothing would weaken his country’s fight against Russia, a day after the US Congress passed a stopgap funding bill that omitted aid to Ukraine.

Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said separately he had received reassurances about further military assistance in a telephone call with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“Secretary Austin assured me,” he wrote in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, using flags in place of country names, that U.S. support to Ukraine “will continue” and that Ukrainian “warriors will continue to have a strong back-up on the battlefield.”

Zelensky, in a recorded speech marking the Defenders Day holiday, did not address the vote in Congress directly, but reiterated his determination to fight to victory.

No one could “shut down” Ukraine‘s stability, endurance, strength and courage, he said, echoing a Ukrainian verb often used to refer to power outages caused by Russian attacks.

He added that Ukraine would only stop resisting and fighting on the day of victory. “As we draw closer to it every day, we say, ‘We will fight for as long as it takes.’”

US President Joe Biden said on Sunday that Republicans had pledged to provide Ukraine aid through a separate vote and US support could not be interrupted “under any circumstances.”

Congressional supporters of Ukraine say they won’t give up after a bill to keep the federal government open excluded Joe Biden’s request to provide more security assistance to the war-torn nation.

Still, many lawmakers acknowledge that winning approval for Ukraine assistance in Congress is growing more difficult as the war between Russia and Ukraine grinds on. Republican resistance to the aid has been gaining momentum in the halls of Congress.

Voting in the House this past week pointed to the potential trouble ahead. Nearly half of House Republicans voted to strip $300m from a defence spending bill to train Ukrainian soldiers and purchase weapons.

Close to 250 of Vladimir Putin’s soldiers have been killed or injured in southern Ukraine in the past 24 hours, a Ukrainian military commander said.

Ukraine’s authorities said the casualties occurred on Saturday in Tavria, a village in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia, just 23km from the major town of Tokmak, where Ukrainian forces are looking to advance for a strategic territorial advantage.

“Over the last day, the enemy lost 248 people (84 dead, 163 wounded and one captured),” Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, who is in-charge of the strategic and operational group of forces in Tavriia, said in his Telegram channel on Sunday.

Rishi Sunak has made clear that Defence Secretary Grant Shapps’ suggestion that British troops could train forces in Ukraine is not for the “here and now” during the war against the Russian invasion.

The Prime Minister on Sunday ruled out UK forces going to Ukraine and said that the recently appointed political head of the Ministry of Defence was discussing possible plans for the “long term”.

Mr Shapps had said in an interview with The Sunday Telegraph that “eventually” he would like to get Britain’s long-standing training of Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops “in country” rather than in the UK.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said any British soldiers training troops in Ukraine would be legitimate targets for Russian forces, as would German factories producing missiles to supply Kyiv.

In a post on Telegram, Medvedev first directed his ire towards British Defence Minister Grant Shapps, who said in a newspaper interview that London wants to deploy military instructors to Ukraine, in addition to training Ukrainian armed forces in Britain.

“(This will) turn their instructors into a legal target for our armed forces … understanding perfectly well that they will be ruthlessly destroyed. And not as mercenaries, but namely as British NATO specialists,” Medvedev wrote on Telegram.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak rowed back from Shapps’ comments on Sunday, saying there were no immediate plans to deploy military instructors to Ukraine.

“But that’s something for the long term, not the here and now. There are no British soldiers that will be sent to fight in the current conflict.”

Medvedev also vilified those in Germany who want Berlin to supply Ukraine with Taurus cruise missiles that could strike Russian territory and try to limit Moscow’s supply to its army.

“They say this is in accordance with international law. Well, in that case, strikes on German factories where these missiles are made would also be in full compliance with international law,” Medvedev said.

“These morons are actively pushing us towards World War Three,” he added, repeating similar warnings he has made before. In July he said actions by the “completely crazy” West meant World War Three “is getting closer.”

Zelensky took to Twitter to share his gratitude with Ukrainian troops.

The post comes as the country celebrates their ‘National Day of Defenders’.

To mark the occasion, Ukrainians joined together in a minute of silence to remember those who have lost their lives to the war.

The president also visited a memorial wall where he joined citizens in laying flowers.