Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s troops ‘executed for retreating’ as Moscow ‘loses entire brigade’ in Avdiivka

The White House on Thursday said Russia is executing soldiers who have failed to follow orders and threatening entire units with death if they retreat from Ukrainian artillery fire.

It’s a development that U.S. national security officials believe reflects Russia’s morale problems 20 months into its grinding invasion of Ukraine, said White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby.

“It’s reprehensible to think about that you would execute your own soldiers because they didn’t want to follow orders and now threatening to execute entire units, it’s barbaric,” Kirby told reporters. “But I think it’s a symptom of how poorly Russia’s military leaders know they’re doing and how bad they have handled this from a military perspective.”

The White House has downgraded and released intelligence findings about Russian action over the course of the war. In the past, the administration has said it has acted to disclose the intelligence to highlight plans for Russian misinformation and other activity so allies remain clear-eyed about Moscow’s intent and Russia thinks twice before carrying out an operation.

This latest unveiling of intelligence about Russia’s struggles comes as President Joe Biden is pressing the Republican-controlled House to go along with providing more funding for Ukraine as Kyiv tries to repel Russia in a war that has no end in sight.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has given posthumous awards to 21 soldiers.

It is an honor for me to award Golden Stars to the families of our heroes. Twenty-one Heroes of Ukraine. Posthumously,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

“I very much want these state awards to serve as a reminder that our heroes will never be forgotten. That their names and stories will be known. That Ukraine will always be grateful to them.”

Vladimir Putin has lost “at least a brigdade” of troops in his offensive push towards the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka, president Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“The invaders made several attempts to surround Avdiivka, but each time our soldiers stopped them and threw them back, causing painful losses. In these cases, the enemy lost at least a brigade,” Zelensky said.

Russia renewed the offensive on the embattled town in mid-October, trying to overwhelm Ukrainian positions with constant barrages of artillery and waves of troops and fighting vehicles, according to local and military authorities in Ukraine.

Brigades vary in size and can number between 1,500 and 8,000 troops. Battlefield losses are a state secret in Russia and Ukraine, though they are believed to run into the many tens of thousands on both sides since Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Hungary is following a “peace strategy” for Ukraine, Viktor Orban said.

“Hungary is following a peace strategy. We will do everything in order to make peace. My meeting with the President of Russia served this purpose,” the prime minister said.

It comes after Mr Orban said the European Union’s Ukraine strategy has “failed” and Ukraine will not win on the front line.

He added that he saw no reason for Hungary, which shares a border with Ukraine, sending any taxpayers’ money to the EU budget for financial support for Ukraine.

Vladimir Putin’s meeting with terror group Hamas shows how far “Russia has fallen” since its invasion of Ukraine, the UK defence secretary said.

“Tyranny meets terrorism. Pariah meets proscribed, as Russia sits down with Hamas,” defence secretary Grant Shapps said on X, formerly Twitter.

“Putin’s humiliating search for friends, from North Korea to Hamas, has shown how far Russia has fallen & proven the disastrous cost of his failing invasion of Ukraine.”

Slovakia’s new prime minister Robert Fico has told other European Union leaders that 50bn euros in EU aid to Ukraine should include guarantees that the funds would not be misappropriated.

“Ukraine is among the most corrupt countries in the world and we are conditioning what is excessive financial support on guarantees that European money will not be embezzled,” Mr Fico said.

Mr Fico was appointed prime minister on Wednesday for the fourth time after pledging in his election campaign to end military support for Ukraine and criticising sanctions on Russia.

Rishi Sunak has spoken to Volodymyr Zelensky, to reassure him the UK’s support for Ukraine will not change despite the Israel-Hamas war.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said the Prime Minister spoke to the Ukrainian President this morning “to reiterate the UK’s support for Ukraine.

“The Prime Minister underscored the UK’s long term and unwavering commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and reiterated that the conflict in the Middle East would not change that.”

Mr Sunak added that “the principle of a rules based order, in which people could live in peace and stability, needed to be protected both in Ukraine and the Middle East”.

Former Ukrainian lawmaker Oleg Tsaryov, a pro-Russian figure who was reported to have been lined up by Moscow to lead a puppet administration in Kyiv after Russia’s invasion, is in intensive care after being shot, a Russian official said.

The official, Vladimir Rogov, did not say where the shooting had taken place. “Oleg’s condition is very serious. He is currently in intensive care,” said Rogov, a senior Russian-installed official in southern Ukraine.

“Oleg was shot,” he added on Telegram, asking Orthodox Christian believers to pray for Tsaryov.

Previously Tsaryov had been a member of the Ukrainian parliament and then speaker of the parliament of “Novorossiya” an entity formed after Russian-backed separatists in eastern Ukraine broke away in 2014 and began fighting Ukrainian forces.

A Russian missile hit a fire department building in the northern region of Kharkiv, injuring at least eight rescuers, Ukraine’s interior minister said.

The attack targeted the town of Izium, the minister, Ihor Klymenko, said in a post on the Telegram messaging app that was accompanied by images of the wrecked building and fire trucks.

“The building itself and 13 pieces of equipment were also damaged,” he added, but did not say what type of missile had been used.

Five of six drones were destroyed in two waves of Shahed drone attacks that Russia launched overnight on the southern regions of Mykolaiv and Kherson, said Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the southern military command.

Russia said it had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack near a nuclear plant in the country’s south, where two news outlets said an explosion had damaged the facade of a warehouse storing nuclear waste.

Air defences foiled “an attempt by the Kyiv regime to carry out a terrorist attack” when they intercepted a drone near the settlement of Kurchatov in the southern region of Kursk, Russia’s defence ministry said.

Kurchatov is the location of the Kursk nuclear power station, which said in a separate statement that an attempt to attack it with not one but three drones had been thwarted.

It said there were no casualties or damage, and that radiation levels were normal and the plant was operating as usual.