Ukraine-Russia war – live: Putin’s forces suffer ‘significant losses’ as Kyiv vows more drone strikes

A body has been found in the search for a former British soldier who went missing while fighting in Ukraine, my colleague Natalie Crockett reports.

Ex-paratrooper Daniel Burke, 36, of south Manchester, was reported missing by his family on 16 August after he had travelled to join the fighting in 2022.

Greater Manchester Police said on Saturday that officers were working with Mr Burke’s family and the Ukrainian authorities to identify the body found and to bring him back to the UK.

Mr Burke’s mother Diane Sniath told the BBC that “this is the moment I have been dreading”.

His family told the broadcaster that the body was found in Zaporizhzhia, which lies about 27 miles from the front line.

North Korea looks set to boost Russia’s supply of artillery munitions, but that is unlikely to be “decisive” in the Ukraine war, Washington’s top military officer has said, as he arrived in Norway for Nato meetings.

General Mark Milley said the meeting in Russia between Kim Jong Un and Vladimir Putin will probably lead North Korea to provide Soviet-era 152 mm artillery rounds to Moscow. But he said it was not yet clear how many or how soon.

“Would it have a huge difference? I’m sceptical of that,” Mr Milley told reporters travelling with him, adding that while he does not want to play down the weapons assistance too much, “I doubt that it would be decisive.”

Foreign governments and experts have speculated that Kim will likely supply ammunition to Russia in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Russia.

Interior minister Mariusz Kaminski has announced that Poland will ban the entry of passenger cars registered in Russia from Sunday.

The ban is a further part of sanctions imposed on Russia and its citizens in connection with the war in Ukraine, the state-run Polish news agency PAP reported, citing Mr Kaminski.

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said he met this week with Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court.

“We talked about the approach of justice for Ukraine and for all people who suffered from Russian war crimes,” the president said in his nightly address.

“The responsibility must be clear, concrete, completely fair – just like the warrant for Putin’s arrest issued by the International Criminal Court. What the Russian dictator was really afraid of.

“And now, he tries not to leave Russia, because the force of law exists, and it is strong. And the world has every opportunity for the law to overcome the aggression of the bandit force.”

Ukraine has claimed fresh success in its counteroffensive, with the recapture of another village, this time near Bakhmut – a liberation that the army says is “key to success in all further directions”.

Here are the latest battlefield developments from our international editor Chris Stevenson:

The Russian defence ministry claims its air defence systems have destroyed a drone launched from Ukraine into Russia’s neighbouring Belgorod region.

Earlier, the ministry claimed Russian air defences had shot down two Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga and Tver regions.

We’ll bring you more details on this as we get them.

Prior to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, Irina Babloyan hosted Russia’s most popular morning radio show, on the country’s sole independent station, Echo of Moscow.

But within days of Ukraine being plunged into full-scale war, Echo of Moscow – established in 1990, prior to the collapse of the Soviet Union – was taken off air and then shut down completely, as part of the Kremlin’s unsparing clampdown on information about its so-called “special military operation”.

Stalked by the FSB, Ms Babloyan – among the first people to talk publicly about Ukrainian children being forcibly taken to Russia – eventually decided to leave Moscow for Tblisi last October, where she spent 10 days before moving to Berlin, where Echo of Moscow planned to resume programming.

But on the eve of her journey, with stops in both Armenia and Moldova, she very suddenly “felt something strange going on” – and still suffers “burning” skin to this day.

Ms Babloyan told The Independent her story, which you can read here:

Russia is likely to be able to compile a “significant stockpile” of cruise missiles to potentially launch attacks on Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure once again over the winter, the UK’s Ministry of Defence has said.

“Air launched cruise missiles (ALCMs), especially the modern AS-23a KODIAK, were at the heart of most of these strike missions. Russia uses strategic bomber aircraft to release these munitions from deep within Russian territory,” according to the ministry.

“Open source reports suggest that since April 2023, ALCM expenditure rates have reduced, while Russian leaders have highlighted efforts to increase the rate of cruise missile production.

“Russia is therefore likely able to generate a significant stockpile of ALCMs. There is a realistic possibility Russia will again focus these weapons against Ukrainian infrastructure targets over the winter.”

Ukrainian orphans Ivan and Maksym, 17 and 16, escaped shelling and hunger in besieged Mariupol only to be captured and taken to the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk where they were held incommunicado for months with dozens of other children.

They are now among about 400 Ukrainian children to have returned from Russia or Russian-held territory since Moscow’s full-scale invasion began in February, 2022 – a tiny fraction of the 20,000 children that Kyiv has identified as taken without the consent of family or guardians.

The boys and four other Ukrainian children told their stories in The Hague, where the campaign “Bring Kids Back UA” was launched this week by Netherlands-based NGO Orphans Feeding Foundation with the backing of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.

The boys, students at the Mariupol Technical School of Building, were living in a dormitory when the area came under fierce bombardment by Russian forces. Food and water ran out, and they fled on foot in March to a nearby village.

“When we arrived, we went to the hospital, because there was nowhere else to go. We said we were orphans, and they informed the Donetsk hospital. Then child protection services came and asked where our parents were. So we were taken away,” Maksym told Reuters.

Ivan said: “We didn’t want to go there, but we didn’t have a choice. We were fed four times a week. We spent time in our rooms and played on our phones. They let us go outside for one hour a day, and not every day. There was nothing for us to do.”

A Ukrainian minister who has played a key role in building the country’s drone industry has vowed there “will be more drones, more attacks, and fewer Russian ships”, after a recent series of sea raids.

Digital transformation minister Mykhailo Fedorov told Reuters that Ukraine’s aerial drone production had increased by over 100 times in 2023 from last year, adding: “I think it’ll be an increase of around 120 to 140 times by the end of this year, if you compare it to the previous one.”

According to the minister, Ukraine is testing AI systems that can locate targets several kilometres away and guide drones to them even if external communications are disrupted by electronic warfare measures.

“We need AI, for instance the technology for finding targets, just like how the Lancet (a Russian drone) operates, so that a target can be located under electronic warfare and destroyed.

“At the moment it’s all at the testing stage, but some drones we are buying use AI to recognise targets. In a forest, it can detect a target and recognise whether it’s a person, tank, or a certain vehicle. These technologies are being used actively.”