Russia now controls more than two-thirds of Ukraine’s Donetsk region — the main theater of the ground war. Russian forces have carved out a 10-mile-deep pocket around the Ukrainian troops defending the crucial city of Kostiantynivka, partly surrounding them from the east, south and west.

At least three people have died following another widespread air bombardment by Russia. Two people were killed in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, the regional governor, Sergiy Lysak, said, while a woman died of her injuries after being rescued from a burning apartment in Odesa, according to emergency services.

Daria Slavytska, 27, takes shelter inside a metro station with her 2-year-old son Emil during a Russian missile and drone strike, amid Russia's attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine July 9, 2025. REUTERS/Alina Smutko

More than a dozen war veterans from Ukraine will be on hand when Oleksandr Usyk faces Daniel Dubois at Wembley Stadium on Saturday night in the pair’s fight to become the undisputed world heavyweight champion.

For the past three years carpenter Matt has been delivering aid to the city of Sumy, which is on the front line of the war in Ukraine. Every six weeks he makes the 2,000-mile (3,219km) trip from his home in Oxfordshire, working extra days so he can afford to regularly drive to the warzone.

Australia has sent the first batch of decommissioned tanks as part of its support for Ukraine's fight against Russia.

Ukraine's top military commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, said on Friday his forces were standing firm in defending a key city on the eastern front of the three-year war. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised Ukraine's forces in their defence of Pokrovsk,

The UK is looking to participate in European purchases of US military equipment for Ukraine, as allies seize on Donald Trump’s more hostile stance toward Russia even if it means financing the weapons themselves.