Ukraine Russia war – latest news: Putin’s troops step up attacks as Zelensky warns of more losses for Moscow

Ukraine‘s first lady has asked the UK to become a “leader” in the fight for justice as her country continues to be torn apart by war.

Olena Zelenska addressed MPs and House of Lords peers, including Boris Johnson and Keir Starmer, as part of her trip to London.

In her speech, she said: “Ukrainians are now going through a terror which will resonate with you.

“Your island survived the air raids which were identical to those that Russia uses now.”

She added: “We know that justice is one of the benchmarks of the British way of life.”

Vladimir Putin has already wasted his regular army in eastern Ukraine since the invasion began, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“But we are holding out and – most importantly – do not allow the enemy to fulfil their intentions. They said they would capture the Donetsk region in spring, summer, autumn… Winter begins this week already. They wasted their regular army there, they lose hundreds of mobilized and mercenaries there every day, they use barrier troops there,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

He added: “This year, Russia will lose a hundred thousand of its soldiers killed and only God knows how many mercenaries. And Ukraine will stand. And the world will do everything to ensure that everyone guilty of this criminal war is brought to justice.”

Read more about Russian shelling over the weekend here:

Britain will now guarantee access for Ukraine to financial services as Kyiv looks to rebuild its shattered economy following the signing of a ground-breaking new deal, the Rishi Sunak administration has said.

Trade secretary Kemi Badenoch and Ukraine’s first deputy prime minister Yulia Svyrydenko are set to sign the digital trade agreement in London today.

Officials said the deal – based on a similar agreement earlier this year between the UK and Singapore – will support digital commerce through the facilitation of cross-border data flows.

It follows an approach by the government in Kyiv over the summer to see if such an agreement would be possible.

Digital trade is crucial for Ukraine in the current conflict with Russia where the fighting and the damage to infrastructure makes physical trade more difficult.

Read the full story here:

Russian forces pounded Ukrainian targets with artillery, mortar and tank fire in the battered eastern region of Donetsk.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the Russian military was also attacking in Luhansk in the east and Kharkiv in the northeast, an area Ukraine recaptured in September.

“The situation at the front is difficult. Despite extremely large losses, the occupiers are still trying to advance” in Donetsk, Luhansk and Kharkiv. And “they are planning something in the south,” the wartime president said said.

Ukraine regained control of Kherson in the south this month after Russian forces retreated. Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba urged the country’s allies to send aid for keeping Ukrainians safe and warm as Kyiv looks to endure the war in the winter campaign.

“We need air defence, IRIS, Hawks, Patriots, and we need transformers (for our energy needs),” he said on the sidelines of the Nato meeting, enumerating various Western air defence systems.

“In a nutshell: Patriots and transformers are what Ukraine needs the most,” he said.