Ukraine-Russia war latest: UK intelligence suggests almost half a million Russian soldiers have died in Putin’s invasion
Ukraine war is at ‘turning point’ and Kyiv has six months to seize initiative, says senior commander
UK targets Putin’s cryptocurrency networks in latest sanctionsSpy chief to warn of ‘relentless’ Russian cyber attacks on UK and Europe
Russia ‘within their rights’ to take Crimea, Reform’s Makerfield candidate said as he compared it to Falklands
Almost 500,000 Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine war, GCHQ says
Nearly 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed over the course of the Ukraine war, new intelligence from GCHQ suggests.
The agency’s director Anne Keast-Butler revealed the figures during her inaugural public speech on Wednesday as she set out the biggest threats facing the UK.
She said Russia is "targeting critical infrastructure, democratic processes, supply chains and public trust".
Ms Keast-Butler added: "In the face of such aggression and chaos, GCHQ is working tirelessly with intelligence and defence partners to degrade and reduce the Russian threat."
She warned the UK is at a "moment of consequence" with Russia "relentlessly targeting" critical infrastructure across the country.
Almost 500,000 Russian soldiers have been killed in Putin’s war on Ukraine, says GCHQ
Russia has lost 500,000 soldiers since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the UK’s intelligence chief said in London.
GCHQ director Anne Keast-Butler gave the latest figure for Russian casualties in Ukraine during her first public speech at Bletchley Park, saying it proved Vladimir Putin was “going backwards in the battlefield”.
Ms Keast-Butler warned Russia was risking a wider conflict in Europe by targeting critical infrastructure and supply chains across the continent.
She also said Russian security services were behind espionage plots in multiple countries and blamed Moscow for “scaling up its daily hybrid activity against the UK and Europe”.
Assessments by Western intelligence and independent analysts suggest both Russia and Ukraine have seen hundreds of thousands of troops killed in the war, with Moscow’s losses likely significantly higher than Kyiv’s. Neither side publishes regular figures on its own casualties, and both accuse each other of exaggerating their enemy’s losses.
500,000 Russian soldiers killed in Putin’s war on Ukraine, says GCHQ
UK spy chief says Russia is scaling up its daily hybrid activity against Britain and EuropeArpan Rai28 May 2026 06:27Belgium summons Russian ambassador over Russia's call for foreigners to leave Kyiv
Belgium has summoned the Russian ambassador after Russia called on diplomatic personnel and foreign citizens to leave Kyiv ahead of planned strikes, Belgian foreign minister Maxime Prevot said yesterday.
"Threatening embassies is not diplomacy, it is intimidation. And it is a flagrant violation of international law and the Vienna Convention," he also said, adding that Belgium will stay in Kyiv "and will not be intimidated".
Several other EU states have also summoned their Russian ambassadors over Moscow's threat.
Arpan Rai28 May 2026 06:15Watch: Russian strikes on Zaporizhzhia injure 12, including infant
Ukraine's draft law on EU loan pact seeks funds of €90bn
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has submitted a draft law on the ratification of a loan agreement with the European Union, a document posted on parliament's website showed this morning.
The draft sets out a framework for Ukraine to attract total funds of €90bn (£78bn), according to an accompanying explanatory note.
Watch: Zelensky writes urgent letter to Trump over critical air defence shortage
EU ministers to discuss Russia strategy as Kyiv pushes for European role
European Union foreign ministers will discuss today how to approach any possible future talks with Russia, as Ukraine seeks to replace the US with Europe as the main mediator in negotiations with Moscow.
The EU has pursued a policy of isolating Russia since Moscow's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. It has imposed sanctions and had few high-level political and diplomatic contacts with Russia.
But with Washington embroiled in a new conflict with Iran, US-led talks to end the conflict making little progress and the war now in its fifth year, some European officials have said the EU should be ready for when the time comes to hold talks with Moscow.
The Kremlin said yesterday that Russian president Vladimir Putin was open to negotiations with Europe, the RIA news agency reported.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has in recent weeks publicly called for diplomacy to be reinvigorated and for Europe to become part of the process.
Zelensky had said it is worth determining who will represent Europe specifically.
Ukraine war is at ‘turning point’, says senior commander
Ukraine faces a critical six-month window to seize the battlefield initiative from Russia and strengthen its position for potential peace negotiations, a senior commander has said, predicting an imminent "turning point" in the conflict now in its fifth year.
Russian forces have made incremental gains since their full-scale invasion in February 2022, but their advances have slowed this year. Ukrainian troops are now intensifying pressure on the frontline in an effort to push back the invaders.
Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, who commands Ukraine's Third Army Corps – one of the nation's most respected fighting formations – told Reuters in an interview that he believes Russia's military is exhausted and incapable of achieving significant breakthroughs.
Read more here:
Ukraine war is at crucial turning point, says senior commander
Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky said he believes the Russian military is exhaustedArpan Rai28 May 2026 04:44Von der Leyen discusses Ukraine's path to EU membership with Zelensky
European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen said she discussed Ukraine's path to EU membership with president Volodymyr Zelensky.
"Air defence and drone and counter-drone capabilities are among Europe's most urgent defence priorities. And Ukraine will be fully integrated into these efforts," she said in a post on X yesterday.
"The coming weeks will be important to take decisive steps forward in the accession process," she said.
German chancellor Friedrich Merz earlier this month suggested permitting Ukraine "associate" membership in the bloc, allowing it to participate in EU meetings and institutions without a vote, as an interim step toward full membership – a proposal that Zelensky has labelled as unfair.
Zelensky has said Ukraine has pressed ahead with reforms needed for EU membership, with an opportunity for substantive progress on talks following the electoral defeat of Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban, a staunch opponent of Ukraine's EU membership.
Von der Leyen added that Europe continues to support Ukraine amid its war with Russia.
Ukraine rejects Russian claims of capturing two more Ukrainian villages
The Russian defence ministry has claimed its troops have taken control of one village in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region and another in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region yesterday.
But the claims were swiftly denied by Ukraine’s military and the country's most widely read military blog.
Russia's defence ministry said its forces had taken control of Hraniv in Kharkiv region on the border with Russia and Vozdvyzhivka in a highly contested part of Zaporizhzhia region.
Ukraine's 14th Army dismissed the Russian report, saying Hraniv was under the control of the Ukrainian military.
"Units of the Defence Forces of Ukraine are reliably holding designated defensive lines, effectively repelling enemy offensive actions, and inflicting significant losses on them in personnel and equipment," it said on Facebook.
DeepState, a Ukrainian war blog that tracks the two sides along the 1,250-km (775-mile) front line using open sources, said the Russian report of Vozdvyzhivka's capture was untrue.
It said a group of Russian servicemen had briefly entered the village earlier this month but had been evicted or killed.
On Tuesday, the 14th Army also denied the capture of one of two villages the Russian military claimed to have seized in Sumy region, a border area where Moscow says it wants to expand a buffer zone.
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