Ukraine war latest: UK defence secretary in Kyiv on surprise visit; 'we could f****** lose Russia', Wagner boss warns (2023)

Russia's defence minister has said Moscow will react "extremely harshly" to further attacks by fighters entering its territory from Ukraine.

Sergei Shoigu told defence ministry officials: "We will continue to respond to such actions by Ukrainianmilitants promptly and extremely harshly".

His warning comes after Monday's cross-border incursion into Russia's Belgorod region.

Yesterday, the Russian military said it had routed militantswho attacked the region with armoured vehicles, adding that it had killed more than 70 "Ukrainian nationalists".

Moscow blamed the raid on Ukrainian military saboteurs whilst Kyiv portrayed it as an uprising against the Kremlin by Russian partisans.

The attack, which took place in Russia's southwest region, about 80km north of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, was a fresh reminder of how Russia itself remains vulnerable to attack, along with Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

Ben Wallace has arrived in Kyiv for a surprise visit to meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Oleksii Reznikov.

The Ukrainian defence secretary said the pair had a "very meaningful discussion" on increase Kyiv's defence capabilities and long-range weapons - including Storm Shadow missiles.

Mr Wallace signed a visitor's book, writing: "Glory to the brave men and women who fight for freedom and to defend their country. Their fight, our fight."

Earlier this month the defence secretary announced that the UK would send Storm Shadow missiles to Ukraine, marking a significant step-up in the capabilities of arms the UK has sent to Kyiv. He said the country "has a right to be able to defend itself."

Last week, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the UK to meet with Rishi Sunak - as the prime minister revealed the UK would start training Ukrainian pilots to use Western fighter jets "relatively soon", helped by the opening of a new flying school.

Back to the Belgorod incursion.

The Russian defence ministry has released pictures of what they claim are abandoned Western military vehicles used by Ukraine - including what Sky News has identified as US-made Humvees.

However, there are claims that part of the pictures may have been staged - pointing to details in the images which they say suggest the scene could have been choreographed.

They point to details including the lack of dirt in front of one of the vehicles which they say should have been created on impact as it fell into the gap and question how only one of the tires on the vehicle in the foreground got over the trench, but the other didn't.

Sky News has been able to geolocate the images to the Belgorod checkpoint and can confirm from previously released drone video that the two Humvees in the photo were not there earlier this week.

The vehicles also contain Ukrainian markings.

Monday's cross-border incursion into Russia's Belgorod region has been described as "humiliating" for Moscow.

Russia said more than 70 attackers have been killed in the region and the remnants of their units pushed back into Ukrainian territory after two days of fighting.

While there's still widespread confusion over reports of the raid - Moscow has blamed "Ukrainian militants" - but Kyiv portrayed the alleged incursion as an uprising by Russian partisans and said it had nothing to do with it.

Two groups operating in Ukraine - the Russian Volunteer Corps (RVC) and Freedom of Russia Legion - have claimed responsibility.

The US says it does not "enable or encourage" Ukrainian attacks on Russian territory, but that it is up to Kyiv to decide how it conducts military operations.

Now to the frontline for some of the latest pictures we're receiving of Ukrainian soldiers near Bakhmut.

The battle for control of the besieged city in eastern Ukraine is continuing. It's been the epicentre of fierce fighting with huge losses on both sides.

Russia claims to have captured Bakhmut, but Ukraine insists it still controls part of it.

Moscow has been widely condemned for the war in Ukraine, but there are a few countries that could fear a Russian defeat.

Four countries in particular have emerged as key allies that are prepared to defend Moscow, an expert writing for the think tank Atlantic Council says: China, Iran, Belarus and Armenia.

Despite their standing, these countries are "united by a common fear" of what a Russian defeat in might mean for them, according to Taras Kuzio, professor of political science at the National University of Kyiv Mohyla Academy.

While China has stopped short of "outright support" for Russia's invasion, it has adopted a position that could be termed as "Kremlin-friendly neutrality", Mr Kuzio says.

He suggests a Russian defeat would "considerably complicate" any future Chinese efforts to invade Taiwan, adding that if Western military aid helps Ukraine win it could increase the chances of similar support for Taiwan against possible Chinese aggression.

In Belarus, a Russian defeat would likely "reignite domestic unrest" and affect Alexander Lukashenko's regime.

But Armenia, Mr Kuzio says, remains heavily invested in the view of "Russia as a protector" against perceived threats to national security posed by Azerbaijan and Turkey.

Iran, he says, shares China's geopolitical motivations for supporting Russia's war, but the leadership is fearful that a Russian defeat could "increase demands for democratic change" inside Iran.

Russian forces have shot down "a large number" of drones in the southern Belgorod region, a local official has claimed.

The drones were intercepted overnight, governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a Telegram post.

No one was hurt, he said, but administrative buildings, homes and cars were damaged in Borisov district.

Sky News was unable to verify this report.

On Monday, reports surfaced of an armed raid across the Ukrainian border into the region.

In what appeared to be one of the biggest incursions from Ukraine since the war began 15 months ago, two purported anti-Kremlin armed groups employing Russians based abroad said they were responsible for the attack in Belgorod.

Russia says more than 70 attackers were killed in the region and the remnants of their units pushed back into Ukraine after two days of fighting.

Moscow has blamed "Ukrainian militants" but Kyiv portrayed the alleged incursion as an uprising by Russian partisans and said it had nothing to do with it.

Security at Europe's biggest nuclear plant was the focus of a meeting in Beijing between Rafael Grossi, the UN nuclear watchdog chief, and Alexey Likhachev, head of Rosatom, the Russian state nuclear company.

The International Atomic Energy Agency says it was part of Mr Rossi's "intensified efforts" to "avoid a nuclear or radiological accident".

No other details were given.

Russia captured the plant early in the war and concerns have been raised about its safety on several occasions.

On Monday, the plant was temporarily disconnected from external power and switched on to emergency supply generators. Both sides blamed the other for the power outage.

Two bodies have been retrieved from the ruins of a building in a city in the Donetsk region, Ukraine's defence ministry said.

Russia "completely destroyed" a nine-storey building in Avdiivka yesterday, leaving another woman in a critical condition.

The eastern city was a main target of a Russian winter offensive that was intended to reinvigorate the full-scale invasion, but made only small territorial advances in the east.

The founder of the Wagner mercenary group has warned that Russia's elite must get serious about fighting the war in Ukraine or it could lose and face a revolution.

Yevgeny Prigozhin said in an interview on his Telegram channel that Ukraine would try to encircleBakhmut and attack Crimea - which Russia illegally annexed in 2014.

"Most likely of all, this scenario will not be good forRussia so we need to prepare for an arduous war," he said.

"We are in such a condition that we could f****** loseRussia - that is the main problem... We need to impose martiallaw."

Mr Prigozhin said his political outlook was dominated by lovefor the motherland and serving Vladimir Putin.

Russia's elite, he said, protected their own children fromfighting the war while the children of ordinary Russiansperished on the front, a situation he said that could triggerturmoil in Russia.

If ordinary Russians continued getting their children backin zinc coffins while the children of the elite sunnedthemselves abroad, he said, Russia would face turmoil along thelines of the 1917 revolution.

The Wagner Group has been heavily involved in the fighting in Bakhmut. Mr Prigozhin previously threatened to pull his forces out of the city and accused Russia's military command of starving the group of ammunition.

The acting head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic says Bakhmut would now be known by its former Soviet name "Artemovsk".

Denis Pushilin said he visited the Ukrainian city on Tuesday and claimed on Telegram that the Russian flag was "hoisted" over "Artemovsk".

He thanked Wagner Group fighters for their efforts in the battered city, adding that the "Russian city" would be restored.

Bakhmut is located in Ukraine's Donetsk - part of the largely Russian-speaking industrialised Donbas region which Moscow wants to annex with its self-declared "special military operation".

While the Russian military and mercenary fighters Wagner claimed they had taken full control of the city over the weekend - Ukrainian forces contest this and say they have made minor progress against Russian forces on the edge of the city.