Russia is “not at war with Ukraine” but is fighting Britain and the US, one of Vladimir Putin’s closest allies has said.
Nikolai Patrushev, the Russian security council secretary, said: “The events in Ukraine are not a clash between Moscow and Kyiv - this is a military confrontation between Russia and Nato, and above all the United States and Britain.”
The former Soviet spy also told the Argumenti i Fakti newspaper that Russia is “not at war with Ukraine” because Russians “cannot have hatred for ordinary Ukrainians”.
His comments come as Putin’s defence minister vowed on Tuesday to build a deeper arsenal of weapons, bolster aviation technology to better evade air defences and improve drone production after a series of battlefield humiliations in Ukraine.
Elsewhere, two British nationals helping evacuate civilians in Ukraine have gone missing in the Donetsk region.
The missing men have been identified to The Independent as Andrew Bagshaw, 48, and Christopher Parry, 28. There has been no contact with the pair since they left Kramatorsk at 8am on Friday.
