Russian president Vladimir Putin is visiting Minsk, Belarus along with his defence and foreign ministers, worsening fears that he intends to pressure his ex-Soviet ally to join the war against Ukraine.
Putin will meet with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenkow, and the trip comes as the UK’s Ministry of Defence reports that Russia is recruiting “poorly-trained convicts” to fight, treating them as “expendable” and likely threatening them with “summary execution”.
Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky has also said Russian aggression “must fail” as he urged Western leaders to supply more weapons to his country.
Addressing a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force via video link on Monday, Zelensky said: “Russian aggression can and must fail. The task now is to make sure it happens faster.
“I call upon you to do everything to accelerate the defeat of the occupiers."
Zelensky asked European leaders, including British prime minister Rishi Sunak, to send new equipment such as air defence systems and other weaponry.
It comes after Ukrainian officials said Russia unleashed 35 “kamikaze” drones in the early hours of Monday as people slept, hitting critical infrastructure in and around Kyiv in Moscow’s third air attack on the Ukrainian capital in six days.
The Ukrainian Air Force said its air defences shot down 30 incoming drones, which were targeting the country's power grid and caused sweeping blackouts.
