Ukraine war latest: UK now a 'de facto' participant in war, Russia says - as Moscow tells US it is 'playing with fire'

More now on the comments made earlier by the Ukrainian army's commander-in-chief Oleksandr Syrskyi (see our 10.21am post).

He said he expects fighting to intensify as Russia continues to attack Kharkiv - with Sumy the next possible target, roughly 170km northwest.

Russia's attack on Kharkiv has expanded the area of active fighting by almost 70km, he added, which was designed to force Ukraine to divert stretched resources to the region.

In comments on the Telegram messaging app, he said the main focus of Russia's attack is towards the area of Lyptsi and further east in Vovchansk - as our military analyst Michael Clarke reported earlier (1.27pm).

Mr Syrskyi said Russia attacked early after noticing a change in troops, but they "failed to break through".

He added Ukraine "must prevent further advance" by "inflicting maximum losses with air strikes, missile systems, artillery and tank fire".

Russia's defence ministry claims Russian forces have taken control of 12 settlements in Ukraine's northeastern Kharkiv region in the past week.

Moscow has claimed a series of gains since its forces launched a new offensive in Kharkiv's north last Friday - in a move which surprised Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the area.

As we've been reporting, Vladimir Putin said earlier that his troops were creating a "buffer zone" in Kharkiv to protect Russian border regions.

Earlier we reported Vladimir Putin's claims that there are no plans to capture the city of Kharkiv as his forces continue to attack the region (see 11.17am post).

Our defence and security analyst Michael Clarke says Russian forces would not be able to take the city even if they tried as they "just don't have the forces to concentrate on big cities".

"It would take them months of grinding warfare to actually conquer Kharkiv," he said. 

"Unless the Ukrainians somehow open the gates and let them in, which they won't."

Moscow's forces are pushing towards the village of Lyptsi, he says, which is about 15 miles from Kharkiv city and well within artillery range.

"If they get there, they could certainly start to bombard the city and Ukrainians would have to do something about that," he said, adding they are also targeting the key town of Vovchansk, possibly to try to link up with forces further south.

While capturing the city of Kharkiv remains a remote possibility, Clarke says they can draw Ukrainian forces away from the south, as they "already have done".

Buffer zone 'propaganda'

Mr Putin claims the Kharkiv offensive is to create a buffer zone between the two countries, so Ukraine cannot attack regions within Russia.

Belgorod, in particular, has reportedly been the target of Ukrainian drone attacks in recent weeks, but Clarke says any buffer zone is unlikely to make much difference.

"At the moment, he's got a boundary of about three miles and the Ukrainians are getting American missiles," Clarke says. 

"The missiles come with maximum ranges of about 170, 180 miles. It's neither here nor there." 

The Ukrainians have got "many ways" of attacking Belgorod and Rostov, he said. 

"So, I think it's more for propaganda purposes inside Russia - that Putin is saying 'we're having a border area to reassure the public in Belgorod and Rostov that these cross-border raids and these missile strikes might not take place in the future'."

UK is 'de facto' participant

Meanwhile, Russia's ambassador to the UK has said Britain is a de facto a participant in the Ukraine war (see our 12.32pm post).

Clarke says this is the "truest thing he's said today".

"The British government has made it very clear we're helping the Ukrainians with intelligence and, where appropriate, we've done it with our aerial intelligence," he said.

"So, the Russian ambassador is telling me something I've known for about the last two and a bit years."

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has waved through two potentially key bits of legislation around service in the military. 

Firstly, the Ukraine president has this afternoon signed a law allowing some categories of convicts to serve in the army.

He also signed off a separate law increasing fines for those not abiding by army mobilisation rules.

Ukraine is trying to fill a shortfall in manpower some military analysts say is Kyiv's biggest challenge against a much larger enemy.

Recruiting convicts is only expected to boost numbers by around several thousand, from a possible pool of up to 20,000 convicts, senior lawmaker David Arakhamia said earlier this month.

Serious criminals barred

The bill would not allow people convicted of the most serious crimes to enlist, lawmaker Oleksiy Honcharenko said.

People convicted of the premeditated murder of two or more people, rape, sexual violence, crimes against national security and serious corruption violations would remain barred.

"It's no secret that the mobilisation resource of our enemy is huge, and therefore we should use all available opportunities to fight back armed aggression," a note attached to the bill said.

"Some of these people are motivated and patriotic citizens who are ready to redeem themselves before society on the battlefield."

Russia's ambassador to the UK has just said Britain is a de facto participant in the Ukraine war.

Andrei Kelin told Russia's Rossiya-24 state TV channel the UK is considered as such because it supplies Kyiv with weapons and shares real-time intelligence.

Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has made a similar claim previously.

The US is "playing with fire" over its "indirect war" with Russia, a top diplomat has warned.

Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov told the TASS news agency: "We warn that they are playing with fire. They have long been in a state of indirect war with the Russian Federation."

His comments reflect Russian concern over the West's ongoing support for Ukraine, with recent comments viewed by Moscow as an aggressive shift.

The UK's foreign secretary Lord Cameron said earlier this month Ukraine has a right to use the weapons provided by Britain to strike targets inside Russia - while US secretary of state Antony Blinken made similar comments during a visit this week in Kyiv.

"They somehow fail to realise that, in order to satisfy their own geopolitical ideas, they are approaching a phase in which it will be very difficult to control what is happening and to prevent a dramatic crisis," Mr Ryabkov added, referring to the US.

"This rhetoric, this drumming, this constant baiting of their allies to help Ukraine even more, to expand their support, shows only one thing: people are living, as they themselves say, 'in a box'," he said.

He said this is a "great risk" as it is "impossible to get through" to the Americans.

Russia has shown "no indication" of trying to restrain its forces from "brutally victimising" Ukrainian civilians and committing war crimes, according to the Institute for the Study of War.

It comes as internal affairs minister Ihor Klymenko claimed Russian forces have executed civilians and taken others captive in Vovchansk, in Kharkiv region, which has been hit by several rounds of airstrikes.

The ISW said "the detention and summary execution of civilians is a war crime" and "emblematic of Russian forces' behaviour in all occupied Ukrainian territories".

"Russian military massacres like the massacres in Bucha and Izyum are a microcosm of Russian atrocities throughout Russian-occupied areas," the ISW added. 

"Russian attempts to seize major population centres like Kharkiv city do not just threaten Ukraine with operationally significant setbacks but also with war crimes and violations that accompany Russian occupation."

Vladimir Putin has just claimed capturing the city of Kharkiv is not part of Russia's current plan.

Instead, Moscow intends to create a "buffer zone" for Russia's own security, he said.

Speaking at a news conference in China, Mr Putin, who also says all operations are going according to plan, claimed Kyiv is to blame for the attack in Kharkiv.

"As for what is happening in the Kharkiv direction. This is also their [Ukraine's] fault, because they shelled and continue, unfortunately, to shell residential neighbourhoods in the border areas, including Belgorod," he added.

"Civilians are dying there. It's obvious. They are shooting directly at the city centre, at residential areas. 

"And I said publicly that if this continues, we will be forced to create a security zone, a buffer zone. That is what we are doing."

As we've been reporting, Ukraine says the situation in Kharkiv region - where Russian forces have been mounting new attacks - has "stabilised".

But Volodymyr Zelenskyy has admitted Russia has advanced as far as 10km in one area, as Moscow appears to be expanding the front line to stretch Ukraine's forces.

As the situation around Kharkiv remains "highly dramatic", Germany's foreign minister says Ukraine needs more long-range weapons to cut off Russian supply routes.

While Volodymyr Zelenskyy says the situation has "stabilised" (see our 9.04am post), Russian troops have advanced as much as 10km in one area.

This has put added pressure on Ukraine's already-stretched forces.

Speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of foreign ministers in Strasbourg, Annalena Baerbock said it is important to provide weapons "that can be used over medium and long distances".

"We are also working with other partners on this," she said, adding it is overall an "extremely difficult situation".

Germany is Ukraine's second-biggest supplier of weapons, but Chancellor Olaf Scholz has so far balked at delivering long-range Taurus missiles.

The West has generally prohibited the use of its weapons on Russian territory, but Moscow claims some of those arms have been used within the country's borders.

Kyiv is preparing troops to defend the northern region of Sumy, according to the commander-in-chief of Ukraine's armed forces.

Oleksandr Syrskyi says he expects fighting to intensify as Russia continues to attack Kharkiv - with Sumy the next possible target, roughly 170km northwest.

Russia's attack on Kharkiv has expanded the area of active fighting by almost 70km, he added, which was designed to force Ukraine to divert stretched resources to the region.