Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry responds to Russian official’s calls to bomb Ukraine: The only reason for Ukrainians to raise their hands is to give Russia the middle finger

While Russia is still acquiring new battlefield recruits at speed, with an estimated rate of 1,000 a day, in the last two months even this has not been sufficient to replace those killed or injured.

Russian forces have intensified attacks within Ukraine's so-called "fortress belt" of industrial cities in the eastern Donetsk region, seeking to ramp up pressure on critical Ukrainian strongholds after more than four and a half years of full-scale war.

The Strategic Missile Forces deployed a mobile launcher battery to a remote area before firing the missile across the country to the Kura test site on the Kamchatka Peninsula, located more than 6,700 kilometers (4,160 miles) to the east.

Russia has also been infiltrating the fortress city of Kostiantynivka to the south of Sloviansk, but does not control it.