Vladimir Putin ‘aspiring to make a desert and call it peace’ in Ukraine

Dr Jack Watling, research fellow in land warfare at The Royal United Services Institute, warned that bombardments by Russian forces were expected to get worse, partly because morale among their ground troops was so low that defence chiefs did not want to send them into difficult urban battles. He also slammed “callous” Russian military commanders who had sent thousands of young soldiers into Ukraine without telling them they were going to war.