Ukraine-Russia war live: Anger in Moscow at Putin’s war spending as Russia closes in on key frontline city

Russia must prepare for a long confrontation with the United States and has sent repeated warnings to Washington over the crisis in relations, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov warned.

The Ukraine war has triggered the gravest confrontation between Russia and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

The conflict is entering what Russian officials say is the most dangerous phase to date. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has been urging Kyiv’s allies for months to let Ukraine fire longer-range Western missiles deep into Russia to limit Moscow’s ability to launch attacks.

Mr Ryabkov, who oversees arms control and relations with Washington, said Moscow had no illusions about relations, given the “bipartisan anti-Russian consensus” in the United States.

“We must prepare for a long-term confrontation with this country. We are ready for this in every sense,” Mr Ryabkov was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA.

New Nato chief Mark Rutte has doubled down on his commitment to Ukraine as he takes charge at a critical time for the Western alliance.

The former Dutch prime minister replaced Jens Stoltenberg as Nato secretary general on Tuesday, where he pledged continued support for Kyiv’s fight against Russia.

Mr Rutte’s appointment comes just before a pivotal US presidential election in November, with Nato-sceptic Donald Trump, who declined to say whether he wants Ukraine to win the war, on the Republican ticket.

“We have to make sure that Ukraine prevails as a sovereign, independent, democratic nation,”  Mr Rutte said at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels, Belgium.

Speaking about the prospect of former US president Donald Trump’s re-election, Mr Rutte added: “I’m not worried.

“I worked for four years with Donald Trump. He was the one pushing us to spend more on defence and he achieved this.

“Because indeed, at the moment, we are now at a much higher spending level than we were when he took office.”

New Nato chief Mark Rutte said he was determined to prepare the transatlantic alliance for the challenges of the future.

He added that the group must deliver on the promises it made to Ukraine to help the country in its war against Russia. The conflict in Ukraine is not contained to the front lines, Mr Rutte said.

Russia will not sign a new treaty with the United States to replace the agreement limiting each side’s strategic nuclear weapons that expires in 2026, the Izvestia newspaper reported on Tuesday, citing an unidentified senior Russian source.

The New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty, or New Start, is the last remnant of efforts to slow the nuclear arms race between the former Cold War superpowers and increase transparency by imposing verifiable limits on the number of weapons.

President Vladimir Putin in 2023 suspended Russian participation in the treaty due to U.S. support for Ukraine, though Moscow has kept to the warhead, missile and bomber limits imposed by the agreement - as has the United States.

At least five people were killed when Russian forces struck a market in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Tuesday morning, the regional governor said.

Another three people were wounded in the attack, Oleksandr Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app.

Russian president Vladimir Putin is waging war to try and wipe Ukraine off the map, the country’s top tennis player has warned.

Elina Svitolina, 30, accused Russia of genocide and urged the West to help bring back roughly 20,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russian camps since Putin’s invasion in February 2022.

More than 70 camps used to forcibly “re-educate” children have been found across Russia, Belarus and occupied Crimea, according to the Ukrainian government.

Svitolina stunned the sporting world in 2023 after she beat world No 1 Iga Swiatek in the Wimbledon quarter-finals just eight months after giving birth to her daughter.

Ukraine’s defence minister Rustem Umerov said he has submitted to the government a request to dismiss three of his deputies in a new military shake-up.

Mr Umerov also added that he has requested the dismissal of Liudmyla Darahan, the state secretary of the defence ministry.