Ukraine war: Russia destroys first UK tank as Putin seeks weapons ‘from Kim Jong-un’

A battlefield video circulating online appears to show the destruction of a British Challenger 2 tank in Ukraine.

The burning wreck of the military vehicle is seen in footage from the frontline and would be the first time one of the tanks has been destroyed in combat.

In the video, a vehicle with a cracked windscreen drives past as black smoke is seen rising from the roadside, although it is unclear what caused the explosion.

Britain initially supplied 14 Challenger 2 tanks to Ukraine and then doubled that number to 28.

A major aid group is concerned that there is not enough international attention given to Ukraine and is bracing for fewer donations used to finance operations in the battle-scarred country, its president warned on Tuesday.

The head of the International Rescue Committee, David Miliband said, his central concern is that the 19-month war and the resulting humanitarian crisis caused by Russia’s invasion and continued attacks on civilian infrastructure are becoming “normalised” by the international community while the needs brought about by the war show no signs of diminishing, he said.

“We know that the 2022 figures for humanitarian aid in Ukraine are not going to be repeated,” he told the Associated Press. Miliband said they don’t expect the donations received from Europe and North America last year to be matched.

A woman and two children killed in a crash have been identified as three members of a Ukrainian family living in North Yorkshire.

Daria Bartienieva, 35, her son, Ihor Bartienieva, six, and stepdaughter, Anastasiia Bartienieva 15, were killed in a collision involving two cars and a double decker bus on the A61 on Sunday.

Police say Ms Bartienieva and the two children were travelling together in a silver Vauxhall Meriva which was involved in a crash with a bus and a blue Toyota Aygo at about 2.20pm.

The crash happened between South Stainley and Ripley, near Ripon, the North Yorkshire force said.

The two cars were travelling south towards Ripley and the bus was going in the opposite direction.

On Tuesday North Yorkshire Police said the three family members were from Ukraine and living in Ripon.

A force spokesperson previously said: “Sadly, all three occupants of the Vauxhall Meriva…died following the collision.

“The driver of the bus was taken to hospital with leg injuries … and the two people in the Toyota were not injured.”

The road was closed for emergency services and investigators to attend the scene until 11.30pm.

Fishing on the Romanian shore of the Danube on Tuesday, beekeeper Gabi Popescu could see barges loading grain in the Ukrainian river port of Izmail, a day after Russia launched its third overnight strike against port infrastructure.

The attack rattled windows in the Romanian border village of Plauru across the river and Popescu’s trailer shook.

“I counted five explosions, three very powerful ones,” said Popescu, who has been bringing his beehives to Plauru from central Romania for six years.

Ukraine said Russian drones had detonated on the territory of NATO member Romania, a rare report of stray weapons from the war hitting a neighbouring member of the Western military alliance.

Romania strongly denied it had been hit, but the attacks on Ukraine‘s river ports, just hundreds of metres from the Romanian border, have increased security risks for NATO which has a collective defence commitment.

“I can tell you no piece, no drone and no part of a device landed in Romania,” President Klaus Iohannis told reporters on Tuesday. “We have total control over our national space…

“But, yes, we are concerned, because these attacks are taking place very close to the Romanian border. I was … told today there were verified attacks 800 metres from our border, so very, very close.”

Russian air defences intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the southern region of Belgorod on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry said on Telegram.

As Vladimir Putin‘s invasion of Ukraine has isolated him on the international stage – and Western sanctions have hit Russia‘s economy – the president has been casting around for ways to alleviate the pressure and feed his war machine.

First it was China and President Xi Jinping. Putin has consistently touted his good relationship with Xi and has used that to get an economic lifeline from Beijing. In June, Chinese customs data showed that trade between the two nations was $93.8 billion (£74.7bn) from January to May 2023, up 40.7 per cent when compared to the same period in 2022 (Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began in late February 2022).

North Korea will “pay a price” for providing weapons to Russia for use in Ukraine, U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said on Tuesday.

Ukraine’s counter-offensive breakthrough will come as a “shock” to Russian President Vladimir Putin, an expert has said.

Mark Galeotti, professor of Slavonic studies at UCL, said Russians had become “complacent” and believed their defence to be more effective than Kyiv’s progress would suggest.

It comes after Ukrainian generals claimed troops had breached Russia’s first line near Zaporizhzhia and were gathering momentum in an offensive many observers claimed had failed.

Alexander Butler reports:

Backers of an international agreement that bans cluster munitions, which harm and kill many more civilians than combatants, are striving to prevent erosion in support for the deal after what one leading human rights group calls an “unconscionable” U.S. decision to ship such weapons to Ukraine for its fight against Russia.

Advocacy groups in the Cluster Munitions Coalition released their latest annual report on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting next week of envoys from the 112 countries that have acceded to or ratified the Convention on Cluster Munitions, which prohibits the explosives and calls for clearing areas where they litter the ground — often during or after conflicts.

A further 12 countries have signed the convention. The United States and Russia are not among them.

Ukraine has fought back courageously against Mr Putin’s warped bid to restore territory lost to Moscow with the collapse of the Soviet Union and has continued to defy the odds by defending itself against Russian onslaughts with the help of Western military aid.