Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK’s missile plan is “accelerating” in a bid to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia.Volodymyr Zelensky and the prime minister met with world leaders in the “coalition of the willing” on Friday afternoon in an effort to push for long-range missiles that can strike deep inside Russia.

Russian dictator Vladimir Putin claims that victory in Ukraine is inevitable, and rejects any peace deal that doesn’t give him total control of the eastern part of the country, the Donbas.

Ukrainian forces operating behind enemy lines derailed Russia ’s hopes of reconnecting the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station before Vladimir Putin ’s birthday earlier this month, sources have claimed.

Today, nearly four years into a war that Russia is still failing to win, society editors are struggling to fill their pages. The elite have become reclusive and fearful. At this year’s St Petersburg forum they were scarcely visible, venturing out of the VIP zone only for Vladimir Putin’s panel. Some have relocated to the countryside.