Vladimir Putin's invasion of Ukraine has made "minimal progress" this week, according to British intelligence. It comes as missile strikes targeted the western city of Lviv earlier today.
Armed forces minister James Heappey said on Friday the early-morning attack on the city that has swelled with people sheltering from elsewhere in Ukraine showed Russia was broadening its strikes. Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyi said several missiles hit a facility for repairing military planes near the city's international airport and also damaged a bus repair site.
Shelling around the capital of Kyiv also continued as the number of refugees estimated to have fled exceeded 3.4 million.
In other developments:
- Ofcom revoked Kremlin-backed broadcaster RT's UK licence with immediate effect after the regulator said it was not "fit and proper".
- Russia was accused of "dirty tricks" after two Cabinet ministers including Defence Secretary Ben Wallace were targeted with hoax calls from an impostor posing as Ukraine's prime minister.
- More than 150,000 people have registered interest in the UK's Homes for Ukraine scheme to house Ukrainian refugees.
Mr Heappey said indiscriminate shelling on cities were "very probably" war crimes and said the Russian President bears the ultimate "culpability" for atrocities.
"The areas of Ukrainian territory that have been taken by the Russians haven't changed for a week or so. The Russians are way behind in their plan; they are failing to achieve their military objectives and that may be some cause for optimism," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.
"But what that doesn't show is that in the cities that are besieged, Mariupol, most concerningly, but Kharkiv, Sumy and others as well there is just this incredible weight of artillery fire being used indiscriminately to flatten those cities irrespective of who is beneath the shells as they fall."
No causalities were immediately reported in the strikes on Lviv, which has had its population swelled by some 200,000 people seeking refuge from attacks across Ukraine. Mr Heappey said that "it's very much a part of war that you would go after each others' supply lines but clearly the airstrike on an airbase in western Ukraine last week and strikes on to Lviv airport last night show that the Russians are start going after Ukrainian depth as well".
'Minimal progress'
An intelligence update from the Ministry of Defence said that Ukrainian forces were continuing to "frustrate" Moscow's attempt to encircle cities despite heavy shelling. "Russian forces have made minimal progress this week," it added.
Western officials have described the advance on Kyiv as remaining "bogged down" amid questions over whether Moscow would still mount an assault on the city, which had been its main objective. "An ill-judged ground assault on a city as well-prepared as Kyiv with really determined and committed defenders would be a very costly business," one official said.
"I think there comes a point where even Russia has to count the cost of casualties."
War crimes outrage
There was fresh outrage at the alleged war crimes being committed under Mr Putin after an attack on a theatre in Mariupol where hundreds of civilians were said to have sheltered. Mr Heappey warned that "every single person" in the military chain of command could be prosecuted for war crimes as he hit out at the "barbaric tactic" of trying to destroy a city forces have been unable to seize militarily.
"The evidence being gathered points very much towards war crimes being committed in Ukraine. The culpability for war crimes sits absolutely with the leader of the Russian government, the man who decided to do all of this in the first place," he told Sky News.
"It is not just Putin who ends up being responsible for war crimes as and when the evidence is gathered and people are held to account. They too are involved in the prosecution or war crimes in Ukraine. This is a stain on the Russian nation."
He said the UK was training Ukrainians to use the Starstreak anti-aircraft missile system that Britain is supplying and which will arrive in the country "imminently".
The Home Office said it has issued 6,500 visas under the Ukraine family scheme as of 5pm on Thursday, an increase of 400 in a day. A total of 27,000 applications have been made, according to provisional data published on the department's website.
For more stories from where you live, visit InYourArea
