Russia 'massing artillery fire' in attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian forces, UK says

Kyiv pleads with West for more weaponry amid fierce fighting for control of Donbas region

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  A Soviet/Russian towed 152mm field gun, called the 2A36 Giatsint-B, is fired by self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic militia on the front line near Avdiivka, Donetsk region. EPA

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  A girl runs through a fountain in front of the Opera house in Lviv, Ukraine. AP

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  A girl is seen through a hole in the kitchen of an apartment destroyed by Russian attacks in Irpin, outside Kyiv, Ukraine. Reuters

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  A young woman walks near a damaged Soviet tank monument in Trostyanets, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  Members of the foreign volunteers unit which fights in the Ukrainian army, in Severodonetsk. Reuters

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  A woman looks for her belongings beneath rubble after a strike destroyed three houses in the city of Slovyansk, in the Ukrainian region of Donbas. AFP

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  Ukraine fans hold up anti-war signs before a Fifa World Cup qualifier match at Hampden Park, Glasgow. PA

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  A street musician plays the piano to raise money for the Ukrainian army in Sumy, Ukraine. Getty

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  Residents queue to fetch water in the town of Rubizhne, in Ukraine's Luhansk enclave. Reuters

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  Children walk past a damaged school in the city of Merefa in the Kharkiv area, Ukraine. EPA

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  A man repairs a car in a residential area of Mariupol. AFP

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  An aerial view shows a Russian vessel reportedly delivering stolen Ukrainian grain at Latakia port in Syria. AFP

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  Children sit inside a bomb shelter in Rubizhne. Reuters

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  A man pushes a bicycle near a residential building in Rubizhne that was destroyed during fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Reuters

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  Vlada Shcheglova, wife of Ukraine footballer Oleksandr Zinchenko, before the Fifa World Cup qualifier at Hampden Park in Glasgow. PA

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  A damaged building in the town of Rubizhne. Reuters

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  A man reads a book as he sits on a fragment of a rocket at an exhibition in Kyiv featuring Russian equipment that was damaged or destroyed during the conflict. AFP

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  Ukrainian servicemen ride electric scooters in Kyiv. AFP

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  A man reacts at the site where his house once stood in Motyzhyn village in the Kyiv region. AFP

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  The burnt wreckage of a tank sits in the overflowing Uhor river, in Kolychivka, Ukraine. Getty Images

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  People sit next to a damaged apartment building in Irpin, near Kyiv. AFP

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  Evgeny, 31, stands in his damaged apartment in the Saltivka district, northern Kharkiv. AFP

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  Ukrainian workers repair a flat damaged by shelling in the southern city of Odesa. EPA

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  The windows of a Gazprom oil company building in Moscow glow in the shape of the symbol Z, associated with Russia's invasion of Ukraine. EPA

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  A Ukrainian soldier looks at sunflower seeds on fire in a storage area, after shelling on a farm close to the front line near Bakhmut. EPA

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  The burnt wreckage of a Ukrainian tank, in Kolychivka. Getty Images

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  A grave in front of destroyed residential buildings in Mariupol. AFP

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  Residents sit outside a destroyed apartment building in Mariupol. AFP

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  A cat walks past destroyed residential buildings in Mariupol. AFP

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  Local artists draw on fragments of exploded rockets in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. EPA

Russia is attempting to overwhelm Ukrainian forces with barrages of artillery and air strikes as the battle for control of the Donbas region continues, UK intelligence says.

Despite recent advances, Russian troops have so far failed to capture the key strategic city of Severodonetsk amid intense street fighting that has resulted in a high number of casualties on both sides.

In an updated intelligence briefing on Saturday, the Ministry of Defence said Russia was "massing fires with its artillery and air capabilities" in an attempt to overwhelm Ukrainian defences.

It also said that Russia is deploying 1960s era Kh-22 anti-ship missiles against land targets, which could cause "significant collateral damage and civilian casualties".

These 5.5 tonne missiles are "inefficient" and "highly inaccurate" as they were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead, the MoD said.

Moscow is resorting to more unconventional attack methods because it is running low on more precise modern missile systems and its fighter jets continue to be thwarted by Ukrainian anti-air capabilities, it said.

The government in Kyiv has pleaded with western countries for faster deliveries of modern battlefield weapons, saying it is massively outgunned by better-armed Russian troops.

The war in the east, where Russia is focussing its attention, is now primarily an artillery battle in which Kyiv is severely outgunned, Ukrainian officials say.

"This is an artillery war now," Vadym Skibitsky, Ukraine's deputy head of military intelligence, told Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

"Everything now depends on what (the West) gives us. Ukraine has one artillery piece to 10 to 15 Russian artillery pieces."

Ukraine has said the tide of events could be turned only if Washington and others fulfil promises to send more and better weaponry, including rocket systems.

It comes as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia was trying to "break every town in the Donbas".

"Severodonetsk, Lysychansk, Bakhmut, Sloviansk, many, many others," he said in his nightly address. "All these ruins were once happy towns."

Mr Zelenskyy's adviser Oleksiy Arestovych estimated the Russian army is losing on average five to six times as many fighters as the Ukrainian side.

Asked in a social media interview whether that suggested the Ukrainian army had lost up to 10,000 fighters in the first 100 days of the war, Mr Arestovych said, "Yes, something like that.”

Weapons experts from France are helping their Ukrainian counterparts collect evidence of possible Russian war crimes in the northern region of Chernihiv, Ukraine's prosecutor general said. Russia denies targeting civilians.

US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on Saturday reinforced Washington's commitment to the region in light of Russia's actions.

"Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all," Mr Austin told an Asian security forum in Singapore. "It's a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in."

Mr Zelenskyy is expected to give a virtual address to the conference from 0800 GMT.