Ukraine news – live: Putin ‘loses two more colonels including top paratrooper’

Russia’s long-feared invasion of Ukraine continues to rage following Vladimir Putin’s announcement of his “special military operation” against the country in the early hours of 24 February, the Russian leader declaring, groundlessly, a need to “demilitarise and de-Nazify” the neighbouring state after eight years of fighting in the Donbas.

As Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky leads by example from the streets of Kyiv, tirelessly rallying the international community for support, his people mount an impressive resistence, holding back Russia’s armed forces as best they can.

The aggressor meanwhile continues to employ brutal siege warfare tactics, surrounding the country’s cities and subjecting them to intense shelling campaigns, a strategy previously seen in Chechnya and Syria.

European leaders are split over whether to target Russian oil in the latest round of sanctions aimed at supporting Ukraine.

Heads of state and government from the European Union’s 27 nations will meet on Tuesday at a summit to discuss further measures to inflict pain on Russia in response to its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.

But the extent to which the bloc can help could be limited as it emerged Hungary is leading a group of countries, along with Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria, to prevent an oil embargo.

The moment a Russian soldier gives the finger to a Ukrainian drone just before it drops a grenade on the tank next to him has been captured on camera.

The tank, a Russian BTR-82A APC, was being hidden at the side of a building but was left a blazing wreck by the attack as Ukrainian forces continue to defend the country’s east.

In the footage released by Ukrainian military and posted on Twitter, six Russian troops are sighted converged around the vehicle and one of them sticks up his middle finger in the direction of the drone.

Two more Russian colonels have been killed in Ukraine – including the country’s “best paratroop commander” delivering another blow to Vladimir Putin’s war.

Lt Col Alexander Dosyagayev, 34, was a commander of an airborne assault battalion of the 104th paratrooper regiment.

Troops from his 104th air assault regiment were reportedly in Bucha, which was the scene of alleged rape and torture atrocities by Vladimir Putin’s forces earlier in the war.

Thomas Kingsley has more:

The winners of this year’s Eurovision Song Contest have raised more than £700,000 for the Ukrainian war effort by selling the competition’s trophy.

Hip-hop group Kalush Orchestra were propelled to victory in the music contest with their entry ‘Stefania’ earlier this month after a surge of public support from across the continent saw them claim an emotional win.

It was reported that on Sunday that they had sold the crystal microphone trophy in a Facebook auction led by the Ukrainian TV presenter Serhiy Prytula.

Ministers have been warned of potential power cuts to as many as six million households this winter, with the government reportedly drawing up plans for rationed electricity if supply issues deteriorate.

Government modelling of a “reasonable” worst-case scenario predicts major gas shortages in winter if Russia cuts off more supplies to the EU over the Ukraine war, it is claimed.

Limits could be imposed on industrial use of gas, including on gas-fired power stations, causing electricity shortages.

Russia plans to settle its Eurobond obligations using a mechanism similar to the scheme used to pay for Russian gas in roubles, the Vedomosti newspaper reported citing Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.

In order to receive payments, Eurobond holders will have to open foreign currency and rouble accounts at a Russian bank, Siluanov told Vedomosti.

The United States pushed Russia closer to the brink of a historic debt default last Wednesday by not extending its license to pay bondholders, as Washington ramps up pressure following Russia’s military intervention in Ukraine.

Facing an unprecedented debt crisis, Finance Minister Siluanov said on Friday that Moscow will continue to service its external debt in roubles, defending its role as a reliable borrower by all possible means.

“As it happens with paying for gas in roubles: we are credited with foreign currency, here it is exchanged for roubles on behalf of [the gas buyer], and this is how the payment takes place. The Eurobond settlement mechanism will operate in the same way, only in the other direction,” Vedomosti cites Siluanov as saying.

Russian gas producer Gazprom said on Monday its supply of gas to Europe through Ukraine via the Sudzha entry point stood at 44.6 million cubic metres (mcm), up from 44.1 mcm on Sunday.

An application to supply gas via another major entry point, Sokhranovka, was rejected by Ukraine, Gazprom said.

It now costs Ayan Hassan Abdirahman twice as much as it did just a few months ago to buy the wheat flour she uses to make breakfast each day for her 11 children in Somalia’s capital.

Nearly all the wheat sold in Somalia comes from Ukraine and Russia, which have halted exports through the Black Sea since Moscow waged war on its neighbour on 24 February.

The timing could not be worse: The UN has warned that an estimated 13 million people were facing severe hunger in the Horn of Africa region as a result of a persistent drought.