Russia-Ukraine war live: troops ‘stoutly holding’ Avdiivka against Russian encirclement | Ukraine

Here are some of the most important developments in the Russian war against Ukraine:

• Russian forces reinforced by reserves continue to attempt to encircle Avdiivka, Ukrainian military officials have said. Anton Kotsukon, spokesperson for the 110th separate mechanised brigade, said a Russian force of 40,000 was massed on three sides of the town. General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, head of Ukraine’s southern group of forces, said troops around Avdiivka were “stoutly holding their defences”.

• A Russian missile damaged a civilian vessel under a Liberian flag entering the Black Sea port of Odesa, killing one and injuring four people, the Ukrainian military said.

• Russia is sending Ukrainian prisoners of war to fight against their own side, the Russian state news agency RIA Novosti has reported. It was unclear whether they were coerced, the Associated Press said. Yulia Gorbunova from Human Rights Watch said: “Russian authorities might claim they are recruiting them on a voluntary basis but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a prisoner of war’s decision could be taken truly voluntarily, given the situation of coercive custody.”

• A deadly missile attack on Donetsk city struck a Russian training centre for military drone operators, reports said. It was portrayed by Russian occupation authorities on Tuesday as a Ukrainian attack on civilian government offices, but analysis identified the target as the “Zhoga Republican Centre for Unmanned Systems”, Newsweek and other outlets said.

• Ukraine’s military spy agency claimed responsibility for the assassination of a Russia-backed lawmaker with a car bomb in the occupied eastern city of Luhansk, an operation it said it conducted with local resistance forces.

• Research by Russian media outlet Mediazona suggested 76 cases of railway sabotage within Russia had reached court since the invasion, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) said in its latest intelligence update. The alleged saboteurs were “anti-war activists” mostly aged under 24 and their work “continues to represent a significant challenge for the Russian authorities”, the MoD said.

• The US has gone through 96% of the funds that it allocated for Ukraine, the national security council spokesperson, John Kirby, has told reporters.

• Slovakia’s new government has rejected a previously drafted plan to donate rockets and ammunition to Ukraine, following through on a pledge by the incoming prime minister Robert Fico to halt military aid to Kyiv as it fights a Russian invasion.

• Leaders of the G7 group of countries have insisted that their support for Ukraine will “never waver”.

• Military cooperation between Russia and China is becoming increasingly important, but the two countries do not intend to build a cold war-style military alliance, Vladimir Putin said as he hosted a top Chinese general.

• The EU’s executive recommended that the bloc starts membership negotiations with Ukraine once it fulfils outstanding conditions. “The Commission recommends that the [EU] council opens accession negotiations with Ukraine,” the Brussels-based European Commission said.

• Ukraine’s energy ministry said that Russia had attacked Ukrainian energy infrastructure with different weapons 60 times in recent weeks.