Ukraine Russia war latest: Kyiv ‘controls 100 settlements in Kursk’ amid ‘new attack’

Russia has warned the US about the risks of World War Three after accusing the country of helping Ukraine launch its attack on the Kursk border region on 6 August.

Russia’s foreign minister said that the west was “asking for trouble” by allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western missiles

Sergei Lavrov cautioned the US that a third world war “would not be confined to Euroupe”.

“We are now confirming once again that playing with fire – and they are like small children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday..

“Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively,” Lavrov said.

The White House has condemned a missile attack in Ukraine that injured Reuters journalists and killed a safety adviser for the news agency.

A National Security spokesperson offered the White House’s condolences following the attack over the weekend.

“We condemn this attack in the strongest of terms and extend our deepest condolences to @Reuters on the loss of one of their own,” NSC spokesperson Sean Savett wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk had been hit by a Russian Iskander, a ballistic missile that can strike at distances up to 500 km.

Reuters was not able to independently verify if the missile that hit the hotel was fired by Russia, or if the strike on that building was deliberate.

Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city, the news agency said on Sunday.

Evans was working as a safety adviser for the agency.

A fifth person has now died in Ukraine after Russia launched an overnight attack for the second night in a row.

Ivan Fedorov the regional administration head of Zaporizhzhia, said an elderly woman has now died in hospital after suffering “severe burns”. The Ukrainian authorities earlier said four people had died and 16 were injured.

Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed Ukraine will respond after Russian launched 10 missiles and 81 drones during the assault.

The head of the international nuclear watchdog has said there was a risk of a “nuclear incident” after visiting Russia’s Kursk power plant on Tuesday.

The UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi told reporters that the situation was serious after he “independently assessed” the site, which Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine tried to attack last week.

Kyiv has taken control of 100 Russian settlements as troops continued its offensive into Russia’s Kursk region, a top military commander claimed.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian troops control 1,294 sq km (500 sq miles) of Russian territory and has taken 594 prisoners of war.

Last week, President Zelensky said Ukraine controlled more than 1,250 sq km of Russian territory.

The head of the international nuclear watchdog will visit a nuclear power plant in Kursk on Tuesday, which Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine tried to attack last week.

Rafael Grossi, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he will “independently assess what is happening” at the Russian power plant.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s demands to the West to allow it to strike deep into Russia with Western weapons amounted to blackmail.

Lavrov also said that Russia was “adjusting” its nuclear weapons doctrine, and that it was dangerous for Western nuclear powers to be “playing with fire”.

Russia has accused the US of helping Ukraine launch its attack on the Kursk border region on 6 August.

Around a thousand Ukrainian troops pushed into several miles of the Kursk region, which sits on Russia’s western border, in an attack that largely appeared to take the Kremlin by surprise.

Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin has now said that Moscow does not believe the incursion was planned alone, the TASS state news agency is reporting.

Russian forces claimed on Tuesday it had captured the village of Orlivka near the city of Pokrovsk, a key target for Moscow.

“Units of the Centre group of forces as a result of active warfare liberated the settlement of Orlovka,” the defence ministry said.

Russian forces have been advancing towards Pokrovsk for months, a central logistics hub in the Donetsk region.

Ukrainian forces have attempted to push into Russia’s southern Belgorod region, according to Russian Telegram channels.

Reports said 500 Ukrainian troops attacked two checkpoints at Nekhoteyevka and Shebekino.

The Belgorod regions border the Kursk region, where Ukrainian troops have seized territory after launching an invasion on 6 August.