President Vladimir Putin has made a bullish speech to top Russian MPs, daring the West to have a go at defeating Moscow on the battlefield.
The Russian leader also claimed his side had barely started its offensive in in earnest.
His reasoning offered a glimpse of what could be Moscow’s wider strategy: the longer the war drags on, he claimed, the harder it will be for the other side to negotiate.
In Ukraine his forces have continued their slow push into the eastern Donetsk region, where a missile strike left at least one civilian dead yesterday.
Russia has turned its attention to Donetsk after capturing the last city in neighbouring Luhansk – which, together with Donetsk, makes up the Donbas.
But in the south, there was some progress for Ukraine. END
