Ukraine claims to have destroyed a Russian warship docked in occupied Crimea as the Kremlin admitted that damage has been sustained.
The landing ship Novocherkassk was hit at a base in the city of Feodosia, south east Crimea, according to Ukrainian military officials, in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Russian Ministry of Defence has since admitted that the warship has been damaged by plane-launched guided missiles. It counterclaimed that two Ukrainian fighter jets were destroyed by anti-aircraft fire during the attack.

While neither claim has been verified, multiple pieces of footage appear to show a warship on fire in the area.

It comes as Russia shipped nuclear weapons to Belarus in a move intended to deter what Minsk claims to be Polish aggression in the region.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said the shipments were completed in October, but did not give details of how many weapons were sent or where they have been deployed.

Mr Lukashenko claimed hosting Russian nuclear weapons was intended to deter aggression by neighbouring Nato member Poland.

Exclusive: Ukrainian refugees falling victim to ‘extremely sophisticated’ UK visa scam

Ukrainian refugees are arriving at UK airports with fake visas and false promises of a Homes for Ukraine sponsor family after being targeted by “extremely sophisticated” scams, charities have warned.

Charities told The Independent that they are dealing with increasing numbers of cases in which Ukrainians have been tricked into paying hundreds of pounds for letters giving them “permission to travel” to the UK and fake British visas, by criminals taking advantage of their desperation to leave.

The visas are impossible to identify as fraudulent by sight, meaning that Ukrainians are permitted to travel by airline staff, only to be told by Border Force that their documents are not valid, according to the charity Settled, which says it is now dealing with between one and five such cases each week.

Ukrainian refugees targeted in ‘extremely sophisticated’ UK visa scam, charities warn

Exclusive: Ukrainians are landing at UK airports only to discover that their travel documents and host families are fake

Ukraine’s top general criticises military draft offices in rare press conference

Ukraine’s top general has that he is not satisfied with the work of military draft offices that are responsible for mobilising troops to keep up the war effort against Russia.

Ukrainian army chief General Valeriy Zaluzhny spoke at his first wartime news conference a day after Ukraine‘s parliament published the text of a draft law containing reforms to the army draft programme, including lowering the age of men who can be mobilised to 25 from 27.

The bill’s publication sparked controversy on social media, which appeared to be the prompt for the typically publicity-shy general into a rare effort to speak to the media.

“I am not currently satisfied with the work of the (draft offices),” he said.

The reforms are highly sensitive for a weary population in the midst of a 22-month-old war, which has no end in sight. Last week, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the military had proposed mobilising an additional 450,000-500,000 people into the army.

Ukraine says it has blown up major Russian navy vessel in Crimea’s Feodosia port

Ukrainian officials claimed responsibility for a massive air attack on the Crimean town of Feodosia early on Tuesday, damaging Vladimir Putin’s fleet parked in the port area as powerful explosions rocked the region.

Mykola Oleshchuk, the commander of Ukraine’s air force, shared a video of the attack on his official Telegram channel and stated that the assault destroyed a major Russian Navy vessel, the landing ship Novocherkask. The port, located 100km (62 miles) from the Kerch bridge, also came under attack from Ukraine.

Russian nuclear weapons shipments to Belarus completed, says president Lukashenko

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has announced that shipments of tactical nuclear weapons for deployment in his country are complete, marking the first such placement outside of Russia’s borders.

This has sparked concerns in Poland and other countries in the region.

The shipments of these tactical nuclear weapons were completed in October, Mr Lukashenko revealed at a meeting of a Moscow-led economic bloc in St Petersburg. However, he did not share further details regarding the quantity of weapons sent and their specific deployment locations.