Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 358 of the invasion

Russian forces are mounting “round-the-clock” attacks on Ukrainian positions in the east, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has said. “The situation is tense. Yes, it is difficult for us,” Maliar posted to Telegram. The situation in Luhansk remained difficult, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office said, without mentioning any retreats in eastern Ukraine.

Russia is sending heavy equipment and mobilised troops into the Luhansk region but Ukrainian forces continue to defend the eastern Ukrainian region, its governor, Serhiy Haidai, has said. The Russian defence ministry claimed earlier its troops had broken through two fortified lines of Ukrainian defences on the eastern front of Luhansk. It said Ukrainian troops had retreated in the face of Russian attacks, but did not say in which part of the region. Haidai said Russia’s claim that Ukrainian troops had pulled back “does not correspond to reality”.

The Wagner boss, Yevgeny Prigozhin, has admitted that his mercenary group is facing difficulties in Ukraine. “The number of Wagner units will decrease, and we will also not be able to carry out the scope of tasks that we would like to,” Prigozhin said, amid growing evidence that his political influence in the Kremlin is waning.

Six aerial targets were spotted over Kyiv during an air alert in the Ukrainian capital, and most were shot down after being engaged with air defences, according to the Kyiv military administration. In a Telegram post, it said the six Russian balloons may have been carrying corner reflectors and reconnaissance equipment. It did not specify when they flew over the capital.

Ukraine’s allies have said it is unlikely they will be able to supply the number of tanks previously promised. After a meeting in Brussels of western defence ministers, the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, said they would not be able reach the size of a battalion. The bad news comes just after the Nato chief, Jens Stoltenberg, announced that Russia had begun a renewed offensive in the east in an attempt to take more territory before new western equipment arrives in the spring.

Nato countries are increasing the production of 155mm artillery rounds and need to ramp up that production even further to help Ukraine, Stoltenberg has said. Stoltenberg said allies have not reached conclusions on a new pledge for defence spending, but it was “obvious that we need to spend more”.

The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, has said Ukraine has a “real good chance” of taking the initiative on the battlefield. Speaking after a meeting with Nato defence ministers in Brussels, Austin said that for every system that Nato provided, it would train troops on that system. “We’re laser-focused on making sure that we provide a capability and not just the platform,” he said.

Russia’s army is estimated to have lost nearly 40% of its prewar fleet of tanks after nine months of fighting in Ukraine, according to a count by the specialist thinktank the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS). That rises to as much as 50% for some of the key tanks used in combat, forcing Russia to reach into its still sizeable cold war-era stocks. Ukraine’s tank numbers are estimated to have increased because of the number it has captured, as well as supplies of Soviet-era tanks from its western allies.

Ukraine will receive a package of support worth £200m from the UK and other European nations for military equipment, including spare parts for tanks and artillery ammunition, the British government has announced. Britain agreed with the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland and Lithuania to send an initial package of support to Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.

The European Commission has called for a ban on the export of vital technology to Russia worth €11bn to further weaken the Kremlin’s war effort, cementing what EU officials have called the bloc’s toughest-ever sanctions. The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the EU was targeting industrial goods that Russia needed, such as electronic components for drones and helicopters; spare parts for trucks and jet engines; and construction equipment such as antennas or cranes that could be turned to military uses.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has welcomed Sweden’s prime minister, Ulf Kristersson, in Kyiv. Zelenskiy praised Sweden’s assistance, saying: “Archer is one of the best artillery pieces in the world. Sweden is a top five supplier of support to Ukraine and I thank Sweden for that support.” Kristersson did not rule out sending JAS 39 Gripen fighter jets, but cautioned that the west’s response had to be coordinated.

The Netherlands has said it has not changed its stance on the possible delivery of Leopard 2 tanks to Ukraine, following a report that it had rolled back on its support. It leases 18 Leopards from Germany, and the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, has said the Netherlands is willing to deliver them to Ukraine.

Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has said that Zelenskiy has asked him to remain in his current post, after a corruption scandal beset his ministry and put his role in doubt. Asked whether he expected to continue as defence minister in the months to come, Reznikov replied: “Yes, it was the decision of my president.”

A British national who was killed in Ukraine has been named by family and friends as Jonathan Shenkin. Shenkin, 45, from Glasgow, “died as a hero in an act of bravery as a paramedic”, his family wrote in a tribute on social media. He is the eighth Briton to be killed in Ukraine since the conflict began.

At least 6,000 children from Ukraine have attended Russian “re-education” camps in the past year, according to a new report published in the US. Since the start of the war, children as young as four months living in the occupied areas have been taken to 43 camps across Russia, the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab report says. Russia has also unnecessarily expedited the adoption and fostering of children from Ukraine in what could constitute a war crime, it said.

Switzerland has said the seizing of private Russian assets would undermine the country’s constitution. In a statement, the Swiss government said “the expropriation of private assets of lawful origin without compensation is not permissible under Swiss law”.

The journalist Maria Ponomarenko has been sentenced to six years in prison in Russia for “distributing false information about the Russian army” after she posted on social media about the attack on the drama theatre in Mariupol. She has also been banned from journalism for five years.

The UN’s humanitarian aid and refugee agencies have said they are seeking $5.6bn (£4.6bn) to help millions of people in Ukraine and countries that have taken in fleeing Ukrainians. The bulk of the joint appeal is for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, which aims to help more than 11 million people by funnelling funds through more than 650 partner organisations.