A teenager is among at least six people killed in Russian airstrikes across Ukraine over the past 24-hour period, local officials said on Sunday.

Two more people died in the Donetsk area, local officials said. An airstrike in the Kharkiv region killed a 57-year-old man and a 54-year-old woman, and also destroyed their home.

A 14-year-old boy was killed in a separate incident after a mine exploded in a field in the Mykolaiv region, interior minister Ihor Klymenko said. Another 12-year-old boy was also injured in the attack.

Russian troops are shelling the Ukrainian town of Avdiivka with such relentlessness that emergency workers have been unable to enter destroyed buildings to remove the bodies. Ukrainian generals have said that fighting in eastern frontline towns has “worsened” significantly in the last few days, a consequence of Ukraine’s promised counteroffensive having been far less successful than had been hoped (Vladimir Putin, for all that his words are worth, said on Sunday that it had “failed completely”).

Ukrainian soldiers have been reduced to firing their high-powered, long-range howitzer guns, supplied to them by the UK, just once a day, owing to a shortage of ammunition to put in them.

This, but for horrifying events in Israel and Gaza, would have been last week’s news. There is always a concern that when people are forced to reprioritise what they care about that governments follow suit. That somehow events in Israel and Gaza might lessen the resolve and the unity of Western countries to support Ukraine in its fight against Russia. Reality doesn’t quite work like that. Commitments made are not unmade. Promises do not simply get broken. Not least as, for now, the horrific terrorist attack in Israel and the ongoing retribution do not come with extraordinary demands for assistance from Israel’s allies.

Ukrainians who fled to the UK from war must be given certainty over their futures including around visa extensions and in the face of rising costs and the risk of homelessness, a report has said.

The National Audit Office (NAO) said the generosity of the public in opening their homes to Ukrainian refugees had allowed the Government to work quickly to help tens of thousands come to safety since March 2022.

But decisions will need to be taken by ministers about future funding and visas and consideration given to the “threat of homelessness as sponsorships end”, according to the head of the body which scrutinises public spending for Parliament.

Gareth Davies, comptroller and auditor general of the NAO, said: “The Government worked quickly to help Ukrainians fleeing conflict, enabled by the generosity of the British people who opened their homes.

“The Government will soon need to take important decisions about the future of the scheme, including whether to extend visas beyond three years, and whether to extend funding for local authorities and sponsors, which currently finishes before visas expire.

“It will also need to carefully monitor key risks, such as safeguarding, and the threat of homelessness as sponsorships end.”

A Russian governor who said that Moscow had not prepared for its invasion of Ukraine and did not “need” the continuing war has been reported to the police.

Natalya Komarova, a member of president Vladimir Putin’s governing United Russia party and the governor of Russian Khanty-Masiysk region, on Saturday criticised the conflict that has stretched to nearly 600 days during a meeting with residents of the Siberian city of Nizhnevartovsk.

Ms Komarova was confronted by the wife of a mobilised Russian man fighting in Ukraine who had asked why her husband was not provided with the necessary equipment to fight.

“Are you asking me (why your husband does not have equipment) knowing that I’m the governor and not the minister of defence?” the official said.

She added: “As a whole, we did not prepare for this war. We don’t need it. We were building a completely different world, so in this regard, there will certainly be some inconsistencies and unresolved issues,” according to a video of the event posted on social media.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said support for Ukraine remained a “top priority” for the US and Europe, calling it crucial to underpin Ukraine‘s military battle against Russia’s invasion.

She said the Biden administration was committed to supporting Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and would fight to ensure a bipartisan majority in the Congress enacted “robust” and uninterrupted assistance for the war-torn country.

“We cannot allow Ukraine to lose the war for economic reasons when it has shown an ability to succeed on the battlefield,” Yellen said in remarks prepared for her third meeting with the Eurogroup euro zone finance ministers.

Yellen’s meeting with the Eurogroup comes as the Biden administration prepares to push through a new military assistance package worth well over $2 billion for both Ukraine and Israel, which is preparing a ground invasion after a deadly Oct. 7 attack by the militant Hamas group that rules Gaza.

The purported Private Military Company (PMC) Redut is recruiting mercenaries under the guise of “volunteers”, including former Wagner personnel, the Ministry of Defence has said in its latest update.

“The Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU) likely supervises and finances the group’s activities, including its recruitment,” the MoD said on Monday morning.

Russia’s foreign minister will visit North Korea this week, days after the United States claimed Pyongyang had delivered munitions and military equipment to Russia for use in the fighting in Ukraine.

The ministry said Sergei Lavrov will be in North Korea on Wednesday and Thursday, but did not specify any meetings or the aims of the trip.

The White House said on Friday that more than 1,000 containers of equipment and ammunition have been sent to Russia from North Korea.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un travelled to Russia last month to meet President Vladimir Putin and visit key military sites, triggering speculation about a possible North Korean plan to refill Russia’s munition stores that have been drained by the protracted conflict with Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin has told Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a phone call on Monday that Russia was ready to help end the confrontation between Israel and the Palestinians, the Kremlin said.

“Vladimir Putin informed (Netanyahu) about the steps Russia is taking to help normalize the situation, prevent further escalation of violence and prevent a humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip,” the Kremlin said.

Earlier on Monday Putin discussed the crisis with the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority and said any form of violence against civilians was unacceptable, the Kremlin said. In these discussions Putin reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to ending the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

Russia is aiming to break through defences in the Kupiansk-Lyman sector of the front line after a sharp increase in fighting, the commander of Ukraine‘s ground forces said

Video footage released by the ground forces showed General Oleksandr Syrskyi meeting troops at an undisclosed location in woodland, and quoted him as saying fighting in the northeastern Kupiansk-Lyman sector had “significantly escalated”.

“The enemy is preparing, seriously preparing for offensive actions, bringing in staff,” Syrskyi said in the footage posted on the Telegram messaging app. “The main goal is to break through our troops’ defences and recapture our territory.”

Ukrainian forces recaptured the city of Kupiansk and nearby areas nearly a year ago, ending months of Russian occupation following Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, but Russian forces have gone on the attack in the region again.

The Ukrainian military reported in its daily update that fighting was raging along the eastern front, particularly around Kupiansk, and near Avdiivka and Mariinka in the Donetsk region.

Russia went on the offensive around Avdiivka last week and fighting there has been intense. A strategically important town with a large coking plant, Avdiivka is located in the northern outskirts of the Donetsk region, much of which has been occupied by Russia.

Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the escalation of the Israel-Palestinian conflict with the leaders of Iran, Egypt, Syria and the Palestinian Authority on Monday and said any form of violence against civilians was unacceptable, the Kremlin said.

In the conversations, “there was also serious concern about the likelihood of the conflict escalating into a regional war”, it said.

Putin reaffirmed Russia’s commitment to co-ordinate with all “constructive partners” to stop the fighting between Israel and the Palestinians.