Kyiv general admits 'deep breakthrough' is unlikely, as Russia pounds frontline

Russia has carried out its biggest artillery attack so far this year, Ukraine has said, as Kyiv's top general admitted the war had reached a deadlock, with little prospect that his troops would make "a deep and beautiful breakthrough".

Gen Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Ukraine's commander in chief, gave a bleak assessment of the situation on the battlefield, 20 months after Vladimir Putin's full-scale invasion. He acknowledged that his soldiers had failed to punch through entrenched Russian positions and minefields.

A counteroffensive that began five months ago, with the aim of driving the Russians from the occupied south of the country, had not worked.

"Just like in the first world war, we have reached the level of technology that puts us into a stalemate," he told the Economist. "There will most likely be no deep and beautiful breakthrough." Zaluzhnyi's comments come at a critical time in the war, with Russia apparently taking delivery from North Korea of millions of shells. The supply-agreed after a deal between Moscow and Pyongyang - is reportedly enough for two months.

Russian troops have bombarded Ukrainian towns and villages across a 600-mile frontline. In recent weeks they have pulverised the southern city of Kherson, which Ukraine took back last year, and targeted numerous settlements in the eastern Donbas.

"Over the last 24 hours, the enemy shelled 118 settlements in 10 regions," Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine's interior minister, wrote on social media. "This is the highest number of cities and villages that have come under attack since the start of the year."