Moscow's ambassador to London has said the UK is waging a proxy war against Russia, while predicting the "end of Ukraine" as Russian invading forces make deeper advances into the country.
In an interview with the BBC, Andrei Kelin said Ukraine continued to fight but claimed: "The resistance is more feeble and feeble."
Russian troops, he said, were gaining more terrain every day, adding: "The end of this phase will mean the end of Ukraine." Russia is thought to control about 18% of Ukraine and has been making slow but steady advances over the last year.
Kelin also described the conflict as "a proxy war led by the United Kingdom's government" which by providing weapons is "killing Russian soldiers and civilians".
The comments came as Ukraine's president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, renewed his appeal to western countries for air-defence systems, after Russian missile strikes on the central city of Kryvyi Rih late on Saturday wounded 17 people, according to Ukrainian officials.
Ukraine is losing its territory in the eastern Donbas region to Russia's invading forces, while coming under sustained bombardment, but has yet to convince western allies to provide it with long-range missiles to strike Russian military targets.
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