Ukraine-Russia war live: Kyiv’s huge drone attack as Putin floods frontline with ‘poorly trained troops’

The UK’s Ministry of Defence has said Russian president Vladimir Putin is flooding the frontline with “poorly trained troops”, noting “the reluctance of some elements to fight” in the war. In its daily intelligence briefing, the government highlighted that Russia is convicting nearly 100 soldiers a week for refusing to fight, adding there will be around 5,200 convictions this year. “The high rate of convictions demonstrates the poor state of morale in the Russian Army and the reluctance of some elements to fight,” the MoD added. “Although some soldiers have refused to fight and attrition rates remain high, Russia highly likely mitigates their loss by committing a mass of poorly trained soldiers to the frontline.” Meanwhile, an accident involving two Ukrainian helicopters killed six servicemen aboard the aircraft, Ukrainian media reported on Wednesday. The news site Ukrainska Pravda said the incident on Tuesday involved widely used Mi-8 military helicopters and occurred near the town of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, near the front line, but gave no indication of how it occurred. Read More Ukraine launches ‘massive’ drone strikes on six regions of Russia – destroying war planes What next for the Wagner Group as leader presumed dead in plane crash? Putin jails Russian soldiers for refusing to return to Ukraine