Days before the leaders of Russia and the U.S. hold a summit meeting in Alaska, Moscow’s forces breached Ukrainian lines in a series of infiltrations this week in the country’s industrial heartland of Donetsk.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is not expected to attend. While Trump and Putin negotiate Kyiv's future, the Ukrainians will be absent. Trump said Wednesday that a potential second summit bringing Putin and Zelenskyy together is possible after the Alaska event.

British troops would fight back if they were attacked by Russian forces while enforcing a peace deal in Ukraine, the Defence Secretary has suggested.