A Russian killer who throttled his lover then put her body through a meat grinder and flushed the remains down the toilet has been pardoned by Vladimir Putin for fighting in his war in Ukraine. Dmitry Zelensky,

Ukraine fired its counteroffensive salvo in June to recoup ground in the east. Its forces are also trying to advance southward to the Sea of Azov to sever a land bridge established by Russia between the annexed Crimean Peninsula and positions it holds in the east.

Russia launched a “massive” drone attack on Ukraine overnight, Kyiv has said. Russian unmanned aerial vehicles were intercepted over Black Sea coastal regions and further inland, Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokeswoman for the Ukrainian southern military command,

Western governments have placed air defence systems “at the top of the list” of military aid to Ukraine as Russia gears up for winter attacks on the country’s energy infrastructure, sources have told The Telegraph.