Russia-Ukraine war latest: Moscow now controls a fifth of Ukrainian territory, Zelenskiy says, as war enters its 100th day – live

Russia is now achieving tactical success in the Donbas and controls more than 90% of Luhansk, the UK Ministry of Defence has said in its latest intelligence report released early this morning.

After Russian forces failed to achieve their initial objectives to seize Kyiv and Ukrainian centres of government, Russia adapted its operational design to focus on the Donbas, the report reads.

Russia is now achieving tactical success in the Donbas. Russian forces have generated and maintained momentum and currently appear to hold the initiative over Ukrainian opposition.

Russia controls over 90% of Luhansk Oblast and is likely to complete control in the next two weeks. Russia has achieved these recent tactical successes at significant resource cost, and by concentrating force and fires on a single part of the overall campaign.

Russia has not been able to generate manoeuvre or movement on other fronts or axes, all of which have transitioned to the defensive.”

However, measured against Russia’s original plan, “none of the strategic objectives have been achieved” the report adds.

In order for Russia to achieve any form of success will require continued huge investment of manpower and equipment, and is likely to take considerable further time.”

Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg earlier warned that Ukraine’s allies needed to brace for a gruelling “war of attrition” ahead.

Speaking to reporters following following White House talks with US president Joe Biden on Thursday, the secretary general told reporters:

We just have to be prepared for the long haul,” the secretary general told reporters.

Because what we see is that this war has now become a war of attrition.”

Stoltenberg said Ukrainians are “paying a high price for defending their own country on the battlefield, but also we see that Russia is taking high casualties.”

While reiterating that Nato does not want to enter direct confrontation with Russia, Stoltenberg said the western military alliance has a “responsibility” to support Ukraine.

Most wars – also, most likely this war – will at some stage end at the negotiating table, but what we know is that what happens around the negotiating table is very closely linked to the situation on the ground, on the battlefield.”

Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said Russian forces are occupying about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament.

The front lines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), Zelenskiy said, adding that 100 Ukrainians are dying on a daily basis in eastern Ukraine, and another 450-500 people are wounded.

About 60% of the infrastructure and residential buildings in Lysychansk, one of only two cities in the east still under at least partial Ukrainian control, have been destroyed from attacks, according to a local official.

Oleksandr Zaika, head of Lysychansk City Military-Civil administration, said 20,000 people are left in the city, down from a pre-war population of 97,000.

Meanwhile, Zelenskiy said Ukraine has had “some success” in the battles in the eastern city of Sievierodonetsk but it is too early to tell.

“The situation there is the hardest now. Just as in the cities and communities nearby – Lysychansk, Bakhmut and others. Many cities are facing a powerful Russian attack,” he said.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments until my colleague, Martin Belam, takes the reins a little later on.

It is just after 8am in Ukraine as the devastated country enters its 100th day of war.

Here is a comprehensive run-down of where things currently stand.

• Russian forces currently occupy about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address to the Luxembourg parliament. The frontlines of battle stretch across more than 1,000km (620 miles), the Ukrainian president said, adding that 100 Ukrainians were dying daily in eastern Ukraine, and another 450-500 people were wounded.

• Ukraine has had “some success” in the battles in Sievierodonetsk but it is too early to tell, according to Zelenskiy. “The situation there is the hardest now, just as in the cities and communities nearby – Lysychansk, Bakhmut and others. Many cities are facing a powerful Russian attack,” he said in his latest national address.

• About 60% of the infrastructure and residential buildings in Lysychansk, one of only two cities in the east still under at least partial Ukrainian control, have been destroyed from attacks, according to a local official. Oleksandr Zaika, head of the Lysychansk City military-civil administration, said 20,000 people were left in the city, down from a pre-war population of 97,000.

• Civilians are being urged to flee the eastern Ukrainian city of Sloviansk as Russia bombing intensifies. With no water or electricity, 100 people heeded the mayor’s call on Thursday to evacuate.

• Ukraine more than doubled interest rates to 25% on Thursday in a move to try to stem double-digit inflation and protect its currency, which has collapsed since Russia’s invasion. In the first interest rates intervention since president Vladimir Putin’s troops attacked on 24 February, the Ukrainian central bank’s governor, Kyrylo Shevchenko, increased the benchmark interest rate from 10% to 25%.

• Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said the alliance was in touch with Turkey to find a “united way” forward to address Ankara’s concerns over Sweden and Finland’s bid to join. Stoltenberg’s latest remarks come after he told reporters yesterday that he would convene senior officials from Finland, Sweden and Turkey in Brussels in the coming days to discuss the issue.

• European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has said it is in the EU’s strategic interest but also “our moral duty” to make it possible for Ukraine to join the 30-nation bloc. Zelenskiy said in his latest national address: “In a few weeks, we are waiting for the answer of the European Union on the issue of candidate status for Ukraine. We are very much looking forward to it.”

• UN aid chief Martin Griffiths is in Moscow on Friday to discuss clearing the way for exports of grain and other food from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports. Since the invasion, Ukrainian grain shipments from its Black Sea ports have stalled and more than 20m tonnes of grain are stuck in silos, while Moscow says the chilling effect of western sanctions imposed on Russia has hurt its fertiliser and grain exports.

• Ten Russian servicemen who looted the property of Bucha residents have been identified and reported on suspicion of violating the laws and customs of war. “Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings is carried out by investigators of … the national police of Ukraine,” Ukraine’s prosecutor general said in a statement on Thursday.