Ukraine-Russia war LIVE – Putin’s ‘FAILED advances’ have left weakened forces having to ‘merge and redeploy’ in new blow

VLADIMIR Putin has suffered a new blow as FAILED advances have left weakened forces having to merge and redeploy, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. The UK’s Ministry of Defence gave their latest update on the war in Ukraine today. Their Twitter account said in their daily briefing: “Russia hopes to rectify issues that have previously constrained its invasion by geographically concentrating combat power, shortening supply lines and simplifying command and control. “Russia still faces considerable challenges. It has been forced to merge and redeploy depleted and disparate units from the failed advances in north-east Ukraine. Many of these units are likely suffering from weakened morale. “Shortcomings in Russian tactical co-ordination remain. A lack of unit-level skills and inconsistent air support have left Russia unable to fully leverage its combat mass, despite localised improvements.” The news comes as Russian assassins were just “minutes away” from killing President Zelenskyy and his family, the Ukrainian leader has revealed. The hero president spoke in detail of the imminent danger he was in as war broke out in Ukraine during the early days of the Russian invasion. Zelensky, 44, said kill teams of Russian special forces were parachuted into Kyiv on the day of the invasion. Follow our Russia-Ukraine live blog below for up-to-the-minute updates…