Offensive in east ‘picked

Ukraine said that Russia’s offensive in the east picked up momentum, with several towns coming under intense attack as Moscow’s forces attempt to surround Ukrainian troops.

In a reminder of the horrific toll the war has taken since it began on February 24, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres visited towns outside the capital Kyiv where evidence of mass killings of civilians was found after Russia’s retreat from the area.

The fighting gathered pace after Russia suddenly cut off natural gas to two Nato nations on Wednesday, in what was seen as a bid to punish and divide the West over its support for Ukraine ahead of the potentially pivotal battle in the eastern industrial region of the Donbas.

Meanwhile a spokesperson at the Foreign Office said the families of two British nationals were being supported after one was killed in Ukraine and a second reported missing.

The dead man has been named as Scott Sibley by the BBC and Sky, both of which said he is believed to have been fighting in support of Ukrainian forces.

A fundraising page set up in Mr Sibley’s name paid tribute to his “contagious laugh and ability to cheer us up”!

Tributes were also left on

the Logistic Support Squadron Facebook page, where a picture was posted alongside the comment: “This week the Sqn has lost a former serving soldier. A man that showed Commando spirit until the end. RIP. Scott Sibley.”

The general staff of Ukraine’s military said Russian forces were “exerting intense fire” in several places as they pushed on with the second phase of their invasion.

The most intensive action was around Donetsk and close to Kharkiv, which lies outside the Donbas but is seen as key to Russia’s apparent bid to encircle Ukrainian troops there.

The general staff said that over the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian forces have repelled six attacks in the Donbas, control of which is now Moscow’s primary focus ever since its initial offensive faltered and failed to take the Ukrainian capital.

Luhansk governor Serhiy Haidai said the Russian army shelled the residential area in his region “29 times by aircraft, multiple rocket launches, tube artillery and mortars”.

Satellite photos also showed evidence of intense Russian fire on Mariupol in recent days.

The images show how concentrated attacks have greatly damaged a central facility at the Azovstal steelworks, the last redoubt of Ukrainian fighters in the key battleground city.

An estimated 1,000 civilians are sheltering along with about 2,000 Ukrainian fighters in the steelworks, a Soviet-era complex with a warren of underground facilities built to withstand airstrikes.

Russia, meanwhile, said a city under its control in the south also came under fire.

With the war now in its third month, Mr Guterres toured towns outside Kyiv, including Bucha, that have seen some of the most horrific attacks of the war.

“Civilians always pay the highest price,” he said as he visited the bombed-out suburb of Irpin.

“And this is something everyone should remember, everywhere in the world.

“Wherever there is a war the highest price is paid by civilians.”

Evidence of atrocities was discovered in the towns Mr Guterres visited yesterday after the Russians retreated from the area in the face of a fiercer than expected Ukrainian resistance, bolstered by Western arms.

Scott Sibley.