The Russian president says any attempt by the West to 'fight to the last' in Ukraine will end in tragedy for that country.
Madiyevskyy Vyacheslav/Ukrinform/PA
Russian shells fell in eastern Ukraine ahead of an expected new offensive, while three people were killed in the northeastern city of Kharkiv, authorities said."We have heard many times that the West wants to fight us to the last Ukrainian," Mr Putin said in televised remarks to parliamentary leaders.READ MOREMr Putin said the West had failed in its attempt to contain Russia, and its sanctions on Moscow had caused difficulties but "not on the scale intended".
Moscow did not conceal its delight at the political demise of a leader who it has long criticised for arming Kyiv so energetically.In a phone call made just hours after his resignation, Mr Johnson told Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, "You're a hero, everybody loves you", a spokesman for Mr Johnson said.
Mr Johnson's resignation comes at a time of domestic turmoil in some other European countries that support Kyiv and doubts about their staying power for what has become a protracted conflict. Snake Island became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the first days of the war. It was also a strategic target, sitting aside shipping lanes near Ukraine's port of Odesa.Russia abandoned the island at the end of June in what it said was a gesture of goodwill - a victory for Ukraine that Kyiv hoped could loosen Moscow's blockade of Ukrainian ports.
After effectively cementing its total control of the neighbouring Luhansk region, Moscow has made clear it is planning to capture the parts of Donetsk it has not yet seized. Kyiv still controls some large cities.
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