Ukraine said its troops had entered the strategically important south-eastern village of Robotyne, a potentially significant advance in its counteroffensive against Russia. Hanna Maliar, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister, said Ukrainian soldiers were organizing the evacuation of civilians, but were still coming under fire from Russian forces.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to Ukraine’s president, has said the commitment made by some European countries to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine will help to minimize the country’s losses and de-escalate the conflict.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, met with leaders of Balkan nations and the head of the European Commission on Tuesday.

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) makes reference to reports that a Russian bomber was destroyed in a Ukrainian drone strike. The MoD tweeted that a Russian Tu-22M3 Backfire medium-range bomber was highly likely to have been destroyed at Soltsy-2 airbase in the Novgorod region, 650km from Ukraine’s border, on Saturday. The Russian defence ministry said that an uncrewed aerial vehicle was responsible for the attack.

Russian officials said early on Tuesday that the military had brought down four Ukrainian drones near Moscow and over the Bryansk region that borders Ukraine, Reuters reported.

The Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said Russian war crimes that have taken place in Ukraine “must be punished under international law”. During a press conference with Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday, Mitsotakis added that he “unreservedly condemned” Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.