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• Britain greeted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with a promise of long range attack drones on Monday, as the Ukrainian leader toured Europe winning promises of new arms for a counteroffensive against Russia. READ MORE BELOW.

• Zelenskyy met Prime Minister Rishi Sunak on Monday, after visiting heads of state in Rome, Berlin and Paris over the weekend. During his tour in Germany, the president claimed Kyiv and its Western backers could make a Russian defeat in the Ukraine conflict "irreversible" as early as this year.

• Over the weekend Germany announced 2.7 billion euro ($3.0 billion) of military aid to Ukraine, its biggest such package to Kyiv, while France committed to sending dozens of armored vehicles and light tanks in the coming weeks.

• The head of Russia's Wagner mercenary force has refuted claims made by the Washington Post that he offered to reveal the position of Russian troops to the Ukrainian government.

• A top Chinese envoy will start a tour of Ukraine, Russia and other European cities on Monday in a trip Beijing says is aimed at discussing a "political settlement" to the Ukraine crisis. Li Hui, China's special representative for Eurasian affairs and former ambassador to Russia, will also visit Poland, France, and Germany on the multi-day trip.

• Russia's Defense Ministry announced that two of its military commanders were killed in eastern Ukraine, as Kyiv's forces renewed efforts to break through Russian positions in the embattled city of Bakhmut. Ukraine's military on Monday hailed recent advances around the strategic city as its first successful counterattack there.

• Four people were killed in a Russian missile attack that hit a hospital in the eastern city of Avdiivka on Monday, regional governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

• Leaders of the Group of Seven nations plan to add more sanctions against Russia at their summit in Japan this week, with measures aimed at energy and exports related to Moscow's military campaign. The Financial Times reported that the G7 and the EU would ban Russian gas imports on routes where Moscow has cut supplies.

• A Belarusian state news channel has published a photo of President Alexander Lukashenko at what it said was a military command center in what would be his first public appearance in almost a week, following speculation over the health of the 68-year-old leader.

IN DETAIL

Britain promised to supply Ukraine with long-range attack drones on top of cruise missiles it pledged last week, as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with his British counterpart in the UK as part of his weekend tour of Europe aimed at winning new arms from Kyiv's western backers.

Arriving in Britain from visits to Rome, Berlin and Paris, he wrote on Twitter: "Today – London. The UK is a leader when it comes to expanding our capabilities on the ground and in the air. This cooperation will continue today."

Sunak's office said the UK premier would confirm the provision of hundreds of air defense missiles and further unmanned aerial systems, including hundreds of new long-range attack drones with a range of over 200 kilometers.

Having kept its troops in defensive positions for six months, Ukraine is planning to launch major assaults to reclaim territory using newly acquired weapons from the West. 

Zelenskyy, making his European tour ahead of the coming counterassault, won major additional pledges of tanks, armored vehicles and other weapons over the past two days from Germany and France.

Last week, London announced it was sending Ukraine its air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have a far longer range than Western weapons sent previously and can be used strike deep behind Russian lines.

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