Russia's war on Ukraine latest: Moscow's forces make incremental gains in east

* Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports. DIPLOMACY * With the United States having decided to supply tanks to Ukraine, it makes no sense for Russia to talk to Kyiv or its Western "puppet masters", the RIA news agency quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying. * Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run up to the invasion of Ukraine, a charge denied by Moscow.

Russian forces claimed incremental gains in eastern Ukraine on Monday adding up to their biggest advances in months, after relentless battles that Kyiv described as human wave attacks which showed Moscow had no regard for the lives of its own men. CONFLICT

* The administrator of Russian-controlled parts of Donetsk province, Denis Pushilin, claimed Russian troops had secured a foothold in Vuhledar, a coal mining town whose ruins have been a Ukrainian bastion since the outset of the war. * Ukraine's general staff said Russia had carried out air strikes and three missile strikes in the past 24 hours, one of them on Kharkiv in northeast Ukraine. It is also continuing offensive operations in the areas of Bakhmut, Avdiivka and elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, it said.

* Ukraine said it had repelled assaults on Vuhledar and Blahodatne, a village just north of Bakhmut. * Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.

DIPLOMACY * With the United States having decided to supply tanks to Ukraine, it makes no sense for Russia to talk to Kyiv or its Western "puppet masters", the RIA news agency quoted Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov as saying.

* Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has said Russian President Vladimir Putin threatened him with a missile strike during a phone call in the run up to the invasion of Ukraine, a charge denied by Moscow. * Russia told the United States that the last remaining pillar of bilateral nuclear arms control could expire in 2026 without a replacement due to what it said were U.S. efforts to inflict "strategic defeat" on Moscow in Ukraine.

ARMS * Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said further supplies of Western weaponry to Ukraine would lead to further escalation of the conflict there and draw NATO members more deeply into it.

* NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg urged South Korea to increase military support to Ukraine, citing other countries that have changed their policy of not providing weapons to countries in conflict following Russia's invasion. * Expedited talks are underway between Ukraine and its allies about its requests for long-range missiles that it says are needed to prevent Russia from destroying its cities, a top aide to President Zelenskiy said.

QUOTES "The more defence support our heroes at the front receive from the world, the sooner Russia's aggression will end and the more reliable security guarantees will be for Ukraine and all our partners after the war," Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app. 

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)