Video posted on Russian social media channels showed a young bearded man in military clothing. The captive said he was a former British soldier.

Russia and Ukraine have traded air strikes, after a week of intensifying rhetoric in which Russia tested a new missile on Ukraine. Russia has made close to 1,500 strikes on Ukraine since Sunday evening on about half of the country's regions causing dozens of injuries, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said.

Tit-for-tat moves this week included the use of American-made ballistic missiles to strike inside Russia, and new nuclear threats from Moscow. Neither appear to have influenced the war on the ground.

Trump has often claimed that he would end the Russia-Ukraine war even before he is inaugurated as the 47th U.S. president. Trump has never said how and refused to say during a campaign debate in September that he wants Ukraine to win.

A senior Russian general has been sacked for faking reports of battlefield successes in Ukraine, according to Russian media and war bloggers.

Putin launches hundreds of deadly glide bombs as Kyiv calls for better air defence - Zelensky said Ukraine was not a ‘testing ground for weapons’ and called for improved air defence

The escalatory attack comes after Ukraine reportedly used US and UK long range missiles to strike targets inside Russia