More than 250,000 eastern Ukrainians ordered to abandon their homes

More than 250,000 people acted on an order to abandon their homes in eastern Ukraine as Russian forces rained down artillery fire on the region ahead of a predicted major new offensive in the area. The order was made by Luhansk Governor Serhiy Gadai as air-raid sirens were sounded in the embattled city, as reported by the Daily Mail.

Despite his order, Mr Gadia believes as many as 120,000 of the 400,000 residents stayed behind. He warned: "They (Russia) are amassing forces for an offensive and we see the number of shellings has increased."

UK Intelligence has stated that the south-east of Ukraine is now being targeted with the Russians' focus centred on Mariupol, Donbas and Mykolaiv. The UK Ministry of Defence said that the attacks were "supported by continued cruise missile launches into Ukraine by Russian naval forces".

An estimated 10 million people in Ukraine have now been displaced by the war since the start of Vladimir Putin's invasion, but British families hoping to welcome refugees into their homes continue to experience delays in that process due to visa requirements. Under the Homes for Ukraine sponsorship scheme, only 1,200 refugees have arrived in the UK, which represents just a tenth of those who have been granted visas.

Ireland has welcomed more than 20,000 refugees into the country, Germany has taken in 300,000 and Poland 2.5 million over the past six-week period. A UK Defence Intelligence update, meanwhile, has stated that in northern Ukraine there is evidence "of disproportionate targeting of non-combatants".

The update also reports that the Russians continue to use Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs) and have attacked infrastructure targets with "a high risk of collateral harm to civilians". It read: