An ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin warned on Tuesday that the world was probably on the verge of a new world war, cautioning that the risks of a nuclear confrontation were also rising, though neither scenario was inevitable.

“The world is sick and quite probably is on the verge of a new world war,” former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful security council, told a conference in Moscow.

He said such a new world war was not inevitable but said the risks of a nuclear confrontation were growing – and more serious than concerns about climate change.

Within hours after Fox News announced that the network agreed to “part ways” with the far-right nationalist pundit on Monday morning, Russian state media personalities and propaganda outlets opened their doors.

RT – the Russian state broadcaster formerly known as Russia Today, which is banned in dozens of countries, inducing across Europe – offered him a platform. “Hey @TuckerCarlson, you can always question more with @RT_com,” the outlet wrote on Twitter.

Officials in Ukraine have confirmed a rapid spike in production of drones amid growing demand from troops on the frontline.

The Volodymyr Zelensky administration has relaxed import laws and scrapped taxes for drone parts and equipment, reported BBC.

It added that the expansion of drone production is being funded by the Army of Drones campaign.

Under the initiative which has seen support from celebrities like Mark Hamill, Ukraine has raised more than $108m (£87m).

The money is also being spent on training new pilots for the front line.

Vladimir Putin will remain defiant on negotiations to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive expected to start soon, senior US and EU officials assessed, a US-based think tank has said.

Citing a report by The New York Times, the Institute for the Study of War has said that a senior European official stated that the chances of Putin “backing down” in response to a successful Ukrainian counteroffensive are “less than zero.”

“The official stated that Putin would likely mobilize more soldiers to fight in Ukraine. US assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs Celeste Wallander said that there is ‘very little evidence’ to suggest that Putin would alter his strategic goal of subjugating Ukraine ‘politically, if not fully militarily’,” the ISW said in its latest assessment on the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine.

It also pointed to the comments by the US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby stating that the US is increasing security assistance to Ukraine because the US expects that Russia will attempt to go on the offensive as the weather improves.

Russian generals responsible for war crimes in Ukraine could visit the UK without fear of prosecution unless a legal loophole is closed, MPs have been told.

Brendan O’Hara of the SNP raised concerns with existing legislation as he introduced his Universal Jurisdiction (Extension) Bill, which seeks to implement the calls to “tighten up” existing legislation and bring to justice those responsible for the “world’s most heinous crimes”.

The United Kingdom has sent “thousands of rounds of Challenger 2 ammunition to Ukraine, including depleted uranium armor-piercing rounds,” UK armed forces minister James Heappy said.

He added: “For operational security reasons, we will not comment on Ukrainian usage rates for the rounds provided.”

Mr Heappey was responding to written inquiries from Kenny MacAskill, House of Commons member from Scottish Alba Party.

The minister said that while the UK carried “no obligation” to clear up depleted uranium rounds fired from Challenger 2 tanks by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the UK remains “committed to helping Ukraine emerge from this war secure, prosperous and free and we are supporting a range of activities to meet Ukraine’s immediate needs, restore essential infrastructure and services, and lay the groundwork for its longer-term recovery and post-war reconstruction.”

Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba has penned a sharp op-ed and argued for a place in Nato for the war-hit nation despite multiple apprehensions, stating that entry of Finland confirms that fears around Russian retaliation are “unwarranted”.

“Russia’s war on Ukraine is about more than killing Ukrainians and stealing our land. President Vladimir Putin is trying to destroy the very foundations of the European security order formed after 1945. This is why the stakes are so high, not only for Ukraine but for the entire Euro-Atlantic community,” Mr Kuleba wrote.

He added: “Ukraine did not choose this battle. Nor did the United States and its Nato allies. Russia started this war. But it falls to Ukraine and its Western partners to bring the conflict to an end, winning a just victory that guarantees peace and stability in Europe for generations to come.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has slammed Russia for carrying out a missile strike on civilian neighbourhood in Ukraine’s Kharkiv which killed two people.

“Throughout the day today, the rubble in the city of Kupyansk, Kharkiv region, was being cleared after a Russian attack with S-300 missiles. Attack on an ordinary civilian neighborhood. The terrorists targeted the local history museum and nearby houses. Russia killed two women with this strike,” Mr Zelensky said.

He extended condolences to the families and friends of the victims, and added that 10 people have also been wounded in the attack.

“In total, more than 60 museums and galleries in different regions of our country have been destroyed or damaged by the occupier,” Mr Zelensky said in his nightly address.

It was a month into Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine. Russian forces had withdrawn from around Kyiv and in their wake Bel Trew and her team stumbled on a body by an abandoned Russian camp.

His hands were tied. He had been burned and shot in the back. Soldiers said he was a teenager.

As Bel tried to find out who he was and what had happened, she uncovered a nightmare world: a nation struggling to find thousands of its missing and to identify its dead.

A lawyer in New York has admitted to making $3.8m in payments to maintain properties that were beneficially owned by a Russian oligarch under US sanctions.

Washington imposed sanctions in 2018 on billionaire Viktor Vekselberg – who owns the Renova group of energy companies – over allegations of Russian interference in the US election won by Donald Trump, and again in 2022 over his ties to Vladimir Putin.

Robert Wise admitted to receiving wire payments from a shell company controlled by an associate of Vekselberg, and then using the funds to pay taxes, insurance and other fees on various properties, including two apartments on Park Avenue and an estate in the Hamptons.

“Admission to the bar carries with it a public trust that attorneys will act with honesty and integrity – a trust that Robert Wise chose to betray in exchange for an easy, illicit paycheck,” Andrew Adams, who leads a US Department of Justice unit targeting Russia-related sanctions violations, told Reuters.