Ukraine war latest news: Biden says war at critical point as he sends more weapons - BBC News
The US president sets out another £800m package for Ukraine, a refugee scheme and a Russian ship ban.
Western officials say they see some signs that Russia is addressing some of the problems that beset the early weeks of its invasion of Ukraine.

The fact that they are trying to advance along a more narrow set of lines means that issues like command and control are better.

But officials say the Russians are still operating in long convoys on single roads, which means they remain vulnerable to attack. Ukrainian troops, they say, “continue to fight in a very smart and very effective manner”.

Some of the Russian lines of communication are still quite long (notably south from Kharkiv) and exposed to attack from the west.

Officials say Vladimir Putin is “still in a position to win”, with a range of possible outcomes, none of which they expect to see happen quickly. The West is gearing up to sustain military support for Ukraine “through a prolonged period of conflict….perhaps much of the rest of this year".

A successful Russian campaign in the Donbas is possible and, in a worst case scenario, this could lead the Russians to revisit some of their pre-war objectives, such as Kyiv and Odesa.

Officials say that Russian forces enjoy a roughly three to one advantage in numbers over the Ukrainian military, but much depends on how smartly Moscow uses those forces and what capabilities the Ukrainian defenders have - hence the push by the West to send even more advanced equipment.

Russia still has large numbers of troops - between 5,000 and 10,000 - in the area around Mariupol, which means that there has been little or no movement on the southern side of Russia’s expected pincer movement against Ukrainian forces in the Donbas.

Officials say that if Putin wants to seal off Mariupol, this will not be a trivial task and will continue to limit the ability of those forces to take part in operations in the Donbas.

Officials note that Russia’s use of long-range Iskander missiles has slowed somewhat in the past week, suggesting Moscow has concerns about usage rates and the ability to restock.