Following Ben Wallace’s revelation today that he will resign as defence secretary in the next Cabinet reshuffle – and as an MP at the next election – our world affairs editor Kim Sengupta writes that the politician had previously “made no secret that his dream job was to be the next Nato secretary general”.

“And his early and robust support for Ukraine, it was thought, would put him in a good position as Europe scrambled to be combat-ready in the face of Vladimir Putin’s invasion,” he writes.

“ ... While finding his path to Nato stopped, Wallace was also set to lose his seat of Wyre and Preston North in boundary changes. Along with that came persistent rumours that Wallace, one of the longest-serving Conservative defence secretaries, would lose his post in Rishi Sunak’s autumn reshuffle.

“With the Conservatives highly unlikely to win the next election Wallace was said to be increasingly unwilling to go through the troubles of finding another seat, only to spend years in opposition backbenches. He planned to announce during the summer recess that he would be leaving politics at the next election.”

You can read his analysis in full with Independent Premium:

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has insisted that “the world believes in Ukraine”, as he shared images of Kyiv’s soldiers in a rallying call on social media.

It comes after a week in which Mr Zelensky travelled to Vilnius for the Nato summit, where the alliance’s inability to reach a consensus on offering Ukraine membership sparked frustration in Kyiv.

With Russia’s Vladimir Putin warning today that Moscow reserves the right to use cluster bombs in retaliation if the shipment from Washington to Kyiv is used against its troops, a former spokesperson for Volodymyr Zelensky has argued that Russia has already used such weapons in Ukraine.

The Chatham House think-tank has also accused Russia of using cluster munitions throughout its war in Ukraine, “along with landmines and thermobaric/vacuum weapons”, while accusing Ukraine of also using its own ex-Soviet stockpile of cluster bombs.

Kosovo has bought a batch of Turkish-made Bayraktar drones, its prime minister has said, at a time when it faces its worst violence in the north where ethnic Serbs refuse to recognise Pristina’s authority.

In a Facebook post showing him in front of a drone with his defence minister, Albin Kurti said its latest security spending was making the country safer.

He did not give the number or cost of the drones – Kosovo’s first – nor say what they would be used for.

“Kosovo is now even safer and always proud,” Mr Kurti said, adding that his government had in the last two years raised troop numbers by 80 per cent and the defence budget by more than 100 per cent.

The 15-old republic is building an army intended eventually to have 5,000 regular soldiers and 3,000 reservists. The Nato military alliance – whom Kosovo aims to join, despite four of its members not recognising its independence from Serbia – also has more than 4,500 peacekeepers in the country.

Former Fox News presenter Tucker Carlson appeared to lose his patience with former vice president Mike Pence on Friday after the 2024 presidential candidate refused to back down from his support for arming Ukraine’s defence forces, reports Andrew Feinberg.

Mr Pence and Carlson, who spoke for approximately 26 minutes as part of a GOP candidate forum in Iowa, spent roughly half of their discussion sparring over Mr Pence’s view of the war, which the ex-vice president described in stark terms based on his two visits to the region.

The ex-Fox News host, who before his firing in April used his prime time programme to rail against US support for Kyiv while frequently parroting Russian government talking points, attempted to bait Mr Pence into denouncing the Ukrainian government for what he described as mistreatment of Christians.

Fighting in eastern Ukraine has “somewhat intensified” as Ukrainian and Russian forces clash in at least three areas on the eastern front, a senior Ukrainian defence official has said.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said on Telegram that Russian forces have been attacking in the direction of Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region for two successive days.

“We are on the defensive,” Maliar wrote. “There are fierce battles, the positions of both sides change dynamically several times a day.”

Maliar also said the two armies were pummelling one another around the ruined city of Bakhmut but that Ukrainian forces were “gradually moving forward” along its southern flank, adding that Kyiv’s troops were also fending off Russian attacks near Avdiivka and Maryinka.

Writing as China and Russia take part in joint military drills in the Sea of Japan, former Lib Dem leader Vince Cable writes for Independent Voices that, while Beijing’s “friendship without limits” with Vladimir Putin jars badly in Europe, it “is severely limited”.

You can read his thoughts on the UK’s future relationship with China here:

The last ship to travel under the Black Sea grain export deal has left the port of Odesa ahead of a deadline to extend the agreement, according to a Reuters witness and MarineTraffic.com.

Russia has not agreed to register any new ships since 27 June, and the initiative will expire on Monday unless Moscow agrees to extend it.

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres was waiting for a response from Vladimir Putin on a proposal to extend the deal, a UN spokesperson said on Friday.

The Russian president told his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa in a phone call on Saturday that commitments to remove obstacles to Russian food and fertiliser exports had yet to be fulfilled, the Kremlin said.

Ukrainian officials did not immediately comment on whether the ship, the Turkish-flagged TQ Samsun, had left Odesa.

Vladimir Putin has claimed Ukraine’s counter-offensive is “not succeeding” and that attempts to break through Russian defences have failed – despite Kyiv’s forces having recaptured several villages and made advances in several areas, according to analysts.

Yet speaking to Russian state TV, the president claimed: “All attempts by the enemy to break through our defence ... have not been successful throughout the entire offensive.”