Ukraine is trying to erase any Soviet or Russian influences from its public spaces as the war continues.

It has pulled down monuments and renamed hundreds of streets to celebrate its own people, including poets, artists, soldiers and independent leaders.

It’s even chosen names to honour heroes from the current war.

The Associated Press reported: “Streets that honoured revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin or the Bolshevik Revolution were largely already gone; now Russia, not Soviet legacy, is the enemy.

“It’s part punishment for crimes meted out by Russia, and part affirmation of a national identity by honouring Ukrainian notables who have been mostly overlooked.

“Russia, through the Soviet Union, is seen by many in Ukraine as having stamped its domination of its smaller south-western neighbour for generations, consigning its artists, poets and military heroes to relative obscurity, compared with more famous Russians.

“If victors write history, as some say, Ukrainians are doing some rewriting of their own – even as their fate hangs in the balance. Their national identity is having what may be an unprecedented surge, in ways large and small.

“President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has taken to wearing a black T-shirt that says: “I’m Ukrainian.””

Sharing the full statement, the UK Ministry of Defence said today: “On 16 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin visited the Joint Headquarters of the Special Military Operation.

“Putin was filmed meeting with a number of senior military officers including Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and Defence Minister Sergey Shoygu.

“He invited proposals for next steps of the Special Military Operation. Commander of the Russian Group of Forces in Ukraine, General Sergey Surovikin, was one of those who presented a report.

“In this choreographed meeting Putin likely intended to demonstrate collective responsibility for the special military operation.

“This display likely aimed to deflect Putin’s responsibility for military failure, high fatality rates and increasing public dissatisfaction from mobilisation. The televised footage was probably designed to also dispel social media rumours of General Gerasimov’s dismissal.”

The British defence ministry has called Vladimir Putin’s visit to the joint headquarters of the special military operation choreographed and aimed at deflecting the Russian president’s responsibility for a failure.

“In this choreographed meeting Putin likely intended to demonstrate collective responsibility for the special military operation,” the ministry said.

Ukraine’s defence minister has said he will start acting on some of the violations Russia has committed in its war against the country.

“Russia spent hundreds of billions of dollars on the delusional idea of conquering Ukraine and became a terrorist state, violating most conventions on the rules of warfare. I will focus everyday on some of those violations,” Oleksiy Reznikov said today.

Reports suggesting Vladimir Putin is going to push Belarus into a more active role in Ukraine war are “groundless” and “stupid”, the Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.

“Russia has no interest in absorbing anyone,” Mr Peskov said.

However, the US has refuted the claims from Moscow, calling it the “height of irony”.

“The reported claim from president Putin that he has no intention of, as you said, absorbing anyone in his talks with president – with Lukashenka, look, I think a statement like that has to be treated as the height of irony coming from a leader who is seeking at the present moment, right now, to violently absorb his other peaceful next door neighbor,” state department spokesperson Ned Price said last night.

“We’ve heard these statements from President Putin. At the same time, since the earliest days of this conflict and the weeks preceding this conflict, we have seen the Lukashenka regime essentially cede its sovereignty, cede its independence to Russia.” he said in a press briefing.

The top US state department officials said that the world saw Russian forces “mass inside what should have been sovereign Belarusian territory.”

“We’ve seen attacks launched from what should be sovereign Belarusian territory. And now we hear these comments from president Putin and from Lukashenka, but I think the track record speaks much louder than anything these two leaders could say,” he said.

Downing Street has rejected suggestions Rishi Sunak is preparing to water down Britain’s support for Ukraine as “categorically untrue”.

The prime minister is in Riga meeting other Western leaders to discuss the war-torn country.

But reports he has asked for an assessment of the progress of the war and how UK military supplies are being used led have to fears the Conservative leader was taking an overly cautious approach.

His official spokesman said: “Certainly any suggestion of watered down support for Ukraine is categorically untrue.

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Russian president Vladimir Putin has ordered the strengthening of his coutry’s borders and instructed security services to step up defences against “traitors, spies and saboteurs”, according to state media.

Reports also said that Mr Putin told the Federal Security Bureau (FSB) it must protect people in the Ukrainian regions claimed by Russia in September, promising agents “modern equipment and weapons” for the cause.

“[The border] must be reliably covered,” the RIA news agency quoted him as saying. “Any attempts to violate it must be thwarted quickly and effectively using whatever forces and means we have at our disposal, including mobile action units and special forces.”

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The White House will continue to monitor Russia’s activities in Ukraine amid Vladimir Putin’s visit to Belarus, spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said.

“Look, we continue to monitor Russia’s force posture closely. That’s something that we have been doing and will continue to do, including a Belarus – in Belarus, and remain in close contact with Ukraine as they valiantly defend themselves against Russia aggression. So we’re continuing to do that,” the top White House official said in a press briefing last night.

She was answering the question on the Biden administration’s concerns that there might be additional collaboration between the two countries as Mr Putin visited his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko and if Minsk may be providing additional military support to Russia.

Ms Jean-Pierre said the US has long been concerned by Belarus’s role in Russia’s aggression. “Belarus has enabled Russia’s war against Ukraine, providing support for Russia and allowing Belarusian territory to be used as a staging ground for Russian forces,” she told the reporters.

Vladimir Putin is in Belarus along with his defence and foreign ministers, as fears grow in Kyiv that Moscow wants to push its closest ally into a new ground offensive in Ukraine.

Sitting alongside Belarus president Alexander Lukashenko before their talks in Minsk, Mr Putin is said to have emphasised the close military-technical ties between the allies.

Mr Putin was allowed to use Belarus as the launchpad for his offensive against Kyiv when the invasion of Ukraine began in February – although Lukashenko has repeatedly said his nation, which relies heavily on Moscow for support, will not enter the war given how unpopular such a move could prove in his country.

Ukrainian joint forces commander Serhiy Nayev had said he believed the talks would address “further aggression against Ukraine and the broader involvement of the Belarusian armed forces in the operation against Ukraine, in particular, in our opinion, also on the ground”.

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The International Monetary Fund has approved a four-month programme for Ukraine to help the besieged country maintain its economic stability using donor financing after Russia invaded it in February.

The Program Monitoring with Board involvement (PMB) was cleared by the IMF’s management on 9 December and discussed by its executive board yesterday. The IMF will help Ukraine implement prudent policies and “catalyse” external financing..

"Large and predictable external financial support will be critical for the success of the authorities strategy, and frontloaded disbursements would help address strains in early 2023," IMF first deputy managing director Gita Gopinath said in a statement.

"At the same time, the PMB seeks to promote transparency and preserve hard-won gains from past fund-supported programs, including in the areas of independence of the National Bank of Ukraine and, more broadly, governance and anti-corruption," Ms Gopinath said.