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Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides, Associated Press reported.

Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the UK Defense Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they “are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties,” the ministry said.

Both sides have expended large amounts of weaponry in what has become a grinding war of attrition for the eastern region of coal mines and factories known as the Donbas, placing huge strains on their resources and stockpiles.

Russia is likely using the 5.5-tonne (6.1-ton) anti-ship missiles because it is running short of more precise modern missiles, the British ministry said. It gave no details of where exactly such missiles are thought to have been deployed, according to Associated Press.

As Russia also sought to consolidate its hold over territory seized so far in the 108-day war, the US defense secretary said Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine “is what happens when oppressors trample the rules that protect us all.”

“It’s what happens when big powers decide that their imperial appetites matter more than the rights of their peaceful neighbors,” Lloyd Austin said during a visit to Asia. “And it’s a preview of a possible world of chaos and turmoil that none of us would want to live in.”

US Army’s Pacific Commanding General Charles Flynn  paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Sher Bahadur Deuba at the latter’s residence in Baluwatar on Friday.

During the meeting, the duo discussed humanitarian assistance and disaster management among others, the US Embassy in Kathmandu said.

Flynn lauded the continued contribution of Nepal to the UN peacekeeping missions, the Embassy said.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Flynn is also scheduled to meet President Bidya Devi Bhandari.

During his stay in Nepal, the US Army top official is scheduled to discuss bilateral interests with Chief of Army Staff Prabhu Ram Sharma.

Sri Lanka’s former Finance Minister Basil Rajapaksa on June 9 said he was resigning from Parliament, even as he sought to deflect blame for Sri Lanka’s economic grave crisis, The Hindu reported.

Mr. Basil stepped down from his ministerial post early in April amid furious public protests demanding that the Rajapaksa clan quit office, taking responsibility for the downturn that has left citizens struggling amid record inflation and acute shortages of essentials. In May, former Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa stepped down, but remains a legislator.

Although he was resigning as a legislator, Mr. Basil said he would continue to be politically active in the ruling Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP, or People’s Front) that he built from scratch after former President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s poll defeat in 2015.

His family was “better at politics than governance,” the resigning MP told reporters, adding: “India’s RSS has been around for years, but they do not govern directly. The BJP has taken on that role.” This is not the first time Mr. Basil has likened his party’s politics to that of India’s ruling party. He has in the past vowed to model the SLPP on the Chinese Communist Party and the Bharatiya Janata Party that he called “the best two” examples.

In July 2021, President Gotabaya Rajapaksa appointed Mr. Basil, the youngest of the Rajapaksa brothers, as Finance Minister. He became the fourth Rajapaksa brother to enter cabinet at that time. Until then, Mr. Mahinda who was Prime Minister at that time also helmed the Finance Ministry. As it faced wide public criticism owing to the economic meltdown, the ruling party projected Mr. Basil – who was Economic Development Minister in the former Rajapaksa administration – as the man who would bring much-needed pragmatic solutions to the raging crisis. Except, power cuts, shortages, and price rise worsened in the following months, leading to greater citizens’ mobilization from the beginning of this year, according to The Hindu.

A senior Ukrainian presidential aide has told the BBC that between 100 and 200 Ukrainian troops are being killed on the front line every day, BBC reported.

Mykhaylo Podolyak said Ukraine needed hundreds of Western artillery systems to level the playing field with Russia in the eastern Donbas region.

He also said Kyiv is not ready to resume peace talks with Moscow. 

Ukrainian troops are under relentless bombardment as Russian forces attempt to take control of the whole of Donbas.

"The Russian forces have thrown pretty much everything non-nuclear at the front and that includes heavy artillery, multiple rocket launch systems and aviation," Mr Podolyak said.

He repeated Ukraine's appeal for more weapons from the West, saying that the "complete lack of parity" between the Russian and Ukrainian armies was the reason for Ukraine's heavy casualty rate. 

"Our demands for artillery are not just some kind of whim... but an objective need when it comes to the situation on the battlefield," he said, adding that Ukraine needs 150 to 300 rocket launch systems to match Russia - a much higher number than it has received so far. 

Mr Podolyak also said peace talks could only resume if Russia surrendered the territory it had gained since it invaded on 24 February, according to BBC.

Mr Podolyak's suggestion that 100 to 200 Ukrainian soldiers are dying each day is higher than previous estimates. On Thursday, Ukraine's Defence Minister, Oleksii Reznikov, said Ukraine was losing 100 soldiers a day, and 500 more were injured. 

The differing casualty figures are a sign of how difficult it is to get precise information from the battlefield. 

Despite the heavy losses, Mr Reznikov claimed that a high number of Russian soldiers are also being killed. 

"The Kremlin continues to press by sheer mass, stumbles, faces strong rebuffs and suffers huge casualties," Mr Reznikov said. "But yet still has forces to advance in some parts of the front." 

Similarly, Luhansk regional governor Sergei Gaidai said Russians were "dying like flies" but echoed Mr Podolyak's claim that Ukraine is facing difficulties with a "catastrophic" lack of artillery. 

Russian forces have concentrated their assault on the city of Severodonetsk. On Wednesday Mr Zelensky said "the fate of the Donbas is being decided there" and officials said it has been reduced to rubble by intense Russian artillery and missile barrages, BBC reported.

In addition to the frontline fighting, two Britons and a Moroccan man who fought for Ukraine's armed forces were sentenced to death on Thursday by an unrecognised court in the so-called Donetsk People's Republic. 

They were found guilty of being mercenaries and of "taking action towards the violent seizure of power".