Putin involved in war ‘at level of colonel or brigadier’, say western sources

President helping determine movement of Russian soldiers, say sources, as head of UK armed forces says Ukraine is winning

• Russia-Ukraine war: latest updates

Vladimir Putin has become so personally involved in the Ukraine war that he is making operational and tactical decisions at the level of a colonel or brigadier", according to western military sources.

The Russian president is helping determine the movement of forces in the Donbas, they added, where last week the invaders suffered a bloody defeat as they tried on multiple occasions to cross a strategic river in the east of Ukraine.