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NATO boss Jens Stoltenberg told Ukrainians on Monday that his alliance’s members had failed to live up to their promises of military aid in recent months, but said the flow of arms and ammunition would now increase.

Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed that Israel will proceed with an offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah even if renewed efforts at internationally brokered talks with Hamas result in the release of hostages and a ceasefire.

Mediators led by Egypt have renewed efforts aimed at a truce in recent days after it became clearer that Israel is preparing for its long-threatened ground operation in Rafah. The city on the Egyptian border is the only part of the Palestinian territory that has not faced ground fighting, and more than half of the strip’s 2.3 million population has sought shelter there.

Speaking in Jerusalem on Tuesday, the Israeli prime minister said: “The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question. We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal, in order to achieve total victory.”

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Ukraine's top commander said on Sunday Kyiv's outnumbered troops had fallen back to new positions west of three villages on the eastern front where Russia has concentrated significant forces in several locations.

The statement by Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi reflected Ukraine's deteriorating position in the east that Kyiv hopes it can stabilise once it takes delivery of U.S. weapons under a $61 billion aid package approved this week.

Israel has said it will not invade the border city of Rafah in southern Gaza until officials have spoken with U.S. leaders about their concerns, White House National Security spokesperson John Kirby said on Sunday.

“They've assured us that they won't go into Rafah until we've had a chance to really share our perspectives and our concerns with them,” Kirby said during an interview on ABC's “This Week” on Sunday.

Israel in recent days appeared poised to launch an invasion of the area, where more than one million Palestinians civilians are sheltering and which Israel says is the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza. The international community has long warned Israeli leaders of the massive humanitarian toll of targeting the area.

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• Russian missiles have hammered power facilities in central and western Ukraine, increasing pressure on the country’s ailing energy system. Saturday’s airstrikes, carried out with long-range missiles including cruise missiles, was the fourth large-scale aerial assault targeting the power system since 22 March. DTEK, Ukraine’s largest private electricity company, said four of its six thermal power plants had suffered damage. Rescuers battled to put out fires at several energy facilities in the western regions of Lviv and Ivano-Frankivsk, officials said.

• He said Russia’s targets included electricity and gas transit facilities, in particular those important for gas supply to the European Union. Ukrainian air defences brought down 21 of the 34 incoming missiles, the air force’s commander said. After strikes on energy facilities in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, running water supplies were disrupted in Zelenskiy’s home town of Kryvyi Rih, officials said.

Some senior U.S. officials have advised Secretary of State Antony Blinken that they do not find "credible or reliable" Israel's assurances that it is using U.S.-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law, according to an internal State Department memo reviewed by Reuters.