Maria Zakharova, a Russian foreign ministry spokesman, accused Ukraine of resorting to terrorism, the TASS state news agency reported.

Russia accused Kyiv’s forces last ⁠month of killing 11 people, including four children, in an attack on a holiday camp in a Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region.

The conflict has led to a growing number of civilian deaths this year, the UN has reported, as the four and a half-year war grinds on with no sign of a peace deal.

It comes as Ukraine’s former top military commander, ​now ambassador to Britain, said on Monday ‌that there was no prospect of the country joining Nato.

Valery Zaluzhnyi, quoted by media outlet Evropeiska Pravda, told a ​meeting of Ukrainian ambassadors that Ukraine in no way met ​the military standards needed to join the alliance.

“I know Nato ⁠really well. For about 12 years, I personally worked on making ​sure we met Nato standards, and every year I heard tales ​about how we would join Nato any day now,” he was quoted as saying.

“Unfortunately, we will never actually join.”

Mr Zaluzhnyi said it was “impossible with the ​level of development that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have … to ​join an organisation guided by World War II doctrines”.

Ukraine has enshrined in its constitution a strategic goal of membership of Nato and the European Union. It has, however, acknowledged that ​currently it would ​not be ⁠welcomed into Nato by all its members.

Mr Zaluzhnyi was dismissed as Ukraine’s top commander in 2024 over differences ​with Mr Zelensky on the war with Russia.