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With water supplies also hit, he charged the Kremlin with desperate and ruthless measures to deflect from its battlefield rout. And he denounced the “deliberate and cynical missile strikes” against civilian ­targets as acts of terrorism.

Mr Zelensky said “insufficient pressure” had been applied on Moscow by the West over Russia’s shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the south.

He said: “The presence of Russian troops at the plant, constant Russian provocations and the shelling of the plant’s territory alone put Ukraine and all of Europe on the brink of a radiation disaster.”

As Russia’s war effort appears to crumble, Mr Zelensky said his troops have retaken more than 2,317 square miles from Kremlin control in September – in the east and the south. He said: “The movement of our troops continues.”

The Russian army has now fled the key town of Kreminna and Ukraine confirmed the liberation of Vovchansk on the Russian border. Ukraine yesterday posted a video with the caption “Vovchansk is back home”, showing its troops removing Russian flags and signs from buildings.

Meanwhile, Kreminna is “completely empty,” and the Ukrainian flag raised by partisans flies high, Luhansk Governor Serhiy Haidai said on Telegram. Kreminna lies 15 miles northwest of Severodonetsk, which Russia occupied after a month of fighting in early summer.

Valerii Marchenko, mayor of recaptured Izyum, said Ukrainian forces are searching for Russians potentially hiding in houses, he said.

British intelligence yesterday revealed the Ukrainian counter-attack in Kharkiv has destroyed “one of the most prestigious” Russian fighting forces – the 1st Guards Tank Army.

This was set up to lead a counter-attack in a war with NATO. A Ministry of Defence spokesman said: “Russia’s conventional force designed to counter Nato is severely weakened.”

Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said operations in Ukraine will continue “until all the tasks that were ­initially set” have been fulfilled.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Ukrainian forces have made “significant ­progress”. But he added: “The Russians maintain very significant forces in Ukraine as well as equipment and arms and munitions.

“They continue to use it ­indiscriminately against not just the Ukrainian armed forces but civilians and civilian infrastructure.”

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