Ukraine war live: Dozens injured in Kharkiv strike as Zelensky pleads to use missiles

The US is considering easing restrictions on long-range missiles being used by Ukraine so that they can hit targets deep inside Russia, a decision which would also free up the use of British-made Storm Shadow cruise missiles.

Prime minister Keir Starmer and Joe Biden will “no doubt” talk about the use of long-range missiles, including more Storm Shadow cruise missiles, in Washington, Mr Blinken said.

A Russian overnight drone barrage injured one person and damaged five homes in Kyiv region, the regional authorities said today.

Governor Ruslan Kravchenko reported no damage to critical infrastructure in the region surrounding the capital.

Air defence units destroyed nearly 20 drones that were heading towards Kyiv itself, the Ukrainian military said.

“Russian attack drones were heading to Kyiv from different directions and in different groups,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram. “According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or damage in Kyiv.”

Overall, during the attack over the central, northern and southern regions of Ukraine, the air force shot down 53 out of 56 Russian drones, it said in a statement.

Ukrainian forces reportedly advanced in Kursk’s Glushkovsky and Russian forces reportedly recently recaptured territory in the area in the past 24 hours, reports cited by a US-based think tank said.

The Institute for the Study of War, monitoring the biggest incursion in Russia since the Second World War, cited a Russian military blogger’s report that Ukrainian forces advanced towards the southeastern outskirts of Volfino (southwest of Glushkovo).

It added: “Russian milbloggers claimed on 15 September (yesterday) that Russian forces recaptured Veseloye (southwest of Glushkovo), but ISW is unable to confirm this claim.”

Several Russian regiments are continuing to be in the defensive combat in Kursk fighting where Russia reportedly launched a counterattack last week.

North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui has flown to Russia to attend the fourth Eurasian Women’s Forum and the BRICS Women’s Forum in Saint Petersburg, Russia’s embassy in North Korea said today.

“Russian ambassador (Alexander Ivanovich) Matsegora saw off North Korean foreign minister Choe Son Hui at the Pyongyang International Airport,” the embassy said in a post on its Vkontakte social network.

The embassy said that the minister’s speeches and participation in discussions are planned at the forum, which will take place 18 to 20 September.

Valentina Matviyenko, speaker of the Federation Council, Russia’s upper house of parliament, said in June that delegations from almost a hundred countries were expected at the forum.

“We will strive to ensure a record foreign representation in the entire history of the Forum,” Matviyenko said in June, according to a transcript provided on the Council’s website.

Vladimir Putin has attended previous meetings of the forum, but the Kremlin is yet to announce his participation in this year’s forum.

Warming ties between the countries reached a new high this year when Putin signed a deal with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that included a mutual defence pledge during a visit to Pyongyang.

Ukraine air force has downed 53 out of 56 Russian drones fired overnight, officials said.

Russia launched its eighth air attack in September on Kyiv overnight, with air defence units destroying nearly 20 drones that were heading towards the country’s capital, Ukrainian military said this morning.

“Russian attack drones were heading to Kyiv from different directions and in different groups,” Serhiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, said on Telegram. “According to preliminary information, there were no casualties or damage in Kyiv.”

The scale of the attack, which kept Kyiv under air raid alerts for about 3.5 hours, will only be known later today, he added.

Prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden discussed the fact that Iran and Russia are strengthening their military cooperation during a summit in Washington on Friday, which also covered other key issues around Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine, including Kyiv’s use of Western long-range missiles to hit targets deep inside Russia.

Mr Starmer and Mr Biden discussed intelligence pointing to a deal that would see the Kremlin providing Iran nuclear technology, sources on the British side told The Times.

If confirmed, such a deal would be especially alarming as Tehran is advancing its programme of uranium enrichment – a step towards developing a nuclear weapon.

Western arms are arriving too slowly to equip the armed forces properly and causing Ukrainian troops to suffer high losses, president Volodymyr Zelensky told CNN in an interview aired yesterday.

Russia has been gaining ground in parts of eastern Ukraine including around Pokrovsk. Capture of the transport hub could enable Moscow to open new lines of attack.

Mr Zelensky said the situation in the east was “very tough”, adding that half of Ukraine’s brigades there were not equipped.

“So you lose a lot of people. You lose people because they are not in armed vehicles… they don’t have artillery, they don’t have artillery rounds,” he said in an interview conducted on Friday.

The Ukrainian leader said weapons aid packages promised by the United States and European nations were arriving very slowly.

“We need 14 brigades to be ready. Until now… from these packages we didn’t equip even four,” he said.

White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Saturday said Washington was working on a “substantial” new aid package for Ukraine.