Ukraine war latest: Russia issues warning about 'combining potential' with China (2024)

That's all for our live updates today.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy and US secretary of state Antony Blinken are due to host a news conference later this afternoon.

In the event of any major developments, we will bring you up to date.

Within the last hour, Mr Lammy has announced the UK will provide Ukraine with over £600m worth of support, in the form of humanitarian aid and loan guarantees delivered by the World Bank.

His joint visit to Kyiv alongside Mr Blinken marked the first time two senior diplomats have made a similar trip in 10 years.

During the visit, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal asked for the UK's "help and support" in allowing Ukraine to use long-range equipment to strike deep inside Russia.

Ukraine are desperately seeking weapons restrictions to be eased after Mr Blinken accused Iran of providing Russia with Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles, which he said would be used by Moscow "within weeks".

Both Russia and Iran have called the claims "baseless", but appears to have captured a Russian-flagged cargo ship suspected of transporting ballistic missiles from Iran docked at a port in Russia a week ago.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said a "victory plan" he wants to present to Joe Biden later this month could push Russia to end its war diplomatically.

The Ukrainian leader said the plan would work to strengthen Kyiv and have a "psychological" impact on Moscow, but did not give any further details.

He told Kyiv's annual Crimean Platform event that the plan would need to be presented to Ukraine's allies before a second international summit onpeace that he wants to hold later this year.

"If partners support it [the plan], it will make it easierfor Ukraine to force Russia to end the war," he said.

UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy has announcedover £600m worth of support for Ukraine.

The support will provide £242m for humanitarian needs and $484m (£371m) in loan guarantees delivered by the World Bank to support vital public services, including keeping schools and hospitals open, paying civil servants, and funding pensions.

Mr Lammy said:"Alongside the US, we are committed to giving Ukraine what it needs to resist Russia's illegal invasion.

"Their fight for freedom, liberty and democracy is also a fight for British security, European security, and global security. With the US, we stand firmly with Ukraine for as long as it takes."

UK Defence Secretary John Healey earlier announced that hundreds of additional air defence missiles, tens of thousands of additional artillery ammunition rounds, and more armoured vehicles will be delivered to Ukraine by the end of the year.

Mr Lammy will officially announce the support package during a news conference this afternoon alongside US secretary of state Antony Blinken.

The pair have been on a joint diplomatic trip to Kyiv where they have met with senior Ukrainian officials, including President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Three women have been killed and five others injured during Russian attacks in eastern Ukraine, prosecutors have said.

Russian troops reportedly shelled the residential area of Kostiantynivka, a town in the Donetsk region, which is around 14km (nine miles) from the frontline.

Two of those killed were elderly women, the prosecutor's general office wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

A middle-aged woman was then reportedly killed in a strike in a separate residential area. Five people were injured.

For context: The Donetsk region, which Russian troops partially occupy,regularly comes under Russian shelling and airstrikes.

Moscow denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructurein its invasion of Ukraine, although thousands of people havebeen killed in its attacks.

The UK Foreign Office has summoned Iran's charge d'affaires over the transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia.

It said the UK government "was clear in that any transfer of ballistic missiles to Russia would be seen as a dangerousescalation and would face a significant response".

Earlier,Iran's foreign ministerAbbas Araghchi wrote on X that Tehran had not delivered any ballisticmissiles to Russia and sanctions imposed on Iran by the US, Britain, Germany and France would not solve any problemsbetween them.

"Once again, US and E3 act on faulty intelligence and flawedlogic," he said.

"Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia.Period... Sanctions are not a solution, but part of problem."

Russia has also refuted claims by US secretary of state Antony Blinken that it had received ballistic missiles from Iran.

Hollywood actor Michael Douglas has been pictured in Kyiv, where he is visiting with his son.

The Academy Award winner is in the Ukrainian capital to attend the First Ladies and Gentlemen Summit - an event organised by Olena Zelenska, which is due to take place tomorrow, according to local media reports.

Kyiv's department of tourism and promotions wrote on Facebook that the actor visited various sites around the city, includingSt Andrew's Church.

"The guest of honour was impressed by the beauty of the architecture of our beloved city, and was also actively interested in the historical events that took place in Kyiv," the department said.

It added that Douglashas "actively supported Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion".

Russia and China could "combine their potential" if faced withaggression, Moscow's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.

It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader XiJinping agreed in May to deepen what they called their"comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation" for a newera.

In a weekly briefing to reporters, Ms Zakharova was asked about a possible deployment of US missiles in Japan.

It was reported the US had expressed an interest in deploying a Typhon mid-range missile system to Japan for joint military exercises.

"I would like to remind you that Moscow and Beijing willrespond to 'double containment' by the United States with'double counteraction'," Ms Zakharova said.

"It is clear that both Russia and China will react to the emergence of additional and very significant missile threats,and their reaction will be far from being political, which hasalso been repeatedly confirmed by the two countries.

"Our relations are not directed against third countries... and double counteraction does not contradict this. This is a defensive position, this is not an initiative to target other countries.

"But if an aggressive policy of attack is being implemented against us from one centre, why don't we combine our potential and give an appropriate rebuff?"

Earlier (see our 11.59pm post) we reported that China would join Russia in large-scale naval exercises.

China confirmed the two countries' navies would cruise together in the Pacific but gave no further details.

The two countries have not declared a formal militaryalliance, although Mr Putin last week described them as "allies inevery sense of the word".

As we have been reporting, the US has said it believes the Russian military has received shipments of Iranian Fath-360 ballistic missiles.

Both Iran and Russia have denied the claims.

But what exactly is the Fath-360 missile and how would the Russians go about using it?

The Fath-360, also known as BM-120, was announced on Iran's Army Day in April 2022.

Built by Iran, it is small and lightweight, allowing several of them to be placed on truck-based launchers.

With four fins at the end, there are four further triangular fins just above them and four small ones near the tip of the missile.

They have a range of 19 to 75 miles, can carry a 150kg warhead and can be launched at a speed of Mach 3 (2,300mph - three times the speed of sound).

The missiles connect to satellites after being launched so they can hit targets at a speed of Mach 4 (3,069mph).

It is believed the Iranians are using the Russian's GLONASS satellite navigation system, which provides an alternative to GPS.

By Deborah Haynes, security and defence editor, and Adam Parker, OSINT editor

Satellite imagery has captured a Russian-flagged cargo ship suspected of transporting ballistic missiles from Iran docked at a port in Russia a week ago.

A Ukrainian source told Sky News the Port Olya 3 vessel had shipped 225 short-range ballistic missiles via the Caspian Sea to Russia to be used for its war in Ukraine.

The source said the ship arrived at the Russian port on 4 September.

Satellite imagery analysed by the Sky News Data & Forensics team pictures the vessel on that day at Port Olya in the region of Astrakhan, in southern Russia, by the Caspian Sea.

Ship tracking data shows the Port Olya 3 had been at the Iranian port of Amirabad just six days earlier, on 29 August.

After arriving in Russia, the Ukrainian source said it is believed the Fatah-360 ballistic missiles - with a range of more than 70 miles - were loaded on to a large cargo train.

The image of the ship at the port - captured by a Maxar satellite - was taken at 0751 UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) on 4 September.

Two days later another satellite image shows the ship had left the port.

The limited tracking data available shows the Port Olya 3 regularly travels between Iran and Russia. It is not clear where the ballistic missiles were taken once they arrived at the Russian port.

Responding, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said he had seen the report, but not all such reports were correct.

The Ukrainian prime minister has asked for the UK's "help and support" in allowing Ukraine to use long-range equipment to strike deep inside Russia.

In a meeting with David Lammy, the UK's foreign minister, Denys Shmyhal said: "We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it.

"We hope for your help and support in this issue."

Yesterday, Mr Shmyhal said if Ukraine were allowed to destroy military targets or weapons prepared by Russia for attacks "it would certainly bring more safety for our civilians, our people, and our children".

Ukraine's desire for the weapons has heightened after Mr Blinken accused Iran yesterday of providing Russia with Fath-360 short-range ballistic missiles, which he said would be used by Moscow "within weeks".

Both Russia and Iran have called the claims "baseless".

Mr Shmyhal said he and Mr Lammy also spoke about the supply of air defence systems and the situation in the country's energy sector, which continues to be the target of intense Russian drone and missile attacks.