Russia Ukraine war live: Putin vows revenge for Kursk attack as Kyiv claims to control 1,000 sq km

US Republican senator Lindsey Graham called Ukraine‘s shock cross-border operation into Russia’s Kursk region “brilliant” and “bold” in a visit to Kyiv, and he urged the Biden administration to provide Ukraine with the weapons it needs.

“What do I think about Kursk? Bold, brilliant, beautiful. Keep it up,” he told reporters. Graham made the comments during a visit to Kyiv with Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal.

“Bottom line is to the administration… Give them weapons they need to win the war they can’t afford to lose,” he added. During the meeting with the Senate delegation, president Volodymyr Zelensky thanked the US for support.

“We discussed what exactly is needed to bring this war to a just end, including our need to use long-range weapons,” he said later in a post on X.

With Russia still struggling to repel the Ukrainian incursion seven days after it began, Ukraine’s top commander said Kyiv controlled around 1,000 sq km in the Kursk region.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed 14 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting Kursk, Voronezh and Belgorod region, Russia’s news agencies reported this morning.

Of these, 12 drones were destroyed over the border region of Kursk, and one each over Voronezh and Belgorod regions, RIA agency reported citing Russia’s defence ministry.

There was no information provided on how many drones in total Ukraine had launched overnight.

Russia launched 38 attack drones and two Iskander-M ballistic missiles at Ukraine overnight, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

Of this total, 30 drones were destroyed over several Ukrainian regions, the air force said on Telegram. It was not clear what happened to the air weapons that were not destroyed.

As of 4.20am GMT, all of Ukraine was under new air raid alerts with the threat of fresh air attacks, the air force added in a separate Telegram statement.

Ukraine’s biggest attack on Russian territory since the start of the war was aimed at improving Kyiv’s negotiating position ahead of possible peace talks, Vladimir Putin said in his latest comments on the Kursk incursion.

Ukrainian forces rammed through the Russian border last Tuesday and swept across some western parts of Russia’s Kursk region, a surprise attack that laid bare the weakness of Russian border defences in the area.

Putin, in his most detailed public remarks on the incursion to date, said Ukraine “with the help of its Western masters” was trying to improve its position ahead of possible talks.

He questioned what negotiations there could be with an enemy he accused of firing indiscriminately at Russian civilians and nuclear facilities.

“The main task, of course, is for the defence ministry to squeeze out, to knock out the enemy from our territories,” Putin said, adding that Russian forces were accelerating their advance along the rest of the 1,000 km (620-mile) main front.

Ukraine has identified North Korean missiles fired by Russian forces on Kyiv in an attack which killed two people, Volodymyr Zelensky said.

“One of the North Korean missiles launched by the Russians, unfortunately, killed two people in the Kyiv region—a father and his four-year-old son,” Mr Zelensky said. Three others were injured in the attack and are receiving the necessary care, he said.

“Our experts have clearly identified the type of missile and know exactly from which area in Russian territory it was launched. It will be entirely just for Ukrainians to respond to this terror in the way necessary to stop it – with appropriate long-range strikes on the locations from which missiles are launched in Russia, and by effectively destroying Russian military logistics,” he said.

“Terror must always be defeated—this is a fundamental principle of protecting life,” the Ukrainian president said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said in his nightly address that the war was now coming back to Russia after Moscow had taken fighting to other countries.

He said the major cross-border assault into the western region of Kursk was a matter of security for Ukraine and that Kyiv had captured areas from where Russia launched strikes.

“Russia must be forced to make peace if Putin wants to fight so badly,” Mr Zelensky said.

He added that the northeastern Sumy region, which lies across the border from Kursk, had been attacked almost 2,100 times by Russian cross-border strikes since 1 June.

“Russia brought war to others, now it’s coming home. Ukraine has always wanted only peace, and we will certainly ensure peace,” he said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its representatives inspected the damaged cooling tower at the Russia-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in Ukraine and found no immediate sign of tyre marks or drone remains.

The team also assessed that it was unlikely that the primary source of the fire began at the base of the cooling tower, the IAEA said in a statement on its website last night.

“The team has not been able to draw definitive conclusions (on the cause of fire) on the basis of the findings and observations so far,” the agency said.

The fire began at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant on Sunday, and Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for starting it. Moscow has claimed a drone attack hit one of the cooling towers, Russian state news agency RIA reported, without providing evidence.

Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 sq km (386 square miles) of Russia’s Kursk region. It is the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains made in a lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi made the statement in a video posted last night to Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s Telegram channel. In the video, he briefed the president on the frontline situation.

“The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues actually along the entire front line. The situation is under our control,” Syrskyi said.

Mr Zelensky confirmed for the first time that the Ukrainian military is inside the Kursk region. On Telegram, he praised his country’s soldiers and commanders “for their steadfastness and decisive actions” but he did not elaborate.

The Ukrainian operation is taking place under tight secrecy, and its goals remain unclear. The manoeuvre caught the Kremlin’s forces off guard after months of unrelenting Russian attacks in recent months that have made gains through Ukrainian defences at several points along the frontline in eastern Ukraine.

Russian president Vladimir Putin said the incursion, which has caused more than 100,000 civilians to flee, is an attempt by Kyiv to stop Moscow’s offensive in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region and gain leverage in possible future peace talks.