Live blog: Ukraine set to get long-range missiles from US on regular basis

Thursday, October 19, 2023

1420 GMT — Ukraine will receive US-supplied long-range ATACMS missiles on a regular basis, its foreign minister said, two days after Kiev confirmed using them for the first time.

The Biden administration may soon begin shipping to Ukraine several variants of Army Tactical Missile Systems (ATACMS), a long-range missile system that often carries varying amounts of cluster bomblets.

Kiev had repeatedly requested the ATACMS (Army Tactical Missile Systems), suggesting they could alter the course of the war with Russia.

Senior Ukrainian officials have said they could help alter the course of the 20-month-old war, allowing Ukrainian forces to disrupt previously unreachable supply lines, air bases and rail networks used by Russia in occupied territories.

Asked whether regular shipments and larger numbers of missiles were expected, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said: "It means this."

"And this is a direct result of the agreement between President Zelenskyy and President Biden, reached in Washington during a personal meeting in late September," he said in televised comments.

It is not clear how many missiles have been already delivered. According to the New York Times, citing two Western officials, the US had sent about 20 of them so far.

The White House said on Tuesday it had supplied Kiev with ATACMS missiles and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said his forces had used such missiles in action.

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1910 GMT — Zelenskyy thanks Biden for 'vital' US support for Ukraine

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy on thanked his counterpart Joe Biden for the United States' "vital" support for his country, welcoming the delivery of ATACMS long-range missiles.

"Ukraine is grateful for the vital and enduring US support in our fight for freedom and against Russian aggression," Zelenskyy posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, after a telephone call with Biden.

1833 GMT — EU's Michel: EU trying to close options for evasions of sanctions against Russia

The European Union is trying to close down options for evading sanctions against Russia, said European Council President Charles Michel.

Last month, Poland had proposed suggestions for new EU sanctions against Russia for its invasion of Ukraine.

1814 GMT — Biden will deliver a rare Oval Office address as he seeks billions of dollars for Israel and Ukraine

US President Joe Biden will deliver a rare Oval Office address as he prepares to ask for additional billions of dollars in military assistance for Israel and Ukraine, deepening American involvement in two very different, unpredictable and bloody foreign conflicts.

The speech will be an opportunity for Biden to argue that the United States has an obligation — and a national security interest — in both places. And it's a chance for him to publicly lobby lawmakers for the money.

The funding request, expected to be formally unveiled on Friday, is likely to be around $100 billion over the next year, according to people directly familiar with the proposal who insisted on anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

1513 GMT — Ukraine reports making headway against Russian forces in south

Kiev's forces have made some headway against Russian forces in southern Ukraine but face new Russian attacks around the eastern town of Avdiivka, the Ukrainian military said.

In an update on Kiev's more than four-month-old counteroffensive in the south and east, military spokesperson Oleksandr Stupun reported an advance of 400 metres to the southwest of Verbove in the Zaporizhzhia region.

Verbove is a village a few kilometres east of Robotyne, a village recaptured by Ukraine last month as it tries to push south towards the Sea of Azov.

Stupun told Ukrainian television the southern advance was still difficult because of Russian minefields and heavily fortified defences.

1415 GMT — Ukraine's parliament backs ban on Russia-linked church in initial vote

The Ukrainian parliament gave initial approval to a law that would ban the Ukrainian Orthodox Church after Kiev accused it of collaborating with Russia following last year's attack.

The UOC, which says it no longer aligned with the Russian Orthodox Church, denies the charges leveled at it by Kiev and said the draft law would be unconstitutional.

Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a member of parliament, said on the Telegram messaging app that deputies had voted to support the bill in its first reading. It has to be backed in a second reading and approved by the president to go in to force.

0737 GMT — Ukraine slams Russia's withdrawal from nuclear test treaty

Ukraine has condemned Russia’s move to withdraw from the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

“Today, the world is witnessing yet another provocative step by the aggressor state in line with its nuclear blackmail — the Russian State Duma has approved...a draft law on the withdrawal of ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT),” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The statement accused Russia of provoking “a dangerous misbalance in the global architecture of nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation,” with its decisions to suspend participation in the New START Treaty and deploy tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, to Ukraine’s north.

“Such irresponsible behaviour of the country with the largest nuclear potential in the world once again endangers international security and stability,” the statement further said.

0122 GMT — New US weapons to Ukraine won't change front-line situation — Putin

President Vladimir Putin has dismissed the importance of a new US-supplied weapon that Kiev used to execute one of the most damaging attacks on the Kremlin's air assets since the start of the offensive.

Putin told reporters that Russia "will be able to repel" further attacks by the US-made Army Tactical Missile System, known as ATACMS.

Putin, speaking to reporters during a visit to Beijing, conceded the ATACMS creates an additional threat, but he insisted that the weapon would not change the situation along the 1,500-kilometre front line.

"For Ukraine, in this sense, there's nothing good ... it only prolongs the agony," he said.

0008 GMT — Two killed in 'Russian strike' on Ukraine

Two people have died, and one was injured when a Russian missile hit an eatery in Ukraine's southern Mykolaiv region, Ukrainian authorities alleged.

Ukraine's State Emergency Service said the missile had struck a "food establishment" in a residential area in the region at 8:30 pm [1730 GMT].

"Two people died and one person was injured under the rubble," it said on Telegram.

"As a result of the impact, residential buildings and an agricultural enterprise were also damaged," it added.

The governor of Mykolaiv, Vitaliy Kim, wrote earlier on the messaging app that the missile had struck Stepove, a small village located around 45 kilometres northwest of the city of Mykolaiv.

He said one of those killed was a woman. "The rescuers dislodged her body from under the rubble of the destroyed building," he wrote. He later said the region had been hit by two explosions, adding that authorities were investigating.

For our live updates from Wednesday (October 18), click here.