Putin makes 'significant' attempt to 'redraw red lines' on using nukes

New NATO head takes over

Former Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte has officially taken over as secretary-general of NATO - replacing outgoing chief Jens Stoltenberg.

In his handover speech, Mr Rutte revealed his determination to prepare the alliance for future challenges and said it must deliver on promises to support Ukraine in the fight against Russia.

The conflict was not just contained to the front lines, he said.

Russian attacks on Ukraine

At least five people have been killed and three more injured in a Russian strike on a market in the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson this morning, according to regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin.

It comes after Ukraine said Russia launched a barrage of drones targeting Kyiv in an attack lasting more than five hours early yesterday.

The military said air defence systems successfully defended the capital.

US citizen pleads guilty in Russia

A man pleaded guilty in a Moscow court to charges of serving as a mercenary against Russia in the conflict, according to a report by the RIA state news agency.

US citizen Stephen James Hubbard, 72, had admitted receiving money to fight for Ukraine.

He faces a sentence of seven to 15 years if convicted. 

Man jailed for life over car bombing

In a separate case, a Moscow military court sentenced a man to life in prison after he was found guilty of attempting to assassinate prominent Russian nationalist writer Zakhar Prilepin in a car bombing last year.

The Interfax news agency reported that Alexander Permyakov, who is said to hold Russian and Ukrainian passports, admitted the crime, saying he'd acted on orders from Ukraine's security service (SBU).

The SBU did not deny or confirm the claim.

Russia claims village in east

Moscow's troops have captured the village of Nelipivka in Ukraine's Donetsk region, the Russian defence ministry claimed, according to an Interfax report.

Russia has claimed to take a series of towns and villages in the region, where frontline fighting is currently fiercest, in recent months.

Putin's nuclear threat

Vladimir Putin issued a thinly veiled warning to the West as he stated Russia could use nuclear weapons if it is attacked by any state with conventional missiles.

The Russian president also said he would consider any assault that was supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack on Moscow.

The Kremlin said changes to its nuclear documents should be considered a "signal" to "unfriendly" countries, while the US branded Mr Putin's warning "irresponsible" and "poorly timed".

The Russian leader's comments appeared to have been deliberately timed to coincide with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's defiant address to world leaders at the UN General Assembly on Wednesday.

Experts said his threat was designed to trigger "a new wave of panic" across the West and ensure they don't give Ukraine permission to fire long-range missiles into Russia.

US steps up support - with a catch

US President Joe Biden on Thursday confirmed he would provide Ukraine with additional long-range munitions - but did not relent on allowing the missiles to be launched into Russia.

Ukrainian leaders, including Mr Zelenskyy, have for some time been calling for allies to greenlight long-range strikes into Russian territory.

But Washington, which has so far hesitated to do so, wants more clarity from Kyiv on its military objectives for such strikes.

Making a series of announcements on US support, Mr Biden said he had "decided to provide Ukraine with the Joint Standoff Weapon (JSOW) long-range munition" as well as "hundreds of additional Patriot and AMRAAM missiles over the next year".

Russian advances in the east

Ukraine's eastern front line remains the site of the most intensive fighting in the conflict, with Russian forces claiming to take a series of towns and villages in the Donetsk region in recent weeks.

Moscow claimed on Wednesday that it had captured the villages of Hostre and Hryhorivka and was attacking inside the town of Vuhledar - a Ukrainian stronghold in Donetsk.

A Kyiv governor denied that Russian troops had reached the outskirts of the town or that it had been taken, but said Ukrainian reconnaissance groups were operating there.

On Friday, Russia also claimed to have captured the Donetsk village of Marynivka, close to where its forces have been pushing towards the key city of Pokrovsk. Ukraine did not respond.

Deadly attack on hospital

An early morning Russian strike on a hospital in Ukraine's northeastern Sumy region killed 10 people and injured at least 22 others on Saturday, according to Ukrainian officials.

A UN spokesperson said "loitering munitions" - or suicide drones - had hit the Saint Panteleimon Clinical Hospital in two attacks 45 minutes apart.

Hospital patients were evacuated to other facilities.

A further 16 people were hurt in an overnight barrage into Sunday on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.

Zelenskyy meets Trump

Donald Trump met Mr Zelenskyy face to face on Friday after the former US president complained earlier in the week the Ukrainian leader was "refusing" to do a deal to end the war with Russia.

As he stood next to the Ukrainian president at Trump Tower in New York, the Republican presidential candidate said on Friday he would work with both countries to end the conflict.

Mr Trump praised the Ukrainian president, saying he had a "very good relationship" with him, but added he also had a "very good relationship" with Russian leader Vladimir Putin.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy met Donald Trump in New York as public tension rise between the two over Ukraine's defence against Russia's invasion.

"I think we have a common view that the war in Ukraine has to be stopped and Putin can't win," Mr Zelenskyy said.

After arriving together, Mr Trump said: "The fact that we're even together today is a very good sign."

The visit is taking place a day after Vice President Kamala Harris, Mr Trump's Democratic opponent, met the Ukrainian leader and expressed unwavering support.

Three killed in Russian missile attack

At least three people have been killed in a Russian missile attack on the central Ukrainian city of Kryvyi Rih. 

A building housing the regional police department was struck in the attack, officials said. 

Ukraine's emergency services said they were continuing to work at the site as people were feared buried under the rubble.

Local authorities said 23 private houses, three blocks of flats and an educational facility were also damaged. 

'Clear evidence' Chinese companies supplying Russia with military attack drones

A western official told our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes that there was "clear evidence" that Chinese companies were supplying military attack drones to Russia. 

The allegation, if confirmed, would be the first known complete weapons system to be delivered to Russia from China for use in Ukraine.

Such a development would be of huge concern to Kyiv and its western backers and would further ratchet up tensions between Beijing and the West.

A spokesperson for the NATO alliance called the allegation "deeply concerning" and revealed that allies were "consulting on this matter".

Contacted for a response, the Chinese embassy in London said it was "not aware of the specifics you mentioned".

Russian forces push further east in Ukraine 

Russia has claimed to have captured the village of Marynivka in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region. 

The village is close to where its forces have been pushing towards the key city of Pokrovsk.

Ukraine's General Staff did not comment on the status of Marynivka but said areas near there had seen the biggest concentration of Russian attacks over the past day.

It said 42 Russian assaults on the Pokrovsk front had been repelled.

In Kharkiv in the northeast - very close to the land border with Russia - Ukrainian servicemen have been spotted operating drones.

How seriously should we take Putin's attempt to redraw nuclear red lines?

It's certainly not the first time you've tapped into our Ukraine live blog and been greeted with nuclear threats from the Kremlin.

But our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett says this one is "slightly different" to the ones we've had on a fairly regular basis since Russia launched its full invasion back in February 2022.

He says "it's more specific, more defined, and an attempt by Moscow to redraw the red lines".

It's all to do with Russia's nuclear doctrine - the document that defines when and how Moscow can use its nuclear arsenal.

Ivor says: "Currently, it's only if the existence of the state is under threat.

"But yesterday, Putin said he wanted to update this doctrine so in theory Russia could respond with nukes to an attack by any state using conventional weapons - things like missiles, drones, and aircraft."

Has the nuclear sabre-rattling lost its impact?

That's "significant" because it's exactly what's happening with Ukraine.

He also said the Kremlin would consider any assault by a non-nuclear power supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack - essentially a warning aimed at Ukraine's allies.

As we've reported, Mr Putin's officials have doubled down on those threats today, saying the West should take it as a "signal".

As Ivor notes, previous threats of retaliation "have not been followed through on".

"Providing missiles, battle tanks and fighter jets to Ukraine all happened without any consequence," he says.

There have been "loads of threats of nuclear Armageddon" and perhaps now both sides sense "this kind of language has lost some of its impact".

It could well be "yet another bluff".

Blinken condemns Russia's nuclear threats as 'irresponsible' and 'poorly timed'

Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, has condemned Russian President Vladimir Putin's warning to the West about nuclear weapons as "irresponsible" and "poorly timed".

The Kremlin said today that changes outlined by Mr Putin to Russia's nuclear weapons documents should be considered a "signal" to the West.

Addressing this, Mr Blinken told MSNBC: "It's totally irresponsible.

"I think many in the world have spoken clearly about that when he's been rattling the nuclear sabre - including China, in the past.

"So I would just say especially to do that now, while the world's gathered… talking about the need for more disarmament, non-proliferation." 

-SKY NEWS