Kwasi Kwarteng tones down anti-fracking rhetoric after No 10 hints at U-turn – as it happened

Kwasi Kwarteng says the government will take a precautionary approach that supports shale gas exploration. Photograph: WIktor Szymanowicz/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock

6.06pm GMT

Early evening summary

• Britain is planning to supply Starstreak anti-aircraft weapons and “a small consignment” of Javelin anti-tank missiles to Ukraine as Russian forces close in on Kyiv to the east, Ben Wallace, the defence secretary has said.

• Keir Starmer has accused Boris Johnson of presiding over a “failed energy policy” that is resulting in rocketing bills, as he called for the government to invest in nuclear and renewable energy sources and insulate homes to reduce reliance on Russian oil and gas.

• Downing Street has refused to rule out lifting the government’s moratorium on fracking, saying “all options” would be considered as the government considered how to end the UK’s reliance on Russian energy. (See 2.10pm.) The briefing seemed to embarrass Kwasi Kwarteng, the business secretary, who was giving a statement to MPs an hour or so later and who recently dismissed fracking as a solution to the UK’s energy problems. (See 2.39pm.)

• Johnson has described the Russian attack on a children’s hospital in Mariupol as “depraved”.

There are few things more depraved than targeting the vulnerable and defenceless.

The UK is exploring more support for Ukraine to defend against airstrikes and we will hold Putin to account for his terrible crimes. #PutinMustFail https://t.co/JBuvB78HVC

— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) March 9, 2022

• Liz Truss, the foreign secretary, has said the west must go “further and faster” in its response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, saying victory for President Putin would have “terrible implications for European and global security”. In a press conference in Washington with Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, she said:

We know from history that aggressors only understand one thing, and that is strength.

We know that if we don’t do enough now, other aggressors around the world will be emboldened.

And we know that if Putin is not stopped in Ukraine, there will be terrible implications for European and global security. We would be sending a message that sovereign nations can simply be trampled on.

So we must go further and faster in our response.

That is all from me for today. But our Ukraine coverage continues on our global live blog. It’s here.

Updated at 6.07pm GMT

5.22pm GMT

These are from my colleage Dan Sabbagh, the Guardian’s defence editor, on the briefing from western sources earlier about the risk of Russia using chemical weapons. (See 4.47pm.)

Western officials warning they have "good reason to be concerned about the possible use of non conventional weapons" - ie chemical and biological - by Russia in Ukraine

— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 9, 2022

Alarmist warning follows scene setting "false flag claims" made by Russia's MFA today, claiming Ukraine had a bioweapons programme. Argument is that Russia has done similar before; leading to chemical attacks by proxies in Syria.

— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 9, 2022

Worth noting there have been similar warnings by Western officials about other possible Russian weapon use in Ukraine (e.g. themobaric bombs) - they are designed to deter as much as are an assessment of intent

— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) March 9, 2022