Closing summary
It is just after 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The US secretary of state, Anthony Blinken, told Volodymyr Zelenskiy the war with Russia was in a “pivotal moment” as Ukraine’s military continues its counteroffensive in the south of the country. AP reports that Blinken told Zelenskiy: “We know this is a pivotal moment, more than six months into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as your counteroffensive is now under way and proving effective.”
Blinken’s surprise trip to Kyiv came after the United States unveiled nearly $2.7bn (£2.4bn) in new military support to Ukraine and other European countries threatened by Russia. Blinken travelled in secret on his second trip to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began in February. Blinken approved $2bn in foreign military financing, a programme in which the US offers loans or grants to other nations to buy US-produced weapons. This amount comes on top of the announcement by the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, of another $675m in military assistance that includes more arms, ammunition and supplies for Himars, the precision-guided rockets that can hit targets as far as 80km (50 miles) away.
Poland and the Baltic states have announced they will temporarily restrict access for Russian citizens holding EU visas. The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said in a statement that the move had been taken to address “public policy and security threats” arising from the “substantial and growing influx of Russian citizens” into the EU. “We believe that this is becoming a serious threat to our public security and to the overall shared Schengen area,” they said. The measures are expected to come into force by 19 September, and will “restrict the entry into the Schengen area for Russian citizens travelling for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes”.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II who has died at the age of 96. He said on Twitter: “It is with deep sadness that we learned of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of the people, we extend sincere condolences to the @RoyalFamily, the entire United Kingdom and the Commonwealth over this irreparable loss. Our thoughts and prayers are with you.”
Ukraine has now recaptured more than 700 sq km (270 sq miles) of territory in Kharkiv and in the south, according to a Ukrainian general. Speaking at a public briefing, Brig Gen Oleksiy Gromov said Ukrainian forces had advanced as far as 50km (31 miles) into Russian lines and retaken more than 20 villages. The comments are the most detailed public assessment so far of Ukraine’s counter-offensive.
Ukraine has struck over 400 Russian targets with Himars rocket systems supplied by the United States, Reuters reports. Gen Mark Milley, the chairman of the US joint chiefs of staff, told reporters at Ramstein airbase in southern Germany: “We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems. For example, the Ukrainians have struck over 400 targets with the Himars and they’ve had devastating effect.”
Norway said it will donate approximately 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine as well as launching pads and guidance units. During the meeting of 40 allied defence departments at the Ramstein base in Germany, Norwegian defence minister Bjørn Arild Gram said his country would also supply Ukraine with night-vision equipment, adding that Kyiv had requested the weapons, reports AP.
Two people have been killed and four have been injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region, according to the office of the prosecutor general of Ukraine. A post on Facebook said there had been “massive shelling” in the central part of the city of Bakhmut on Thursday, and that the shells had come from the Soviet-designed Uragan rocket system. It added that a woman had also died near her home after shelling in the town of Toretska in the New York region.
Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea last month. It marks the first official acknowledgment from Kyiv that it was behind the strike, which destroyed at least nine Russian aircraft at the site.
About 51,250 Russian personnel have now been killed since the start of the invasion, the Ukrainian military has said. The figure represents an increase of 640 since Wednesday’s update.
Local authorities said that two people have been killed and five have been injured in Russian shelling in Kharkiv’s industrial district.
Three bodies have been recovered from the rubble of a building shelled by Russian forces in the eastern city of Sloviansk.
The UK’s ministry of defence said Ukraine appears to be “imposing pressure on Russian forces” in Kherson and has probably destroyed a bridge that served as “one of the main routes between the northern and southern sectors of Russia’s military presence along the Dnipro River”.
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, has said the deportation of people from Ukraine has “chilling echoes from European history” and that the “appalling term ‘de-nazification’” was a “cover for obliterating Ukraine from the map”.
Belarus has started military exercises near the Polish border, its capital Minsk, and the northeastern region of Vitebsk, according to the country’s defence ministry. It said the exercises, which are set to last a week, will practise “liberating territory temporarily seized by the enemy” and regaining control over border regions.
That’s it from me, Joe Middleton, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thank you for reading.
Inna Sovsun, a Ukrainian MP, paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II who has died at the age of 96.
Sovsun said on Twitter that Her Majesty was a “faithful friend of Ukraine” and offered her “deepest condolences” to the British people.
Read more: Queen Elizabeth II, Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, dies aged 96
Queen Elizabeth passed away.
— Inna Sovsun (@InnaSovsun) September 8, 2022
This is a loss not only for the UK, but for the whole world.
The Queen was a faithful friend of Ukraine & she wasn't afraid to talk about it.
British people, you're one of our greatest allies & today, Ukrainians offer you their deepest condolences
RIP pic.twitter.com/IYdoMqyEWI
