Russia will succeed in Ukraine unless American support continues, warns US defence secretary – as it happened

A Ukrainian serviceman, wearing prosthetic legs, walks past the flags symbolising fallen soldiers in Kyiv. Photograph: Sergei Supinsky/AFP/Getty Images

6.46pm GMT

Closing summary

• The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said that Russia would be successful in Ukraine unless the US’s support for Kyiv continued. “I can guarantee that without our support Putin will be successful,” Austin said during a Senate hearing on President Joe Biden’s request for $106bn to fund plans for Ukraine, Israel and American border security.

• Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said he was certain that Sweden would join the defence alliance but declined to predict an exact time for when this would happen, Reuters reported.

• Two Russian soldiers have been arrested on suspicion of killing a family of nine, including two young children, in their home in the Russian-occupied eastern Ukrainian town of Volnovakha.

• Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has detained an accomplice in the attempted killing of former Ukrainian politician and pro-Russian politician and businessman Oleg Tsaryov, Russian state news agencies reported.

• The UN human rights office has found “reasonable grounds” to conclude a missile strike that killed 59 people in a cafe in the Ukrainian village of Hroza was launched by Russia’s armed forces, the office said.

• Police in France have detained the Russian tycoon Alexey Kuzmichev and raided two of his properties in connection with alleged tax evasion, money laundering and sanctions violations.

Updated at 6.47pm GMT

6.24pm GMT

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said he has spoken with Bulgaria’s prime minister, Nikolai Denkov, on ways to bolster Black Sea security “in the face of Russian militarisation and threats to freedom of navigation”.

Posting on X, formerly Twitter, he said:

The Ukrainian-Bulgarian partnership is getting stronger and this is exactly the kind of Black Sea unity that allows us to counter Russian aggression, strengthen global food security, advance Ukraine’s EU integration, and support the peace formula.

I spoke with Bulgarian Prime Minister Nikolai Denkov on ways to further strengthen Black Sea security in the face of Russian militarization and threats to freedom of navigation.

Ukraine strengthens global food security with the alternative Black Sea export corridor. I appreciate… pic.twitter.com/1vMWCnkoaH

— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) October 31, 2023