Ukraine Russia war live: Top diplomats Blinken and Lammy arrive in Kyiv for key talks

Ukrainian prime minister Deny Shmyhal has urged British foreign secretary David Lammy to approve Ukraine’s use of long-range missiles to target deeper inside mainland Russia.

The foreign secretary is in Kyiv on a joint trip with his US counterpart Anthony Blinken.

In a meeting between Shmyhal and Lammy, the Ukrainian prime minister said: “We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it. And we hope for your help and support in this issue.”

The Kremlin said on Wednesday it did not like the way Vladimir Putin’s name was bandied around in the US presidential debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, and urged the candidates to stop dragging him into their political fight.

The Russian president’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, was speaking a week after Putin said in a teasing remark that he favoured Harris over Trump, prompting the White House to say Putin should stop commenting on the November election.

Peskov told reporters the Kremlin had not directly followed Tuesday night’s debate, but had tracked news reports of it.

“Of course, we noticed that both candidates mentioned our president, mentioned our country. Of course, the position is quite clear – the US as a whole, no matter which party the candidates are from, maintains a negative attitude, an unfriendly attitude towards our country,” he said.

“Putin’s name is used as one of the instruments in the domestic political struggle in the US We really, really don’t like it, and we hope that they will leave our president’s name alone.”

UK foreign secretary David Lammy has met with the Ukrainian prime minister Denys Shmyhal to discuss ongoing British support for Ukraine.

He is expected to speak with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky later today.

The Kremlin said on Wednesday that Russia would roll out what it called an appropriate response if the United States allowed Ukraine to strike deep inside Russia with ATACMs missiles.

US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday that his administration was “working that out now” when asked if the US would lift restrictions on Ukraine‘s use of long range weapons such as ATACMs in its war against Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters it looked like Washington has already decided to go ahead with such a decision.

Lithuanian president Gitanas Nauseda has arrived in Kyiv. He was pictured at the Kyiv train station this morning with Latvian prime minister Evika Silina and the senate president of the Czech Republic Milos Vystrcil.

The trio are in the Ukrainian capital to take part in the Summit of the Crimean Platform.