Ukraine war: Two dead in Russian ‘double tap’ missile attack near Kharkiv

Ukrainian forces can now use British missiles for defensive strikes against target inside Russian territory, Keir Starmer told Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky at the Nato summit.

New defence secretary in his administration, John Healey, signalled the move but did not share details of the “operational arrangements”. Britain, he said, “will do all we can to help Ukraine in their fight to repel Putin’s invasion”.

“We provide weapons equipment where we can for them to defend themselves, and as we do for ourselves and any other nation in conflict, we require, because it’s international law, that war is conducted within those rules of the Geneva Convention,” Mr Healey told Sky News yesterday.

Russia launched two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and six Shahed drones in an attack on Ukraine in the early hours today, Ukrainian air force said.

One person was injured in the missile strike on the northeastern region of Sumy, according to the regional authorities.

Ukrainian air defence said it shot down all six drones launched by Russia over four Ukrainian regions.

Mykolaiv regional governor said drone debris caused a fire in an open area, which has since been put out, and reported no casualties.

The authorities in the western regions of Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, and Khmelnytskyi reported no casualties or damage to civilian infrastructure.

The National Cancer Institute in Kyiv was busier than usual after a Russian missile struck Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital this week, forcing the evacuation of dozens of its young patients battling cancer.

Russia’s heaviest bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in four months severely damaged Okhmatdyt Children’s Hospital on Monday, terrorising families and severely impacting their children already battling life-threatening diseases.

Now, some families face a dilemma of where to continue their children’s treatment.

Oksana Halak only learned about her 2-year-old son Dmytro’s diagnosis — acute lymphoblastic leukemia — at the beginning of June. She immediately decided to have him treated at Okhmatdyt, “because it is one of the best hospitals in Europe.”

She and Dmytro were in the hospital for his treatment when sirens blared across the city. They couldn’t run to the shelter as the little boy was on an IV. “It is vitally important not to interrupt these IVs,” Halak said.

British-supplied missiles can be used by Ukraine to strike targets inside Russia, the UK has told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky.

UK defence secretary John Healey green-lighted Kyiv’s use of Storm Shadow missiles for defensive strikes inside Russian territory on Wednesday.

Signalling the move, but declining to get into “operational arrangements”, John Healey, the new defence secretary, told Sky News that Britain “will do all we can to help Ukraine in their fight to repel Putin’s invasion”.

Russia’s prosecutor general’s office has labelled The Moscow Times an “undesirable” organisation, a designation that bans Russians from working with or having links to the outlet.

“The work of the outlet is aimed at discrediting the decisions of the leadership of the Russian Federation in both foreign and domestic policy,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Russia introduced its “undesirable” list in 2015 to crack down on foreign NGOs and ban Russians from working with or donating to them.

Former prime minister Gordon Brown has urged the British government to help put Vladimir Putin on trial for war crimes over his invasion of Ukraine.

Mr Brown, 73, said the “time for action” against Mr Putin “was now” and urged the new Labour government to help in putting Russian leadership on trial.

“I believe the new UK government, whose prime minister and foreign secretary have already supported the call for action on the crime of aggression, will add to the urgency of putting the Russian leadership on trial for the full totality of the harm it has inflicted,” Mr Brown wrote in The Guardian.

“It will send a message that there is no hiding place from prosecution for aggressors – and no immunity for war criminals, whether presidents or not. Anger and outrage are not enough. The time for action against Putin is now.”