Ukraine-Russia war latest: Ukraine 'captures' largest Russian town so far; former president reveals why troops inside Russia (2024)

Ukraine can use British weapons in operations on Russian territory - but restrictions on the use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles are still in place, the UK's defence ministry has said.

Setting out the use of weapons deliveries, a spokesperson for the Ministry of Defence said Ukraine had a "clear right of self-defence against Russia's illegal attacks" and "that does not preclude operations inside Russia".

"We make clear during the gifting process that equipment is to be used in line with international law," the spokesperson added.

The policy means that British tanks, anti-tank missiles, and other military equipment given to Ukraine can be used inside Russia.

Restrictions on the use of British supplied long-range Storm Shadow missiles, which can only be used within Ukraine's internationally accepted borders, remain in place.

In the last two weeks, Ukraine has carried out the biggestforeign attack on sovereign Russian territory since World WarTwo by invading the Kursk region.

Using swarms of drones, heavy artillery and tanks, Ukraine has claimed to have captured more than 1,000 square kilometres of Russian territory in the last 10 days.

Earlier today, our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes was told by a source that British Challenger 2 tanks had been used by Ukrainian troops during the offensive.

You can read more of her report here...

By Sam Doak, OSINT producer

Satellite images obtained by Sky News show a sudden build-up of helicopters at Kursk Airport's military airstrip.

The airport sits close to the centre of the Russian region entered by Ukrainian forces on 6 August.

The appearance of military aircraft, as seen on satellite imagery captured on 14 August, likely shows part of the Russian response to Ukraine's attack on its territory.

An image of the airport taken on 22 July shows it was relatively inactive until recently.

Only two helicopters and five fighter jets were visible in the area photographed before the Ukrainian invasion of Kursk.

The imagery from yesterday shows a very different picture.

At this time, 14 helicopters can be seen parked across the length of the airport.

Four fighter jets can be seen, appearing in the same locations as in July.

While the imagery is not sufficiently detailed to determine the exact models of the helicopters shown, it does show that significant resources have been shifted to this location.

The US will give Ukraine more aid in the coming days, a White House spokesperson has said.

Speaking to MSNBC, John Kirby said the aid will be provided in additional security packages.

He did not provide any further details about how much the assistance is worth or what was included in the package.

It comes after the office of Ukraine's defence minister Rustem Umerov said that he spoke to his US counterpart Lloyd Austin earlier today.

The office said the two officials spoke about the battlefield situation and Ukraine's defence needs.

Yesterday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy appealed to the West to let his troops fire missiles deeper into Russian territory.

The UK, like other Western governments, has so farrefused to allow Ukraine to use long-range weapons because ofthe perceived risk of escalation in the conflict.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Kyiv's troops have captured the Russian town of Sudzha in the Kursk region.

The town is the largest that Ukraine has claimed control over so far, with a pre-war population of around 5,000 people.

The president named Sudzha as the location of the Ukrainian military commander's office we reported on a little earlier today.

Sky News cannot independently verify these battlefield reports.

Yesterday, a Ukrainian news channel released a video appearing to show soldiers taking down Russian flags from an administrative building in the town, shouting "glory to Ukraine, glory to heroes".

Sudzha is roughly 65 miles southwest of the regional capital, Kursk city.

Natural gas flows from West Siberian gas fields via pipes that pass through Sudzha and cross the Ukrainian border into Ukraine's system.

Ukraine is taking land in Kursk to facilitate the release of Ukrainian territory and stop the war, says former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko.

Vladimir Putin understands "only one language and this is the language of strength", he tells Sky News.

Mr Poroshenko notes the build up of Russian defences but declined to comment on how long Ukrainian troops will be on Russian soil.

"This is a step for releasing Ukrainian lands. This is a step to stop the war," he says.

"Ukraine don't need any one tiny piece of the Russian land.

"We want to keep international law, to keep the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.

"With this instrument, this is just a demonstration that Putin understand only one language. And this is the language of strength."

He gestures to military trucks behind him: "All the equipment behind, in a very few days, go on the border with the Russian Federation for our armed forces in the Kursk region."

Ukraine will follow all humanitarian law in Kursk, he adds.

Ukraine's top commander says Kyiv has set up a military commandant's office in the occupied Kursk region of Russia.

Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian forces have taken up to 1.5km (0.93 miles) of territory in the region in the last 24 hours - and are still advancing.

Mr Syrskyi told Volodymyr Zelenskyy in a video published by the Ukrainian leader that Kyiv's forces had advanced 35km (21.7 miles) into the Kursk region since launching its attack last week.

He also said Ukraine had now seized control of 82 settlements.

The Russian defence ministry says it is bringing in measures to protect its Belgorod border region from Ukrainian attack.

A state of emergency had already been declared in the area, which sits directly next to the Kursk region where Ukraine launched its incursion earlier this month.

Russian defence minister Andre Belousov said measures were being taken to "increase the efficiency" of troop command and increase interaction with regional law enforcement.

"The fact that (Russia) are thinking in those terms shows that they are actually taking this more seriously than they say they are when they address the world's media," Sky's military analyst Professor Michael Clarke says.

The wife of late Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has rejected the findings of the investigation into his death that said he died of a combination of diseases.

Yulia Navalnaya says she will demand a criminal investigation into her husband's death, and that her team will continue to conduct its own investigation.

Navalny died suddenly in February whilst being held in a maximum security prison in the rural settlement of Kharp, 2,046 kilometres (1,271 miles) east of Moscow.

A medical death certificate shown to Navalny's mother claimed that the causes of her son's death were "natural".

A woman has been jailed in Russia for 12 years after she gave £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine.

US-Russian citizen Ksenia Karelinawas accused of treason when she was arrestedin Yekaterinburg, in southwestern Russia, in February.

Investigators searched her mobile phone and found that she made a $51.80 (£40) donation to Razom, a charity that provides aid to Ukraine, on the first day of Russia's invasion.

The 33-year-old admitted the charge at a closed trial in the city earlier this month, according to Russian news agencies.

On Thursday, Karelina appeared in court in a white sweatshirt and blue jeans, sitting calmly in a glass courtroom cage, before she received her sentence.

Away from Ukraine's invasion into the Russian region of Kursk, there are still fierce battles being fought along the frontline.

In the east of the country, Ukrainian soldiers are fighting near the town of Chasiv Yar, which has faced a rapid Russian advance in recent weeks.

The heavily-fortified town sits west of the ruined Russian-occupied city of Bakhmut.

The images below show a Ukrainian soldier firing a 120mm mortar towards the Russian frontline.