Ukraine war latest: Victory for Zelensky as US ‘agrees’ to send long-range missiles

US President Joe Biden is planning to provide Ukraine with advanced long-range missiles in order to assist with the ongoing counter-offensive against Russia’s invasion, reports US media.

Biden reportedly told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky that he would provide Kyiv with ATACMS long-range missile, which have a range of 190 miles, and would enable Kyiv to hit Russian targets deep behind the front line.

The news comes as at least one Ukrainian missile hit the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea on Friday.

The attack was reportedly carried out using Storm Shadow missiles, which have a range of 150 miles, and are supplied by Britain and France.

Following the attack on Sevastopol, the Russian defence ministry said its air defence systems responding to the attack shot down five missiles. Firefighters battled the blaze, and more emergency forces were brought in.

Poland has announced it will no longer be sending weapons to Ukraine amid growing tension between Warsaw and Kyiv after a ban on Ukrainian grain imports was extended.

Prime minister Mateusz Morawiecki said he would instead be investing the money in arming Poland, which has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since Russia invaded last year, with the most “modern weapons”.

The announcement coincides with tensions reaching boiling point between the two neighbours after Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said some countries were “feigning solidarity by indirectly supporting Russia” with a ban on grain imports.

Alexander Butler reports:

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky called on Canada to “stay with” his country in its war against Russia, in his first visit to the country since the start of the invasion.

The Ukrainian president arrived in Canada’s capital Ottawa late on Thursday night and addressed the parliament on Friday where he sought to bolster support from Western allies for Ukraine’s war.

“Moscow must lose once and for all. And it will lose,” Mr Zelensky said.

In other war developments on Friday beyond those in Crimea, ongoing shelling in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region killed one man and injured another, according to regional Gov. Oleksandr Prokudin.

In the northeast, regional Gov. Oleh Synyehubov said over 14 settlements came under attack in Kharkiv. There were no casualties, the governor said.

Russian forces also struck Kremenchuk in the central Poltava region, killing one person and injuring 31 others including three children, regional Governor Dmytro Lunin said.

The Ukrainian President accused Russia of “genocide” in his address to the Canadian Parliament on Friday.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy captioned a post on X: “In my today’s address to the Parliament of Canada I emphasized that what Russian occupiers are doing to Ukraine is genocide. And when we want to win, when we call on the world to support us, it’s not just about an ordinary conflict. It’s about saving lives of millions of people.”

Ukraine’s military has reportedly succeeded in driving tanks through Russia’s defensive line in western Zaporizhzhia, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a major breakthrough after Vladimir Putin’s forces spent the winter establishing a tough obstacle course of anti-tank ditches, artillery nests and other obstructions.

The institute could not confirm that Ukrainian troops had followed suit at the breakthrough point near Verbove but the news is nevertheless a welcome indication that Kyiv’s counteroffensive is bearing fruit as it seeks to drive the invader from its territory.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is currently in North America seeking to shore up support from his US counterpart Joe Biden and Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and has already flown out of Washington with the promise of a new $325m military aid package for his country that will include air defence systems and other weaponry to help it through what promises to be another trying winter of combat.

The attack on Friday is one of several recently launched by Ukraine in the Crimea area.

The Institute for the Study of War said satellite imagery this week showed that Ukrainian strikes had significantly damaged a communications command center in Verkhnosadove, just outside Sevastopol.

Russian-installed authorities in Sevastopol accused Ukraine on 13 September of carrying out the biggest attack in Crimea in weeks, one on a strategic shipyard that damaged two ships undergoing repairs and caused a fire at the facility.

Two days earlier, Ukraine claimed it had recaptured strategic gas and oil drilling platforms in the Black Sea that Russia seized in 2015. Russia had used the platforms for electronic warfare equipment and to launch helicopters, and Ukraine said getting control of them would help it regain Crimea.