Ukraine has struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet in a missile attack that left a serviceman missing and the main building smouldering, according to military chiefs on both sides.
Within hours, US president Joe Biden reportedly told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky that he would provide Kyiv with ATACMS long-range missile, as Canada pledged to give an extra £393.5m in military aid to Ukraine over the next three years.
Following the attack in the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, the Russian defence ministry initially said one service member was killed but later changed that to say he was missing.
It said its air defence systems responding to the attack shot down five missiles. Firefighters battled the blaze, and more emergency forces were brought in.
At the same time, Ukrainian tanks penetrated Putin’s final line of defence in western Zaporizhia Oblast, signalling a big breakthrough, according to the Institute for the Study of War.
It is the first instance of Ukrainian tanks advancing through Russia’s strong defensive layer of anti-tank ditches and obstacles, said the institute.