Russia-Ukraine war live: Norway promises F-16 fighter jets, Kiev on “irreversible” path to NATO membership

The National Cancer Institute in Kyiv was busier than usual after a Russian missile hit Ukraine’s largest children’s hospital this week, forcing dozens of young cancer patients to be evacuated.

The heaviest Russian bombardment of the Ukrainian capital in four months left the Okhmatdyt children’s hospital badly damaged on Monday, leaving families in fear and their children, who already suffer from life-threatening illnesses, seriously injured.

Some families are now faced with the dilemma of where to continue their children’s treatment.

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

She and Dmytro were at the hospital for treatment when sirens sounded across the city. They couldn’t run to the shelter because the little boy was hooked up to an IV. “It’s extremely important not to interrupt these IVs,” Halak said.

Russia fired two Iskander-M ballistic missiles and six Shahed drones in an attack on Ukraine in the early hours of this morning, the Ukrainian Air Force said.

One person was injured in the rocket attack on the northeastern region of Sumy, regional authorities said.

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

The governor of the Mykolaiv region said that debris from a drone in an open area had caused a fire that had since been extinguished. There were no casualties, he said.

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

Ukrainian forces can now use British missiles for defensive strikes against targets on Russian territory, Keir Starmer told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the NATO summit.

His government’s new defence secretary, John Healey, announced the move but gave no details of the “operational arrangements”. Britain, he said, “will do everything in our power to help Ukraine in its fight to repel Putin’s invasion”.

“We provide them with weapons for self-defence wherever possible and, as we do for ourselves and any other nation in conflict, we require, as a matter of international law, that the war be fought within the rules of the Geneva Convention,” Healey told Sky News yesterday.

A spokesman for the Chinese mission to the European Union reacted to the statement from the NATO summit in Washington, calling it full of “warlike rhetoric” and the China-related content containing provocations, “lies, incitement and slander.”

A draft communiqué currently being prepared at the NATO summit in Washington says China has become a key supporter of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and Beijing continues to pose a systemic challenge to Europe and its security.

“As we all know, China is not the cause of the crisis in Ukraine,” a spokesman said in a statement released this morning.

The meeting with Mike Johnson and Hakeem Jeffries was likely primarily about making some of Starmer’s first contacts on Capitol Hill as Prime Minister. A number of political issues were also addressed, including the most eagerly awaited topic of the week: Ukraine and the Eastern European country’s path to NATO membership.

US officials plan to join their counterparts from Britain and other NATO countries this week to unveil what the Biden administration has announced as a “bridge to NATO membership” for Ukraine.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg stressed that Ukraine will not join the alliance immediately. However, he stressed that this must happen after the end of the war to ensure that Russia never attacks Ukraine again.

Regarding general NATO aid, he said: “We are not doing this because we want to prolong a war. We are doing it because we want to end a war as quickly as possible.”

Mr Stoltenberg also delivered a passionate defense of the military alliance itself last night when reporters asked him about the possibility that Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, a NATO critic, could withdraw U.S. support from the alliance should he win in November.”

Yesterday, the alliance welcomed Ukraine’s democratic, economic and security reforms necessary for accession and said an invitation would be issued “if allies agree and conditions are met”.

While NATO leaders are willing to offer Ukraine the means to defend itself in the war, which is now in its third year, they have not advocated that Ukraine must win.

In fact, their statement said: “NATO does not seek confrontation and poses no threat to Russia. We remain ready to maintain channels of communication with Moscow to reduce risk and prevent escalation.”

A NATO communiqué released yesterday sharply criticized China and reinforced previous language, describing the country as a “key enabler” of Russia’s war effort in Ukraine and pointing out that Beijing continues to pose a systemic challenge to Euro-Atlantic security.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said it was the first time the 32 allies had jointly identified China as a key enabler of Russia’s war, calling it an important message.

He said NATO was not a sanctions-imposing organisation, but added: “Ultimately, the decision-making is up to individual allies, but I think the message we are sending from this summit from NATO is very clear.”

The statement calls on China to end its material and political support for Russia’s war effort, expresses concern about China’s space capabilities, points to the rapid expansion of its nuclear arsenal, and calls on Beijing to start talks on reducing strategic risks.

The statement also said the allies intend to provide Ukraine with at least 40 billion euros ($43.28 billion) in military aid next year, but the multi-year pledge fell short of that.