Russia Ukraine war live: Putin’s drones enter Nato airspace in Romania and Latvia

A senior Iranian Revolutionary Guards commander denied reports that Iran was transferring missiles to Russia, Iranian media said on Monday, amid concern in the West that they could be deployed in the war in Ukraine.

CNN and the Wall Street Journal reported last week, citing unidentified sources, that Iran had transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia.

Brigadier Fazlollah Nozari, deputy commander of the Khatam al-Anbia Central Headquarters, was quoted by the Iranian Labour News Agency as saying: “No missile was sent to Russia and this claim is a kind of psychological warfare.”

North Korea’s provision of weapons has strengthened Russia’s hand in Ukraine by allowing it to keep its arsenals stocked at home, Germany’s top military official said during a visit to South Korea on Monday.

Chief of Defence General Carsten Breuer said Russian President Vladimir Putin would not have reached out to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un for weapons if they were not useful.

“It’s about increasing the production of weapons for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine, it’s also strengthening Russia by making it possible for them to keep their stocks like they are,” Breuer told reporters in the South Korean capital Seoul.

Supporters of President Vladimir Putin and his war in Ukraine were set to win gubernatorial races across Russia, according to early vote counts on Sunday, including in Kursk where Ukrainian forces have seized control of some towns and territory.

Russia’s three-day local and regional elections came to an end on Sunday evening, with voters expected to elect Kremlin-backed candidates in all 21 gubernatorial races, as well as legislative assembly members in 13 regions and city council officials across the country.

Results of the tightly controlled elections are already being interpreted in Russia as a vote of confidence in Putin and his operation in Ukraine, now in its third year – just as was the election in March that extended his presidential term and voting a year ago.

The international world order is under threat in a way not seen since the Cold War, the heads of MI6 and the CIA have warned.

In the first joint op-ed penned by the leaders of the British and American intelligence services in their shared 77-year history, the MI6 chief Sir Richard Moore and CIA director William Burns warned that both countries now “face an unprecedented array of threats”.

Writing in the Financial Times, the intelligence leaders reflected on their decades of cooperation over the course of two world wars and in their fight against terrorism, warning: “The challenges of the past are being accelerated in the present, and compounded by technological change.”

Russia’s military will send naval and air forces to join an exercise held by China in the Sea of Japan and Sea of Okhotsk in September, China’s state-owned Xinhua news agency reported on Monday.

The drills aim to deepen “the level of strategic coordination between the Chinese and Russian militaries and enhance their ability to jointly respond to security threats,” Xinhua said.

Russian forces launched eight drones and three missiles at Ukraine in an overnight attack, Kyiv’s airforce said.

Ukraine downed six out of eight drones and two out of three missiles, it added. Overnight air attacks have become a daily occurrence in Ukraine.

Volodmyr Zelensky has urged Western leaders to allow Ukraine to use long-range missiles to hit targets inside Russia.

Last week, he said: “We need to have this long-range capability, not only on the divided territory of Ukraine, but also on the Russia territory so that Russia is motivated to seek peace.”

The United States has informed allies that it believes Iran has transferred short-range ballistic missiles to Russia for its war in Ukraine, two people familiar with the matter said.

They did not offer any details about how many weapons have been delivered or when the transfers may have occurred, but they confirmed the US intelligence finding. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a matter that has not been disclosed publicly disclosed.

The White House declined to confirm the weapons transfer but reiterated its concern that Iran is deepening its support of Russia. The White House has been warning Iran for months not to transfer ballistic missiles to Russia.

“Any transfer of Iranian ballistic missiles to Russia would represent a dramatic escalation in Iran’s support for Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and lead to the killing of more Ukrainian civilians,” National Security Council spokesperson Sean Savett said in a statement. “This partnership threatens European security and illustrates how Iran’s destabilising influence reaches beyond the Middle East and around the world.”

The city of Kostyantynivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk has become one of the main targets of relentless Russian attacks to capture the remaining strongholds held by Kyiv’s troops in the region.

Explosions are almost ever-present in and around the city, whether direct shelling attacks, or the sound of artillery batteries firing hundreds of rounds on the front line, reinforcing the sense that something catastrophic is approaching.

Kostyantynivka is one of the few remaining towns of any size still in Ukrainian hands in the region. And it is now perilously close to the front lines. Outgoing Ukrainian fire could also be heard south of the city with a distinctive rapid whoosh-whoosh-whoosh signifying, says one civilian, one of the highly accurate US-provided multiple rocket launchers at work.

Russian attacks are being ramped up across the area – from the commanding heights of Chasiv Yar, less than 10 miles to the northeast, to the mining town of Toretsk, whose slag heaps can be seen eight miles to the south, and Pokrovsk – the key target for Moscow at the moment – some 33 miles to the southwest along a route already vulnerable to shelling by the approaching Russians.

A local businessman, Petro, says: “Our city has been a target for the Russians since 2014, but they have been hitting us hard, smashing away at Kostyantynivka since the start of the full-blown invasion in 2022. There has been an increase in their attacks since August and perhaps the Ukrainian invasion into Russia has made [the Russian troops] more ferocious and so they’re firing more. That’s how it feels.”

Askold Krushelnycky has more in this dispatch from Kostyantynivka:

Vladimir Putin sent greetings to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un on the occasion of North Korea’s founding anniversary, state media KCNA reported today. He was joined by his Chinese ally and president Xi Jinping.

“I am sure that the comprehensive strategic partnership between Russia and the DPRK will be strengthened in a planned way thanks to our joint efforts,” Mr Putin said, referring to the North’s official name – the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

Mr Xi called for deeper strategic communication and cooperation with North Korea in his message, KCNA said.

On the same day last year, Kim marked the country’s founding with a parade of paramilitary groups and diplomatic exchanges in which he vowed to deepen ties with China and Russia.