Ukraine-Russia war latest: Russia responds to Poland’s claim it could host nuclear weapons | WorldNews

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine, after Joe Biden signed into law a bill for $61bn in aid for Ukraine.

The president immediately approved $1bn in military assistance that he said would be sent within hours.

The package included air defense capabilities, artillery rounds and armored vehicles.

Behind the scenes, news of a more significant weapon was emerging.

US officials told the Associated Press that long-range ballistic missiles would be included.

What’s more, they said the US had already secretly sent the weapons, named Army Tactical Missile Systems, to Ukraine last month and Ukraine had used them to attack a military airfield in Crimea last week and Russian troops in another occupied area on Tuesday night.

Long-range weaponry has previously been held back for fear it would be used to attack inside Russia – and the potential for NATO missiles landing there to provoke a wider escalation.

Before we resume our live coverage and regular updates, here is a recap of the other key moments from the last 24 hours.

• Ukrainian drones struck a major Russian steel factory in the Lipetsk region and two oil depots containing in the Smolensk region, Kyiv intelligence sources said;
• British helicopters flew to Finland, near the border with Russia, for the “biggest NATO exercise since the Cold War” – something Moscow warned risks “possible military incidents”;
• A Russian Orthodox priest who presided over the memorial service for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was suspended;
• Rishi Sunak pledged to put the UK’s arms industry on a “war footing” and boost defense spending to 2.5% of GDP;
• A Russian minister was arrested and charged him with bribery, according to Interfax news agency.