Senior US officials are weighing up whether to send a top Cabinet-level official to Kyiv as a high-profile representative in a show of solidarity with Ukraine, according to a source familiar with the situation.
Antony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, or Austin Lloyd, the Defence Secretary, are potential candidates to pay a surprise visit to Kyiv.
The presidents of four countries on Russia’s doorstep visited Ukraine on Wednesday and underscored their support for the embattled country.
The US President is unlikely to make the trip, and a final decision has not yet been made.
It comes after Joe Biden announced an additional $800 million (£610m) in US military assistance to Ukraine including helicopters, artillery systems and armoured personnel carriers. Executives from top American weapons makers have met with Pentagon officials to discuss the industrial challenges in the event of a protracted conflict.
Pentagon spokesman Eric Pahon said the discussion “focused primarily on accelerating production and building more capacity across the industrial base for weapons and equipment that can be exported rapidly, deployed with minimal training, and prove effective in the battlefield”.
Follow the latest updates below.
02:54 AM
Russian billionaire’s superyacht docks without clearance
The US embassy is cooperating with Fijian authorities after a Russian oligarch’s yacht docked in Fiji’s Lautoka port.
“The United States is committed to finding and seizing the assets of the oligarchs who have supported the Russian Federation’s brutal, unprovoked war of choice against Ukraine,” the embassy said of the superyacht Amadea, owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov, which docked without customs clearance.
“We and several of our EU partners have already frozen or seized many assets of these oligarchs.
“We are working closely with governments and private sector partners in Europe, and the entire world, including Fiji, on this issue.”
02:46 AM
Crew detained after oligarch’s yacht arrives in Fiji
Fiji police are today investigating the arrival of a luxury vessel owned by a Russian oligarch, questioning its captain about how he brought the boat to the Pacific island nation without customs clearance.
Fiji newspapers reported that police seized the superyacht Amadea, owned by Russian billionaire Suleiman Kerimov – who has been sanctioned by the UK, US and EU – and detained its crew.
An official at the National Police Command and Control Centre confirmed to Reuters that the captain of the vessel, which arrived on Tuesday, was being questioned.
Commissioner of Police, Brigadier General Sitivini Qiliho, told the Fiji Sun newspaper that the Attorney General’s office had been contacted by a foreign government requesting assistance in a criminal matter, and Fiji had agreements with other countries to enforce sanctions on Russian oligarchs.
Fiji had been alerted about the approach of the Amadea before it moored at Lautoka Wharf.
The Marine Traffic website showed Amadea left Mexico 18 days ago.
02:37 AM
In pictures: More war horrors for Ukrainian civilians
02:31 AM
Ukrainian governor says missiles hit Russian ship
Russia said on Thursday that the flagship of its Black Sea fleet was seriously damaged and its crew evacuated following an explosion that a Ukrainian official said was the result of a missile strike.
Russia’s defence ministry said a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser caused ammunition to blow up, Interfax news agency reported.
It did not say what caused the fire but Maksym Marchenko, the Ukrainian governor of the region around the Black Sea port of Odesa, said the Moskva had been hit by two Ukrainian-made Neptune anti-ship cruise missiles.
“Neptune missiles guarding the Black Sea caused very serious damage,” he said.
Russian news agencies said the Moskva, commissioned in 1983, was armed with 16 anti-ship “Vulkan” cruise missiles with a range of at least 700 km (440 miles).
The Moskva is the second major ship known to have suffered serious damage since the start of the war.
02:11 AM
Australia increases sanctions on Russian businesses
Australia imposed targeted financial sanctions on 14 Russian state-owned enterprises on Thursday, including defence-related entities such as a truckmaker and shipping companies.
Sanctions will also extend to electronic company Ruselectronics, responsible for the production of around 80pc of all Russian electronics components, and Russian Railways, Foreign Minister Marise Payne said.
Australia has now sanctioned about 600 individuals and entities, including most of Russia’s banking sector and all organisations responsible for the country’s sovereign debt.
It has also supplied defence equipment and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine, while banning mining exports to Russia.
01:55 AM
Ammunition blows up on flagship of Russian fleet
The flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet, the Moskva missile cruiser, was badly damaged when ammunition on board blew up, Interfax news agency quoted the defence ministry as saying on Thursday.
The blast is yet another military setback for Russia, which has suffered a series of blows since invading Ukraine.
Interfax said all the crew had been evacuated. It cited the ministry as blaming the blast on a fire and said the cause was being investigated.
A Ukrainian official earlier said that the Moskva had been hit by two anti-ship missiles but did not give any evidence. The 12,500 tonne ship usually has a crew of around 500.
“As the result of a fire on the Moskva missile cruiser, ammunition detonated. The ship was seriously damaged,” the Russian Defence Ministry said.
“The crew was completely evacuated.”
01:40 AM
War threatens to devastate struggling countries’ economies
A UN task force is warning in a new report that Russia’s war against Ukraine threatens to devastate the economies of many developing countries that are now facing even higher food and energy costs and increasingly difficult financial conditions.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has launched the report, stressing that the war is “supercharging” a crisis in food, energy and finance in poorer countries that were already struggling to deal with the Covid pandemic, climate change and a lack of access to adequate funding for their economic recovery.
Rebeca Grynspan, secretary-general of the UN agency promoting trade and development who coordinated the task force, said 107 countries have “severe exposure” to at least one dimension of the food, energy and finance crisis and 69 countries are severely exposed to all three and face “very difficult financial conditions with no fiscal space, and with no external financing to cushion the blow”.
The report urges countries to ensure a steady flow of food and energy through open markets, and calls on international financial institutions to do everything possible to ensure more liquidity immediately.
