Ukraine-Russia war live: Storm Shadow missile decision ‘already made’ as Putin launches Kursk counterattack

US secretary of state Antony Blinken has hinted that a decision has already been made in private on whether to allow Ukraine to strike key Russian targets, according to reports.

The Guardian cites sources within the British government that they will allow Ukraine to use Storm Shadow cruise missiles to strike deeper into mainland Russia but an announcement is unlikely to be made public.

Relations between Ukraine and its Western partners have been increasingly strained by Kyiv’s repeated appeals for the West’s authorisation to use long-range weapons to strike targets deeper inside Russia.

That issue took on added urgency after Russia’s latest reported acquisition of ballistic missiles from Iran, but Western leaders have so far baulked at Ukraine’s request, fearing that, if granted, it could escalate the war.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that letting Ukraine use Western weaponry to strike Russian territory would deepen Western involvement in the conflict and trigger a reaction from Moscow, the TASS state news agency reported.

It came as Russian forces are now fighting back Ukraine’s incursion in Kursk, more than a month after Kyiv’s troops stunned Vladimir Putin and seized a large swathe of the Russian region.

Russian forces have been gaining ground in parts of east Ukraine including Pokrovsk, whose capture could enable Moscow to open up new lines of attack and complicate Ukrainian logistics in the east.

Donetsk’s regional governor said a filtering station had stopped working because of heavy fighting, severing the water supply to Pokrovsk.

He said it would be impossible to fix soon and renewed calls to civilians to flee the town.

“The situation is difficult and it won’t get better soon. So I again call on you to