Ukraine war latest: Kremlin offers first response after Biden allows ...

We are now seeing reports of a deadly Russian strike on the southern Ukrainian port city of Odesa.

The city's official Telegram account said a rocket had hit a residential building in an area of ​​"business activity".

"So far, it is already known about eight dead people, people were just going about their business," a statement said.

Oleg Kiper, the governor of Odesa, said a further 18 people were injured, including a child. Four of the wounded are in a serious condition, he said.

Separate videos posted online purportedly showed the aftermath of the attack, with bodies lying in the street and parked cars in flames in the background.

Any so-called freezing of the conflict along existing frontlines would be "unacceptable" to Russia, according to reports citing remarks by Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.

It follows a Bloomberg report that says there is increasing recognition in Europe that Volodymyr Zelenskyy may have to compromise with Vladimir Putin to end the war, with each side unlikely to claim a total battlefield victory over the other.

Sources told the outlet that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was planning to present a proposal to freeze the conflict along current lines when G20 leaders meet in Brazil today.

Erdogan will also propose that Kyiv agrees to delay talks on its NATO accession for at least a decade as a concession to Putin, it reported.

It is being widely reported that Peskov, when asked about the proposals, said "the option of freezing the line of combat contact is unacceptable for Russia".

This map shows how much of Ukrainian territory is currently Russian-controlled...

Many are expecting to see a new push for a peace deal in Ukraine as Donald Trump returns to the White House - and it's thought any realistic agreement would involve freezing the war along the current front lines and Ukraine ceding a swathe of its territory to Russia.

But Peskov's comments may dampen hopes of the rapid end to the war Trump previously claimed he could achieve.

The Kremlin has recently been underlining its unwillingness to compromise on its stated preconditions for peace talks, which include Ukraine's complete capitulation.

We're getting more reaction from EU foreign ministers in Brussels now on the decision by the US to authorise long-range strikes by Ukraine.

The foreign minister of France, which has provided long-range missiles to Ukraine, said allowing Kyiv to strike military targets in Russia was still an option on the table for Paris.

"We openly said this was an option that we would consider if it was to allow to strike a target from where Russia is currently aggressing Ukrainian territory. So nothing new on the other side," Jean-Noel Barrot said

French President Emmanual Macron said earlier this year that Kyiv should be able to hit Russian bases that are being used to attack Ukrainian territory.

German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said Washington had taken an "important" decision, but insisted it was not a shift in strategy from the West.

She called it "an intensification of what has already been delivered by other partners".

Meanwhile, Lithuanian minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said it was unclear if Kyiv would have enough missiles to defend itself if also using them to strike inside Russia.

"I'm not opening Champagne just yet, because we don't know the actual numbers of how many rockets Ukraine has," he said.

It's "rich" for Russia to call the US's decision on long-range weaponry an escalation when it has deployed North Korean troops to fight alongside its forces, a former ambassador has said.

Sir Peter Westmacott told Sky News the Kremlin was "bound to say that sort of stuff" (see 9.30 post) and there is a "certain amount of making our flesh creep".

"I think some of the Kremlin response is bluster. They were bound to say that sort of stuff, but it's a bit rich for them to say that this would be an escalation when they've got 10,000 North Korean troops coming in to help them fight," he said.

Sir Peter, who served as UK ambassador to the US between 2012 and 2016, said he doubted "whether we're looking at theatre nuclear weapons" by Russia - referring to smaller nuclear weapons designed to be used on the battlefield.

"That would be a horrific additional step. The Chinese will not want the Russians to do that," he said.

"And I'm told by the military experts that it doesn't actually help them militarily if they started to use nuclear weapons, of which, by the way, the radioactive fallout would land very largely on Russian people," he said.

The Kremlin's response to reports of the US allowing long-range strikes is the "kind of rhetoric that we've come to expect", says our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett - but how could Russia respond? 

Bennett says that in the past, Vladimir Putin has "raised the prospect of potentially sending weapons" to the West's adversaries to strike Western targets abroad - assumed to be a reference to Iran.

He also recently changed Russia's nuclear doctrine to respond, in theory, with nuclear weapons if Western weapons fall on its soil, he adds.

"But will Russia actually do this, or is this just more sabre rattling?" says Bennett.

"The calculus in Washington DC seems to be that this is another bluff from Russia, because other so-called red lines from Moscow have been crossed before in this conflict. 

"I'm referring, of course, to the deployment of Western missiles to Ukraine earlier on in the conflict. They've also sent battle tanks and fighter jets to Kyiv without any escalation. 

"The thinking in... the White House seems to be if this is the same again, they can do this without consequence. I think a more pertinent question might be is this actually going to have the desired effect on the battlefield?"

The Kremlin has accused the outgoing Biden administration of adding fuel to the fire and seeking to escalate the conflict in Ukraine.

Responding to reports that Joe Biden has allowed Ukraine to use US-made weapons to strike far into Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said such a move would usher a new round of tension and deepen the US's involvement in the war.

According to the Russian TASS news agency, which carries more of Peskov's comments, he said Moscow sees the possibility of Western specialist troops launching long-range strikes against it as the main danger.

"The fact is that these strikes are not carried out by Ukraine, these strikes are carried out by those countries that give permission, because targeting, other maintenance is not done by Ukrainian servicemen, it is done by military specialists from these very Western countries," he is reported to have said.

He warned that "this is the danger and provocation of this situation".

After Joe Biden reportedly approved Ukraine's use of American long-range weapons against targets inside Russia, the EU's foreign policy chief has said he hopes the bloc's members will follow suit.

"I've been saying once and again that Ukraine should be able to use the arms we provided to them, in order to not only stop the arrows but also to be able to hit the archers," Josep Borrell said before a meeting with EU foreign ministers in Brussels. 

"I continue believing this is what has to be done. I'm sure we will discuss once again. I hope member states will agree on that."

Also speaking ahead of the meeting, Dutch foreign minister Caspar Veldkamp said he thought Biden's decision was an "adequate response" to Russia deploying North Korean troops.

UK shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge has welcomed news that the US has allowed the use of its long-range weaponry for strikes on Russia.

He told Sky News he "hopes" it leads to the UK "doing the same".

"I think it's important. And I hope it is a precursor to the UK granting full autonomy on the use of Storm Shadow," the Tory MP said.

"And the reason is actually quite straightforward. The fact that there are thousands of North Korean troops supporting Russia is a significant escalation."

Missiles and drones violated Moldovan airspace during Russia's massive attack on Ukraine's power grid yesterday, the deputy prime minister said.

Mihai Popsoi strongly condemned the alleged violation, saying "explosions near our border and sightings of low-flying drones over villages underscore the risks to our people from Russia's brutal war".

NATO member Poland, which also borders Ukraine, said it had scrambled its air force as a precaution during the attack.

Stray Russian missiles and drones have entered Moldovan airspace several times during the conflict. Moldova's foreign minister summoned the Russian ambassador on Tuesday over two Russian drones which came down in Moldovan territory a week ago.

By Stuart Ramsay, chief correspondent

This attack on a residential building in Sumy killing and injuring adults and children as they slept is not the first of its kind, and it almost certainly won't be the last in this war that's now nearly 1,000 days long.

We have been in and out of Sumy for the past 10 days, and the sounds of air raid sirens combined with the booming noise of artillery and the rattle of air defence systems attempting to bring down Russian drones, are a constant.

When we spent time with the soldiers who man the air defence batteries, they told us they have very little time to shoot down missiles streaking above them in the skies.

Sumy borders the Russian region of Kursk, part of which Ukrainian troops invaded in the summer and have held ever since. There are indicators that Russia, with North Korean military assistance, is preparing a counteroffensive there, and attacks on Sumy itself have increased in recent weeks.

Sumy's location, so close to the border, means that civilians have very little time to find cover when the air raid sirens blare. Depending on the type of missile Russia fires, they have minutes, sometimes just seconds, to seek shelter. 

Despite its proximity to the battlefield, Sumy still more or less operates as normal. It's still populated, shops and restaurants are still functioning, and you can see families out and about in the day.

We noticed though that after 9pm, the city falls into a kind of darkness as people turn off lights and draw their curtains in their houses and apartment blocks, to limit the city's visibility to any drones that may be flying above.

Last night's attack illustrates just how much danger people in the northeast are in. And it's worth remembering that Russia's latest series of missile strikes on Ukraine targeted the entire country.