Ukraine updates: Biden, Starmer to talk long-range arms

The European Union strongly condemns the recent transfer of Iranian-made ballistic missiles to Russia, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said.

"The European Union has repeatedly strongly cautioned Iran against transfers of ballistic missiles to Russia," Borrell said in a statement, adding the EU would "respond swiftly and in coordination with international partners."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said Russia received ballistic missiles from Iran and would likely use them in Moscow's war against Ukraine within weeks, a charge Iran has denied.

Borrell vowed "new and significant restrictive measures against Iran, including the designation of individuals and entities involved with Iran's ballistic missile and drone programmes." 

The EU is also considering sanctions targeting Iran's aviation sector, the bloc's chief diplomat added.

Germany and Lithuania have finalized an agreement to station a brigade in the Baltic country, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius and his Lithuanian counterpart Laurynas Kasciunas announced. 

The two ministers signed the agreement, which expands on an earlier NATO agreement and specifies the legal status of German soldiers and civilian employees in Lithuania. It covers residency and tax status, schooling, public health care, and other aspects. 

The agreement underscores Germany's commitment to permanently station a combat-ready and independently deployable unit in its NATO ally in response to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, which has fundamentally altered the security situation in Europe. 

The German brigade is expected to be operational by 2027, with a permanent presence of up to 5,000 troops. They will be stationed in Rudninkai and Rukla. An advance party of about 20 soldiers arrived in Lithuania in April, and about 120 more are expected to arrive in early October, according to the German Army.

Ukraine's air force said it shot down 24 of 26 Russian drones over five Ukrainian regions overnight, according to a statement posted on social media.

Falling debris in the southern Odesa region injured one person and damaged 20 houses and four garages, according to regional governor Oleh Kiper.

Debris from a drone in the southern Mykolaiv region caused a fire at a food company, which was extinguished, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said.

The governor of the western Ivano-Frankivsk region, Svitlana Onyshchuk, said authorities were dealing with the aftermath of the attack, but gave no details other than to say that no one had been injured.

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused six British diplomats of espionage. It said the Russian Foreign Ministry had canceled the accreditation of six employees of the political department of the British embassy in Moscow, and they will be expelled.

The move was in response to "numerous unfriendly steps" by London and after "signs of espionage and sabotage" were found in the diplomats' actions, the FSB said in a statement.

Russian state television said in a report that the six diplomats had met with independent media and rights groups that have been declared "foreign agents." Russian authorities have actively used the label against organizations and individuals critical of the Kremlin. 

The news comes as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer meets US President Joe Biden in Washington where he is expected to discuss Ukraine's request to lift restrictions on the use of Western weapons against Russian targets. 

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is in Washington for talks about whether to let Kyiv use long-range missiles against Russia, in what could be their last meeting ahead of a US election that could upend policy on Ukraine.

Starmer is expected to meet US President Biden at the White House on Friday amid pleas from Ukraine to lift restrictions on the use of Western weaponry against Russian targets.

Kyiv wants Washington and London to lift a restriction preventing the use of weaponry made in the US and UK, like Storm Shadow missiles, for long-range strikes inside Russia

Russian President Vladimir Putin has warned that giving Ukraine the green light would mean NATO was "at war" with Moscow.

British media has reported that Biden, wary of provoking any nuclear conflict, is prepared to let Ukraine deploy British and French missiles using US technology but not US-made missiles themselves.

Kyiv complains that not being allowed to hit the Russian air bases from which glide bomb attacks against Ukraine are launched is like making it fight this war with an arm tied behind its back.

The talks come with Biden is on his way out of office and November's US election on a knife-edge between Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump.

Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun has said "negotiation" is the sole solution to conflicts such as the war Ukraine, as he addressed a global gathering of military officials in Beijing.

Scores of delegates are attending the Xiangshan Forum in Beijing.

State media says China is hosting more than 500 representatives from over 90 countries and organizations across three days.

Dong told the opening ceremony: "To resolve hotspot issues such as the crisis in Ukraine and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, promoting peace and negotiation is the only way out."

"There is no winner in war and conflict, and confrontation leads nowhere," Dong said.

"The more acute the conflict, the more we cannot give up dialogue and consultation. The end of any conflict is reconciliation," he added, calling on all countries to promote "peaceful development and inclusive governance."

Russia and China have significantly increased military cooperation in recent years, with both railing against what they see as the US domination of global affairs.

rc/kb (AP, AFP, dpa, Reuters)