Key points
- Ukraine's invasion bringing world to 'brink of a third world war' claims Russian MP
- Ukrainian troops capture largest Russian town so far, says Zelenskyy
- Putin aide claims NATO and West helped Ukraine plan attacks
- Key Putin ally urges Ukraine and Russia to end war
- Eyewitness: Russian detainees in Ukraine reveal Kursk reality
- Michael Clarke analysis:How long can Ukraine hold Kursk?
- Listen to the Daily above and tap here to follow wherever you get your podcasts
- Live reporting by Katie Williams
Ballerina's jail sentence 'vindictive cruelty', says US
The conviction and sentencing of a US-Russian ballerina over a donation to a charity is "nothing less than vindictive cruelty", White House national security spokesman John Kirby has said.
Ksenia Karelina, 33, was arrested and accused of treason in February after giving £40 to a charity supporting Ukraine.
She was sentenced yesterday to 12 years in a Russian prison after admitting the charge at a closed trial earlier this month.
Mr Kirby said US officials were working to gain consular access to Karelina.
"We're talking about 50 bucks," he said. "To call that treason is absolutely ludicrous."
Karelina, an amateur ballerina, was born in Russia but moved to the US in 2012 and became a citizen in 2021. She had moved to Los Angeles, where she worked in a spa, but was visiting family in Russia when she was arrested.
Russia claims to destroy Ukrainian unit armed with NATO weapons in Kursk - Russian media
Russian forces have destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance and sabotage group armed with NATO weapons in Kursk, Russian media is reporting, citing claims by unofficial sources.
Sky News cannot independently verify battlefield accounts.
Russian troops have been struggling to drive out Ukrainian forces from the Kursk region since the shock cross-border invasion last week.
More than half of Ukraine under air raid alert
Much of Ukraine is under an air raid alert this morning.
The alerts warning of possible attacks - issued several minutes ago - cover several regions and the capital city of Kyiv.
'Astonishing' that major Russian response has not yet materialised
It is "astonishing" that there has been no significant Russian response to the Kursk invasion 10 days on from Ukraine's surprise attack, an ex-UN chief has said.
Mark Malloch Brown, former deputy secretary-general of the organisation, said it's likely Russia will soon launch a major deployment of troops to push back Ukrainian forces - but the invasion has revealed the internal "cumbersomeness" of Russia's "top-down" military.
"[It has] incredible difficulty responding flexibly and quickly to a challenge from any kind of threat," he told Sky News.
"And so it's astonishing that we're into the second week of this, and there hasn't been evidence yet of a major Russian redeployment of troops to push the Ukrainians back."
He added that he was sure such a move would come, but by then the Ukrainians "may have had the opportunity to dig themselves in to a point that it becomes a permanent feature of an otherwise barely moving frontline".
Mr Brown said he also believed Kyiv was "deliberately obfuscating" about what its aim was through the Kursk invasion.
"Is it to permanently hold it? Is it to change the dynamics of any ceasefire and peace negotiation? Is it to penetrate deeper, to put even more of a threat on Moscow? They are very deliberately, I think, not being explicit about this incursion's aims," he said.
Watch: Armoured vehicle set alight at Russian border checkpoint
Footage has emerged of an armoured vehicle driving towards a Russian border checkpoint from the Ukrainian side and being fired on.
The Kolotilovka checkpoint in the Belgorod region is often used for prisoner exchanges.
The video shows a vehicle driving at full speed towards the checkpoint before appearing to hit a barrier and being shot at shortly after.
Ukraine showing it is 'capable of carrying fight to the enemy', says former MP
Ukraine has shown it is "capable of carrying the fight to the enemy" and the UK should be prepared to give Kyiv its "full support" as the invasion of Kursk continues, a former defence secretary has said.
Lord John Hutton, a Labour peer, said Ukraine's attacks were a "legitimate operation" and "largely defensive".
"I think we should be prepared to give it our full support because it is necessary for the defence of Ukraine," he told Sky News.
Asked what he thought Volodymyr Zelenskyy aim was with the offensive, Lord Hutton said it was "essentially a political mission to put pressure on Putin".
"He's demonstrated that Ukrainian armed forces are still in the fight, and they're capable of carrying the fight to the enemy, and I think it's delivered a much needed morale boost to the Ukrainian people themselves, who've been on the defensive for a long period of time," he said
"I hope that the mission achieves the long term purpose of getting closer to a ceasefire and the withdrawal of Russian forces from the territory of Ukraine," Lord Hutton added.
US reluctant to let Ukraine use its long-range missiles in Kursk - report
Washington is reluctant to let Kyiv's troops use long-range US weapons inside Kursk due to their short supply, according to a report.
Ukraine received several of the long-range ATACMS missiles earlier this year, and has used them to target sites deep inside Russia.
Officials told CNN that the US was hesitant over the use of the missiles in the Kursk invasion, not because of the risk of escalation, but due to their limited supply.
Despite Ukraine gaining ground in the Russian region, "multiple" US and Western officials warned that Kyiv was unlikely to be able to judge the territory for long, adding that it was too soon to say how the invasion would affect the overall outcome of the war.
In pictures: Ukrainian troops near Russian border
Ukraine's surprise push into the Russian border region of Kursk has seen Kyiv's forces capture a series of villages, take hundreds of prisoners and force tens of thousands of residents to flee their homes.
Top Ukrainian commanderOleksandr Syrskyi told Volodymyr Zelenskyy yesterday that the invasion had so far advanced 35km (22 miles) into Kursk, with 82 settlements captured.
Ukrainian troops have been pictured operating in Sumy, a region in northeastern Ukraine which borders Russia.
Ukraine says it shot down five Russian drones overnight
Russia launched three missiles and five drones at Ukraine in its latest overnight attack, the Ukrainian military has said.
According to the country's air force, Russian forces targeted Ukraine from Kursk with ballistic missiles, two Shahed-type drones and two unspecified drones.
It said defence forces shot down the drones over five regions, but did not say what happened to the missiles.
Putin aide claims NATO and West helped Ukraine plan attacks
A top aide to Vladimir Putin has accused NATO and the West of being directly involved in the planning for Ukraine's invasion in Kursk.
In an interview with Russian newspaper Izvestia,NikolaiPatrushev said Washington was lying when it said it had no prior knowledge of the attacks.
"The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with theparticipation of NATO and Western special services," he said.
"The statements by the US leadership that it was notinvolved in Kyiv's crimes in the Kursk region are not true...without their participation and direct support, Kyiv would nothave ventured into Russian territory."
He did not appear to provide any evidence for his claims.
The White House said Kyiv did not provide advance noticeof its operation and that Washington had no involvement.
