Russia Ukraine war live: Zelensky says Russia lost 6,000 troops in Kursk as he pleads for more weapons

The chair of the Ukrainian parliament has met with the speaker of the House of Commons Lindsay Hoyle at the sidelines of a G7 summit in Italy for parliamentary leaders.

Ruslan Stefanchuk thanked the UK for its support for Ukraine and stressed the importance that this remains unchanged, as he highlighted the need for Ukraine to be granted permission to strike military targets in russia with Western weapons, according to a statement issued by Ukrainian officials.

In their first ever joint statement, the heads of MI6 and the CIA have warned that “staying the course” in backing Ukraine’s fight against Russia was more important than ever and vowed to further their cooperation.

Writing in the Financial Times, CIA Director William Burns and Richard Moore, chief of the Secret Intelligence Service, said: “The partnership lies at the beating heart of the special relationship between our countries.”

The agencies “stand together in resisting an assertive Russia and Putin’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” they said, noting that their services marked 75 years of partnership two years ago.

“Staying the course is more vital than ever. Putin will not succeed in extinguishing Ukraine’s sovereignty and independence,” they said, adding that their agencies would continue aiding Ukrainian intelligence.

The spy chiefs said their agencies would keep working to thwart a “reckless campaign of sabotage across Europe by Russian intelligence” and its “cynical use of technology” to spread disinformation “to drive wedges between us.”

Ukraine’s air force has said that Russia launched a total of 67 long-range drones in a mass overnight attack, 58 of which it was able to shoot down.

The air force said in a statement on the Telegram app that air defence units were scrambled into action in 11 regions across Ukraine.