Ukraine Live Blog: ++ Starmer and Biden discuss Ukraine ++

British Prime Minister Starmer and US President Biden discuss the Ukraine crisis. SPD parliamentary group leader Mützenich favors the International Contact Group to start negotiations. Live blog developments.

Debris from a drone appears to have hit a building in Kiev. The mayor of Kiev, Vitaliy Klitschko, said via messaging app Telegram that debris had fallen on a municipal building in the Obolon district, north of Kiev’s city center, early this morning. Emergency services are on the scene.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged greater cooperation to Russian Security Council Secretary Sergei Shoigu. The two men exchanged views during Shoigu’s visit to Pyongyang, state news agency KCNA reported, and a “satisfactory agreement” was reached on issues including expanding cooperation “to protect mutual security interests.”

Rolf Mützenich, leader of the SPD parliamentary group in the Bundestag, proposed setting up an international contact group to start a peace plan in the Ukraine war. “The prime minister and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky agreed that now is a good time to step up efforts for peace talks and that Russia should also participate in the next peace talks,” Mützenich told the Rheinische Post. This would also open up opportunities for other countries to become more committed to ending hostilities.

In his view, other members of such a contact group could include China, India, Turkey and Brazil.

In Washington, U.S. President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer began discussions on the situation in Ukraine. Biden said he didn’t think much about Vladimir Putin at the start of a meeting of allies at the White House, citing the Russian president’s threats to NATO.

Ukraine has increasingly asked its Western allies in recent days to allow it to use Western long-range weapons to strike targets on Russian soil. British media reported that Biden, fearing a nuclear conflict, was willing to allow Ukraine to use British and French missiles with American technology, but not missiles manufactured in the United States itself.

According to the Ukrainian military, fierce fighting continues in eastern Ukraine. The Kiev General Staff said in its evening situation report that 115 battles had taken place. “The situation today was most intense in the Kurakhove direction, while the enemy was also active in the Liman and Pokrovsk directions,” it said. In the Kurakhove area, Ukrainian defenders have repelled 30 attacks so far, and five more are still underway. Kurakhove is a small village south of Pokrovsk.

For a long time, Pokrovsk was considered the main direction of attack for the Russian army. However, in the end, the Russian army gained little ground in this area. Instead, the axis of attack was expanded to the south.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky praised the conclusion of another prisoner of war exchange with Russia. Many people participated in the return of 49 Ukrainians to their homeland, Zelensky said in his daily video address. He also praised the secret service and military units that laid the foundation for the exchange and exchange of Russian military prisoners, along with diplomats.

Ukraine took many prisoners, especially during a surprise counteroffensive in the Kursk region in western Russia in early August, which Zelensky described as one of the most important results. Russia and Ukraine had previously exchanged 49 prisoners each.

The U.S. government has described Kremlin Secretary Vladimir Putin’s threat that Ukraine could use long-range Western weapons against Russian targets as “extremely dangerous.” But such rhetoric is neither unusual nor new, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said. “This is the kind of propaganda we have heard from Russia during this war,” Jean-Pierre said, referring to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

President Putin said any use of Western long-range precision weapons against targets deep inside Russian territory should be seen as NATO’s entry into the war.

Moscow threatens to use nuclear weapons if Ukraine uses Western precision weapons against Russian targets. 49 Ukrainian soldiers return home from Russian captivity. Read Friday’s developments.