Joe Biden announces $800m in new arms supplies to Ukraine

Joe Biden has announced $800m (£613m) in new arms supplies to Ukraine and said he will go to Congress to ask for more funding to help fend off the renewed Russian offensive in the east and south.

Fifty Ukrainian artillery officers are being given a week-long course by US instructors on the use of US 155mm howitzers in an unnamed European country, the Pentagon said.

Biden said the latest arms supplies with the emphasis on heavy artillery reflected the requirements of the different landscape of the Donbas, which is largely flat agricultural land, compared with the forests around Kyiv, providing fewer opportunities for ambushes and guerrilla warfare.

The president said the US had so far given Ukraine 10 anti-tank missiles, including Javelins, for every tank Russia has on the battlefield, along with armoured cars, armed drones and other heavy equipment, and was playing the role of facilitator for arms deliveries from other countries.

The new type of drone the US will deliver to Ukraine is named the Phoenix Ghost and has been developed specifically for Ukraine by the US air force with a California company, Aevex Aerospace.

Frederiksen said her country would increase the scale of its weapons contribution to Ukraine by 600m Danish krone (£67m).

The UK in its latest raft of sanctions announced it would ban imports of Russian caviar and other luxury goods, as well as silver and wood products. Tariffs on diamonds and rubber imports from Russia and Belarus will be increased by 35%.