Blinken landed in the Ukrainian capital this morning after a nine-hour journey via sleeper train from the Polish border. He is due to meet President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials today, during which he's expected to deliver a message of “strong reassurance” to the Ukrainians.

Russian forces have made two cross border assaults inside northern Ukraine, according to information from Ukrainian sources and officials – in what President Volodymyr Zelensky is calling a ‘new wave of counteroffensive actions” by Russia.

Russian ground forces mounted a new assault to push into Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, seeking to capitalize on Kyiv’s shortage of weapons and soldiers.