US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived in Kyiv on a joint visit, as Ukraine pressed the West to allow it to use long-range missiles against Russia.

The top diplomats reached the Ukrainian capital by train from Poland on Wednesday, hours after the US presidential debate during which Vice-President Kamala Harris and former president Trump sparred over the war in Ukraine.

Their visit comes on the heels of the United States accusing Iran of providing Russia with short-range ballistic missiles, which Mr Blinken labelled a "dramatic escalation" of the war.

For months, Ukraine has been requesting approval to use long-range weapons from the US and Western allies to strike targets deep in Russia, and is expected to press harder given Moscow's latest reported weapons acquisition from Tehran.

"We hope that long-range equipment for strikes on the territory of our enemy will be reached and we will have it," Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told Mr Lammy.

"We hope for your help and support in this issue."

At the same time, Ukraine has been sending drones deep into Russia, with strikes on Moscow — about 500 kilometres from Ukraine territory — and Russia announcing there drones downed near Murmansk — a distance of about 1,800km.

Mr Shmyhal described the meeting with Mr Lammy in Kyiv as "intense" but gave no other details in the post on his Telegram channel.

Referring to the missiles from Iran, he added: "Russia's use of weapons from its terrorist allies to strike at Ukraine continues their genocidal war and terrorism on our territory. We must be able to respond to such terrorism in kind by destroying military targets on their territory to ensure greater safety for our citizens."

Iran's foreign minister on Wednesday said Tehran had not delivered any missiles to Russia. The Kremlin also dismissed the US reports as baseless.

The US and the UK, along with France and Germany, imposed fresh sanctions on Iran on Tuesday over the alleged transfer.

West-Russia acrimony grows

Wednesday's visit comes ahead of British Prime Minister Keir Starmer's upcoming trip to Washington, where he will meet with President Joe Biden at the White House on Friday.

Ukraine's request for permission to strike Russian targets is due to feature in the discussion.

Mr Biden has allowed Ukraine to fire US-provided missiles across the border into Russia in self-defence but largely limited the distance over concerns about further escalating the conflict.

There is nervousness in Washington and some European capitals that doing so would provoke Russia towards a direct conflict with the West, while officials also recognise that Ukraine needs more help if it is to swing the war in its favour.

Overnight, President Biden suggested there was room for compromise, saying his administration was "working that out now" when asked if the US would lift restrictions on Ukraine's use of long-range weapons.

As the diplomats were meeting in Kyiv, the Kremlin said it would roll out an "appropriate response" if Ukraine used US missiles to deliver long-range strikes inside Russia.

The rare joint visit by the British and American top diplomats was, unusually, announced in advance — a public signal of American-British support for Ukraine ahead of what is likely to be a brutal winter of Russian attacks.

Russian air strikes, mostly aimed at crippling Ukraine's energy infrastructure, have intensified in recent weeks with nightly missile and drone attacks.

As Mr Blinken and Mr Lammy arrived in Kyiv, the UK announced it was banning 10 commercial ships it accused of illicitly transporting Russian oil in violation of international sanctions.

The British government said the vessels would be barred from British ports and could be detained if they entered.

Drones target outlying Russian region

Russia shot down three drones over its northern Murmansk region on Wednesday, more than 1,600 kilometres from Ukraine, the regional governor said.

"All three drones in the Murmansk region were shot down," Governor Andrey Chibis said in a post on Telegram, after earlier reporting the region was "under attack from enemy drones".

Russia's aviation agency closed two of the region's airports "to ensure the safety of civil aircraft", it said in a statement.

Murmansk airport, one of those closed, is around 1,850 kilometres from Ukraine.

Kyiv has built up an advanced drone industry since Russia launched its military offensive in February 2022 and regularly attacks Russian targets with self-detonating craft.

Ukraine's military intelligence chief Kyrylo Budanov said on Saturday its drones could hit targets at a range of up to 1,800 kilometres.

A woman was killed in a Moscow suburb on Tuesday when a Ukrainian drone hit a high-rise residential building, a rare strike that managed to reach the outskirts of the Russian capital.

Kyiv says the attacks are a legitimate response to Russia's aerial bombardments of Ukrainian cities and energy sites.

Wires