Ukraine war latest: Video shows Ukrainian drones 'hitting' Russian tanker in Mediterranean - and Putin vows to retaliate on live TV

Thanks for following our live coverage after a busy day of developments in the war in Ukraine.

We're pausing our updates for now - before we go, let's take a look back at the key developments.

Ukraine hits tanker - as Putin vows to retaliate

Ukraine says it hit the vessel more than 1,000 miles away from its borders - and Vladimir Putin has already warned Russia will retaliate (see 12.40 post).

Speaking during a live TV event, Putin vowed to retaliate to attacks on vessels in the Mediterranean.

The Russian president said it is only "going to create additional threats".

He added that Russia regularly responds with "much stronger strikes" against Ukraine.

Putin also warned against any threat to blockade Russia's Kaliningrad, which he said would "just lead to unseen escalation of the conflict" and could trigger a "large-scale international conflict".

EU agreed €90bn loan

EU leaders agreed overnight to provide a €90bn (£79bn) interest-free loan to Ukraine to meet its military and economic needs for the next two years.

However, the bloc failed to bridge differences with Belgium that would have allowed the use of frozen Russian assets to raise the funds.

With the government in Kyiv on the verge of bankruptcy, the International Monetary Fund has estimated Ukraine will need €137bn (£120.7bn) in 2026 and 2027 to stay afloat.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk warned before the talks that it would be a case of "either money today or blood tomorrow" to help Ukraine.

The EU's plan had initially been to use some of the €210bn (£180.5bn) worth of Russian assets frozen in Europe, mostly in Belgium.

Leaders worked deep into the night to reassure Brussels that it would be protected from any Russian retaliation if it backed the plan, but as talks bogged down, it was decided to borrow the money on capital markets instead.

Watch: Who won - Russia or the EU?

A bit more to bring you from Marco Rubio now, Washington's top diplomat, who spoke earlier today (see 16.43).

Looking ahead to talks between Russian and US officials, he told reporters he may join a portion of those discussions on Saturday. 

White House envoy Steve Witkoff and Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, plan to meet a Russian delegation in Miami this weekend, according to a White House official cited by Reuters.

That's all in a hope to hammer out an agreement to end Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

They might be joined by Rubio, he said himself.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned European leaders and the US about Russia's imminent relocation of its Oreshnik missile system to Belarus.

"We understand where it will be deployed," he said on X.

"We are sharing this information with our partners. The partners themselves can assess this threat and understand how to respond to it."

Zelenskyy warned the missiles posed "a threat to many European countries". 

"As of now, Oreshnik cannot be intercepted by drones," he added.

"They have already used Oreshnik against Ukraine. We understand how to counter this threat."

Belarus confirmed yesterday that Russia had deployed the system to the country.

The €90bn loan for Ukraine's defence agreed by the EU in the early hours of this morning won't be enough to cover the country's financial needs, its finance minister has warned. 

Serhiy Marchenko has today urged partners to continue work on a reparations loan, underpinned by frozen Russian assets held in nations allied to Ukraine.

"The reparations loan is a systemic, long-term solution. It will ensure sustainable defence capabilities and protect Europe from future conflicts," Marchenko said, according to Ukraine's finance ministry statement to G7 countries.

"The risks to Europe from a potential defeat of Ukraine far exceed the risks of introducing the reparations mechanism."

We've just heard from Russia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman, who claimed that the EU doesn't want an end to the war in Ukraine.

According to the Russian state news agency Tass, Maria Zakharova said: "The Russophobes in the EU don't want peace in Ukraine."

The spokeswoman said that the European Council's insistence on using frozen Russian assets to fund Kyiv was "legal nihilism".

We're hearing from the US secretary of state Marco Rubio, who insists the United States has "invested a lot of time" in attempting to end the Ukraine war.

"There's a reason why this war hasn't ended," Rubio adds before declaring, "it's not our war".

"We have been told... there is only one nation on earth that can actually talk to both sides. That's the United States," he says.

Ultimately, he tells the media that it's about negotiating and working out what "Ukraine can live with and what Russia can live with".

But he says neither side looks like they are going to surrender anytime soon and "in the end, the decision will be up to Ukraine and up to Russia".

Donald Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff will meet the UK's national security adviser in Miami, according to a report by US outlet Axios.

The report says Witkoff will also meet the national security advisers from France and Germany at the same meeting, citing two sources. 

Witkoff and Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, also planned to meet a Russian delegation in Miami this weekend, a White House official told Reuters

Witkoff and Kushner have taken the lead on efforts to secure a peace deal in Ukraine, after doing similar for the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza earlier this year.

It comes as Ukraine's national security chief Rustem Umerov announced on X that Kyiv's peace negotiators will start a new round of talks with the US team today. 

He added that its European partners would also be involved in the negotiations, which outline "Ukraine's security must be guaranteed reliably and in the long term".

We've just heard from our Moscow correspondent Ivor Bennett, who was in the audience for Vladimir Putin's "TV extravaganza" in Moscow.

He said the event was "designed to show Russians that their leader is on top of things" as he fielded questions from journalists and from the public.

Bennett said it was "telling of the public mood in the country" that the first question was about the Ukraine war, which Putin "blamed Ukraine for".

"He also once again reiterated or made it clear that all of Russia's red lines and maximalist demands remain," he added.

"In other words, Russia is still not showing any willingness to compromise... I think that diplomacy will once again come up against a brick wall when the Americans meet with the Russians this weekend."

Watch Bennett's full reaction to Putin's address below...

Earlier, we heard from Oleksandr Merezhko, the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee in the Ukrainian parliament.

The Ukrainian MP welcomed the financial lifeline given to his country by the EU in the early hours of this morning, in the form of a €90bn (£79bn) loan. 

Speaking to presenter Samantha Washington, he said: "It's tremendously great news for Ukraine... and it will tremendously enhance our defence capabilities."

However, Merezhko said estimates from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) indicated that Ukraine needed $137bn to "keep running".

"The aggressor should be punished", Merezhko continued, as he argued for frozen Russian assets in Europe being used to help fund his country's defence. 

Ukraine will "continue to fight" for this, he said, adding that "it's a matter of justice".

Our military analyst Michael Clarke thinks Ukrainians will be bullish about justifying their drone attack on an oil tanker in the Mediterranean Sea, more than 1,000 miles away from Ukraine.

Clarke says Ukraine believes it is a "legitimate target".

"The Ukrainians obviously feel that they can legitimise this sort of operation," he added.

Recent US strikes on suspected drug runners and raids on Venezuelan tankers will add their sense of justification, Clarke added, saying: "Ukrainians will take comfort from the fact that the Americans are also acting against top fleet tankers in the Caribbean". 

Clarke added that what Ukraine's secret service has said about causing significant damage was "probably true" and that the attack had "obviously done some damage" to the tanker, which it says was empty.

"It is dangerous. Hitting tankers that have got oil in them can create an ecological disaster," he added.

Watch Clarke's full remarks here...