FBI Director Kash Patel is planning a trip to Russia later this year, likely in mid-October, according to a report.

Two insiders cited by Politico said Patel is scheduled to visit on October 14 and 15, a matter of weeks before the midterm elections at home, and will make appearances in both Moscow and St Petersburg.

It is unclear whether he will meet Russian President Vladimir Putin or his entourage during his stay, the insiders said, but he is expected to be hosted by the FSB, the main successor organization to the Soviet Union’s KGB. Patel has yet to respond to the report, and the FBI and DOJ have been contacted for comment.

Russia’s veteran foreign minister Sergei Lavrov told his US counterpart that it was “unacceptable” for deliveries of arms to the “Kyiv regime” to continue.

Lavrov met with secretary of state Marco Rubio in Manila for around 30 minutes on Thursday to discuss the war in Ukraine.

The Russian foreign ministry said that Lavrov “emphasised that it was unacceptable to continue arms deliveries to the Kyiv regime”.

He also slammed “a destabilising policy by European countries that are always seeking to inflict a 'strategic defeat' on Russia”.

Two former Tory defence secretaries have backed using defence bonds to raise the funds needed to boost spending for the UK’s military and security, which The Independent understands is under consideration by new chancellor John Healey.

A senior source who worked with Mr Healey to try to raise extra money for defence before he quit Sir Keir Starmer’s government has said the chancellor is considering a bid to join a new Canada-led global banking scheme, which would allow it to find cheaper ways to finance defence projects.

Mr Healey resigned as defence secretary in June over a failure to meet the requirements in defence spending, claiming the package was £13bn short of what was required meaning the armed forces could not keep Britain safe. It later emerged another £4.7bn of the £15bn plan was unfunded.

The Kremlin said on Thursday that it was not overly optimistic about the prospects of a quick deal to end the conflict in Ukraine following a meeting between Russian and U.S. officials in Manila.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio discussed Ukraine on the sidelines of an ASEAN gathering on Thursday, with Rubio saying that Washington remains prepared to play a "constructive role" in finding a solution to the war.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that he hoped U.S. envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would come to Moscow when they are available, and that Russia would continue dialogue with the U.S.

Washington's efforts on Ukraine peace have largely stalled as it has become distracted by its war in Iran.

The Kremlin on Thursday declined to comment on a Reuters report that U.S. intelligence analysts were investigating possible Russian assistance in Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf.

Four people familiar with U.S. intelligence told Reuters that the officials had not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities. But they cited the strikes' effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia's broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.

In the span of a single week, the dismissal of a Ukrainian defense minister set in motion a transformation of the country’s armed forces that replaced the old guard with a new generation of leadership.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s decision to fire his popular defense minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, triggered days of public protest that quickly shifted toward the country's commander-in-chief and highlighted the growing rift over the future of Ukraine’s military.

Demonstrators denounced the commander, Oleksandr Syrskyi, and overwhelmingly rallied behind the departed defense minister, who has emerged as one of the country’s most influential wartime reformers with support from Ukrainians hungry for change. Protesters demanded his reinstatement. Fedorov's dismissal followed months of increasingly bitter disagreements between the two men.

As it happened:

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he and his US counterpart Marco Rubio discussed the Ukraine conflict and the normalisation of US-Russia relations in a meeting in Manila on Thursday.

Lavrov "reaffirmed Russia's readiness for a political and diplomatic settlement of the conflict," the ministry's statement said, and told Rubio that Moscow remained committed to proposals put forward by Presidents Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin at their August 2025 meeting in Alaska.

The two men, who met on the sidelines of the ASEAN Regional Forum, agreed to continue contacts, the Russian statement said.

Two people were killed including a three-year-old child in separate overnight Ukrainian attacks on a southern Russian city and on the Russian-controlled peninsula of Crimea, authorities said on Thursday.

Crimean governor Sergei Aksyonov said one person died on the peninsula and four more were injured, including two children.

Falling drone debris sparked a fire at the home of a three-year-old boy in the city of Voronezh, some 500 kilometres (310 miles) south of Moscow, killing him, the regional governor Alexander Gusev said.

A 19-year-old man sustained minor injuries in the attack, which also damaged the roof of a warehouse belonging to an online marketplace and other buildings.