U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is wrapping up a three-nation, Ukraine-focused European tour in Poland after hearing repeated appeals from Ukrainian officials to use Western-supplied weaponry for long-range strikes inside Russia.

Blinken traveled to Warsaw on Thursday after spending a day in Kyiv with British Foreign Secretary David Lammy during which they pledged to bring the Ukrainian requests to their leaders.

Russia shot down three drones over its northern Murmansk region on Wednesday, more than 1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) 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".

Former President Donald Trump spoke heatedly in the presidential debate about wanting Russia's war in Ukraine to be over — but twice refused to directly answer a question about whether he wanted U.S. ally Ukraine to win.

Trump also falsely claimed Tuesday that the war had killed "millions" since Russia invaded Ukraine 2 1/2 years ago, while the United Nations says 11,700 civilian deaths have been verified. Trump also claimed without evidence that Vice President Kamala Harris, his Democratic opponent, had bungled a diplomatic mission just days before Russia launched the invasion.

Kamala Harris put Donald Trump on the defensive in a fiery televised debate Tuesday, getting under her rival's skin as they battled for a breakthrough in an agonizingly close U.S. presidential election.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and British Foreign Secretary David Lammy arrived together in Kyiv on Wednesday on a joint trip to assess Ukraine's requests for more military help.

The top diplomats of the two allies arrived by train from Poland in the Ukrainian capital, according to an AFP reporter travelling with them, ahead of a day of meetings with senior officials in Kyiv.

Germany, France and Britain on Tuesday condemned what they said was Iran's delivery of ballistic missiles to Russia for use in the Ukraine war and declared new sanctions targeting air transport.

"We will be taking immediate steps to cancel bilateral air services agreements with Iran," they said in a joint statement, adding that they would also "work towards imposing sanctions on Iran Air."

Ukraine is gearing up for a harsh winter by repairing and protecting its power system under renewed attacks from Russian forces, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said on Tuesday.

Pope Francis celebrated a mass for hundreds of thousands of faithful in East Timor on Tuesday, rallying nearly half the population of the world's most Catholic country outside the Vatican in stifling tropical heat.

Ukraine has increased its production of weapons this year, Prime Minister Denys Shmygal said Tuesday as outgunned Ukrainian troops are trying to fend off invading Russian troops.

"In the first eight months of 2024, we have doubled our weapons production compared to 2023. We are making progress. Drone production continues to grow," Shmygal said, adding that Ukraine planned to build over one million drones by the end of the year.

Over 140 Ukrainian drones overnight targeted multiple Russian regions, including the capital Moscow and the surrounding areas, Russian officials reported Tuesday, in one of the biggest Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian soil in the 2 1/2-year war.

In the town of Ramenskoye just outside Moscow, drones hit two multistory residential buildings and started fires, Moscow region Gov. Andrei Vorobyov said. A woman was killed and three more people sustained injuries. Five residential buildings near one of those damaged have been evacuated as emergency services were handling drone debris, Vorobyov said.