The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said that Russia’s war in Ukraine “is the most immediate and acute threat to the international order enshrined in the UN charter and its core principles of sovereignty, territorial integrity, and independence” in a speech delivered to the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
Kim Jong-un has pledged to support all of Russia’s decisions as he met Vladimir Putin during a rare trip outside North Korea. Speaking at Russia’s Vostochny cosmodrome, Kim said “Russia has risen to a sacred fight to protect its sovereignty and security. We will always support the decisions of President Putin and the Russian leadership … and we will be together in the fight against imperialism.”
Putin welcomed Kim, saying: “We, of course, need to talk about questions of economic cooperation and questions of a humanitarian nature. We have a lot of questions.” The US has suggested that Russia is seeking North Korean military hardware to aid in the invasion of Ukraine. North Korea has previously denied supplying weapons to Moscow. The two leaders made brief comments in public before holding private talks.
The US state department on Wednesday said that the Biden administration “won’t hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they establish further new arms deals. “We have taken a number of actions already to sanction entities that brokered arms sales between North Korea and Russia and we won’t hesitate to impose additional sanctions if appropriate,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said during a briefing.
Ukraine has made “great strides” to join the EU since being granted candidate status in 2022, the European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, has said, offering the bloc’s enduring support. She was addressing the European parliament as the bloc considers whether to grant a formal start of membership negotiations. “We know this is not an easy road,” Von der Leyen said. “Accession is merit-based. It takes hard work and leadership. But there is already a lot of progress. We have seen the great strides Ukraine has already made since. Our support to Ukraine will endure.”
More than 100 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged in Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports since 18 July, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said on Wednesday.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said that his forces were maintaining “active defence” in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and that Moscow had no choice but to win.
An overnight attack on the port of Sevastopol, home to Russia’s Black Sea fleet in occupied Crimea, has struck a large Russian landing ship and a submarine.
Ukraine claims it shot down 32 “Shahed” drones out of 44 launched overnight in attacks on Odeshchyna and Sumy. The Ukrainian military has also claimed partial success near Klishchiivka in the Bakhmut direction.
The Chinese foreign ministry confirmed on Wednesday that Papal envoy Cardinal Matteo Zuppi will visit China later in the week for talks on resolving the conflict in Ukraine.
The Russian foreign ministry has protested to Azerbaijan over comments it made about the weekend regional elections held in areas of Ukraine which are claimed to be annexed by Moscow. Kyiv has declared the elections a sham.
Hungary has agreed with Romania, Slovakia and Bulgaria that the four countries would impose national bans on Ukrainian grains imports if the EU does not extend an existing ban that expires on 15 September, Hungary’s farm minister said on Wednesday.
The US could have the first Ukrainian pilots trained on F-16 fighter jets before the end of the year, though it will be longer than that before they are flying combat missions, the director of the US Air National Guard said. Ukrainian pilots are expected to arrive for training in Arizona by October and depending on their proficiency in English and previous flying experience could complete the training in three months.
Poland said it would extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports unilaterally, even if the current EU restrictions expire on Friday. In June, the EU agreed to restrict imports of grain from Ukraine to five member states, including Poland, seeking to protect their farmers who blamed those imports for the slump in prices on local markets.
Nato member Romania said it had begun building air raid shelters for residents near the Ukraine border, after drone fragments were found there last week. Approximately 50 Romanian soldiers began building two shelters in the Plauru area on Tuesday, the defence ministry said in a statement.
