Summary
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, praised Ukraine’s strength in the face of the Russian invasion during a visit to the Chernihiv region, which was occupied by Moscow at the beginning of the war.
Some of the victims of a deadly Russian missile attack at a busy market in eastern Ukraine yesterday were buried. At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded in the attack in Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donestsk region.
Ireland said that about 500 Ukrainians were arriving in the country per week, joining tens of thousands of their compatrior who fled to the island over the last 18 months. But growing pressure on services will mean more will have to be temporarily housed in tents.
French president Emmanuel Macron said the Russian flag has no place at next year’s Paris Olympics because of the war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s regime in Ukraine.
The head of the US senate foreign relations committee has demanded that the US’s top three oilfield services companies “cease all investments” in Russia’s fossil fuel infrastructure.
British American Tobacco said it would sell its last cigarette in Russia within a month, ending its presence in the world’s fourth-largest tobacco market a year and a half after it first promised to do so in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
For the first time in nearly four years new staff have been allowed at the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the delegation has said, after anti-pandemic measures blocked most travel and led many embassies to close.
Ukraine has started exporting grain via Croatian seaports, aiming to broaden its export routes while its Black Sea ports are blocked, a senior Ukrainian official said.
A US plan to send Ukraine funds seized from Russian businesspeople targeted by sanctions is illegal and any such actions will be contested, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Most of Russia’s troops who have been training in Belarus have been moved to other areas and there are no longer sufficient forces in the area to commence a viable offensive, a Ukrainian border official has said.
“Russia does not have a necessary strike group on the territory of Belarus that would be ready and able to invade the territory of Ukraine,” Andrii Demchenko, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s state border guard service of Ukraine said, according to CNN
At this point, Russia has withdrawn almost all of its units that have been trained and completed their rotation. However, no new units have been deployed there.
Russia is reported to have moved the units from Belarus to the northeastern front in Ukraine, which recently announced it would strengthen defences around its northern border.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said the Russian flag has no place at next year’s Paris Olympics because of the war crimes committed by Vladimir Putin’s regime in Ukraine.
Russia has not been allowed to fly its flag at the Olympics since the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games. Since then, Russians have been competing at the summer and winter Olympics under various names because of doping issues, AP reports.
In an interview with L’Equipe newspaper, published today, Macron said he did not want Russia to fly its flag in Paris because of the war in Ukraine.
Russia, as a country, has no place at a time when it has committed war crimes and deported children.
There can’t, obviously, be a Russian flag at the Paris Games, I think there’s a consensus on that.
Asked whether he favours the presence of Russian athletes, Macron said the issue “should not be politicised.” He added: “I want the Olympic world to make a conscious decision, and I have every confidence in [IOC president] Thomas Bach.”
The real question that the Olympic world will have to decide is what place to give to these Russian athletes, who have sometimes prepared their whole lives and may also be victims of this regime. Some may fight it, even in their public statements.
The IOC has encouraged governing bodies of individual sports to allow Russians and Belarusians to compete as “neutral athletes” without national symbols or flags in Olympic qualifying events.
France could refuse to issue visas to Russian athletes, coaches and officials, as some European countries have done for sporting events they have hosted since the invasion started.
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The US president, Joe Biden, leaves for the G20 in India today aiming to boost alliances at a summit, where global tensions will be highlighted by the absence of the Chinese and Russian leaders.
Deep disagreements on Russia’s war in Ukraine and on how to help emerging nations tackle the climate crisis are expected to hamper agreements during the two-day meeting in New Delhi.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, is not even planning to make a video address at the G20, the Kremlin said, amid fraught relations between Moscow and the west over Ukraine.
The White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the US wanted to show the G20 could deliver at a time that the Brics club of emerging economies, which includes India but has been championed largely by China and Russia, was expanding, AFP reports.
Biden will be also cheerleading India and its leader, Narendra Modi, as a counterweight to China, even if their goals are sometimes at odds, particularly on Ukraine.
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Three former UK airport shuttle buses are now ferrying soldiers around in Ukraine after they were donated by a bus operator via the Swindon Humanitarian Aid Partnership.
The bendy buses, which were once a dreaded part of the journey from a train station in Luton, just outside London, to the airport, have been phased out following the opening of a monorail.
The BBC reports that volunteer drivers drove the buses across Europe to their new home. Another donated bus is being used as a field hospital.
Three former airport shuttle busses have been donated for use in the Ukraine war effort.https://t.co/fEK78Iibmq
— BBC Three Counties Radio (@BBC3CR) September 7, 2023
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Europe is making itself stronger against Russian attempts to weaponise energy by switching to clean sources faster, the US special presidential envoy for climate, John Kerry, has said.
Kerry said countries such as Romania and Bulgaria could use natural gas in their transition provided steps were made to capture emissions from new developments, warning against “self-destructive choices” that would amplify the climate crisis.
Fossil fuels produced just 33% of the EU’s power in the first half of this year as the bloc fights the climate emergency and ends dependence on Russian fossil fuels, Reuters reports.
“One of the solutions to the challenge of someone like President [Vladimir] Putin is to more rapidly effect the (energy) transition,” Kerry told Reuters in an interview in the Romanian capital, Bucharest, after a Three Seas summit of EU states. “Europe has done a pretty good job.”
In the conversations that I’ve had with the leaders in this region, they’re very aware that if they’re going to use fossil fuels, they have to capture the emissions. And gas can be part of the transition for sure, because gas is cleaner than coal, cleaner than oil. We have to make certain that we’re able to capture the emissions.
Romania, an EU member, aims to use nuclear and gas to fuel its energy transition, even as it is using EU funds to subsidise renewable energy projects.
The country has an estimated 200bn cubic metres (bcm) of gas in the Black Sea, one of the EU’s most significant natural gas deposits, which could help diversify supply in the region in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Neighbouring Bulgaria is also exploring in its Black Sea bloc.
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Reuters has spoken to local residents at a makeshift memorial in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka as they mourned the 16 people killed in a Russian attack yesterday.
“I personally saw many (wounded) women, 30 years and older,” a market worker, Bohdan Oriekhov, whose hand was bandaged, said. “And one man who was brought in on a stretcher, he was hysterical, screamed, and cried: ‘Where is my wife? What happened to my wife?’.”
Another market vendor who gave his name only as Volodymyr said: “Someone with a child came to see the vendor [at a nearby market kiosk]. There were three dead bodies: a small child, [the vendor] and her friend.”
Another witness, Olena Lavryk, lost a friend in the attack and had been nearby at the time of the strike. She said there was an “explosion, flames, I had no fear at first. The fear came in 10 minutes. Our good acquaintance died where I’m standing. She was a young woman, she sold groceries. She died right here behind me.”
She said a woman who had been selling cosmetics had also been killed, adding: “She was burning, her clothes were on fire. She also was a young woman.”
Ukrainian officials revised the death toll today to 16, with a further 33 people wounded.
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Downing Street has defended the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russia after western officials said it is progressing slower than expected.
Rishi Sunak and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, spoke this afternoon before the prime minister left for the G20 leaders’ summit in India, PA reports.
The PM’s official spokesperson said:
President Zelenskiy updated on Ukraine’s counteroffensive and ongoing military requirements. The prime minister pledged the UK’s steadfast support and commended Ukraine’s armed forces for their continued progress on the battlefield.”
Asked if the PM shared the assessment of some officials that it was progressing slower than expected, he said:
No. It’s not for me to get into the operational progress of the Ukrainian armed forces but I think what’s clear to see is the Ukrainian military are doing an incredible job against a much larger military and should be commended for their efforts.
It is testament to the bravery of the Ukrainian armed forces and the support they’ve received from around the world, including from the people of the UK.
Ukraine president Vlodymyr Zelenskyy thanked the UK for its continued “firm support”.
I spoke with @RishiSunak.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 7, 2023
We focused on the Black Sea grain exports. Ukraine has already successfully used an alternative route. We need partners to help us strengthen the air defense of the Odesa region.
I thanked the UK for its firm support, including crucial military aid.
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The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, has said it would be a “huge mistake” for North Korea to exchange military support with Russia for use in its war against Ukraine.
Harris, who is in Jakarta, Indonesia for an Asean summit, told CBS News in an interview it would be a sign of desperation for Russia to seek aid from the reclusive North Korea and that it would further isolate both countries. “I think it would be a huge mistake.”
The idea that they would be supplying ammunition to that end, is – would be a huge mistake. I also believe very strongly that for both Russia and North Korea, this will further isolate them.
It is very clear that Russia has – clearly they’re very desperate. They have already experienced a strategic failure. Just think about it, at the beginning of it all, a year and a half ago, the pundits were saying that this would be over in days. Well, the Ukrainians are still fighting.
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The head of the US senate foreign relations committee has demanded that the US’s top three oilfield services companies “cease all investments” in Russia’s fossil fuel infrastructure.
Senator Bob Menendez, a Democrat from New Jersey, cited an Associated Press report that SLB, Baker Hughes and Halliburton helped keep Russian oil flowing even as sanctions targeted the Russian war effort.
Russia imported more than $200m in technology from the three companies in the year after the invasion in February 2022, customs data obtained by B4Ukraine and vetted by the AP showed. The market leader SLB, formerly Schlumberger, even slightly grew its Russian business. Much of Russia’s oil is hard to reach, and analysts say that had US oilfield services companies all pulled out, its production would have taken an immediate hit.
In a 27 July letter to the heads of the three companies, Menendez said: “Your company sought to make a profit … there is simply no good explanation for this behavior, other than to make a dollar.”
Halliburton wound down its Russia operations less than six months after the invasion, while Baker Hughes sold its oilfield services business in Russia after about nine months. SLB announced it would stop exporting technology to Russia two days after AP asked for final comment on its first report, in July.
In contrast, oil majors such as Shell and BP announced they would quit Russia within days or weeks of the invasion, writing off billions of dollars.
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Some of the victims of a deadly Russian missile attack at a busy market in eastern Ukraine yesterday have been buried.
At least 17 people were killed and 32 wounded in the attack on the market in Kostiantynivka, in Ukraine’s Donestsk region, AP reports.
Among the victims were Mykola and Natalia Shyrai, whose bodies were laid to rest in a village outside Kostiantynivka today. The married couple, in their 50s, had been selling flowers in the market when they were killed in the blast. Dozens of people from the small settlement arrived to say their final farewells as caskets covered with white cloth were shut and lowered.
The attack the previous day had turned an outdoor market into a fiery, blackened ruin, and overshadowed a two-day visit by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, aimed at assessing Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive and signalling continued US support for the fight.
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British American Tobacco says it will sell its last cigarette in Russia within a month, ending its presence in the world’s fourth-largest tobacco market a year and a half after it first promised to do so in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
The London-based maker of Lucky Strike and Camel cigarettes came under fire in March last year after initially continuing to operate in Russia, breaking ranks with global brands such as Nestlé, Unilever, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s. The decision was reversed just two days later, with the company citing its “ethos and values”.
More than 18 months after that decision, BAT, which holds 25% of the Russian market, said it had finally reached an agreement to sell its Russian and Belarusian businesses to a group led by its Moscow management team.
“Upon completion, BAT will no longer have a presence in Russia or Belarus and will receive no financial gain from ongoing sales in these markets,” the tobacco and nicotine company said in a statement.
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Ukraine’s human rights commissioner has called for more international pressure on Moscow to help Kyiv bring home thousands of Ukrainian children whom it says have been illegally taken to Russia during the war.
Dmytro Lubinets spoke to Reuters in Kyiv days after several minors were reunited with their parents in western Ukraine on Saturday after a journey home from Russia and Russian-held areas.
“When Russia feels international pressure, that’s when we can bring more Ukrainian children back,” he said.
Matters had got “easier” since the international criminal court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, in March.
The ICC has accused Putin and Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
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The Russian military intercepted and destroyed a hostile drone over the south-western Volgograd region on Thursday, the state news agency RIA cited governor Andrei Bocharov as saying.
No damage was reported, he said.
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Antony Blinken praises 'incredibly powerful' strength of Ukrainian people in face of Russian invasion
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has praised Ukraine’s strength in the face of the Russian invasion during a visit to the Chernihiv region, which was occupied by Moscow at the beginning of the war.
As well as the bunker, Blinken visited a school’s basement in Yahidne, where Russian troops kept dozens of villagers including elderly people and children captive.
“This is just one building ... [but] this is a story we’ve seen again and again,” he said. “But we are also seeing something else that’s incredibly powerful ... the extraordinary resilience of the Ukrainian people.”
Russian forces had seized parts of the Chernihiv region, including Yahidne, soon after the beginning of the war. They withdrew after about a month, and Yahidne was recaptured by Ukrainian forces on 30 March 2022. But the Russian army left towns and land destroyed and heavily mined.
Blinken said up to a third of Ukraine’s territory was now dealing with mines or unexploded ordnance. “But Ukrainians are coming together to get rid of the ordnance, to get rid of the mines, and to literally recover the land.”
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has toured an underground bunker while visiting the state border guard service in the Kyiv region today alongside the US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink.
He said on X, formerly Twitter:
Though the overall effort will take years, courageous Ukrainians are working now to clear their roads, parks, and playgrounds from mines and unexploded ordinances. The United States is supporting their efforts with $90.5 million in additional demining assistance. pic.twitter.com/a8HB9EupXK
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 7, 2023
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For the first time in nearly four years new staff have been allowed at the Russian embassy in the North Korean capital of Pyongyang, the delegation has said, after anti-pandemic measures blocked most travel and lead many embassies to close.
Russia would be only the second embassy known to be allowed new staff, after China’s new ambassador entered in March.
The arrival of the new Russia staff comes amid US officials’ suggestions that the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, may visit Russia soon to see Vladimir Putin, possibly to discuss arms deals.
“On 7 September at Pyongyang Sunan international airport, for the first time since 2019, we met our new colleagues – 20 diplomats and technical employees who arrived at the Embassy on a personnel rotation basis,” the embassy said in a Facebook post.
Many embassies closed in Pyongyang because they were unable to rotate staff or ship supplies during the Covid-19 crisis.
Russian diplomats were among those who stayed on, despite complaining over shortages of essentials such as medicine, problems getting healthcare, and pandemic restrictions that they said were unprecedented in severity.
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Tens of thousands of Ukrainians have fled to Ireland after the Russian invasion in February last year and the country’s minister for integration has said he cannot rule out the use of tented accommodation in the future as the government faces pressure ahead of the autumn period.
Roderic O’Gorman said:
Over the summer we’ve also seen an increase in the number of Ukrainians arriving here. We’re seeing about maybe 500 a week arriving and needing accommodation.
I do have to flag though, and we’ve been very clear with the Ukrainian embassy on this, there is real pressure on the system right now. We, as you know, we’re accommodating 70,000 Ukrainians across the country, this is something that’s never been done at scale, this has never been done in our history before.
But we are under pressure now and we are being as upfront with Ukrainians as possible in terms of the pressure and the difficulty in securing large amounts of additional accommodation.
The state is accommodating 70,000 Ukrainians, and right now about 200 are in tented accommodation. That will grow over the next six weeks to about 750 but that’s 750 out of 70,000.
As of June, 84,613 people have fled to Ireland after the Russian invasion of Ukraine which began in February last year, with around 69,885 being housed by the Irish state.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has outlined the key priorities for the incoming defence minister, Rustem Umerov.
The Kyiv Independent has the latest in the below tweets:
⚡️ Zelensky introduces new Defense Minister Umerov, names key tasks.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 7, 2023
President Volodymyr Zelensky for the first time on Sept. 7 introduced the newly-appointed Defense Minister Rustem Umerov to the ministry's leadership.
The key five priorities that the president assigned to the new defense chief include strengthening the central role of the ministry in the defense sector, putting soldiers as the foremost value, expanding international partnerships, curbing corruption, namely through…
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) September 7, 2023
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Ukraine’s outgoing defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov, has wished his country’s intelligence officers well, marking the country’s annual celebration of their efforts.
My best wishes to Ukrainian intelligence officers on Ukraine's Defense Intelligence Day. Thank you for your courage, skills, and brilliant strategic planning. Because of your work, Ukraine’s enemies cannot get a peaceful night’s sleep. pic.twitter.com/jMT4F673pg
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) September 7, 2023
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Ukraine has started exporting grain via Croatian seaports, aiming to broaden its export routes while its Black Sea ports are blocked, a senior Ukrainian official has said.
Ukraine’s main grain export route is usually via its deep Black Sea ports, but Kyiv has been looking for alternative routes since the Russian invasion last year and Moscow’s decision to quit the Black Sea grain export deal in mid-July, reports Reuters.
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, said during a visit to Zagreb in late July that Ukraine and Croatia had agreed on the possibility of using Croatian ports on the Danube and the Adriatic Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain.
“Ukrainian grain has already been exported through Croatian ports. We are grateful for this possibility. Although it is a niche trade route, it is already popular,” said the first deputy prime minister of Ukraine, Yulia Svyrydenko.
“We are ready to develop it by expanding the capabilities of the transport corridor. We believe that this logistics route will play an important role in bilateral trade between our countries even after the war.”
Svyrydenko did not say how much Ukrainian grain had already been shipped via Croatian ports.
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The US vice-president, Kamala Harris, the Chinese premier, Li Qiang, and the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, attended the East Asia Summit in Jakarta today, as the leader of Indonesia, the summit’s host, warned against “sharpening rivalries”.
“I ask … the leaders of the East Asia Summit, to make this a forum for us to strengthen cooperation and not sharpen rivalries,” the Indonesian president, Joko Widodo, said in his opening remarks.
The 18-nation summit is the first time top US and Russian officials have sat around the same table in almost two months, after US and European officials condemned Lavrov at a July ministerial meeting over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Lavrov spoke of the risks of the “militarisation of East Asia”, accusing Nato of moving into the region and calling the Aukus defence alliance between Australia, Britain and the US “confrontational”, Russia’s foreign ministry said.
His comments came a day after US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, announced $1bn in new assistance to Ukraine while visiting Kyiv.
A leaders’ statement seen by AFP omitted any mention of the South China Sea or the Ukraine war.
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Russia’s FSB state security service has said it has detained a group of smugglers trading in military aircraft parts, some of which had ended up in Ukraine, Tass news agency reported.
The smugglers were from Ukraine and a central Asian country, Tass cited the FSB as saying. The FSB did not name any other smuggling destinations, saying only that the parts went to western Europe.
It said the group bought and repaired military airplane and helicopter parts in Russia to export them to foreign consumers including those acting on behalf of the Ukrainian military.
It said it had confiscated more than 1,000 pieces of military aircraft equipment and found documents confirming the group repaired aircraft and helicopter modules for Ukraine, reports Reuters.
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A US plan to send Ukraine funds seized from Russian businesspeople targeted by sanctions is illegal and any such actions will be contested, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on a visit to Kyiv yesterday that Washington was transferring to Ukraine $5.4m in “assets seized from sanctioned Russian oligarchs”, Reuters reports, which will now be used to support Ukrainian military veterans.
Peskov said:
This is hard to imagine and it goes against everything in international law and those countries’ national law. But as soon as an opportunity presents itself, we will defend our rights.
Peskov said some Russian entrepreneurs had already secured court rulings in European countries finding such transfers illegal. “Not a single case of such illegal retention will be left unattended,” he said.
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Here’s a wrap courtesy of the Associated Press on the overnight drone attacks on Russia. Five drones were shot down over three Russian regions overnight, with one targeting the capital, officials said. There were no reports of casualties.
Meanwhile, Russia launched a fourth day of air attacks on the Ukrainian port city of Izmail, located on the Danube River. Oleh Kiper, regional governor of Odesa, said infrastructure was damaged in the attack, including grain silos, and that one person was injured.
The attack came one day after a Russian missile struck a busy market in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region, killing 17 and wounding at least 32. The attack overshadowed a two-day visit by US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, aimed at assessing Ukraine’s three-month-old counteroffensive and signalling continued US support for the fight.
One drone targeted Moscow, but was shot down south-east of the city without causing any damage or injuries, mayor Sergei Sobyanin said.
Two more drones were shot down over the southern region of Rostov, which borders Ukraine, said regional governor Vasily Golubev. The debris fell in the center of Rostov-on-Don, the region’s capital, damaging several cars and shattering windows in three buildings, Golubev said. One person sought medical assistance.
Two other drones were shot down over the Bryansk region, which also borders Ukraine, governor Alexander Bogomaz reported. Drone debris damaged a railway station and several cars, he said. Russia’s defence ministry blamed the attacks on Ukraine. Ukraine usually does not take credit for strikes inside Russia.
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Morning summary
Here is a roundup of the day’s headlines so far:
The US will give Ukraine depleted uranium anti-tank shells as part of a new military aid package worth up to $175m, the Pentagon announced during a visit to Kyiv by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken. The $175m is part of more than $1bn in assistance that Blinken announced in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, the first day of his two-day visit.
The Kremlin said on Thursday that the US would have to answer for the “very sad” consequences of its decision to provide depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine. Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium – even depleted uranium – is dangerous: it depresses renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers.
Ukraine is making progress with a counteroffensive started in June to reclaim territory seized by Russia, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday. “The Ukrainians are gradually gaining ground … they have been able to breach the defensive lines of the Russian forces, and they are moving forward,” Stoltenberg told lawmakers in remarks at the European parliament.
Blasts have been reported in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, near the headquarters of the southern military district command, which plays a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was one of the sites seized by the late Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, during his aborted mutiny in June. The regional governor, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram that at least three buildings and several cars had been damaged and one person was injured after Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the city, just 100km east of the border with Ukraine.
Ukrainian drones have also been shot down by air defences in the Moscow region and the Bryansk region that borders northern Ukraine, Russian officials have said. The Ria news agency said one drone was shot down in the Ramensky district south-east of Moscow and that according to preliminary information there was “no destruction or casualties as a result of falling debris”.
Nato does not have any indication that drone debris found on Romanian territory was caused by an intentional attack launched by Moscow against Romania, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday. “We don’t have any information indicating an intentional attack by Russia, and we are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told EU lawmakers.
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Danube River ports will slow down the export of grains, and other routes need to be enhanced, the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, said. Since July, when Moscow abandoned a deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, Russia has repeatedly struck Ukrainian river ports that lie across the Danube from Romania, Reuters reported.
Port infrastructure has been damaged during a three-hour Russian drone attack on the Danube port of Izmail, the regional governor has said in a Telegram post. Oleg Kiper said the attack was the fourth on the port, in the south of the Odesa region, in five days. He said civilian and port infrastructure, a grain silo and an administrative building were damaged while a truck driver sustained a minor leg injury.
The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has examined the rumours surrounding Russian general Sergei Surovikin, after an unverified photo emerged of him this week apparently walking with his wife. Surovikin, regarded as an ally of the late Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, has not been seen in public since the militia’s brief rebellion in June.
At least 17 people have been killed, including a child, and another 32 injured after a Russian rocket struck a busy outdoor market in the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, according to Ukrainian officials. Videos of the aftermath of the attack, one of Russia’s deadliest strikes in months, showed fires raging in destroyed buildings and soldiers carrying body bags away.
The Russian attack came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was in Kyiv for an unannounced two-day visit, his first for a year to the Ukrainian capital. Blinken met his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, held discussions with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and described progress in the Ukrainian counteroffensive as “very, very encouraging”.
The top US diplomat announced new aid for Ukraine totalling more than $1bn during his visit, including Himars missile launch systems, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Abrams tanks and other weapons systems. The Pentagon said it would also send depleted uranium shells for Abrams tanks, a form of ammunition that is controversial.
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The Kremlin said on Thursday that the US would have to answer for the “very sad” consequences of its decision to provide depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine.
Ingesting or inhaling quantities of uranium – even depleted uranium – is dangerous: it depresses renal function and raises the risk of developing a range of cancers.
Opponents of the weapons, such as the International Coalition to Ban Uranium Weapons, say the dust created by such weapons can be breathed in, while munitions which miss their target can poison groundwater and soil, Reuters reported.
Countries such as the US and Britain say depleted uranium is a good tool for destroying a modern tank because its high density allows it to penetrate armour. Britain says in guidance that inhaling enough depleted uranium dust to cause injury would be difficult.
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Nato does not have any indication that drone debris found on Romanian territory was caused by an intentional attack launched by Moscow against Romania, the alliance’s chief said on Thursday.
“We don’t have any information indicating an intentional attack by Russia, and we are awaiting the outcome of the ongoing investigation,” the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told EU lawmakers.
Updated
Ukraine is making progress with a counteroffensive started in June to reclaim territory seized by Russia, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday.
“The Ukrainians are gradually gaining ground … they have been able to breach the defensive lines of the Russian forces, and they are moving forward,” Stoltenberg told lawmakers in remarks at the European parliament.
Updated
Russian attacks on Ukraine’s Danube River ports will slow down the export of grains, and other routes need to be enhanced, the Romanian president, Klaus Iohannis, said.
Since July, when Moscow abandoned a deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, Russia has repeatedly struck Ukrainian river ports that lie across the Danube from Romania, Reuters reported.
Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta is Ukraine’s largest alternative export route, with grains arriving by road, rail or barge on the Danube. Ukraine is one of the world’s biggest grain exporters.
President Iohannis, speaking late on Wednesday at a summit of Three Seas Initiative countries in Bucharest, said:
Of course the attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube are a huge problem. Of course it will in a way slow down exports.
We will enhance the other routes, we accepted Ukrainian maritime transports through our Romanian territorial waters off the Black Sea, we will continue to enhance exports on the rail and on the road.
Speaking at the same press conference, Croatian prime minister, Andrej Plenković, said his country had offered access to the Mediterranean through its ports and that its transport ministry was working with the European Commission and Ukraine.
Romania is one of five eastern EU countries alongside Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that saw a surge of Ukrainian grain imports since the Russian invasion, which distorted local markets and prompted protests from farmers, leading the EU to approve temporary trade restrictions.
Speaking by video link at the summit, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, urged the countries not to extend the ban.
“Ukraine is strongly against any further restrictions on the export of our grain,” he said.
“Farmers in different countries use Ukrainian feed for the benefit of their farms. Companies from different countries make money on transit. And this is a benefit for the entire European economy.”
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A bit more from the Institute for the Study of War update, which also says that both Ukrainian and Russian sources are reporting that the Russian defence industry is facing “growing challenges in replacing basic supplies in addition to known challenges in rebuilding its stocks of precision weapons”.
The thinktank cited Andriy Yusov, spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence (GUR), as saying this week that Russia can only produce “dozens” of Kalibr cruise missiles and smaller numbers of Iskander missiles a month, which will not enable it to replenish its pre-2022 stocks.
Yusov also said that Russia was struggling to obtain modern optical equipment, electronics, chips, and circuits.
Russian sources meanwhile noted that Moscow is struggling to find enough rubber to replace worn tyres on its military vehicles, which could become even more of a problem in winter when conditions worsen.
The Russian sources claimed that Russian authorities claimed at an unspecified time that they would find solutions to worn tires by mid-August, but the situation has not changed as of 5 September.
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, swaps awkward McDonald’s anecdotes with the Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, in Kyiv:
A caught moment when Antony Blinken and Dmytro Kuleba are talking while eating French fries. #StandWithUkraine pic.twitter.com/oXjUNiG0dF
— Dénes Törteli 🇪🇺🇭🇺🇺🇦 (@DenesTorteli) September 7, 2023
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The supply of depleted uranium weapons to Ukraine by the US is “a criminal act”, the Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkovstate, has said, according to the news agency RIA.
Ryabkov said that Russia continues to hold contacts on humanitarian issues with the US, but not to work together on major issues. “There is no dialogue there,” Ryabkov was quoted as saying according to Reuters.
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The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) has examined the rumours surrounding Russian general Sergei Surovikin, after an unverified photo emerged of him this week apparently walking with his wife.
Surovikin, regarded as an ally of the late Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin, has not been seen in public since the militia’s brief rebellion in June.
In its latest update on the war in Ukraine, the ISW cited Russian insider sources and military bloggers remarking that Surovikin’s profile had been removed from the official defence ministry website. The US-based thinktank said:
The removal of Surovikin’s profile is not remarkable in itself – Russian military leadership removed Surovikin as commander of the Aerospace Forces (VKS) in August, and the absence of his profile from the MoD website could be a simple reflection of this fact.
The ISW also cited sources who said that Surovikin had taken a new position at the Commonwealth of Independent States, saying such a move would fit a pattern of underperforming generals being reassigned to external areas and peripheral locations “as a form of punishment”.
Appointing Surovikin to a role in the CIS, which does not appear to be a military or command role, suggests that Russian military leadership is likely continuing the practice of shifting disgraced or ineffective commanders to positions not involved in the war in Ukraine.
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“We pay salaries and we pay taxes, and it is important we should carry on,” says Serhii Ivin, an artisan toolmaker in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv.
After the Russians invaded in February 2022, Ivin joined up full-time as part of a Ukrainian army scouting unit. But three months into the war, he decided to reopen the forge, leaving his foreman in charge of the day-to-day running of the business, which makes hand-forged axes, carving knives and other woodworking tools.
“Someday the war will end,” he told Jamie Wilson and Nick Hopkins during a brief spell of leave from the frontline. “We want to save this place and this business and we want to save the team, because people want to eat, they want to have a future. And the rest of the world needs tools.”
Check out the Guardian’s latest dispatch from Ukraine:
US to supply depleted uranium munitions to Ukraine
The US will give Ukraine depleted uranium anti-tank shells as part of a new military aid package worth up to $175m, the Pentagon announced during a visit to Kyiv by the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken.
The $175m is part of more than $1bn in assistance that Blinken announced in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, the first day of his two-day visit.
It is the first time the US is sending the armour-piercing munitions to Ukraine, although Britain has already done so. The US shells will arm the Abrams tanks that the US is also set to supply in the coming months.
The Russian embassy in Washington denounced the decision as “an indicator of inhumanity”, adding that “the United States is deluding itself by refusing to accept the failure of the Ukrainian military’s so-called counteroffensive”.
In a social media post on Telegram, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova also slammed the US decision, writing: “What is this: a lie or stupidity?” She claimed an increase in cancer had been noted in places where ammunition with depleted uranium was used.
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Port infrastructure damaged in Russian drone attack on Izmail, governor says
Port infrastructure has been damaged during a three-hour Russian drone attack on the Danube port of Izmail, the regional governor has said in a Telegram post.
Oleg Kiper said the attack was the fourth on the port, in the south of the Odesa region, in five days. He said civilian and port infrastructure, a grain silo and an administrative building were damaged while a truck driver sustained a minor leg injury.
Russia has increased its attacks on Ukrainian ports since July, when it pulled out of a deal that had allowed Kyiv to export its grain via its Black Sea ports.
Antony Blinken is in Kyiv on a previously unannounced visit during which he confirmed new aid to Ukraine worth $1bn.
Controversially, this also includes the supply of uranium depleted munitions, which are valued for their armour-piercing abilities but which critics say carry health and other risks.
We’ve put together this explainer on what exactly depleted uranium is and what risks it poses:
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Ukrainian drones have also been shot down by air defences in the Moscow region and the Bryansk region that borders northern Ukraine, Russian officials have said.
The Ria news agency said one drone was shot down in the Ramensky district south-east of Moscow and that according to preliminary information there was “no destruction or casualties as a result of falling debris”.
Another drone was shot down over Bryansk, the regional governor, Alexander Bogomaz, said on Telegram. There were no casualties or damage, he added.
Blasts reported in Rostov-on-Don, home to Russia's southern military district command HQ
Blasts have been reported in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, near the headquarters of the southern military district command, which plays a key role in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and was one of the sites seized by late Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, during his aborted mutiny in June.
The rregional governor, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram that at least three buildings and several cars had been damaged and one person was injured after Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the city.
Golubev said that the remains of one drone fell outside the city, while the other fell “in the centre, in the area of 42 Pushkinskaya Street”.
Rostov-on-Don is the largest city in southern Russia and is the capital of the Rostov region that adjoins parts of eastern Ukraine where the war is raging.
It is home to the Russian southern military district command, whose 58th Combined Arms Army is fighting against Kyiv’s counteroffensive in southern Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) thinktank.
Rostov also houses the command centre for the Russian joint group of forces in Ukraine as a whole and is therefore a critical logistical hub for the Russian army.
Another explosion in Russia. This time in the center of Rostov near the headquarters of the criminal Southern Military District.
— Olga Lautman 🇺🇦 (@OlgaNYC1211) September 7, 2023
pic.twitter.com/gf4Oazupjw
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Opening summary
Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Livingstone.
Blasts have been reported in the centre of the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don, near to the headquarters of the southern military district command, key to the Russian military’s invasion of Ukraine.
The regional governor, Vasily Golubev, said on Telegram that at least three buildings and several cars had been damaged and one person was injured after Russian air defences shot down two Ukrainian drones targeting the city.
Golubev said that the remains of one drone fell outside the city, while the other fell “in the centre, in the area of 42 Pushkinskaya Street”.
Rostov-on-Don hit the headlines in June when the late Wagner leader, Yevgeny Prigozhin, seized military sites in the city during his aborted mutiny, including the military headquarters.
Another drone was shot down over the Moscow region, the Ria news agency reported, citing the defence ministry.
Other key developments in Ukraine:
At least 17 people have been killed, including a child, and another 32 injured after a Russian rocket struck a busy outdoor market in the Ukrainian city of Kostiantynivka, according to Ukrainian officials. Videos of the aftermath of the attack, one of Russia’s deadliest strikes in months, showed fires raging in destroyed buildings and soldiers carrying body bags away.
The Russian attack came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, was in Kyiv for an unannounced two-day visit, his first for a year to the Ukrainian capital. Blinken met his Ukrainian counterpart, Dmytro Kuleba, held discussions with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and described progress in the Ukrainian counteroffensive as “very, very encouraging”.
The top US diplomat announced new aid for Ukraine totalling more than $1bn during his visit, including Himars missile launch systems, Javelin anti-tank weapons, Abrams tanks and other weapons systems. The Pentagon said it would also send depleted uranium shells for Abrams tanks, a form of ammunition that is controversial.
Romania’s president, Klaus Iohannis, called for an urgent investigation into apparent drone debris discovered on its soil after Russian attacks on neighbouring parts of Ukraine. Romania, a Nato member, had earlier repeatedly rejected claims by Kyiv that Iranian-made Russian drones fell and detonated on Romanian territory during a strike on the Ukrainian port of Izmail on Sunday night.
A Russian-occupation appointed official has acknowledged that Moscow’s forces have abandoned the Ukrainian village of Robotyne, more than a week after Kyiv announced its recapture. “The Russian army abandoned – tactically abandoned – this settlement because staying on a bare surface when there is no way to completely dig in … doesn’t generally make sense. Therefore the Russian army moved off into the hills,” said Yevgeny Balitsky, the top Moscow-installed official in the Zaporizhzhia region.
The situation along the eastern frontline remains difficult and the main task for Ukraine’s troops is to ensure reliable defence and prevent the loss of strongholds, the commander of Ukraine’s ground forces has said. “The enemy does not abandon his plans to reach the borders regions,” said Oleksandr Syrskyi.
Ukraine’s parliament voted to approve the appointment of Rustem Umerov as the new defence minister, a lawmaker said. Umerov is a leading member of the Crimean Tatar community who has represented his country in sensitive negotiations with Russia. He is replacing Oleksii Reznikov, who stepped down at Zelenskiy’s instigation after 22 months in the job.
Vladimir Putin’s “gangster” nuclear threats require Nato to adopt a much more aggressive response, including flying more aircraft with nuclear weapons, the chief of the general staff of the Polish armed forces has said. Gen Rajmund Andrzejczak also said he did not think North Korea would be preparing to sell weapons to Russia without the agreement of China.
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