Here is the situation on Saturday, September 14, 2024.
Fighting
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At least two people were killed in the town of Yampil after Russian forces shelled 15 border areas of Ukraine’s Sumy region, the regional authority said on the Telegram messaging app. Nine people were injured.
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Drone fragments fell on a municipal building in Kyiv’s Obolon district north of the city centre, but no fire broke out at the site, Mayor Vitali Klitschko said. Air defence units had been in action in the Ukrainian capital earlier, he said on Telegram.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claimed Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s border region of Kursk had produced the desired result of slowing Moscow’s advance on another front in the east of his country.
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He said Russia had about 40,000 soldiers on the Kursk front. “So far we have seen no serious [Russian] success.”
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Russia’s Ministry of Defence said its troops had taken back 10 villages of 100 that Ukraine had occupied in Kursk. The comments from either side could not be independently verified.
Weapons
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The Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Russia had launched 8,060 Iran-developed Shahed drones at Ukraine since it began its full-scale invasion two and a half years ago, resulting in “lost homes and lost lives”.
- The US Department of State has approved the sale of dozens of F-35 fighter jets to its NATO ally Romania, a deal worth $7.2bn. Romania occupies a strategic position at the gateway to Ukraine and the Black Sea.
Politics and diplomacy
- Ukraine secured the release of 49 people from Russian captivity in the latest exchange of prisoners with Moscow, according to Zelenskyy. He did not say how many Russians were freed.
- The Ukrainians released included civilians, members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard, the National Police and the State Border Guard Service, he posted on social media platform X.
- Ukraine’s government has approved the 2025 draft budget, which includes $53.5bn for defence, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.
- North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has pledged to deepen ties with Russia as he held talks with Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s Security Council chief and former defence minister, state media reported.
- United States President Joe Biden and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer expressed concern about Iran and North Korea providing lethal weapons to Russia, according to a White House readout.
- But they stopped short of any formal announcement on letting Ukraine fire long-range missiles into Russia during their meeting in Washington, DC.
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Officials in the US and the United Kingdom have questioned whether allowing Ukraine to use Western-supplied long-range weapons to strike deep inside Russia, would make a significant difference in the war.
- Zelenskyy said he would meet Biden this month to present his “victory plan” on how to end the war with Russia, but gave no details, only saying that his proposal would involve “a system of interconnected solutions that will give Ukraine enough power – enough to put this war on a course to peace”.
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US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced new sanctions targeting three entities and two individuals connected to a Russian campaign of destabilising countries around the world, adding that the Russian broadcaster RT was involved in the campaign.
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Ukrainian Canadians have protested at the Toronto International Film Festival even after its organisers reversed course and suspended screenings of the documentary, Russians At War, which has been criticised as propaganda.
