Closing summary
This blog is now closing. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments, a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war. Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, gave an interview to the VG newspaper that originally reported on his comments. “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake,” he said.
Ukraine’s forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said. Hanna Maliar posted on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning that the village had been liberated, adding that offensive operations continue.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania. The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at about 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital. Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, the ministry said on Telegram.
Three people were killed, several people were wounded and buildings were damaged in a large-scale air-attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv and the north-western region of Volyn. “Many missiles were shot down, but there were also hits in Lviv,” city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said, adding that orders were given to evacuate at least one burning apartment building. The barrage came just hours before top Russian military officials and their counterparts from allied countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa gathered outside Moscow for a security conference.
The Bank of Russia raised its key rate to 12% from 8.5%. The statement announcing the increase did not mention the rouble, which dropped to its lowest level in nearly 17 months on Monday. The Russian currency was boosted by the central bank’s move.
Russia fined social media site Reddit for the first time for not deleting “banned content” that it said contained “fake” information about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, RIA reported, citing a Moscow court. Reddit joins a list of sites under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, including Wikimedia, streaming service Twitch, and Google.
The German government has retreated from a plan to legally commit itself to meeting Nato’s 2% military spending target on an annual basis.
Three Bulgarian nationals suspected of spying for Russia while living in the UK have been arrested and charged, police have said. The defendants were among five people detained in February after a long-running counter-terrorism investigation. Three of those were then charged with possession of false identity documents, according to the Metropolitan police, which is responsible for espionage cases.
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said Russian athletes should be banned from participating in international competitions after Russian strikes destroyed a sports facility in Dnipro. Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian MP and the leader of the liberal Golos party, also said Ukraine will boycott the Olympic Games if Russia and Belarus participate in the competition.
Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita said on Tuesday that he had spoken on the phone to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, about the coup in Niger. Putin “stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel,” Mali’s interim president, Assimi Goita, said on Twitter. The Kremlin said the call was initiated by Mali. The statement added: “The parties specifically focused on the current situation in the Sahara-Sahel region and emphasised, in particular, the importance of settling the situation in the Republic of Niger solely through peaceful political and diplomatic means.”
The US said that Russia would be violating UN resolutions if it reaches an arms deal with North Korea, after the two countries’ leaders called for greater cooperation. State department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters: “Any kind of security cooperation or arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of UN security council resolutions.”
Sweden’s government said Tuesday that it would donate to Ukraine ammunition and spare parts for previously donated weapon systems worth over $300m (£240m). Speaking at press conference, defence minister Pal Jonson said the military aid package, Sweden’s 13th to Ukraine, would include ammunition and spare parts valued at about 3.4bn kronor ($313m/£250m).
The Ukrainian government is to build new fortifications and military infrastructure in northeast regions that border Russia and Belarus at a cost of nearly $35m, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.
Ukraine’s President Zelenskiy visited the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia and met troops fighting in the counteroffensive against Russian forces, the president’s office said on Tuesday. Zelenskiy was shown in a video with senior Ukrainian soldiers examining a battlefield map at what the president’s office said was the frontline command point of the 46th separate airmobile brigade, near the town of Orikhiv.
Russia and North Korea on Tuesday advocated closer collaboration including in the defence sector. Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine and commenced large-scale hostilities last year, according to AFP.
Updated
'It was a mistake', Nato official backtracks suggestion Ukraine could give up land for membership
A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments, a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war.
Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told a Norwegian newspaper that he should not have spoken as simplistically as he did, after his initial comments prompted an angry reaction from Kyiv.
At a panel event in Norway on Tuesday, Jenssen said that while any peace deal would have to be acceptable to Ukraine, alliance members were discussing how the 18-month war might be brought to an end.
“I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory, and get Nato membership in return,” Jenssen told his audience, noting that discussions about Ukraine’s postwar status were continuing in diplomatic circles.
A day later, he gave an interview to the VG newspaper that originally reported on his comments. “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake,” he said.
But Jenssen did not walk back the idea that a land for Nato membership deal could ultimately be on the table. If there were serious peace negotiations, then the military situation at the time, including who controls what territory, “will necessarily have a decisive influence,” the chief of staff added.
Updated
The US Treasury has imposed sanctions on three companies who are allegedly tied to a sanctions evasion network attempting to support arms deals between Russia and North Korea.
In a statement released on Wednesday, the Treasury said: “This action is part of the continuing US strategy to identify, expose, and disrupt third-country actors seeking to support Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine.
“As Russia has continued to expend munitions and lose heavy equipment on the battlefield, it has been increasingly forced to turn to its few allies, including the DPRK, to sustain its unprovoked war in Ukraine.”
Brian E Nelson, the under secretary of the Treasury for terrorism and financial intelligence said: “The US continues to root out illicit financial networks that seek to channel support from North Korea to Russia’s war machine.
“Alongside our allies and partners, we remain committed to exposing and disrupting the arms trade underpinning Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.”
Updated
Ukrainian forces were conducting military drills in the Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday. The soldiers were members of the 128th Separate Territorial Defence Brigade.
Here are some pictures of their drills:
Updated
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said he had a call with Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi, secretary general of the Council of the Arab States of the Gulf, where they talked about “expanding the international coalition” of support for president Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s “peace formula”.
I called @GCCSG Secretary General Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi to explore new avenues for advancing the relationship between Ukraine and the Gulf Cooperation Council. We also focused on expanding the international coalition in support of President @ZelenskyyUA's Peace Formula.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) August 16, 2023
Updated
The European Commission has announced €135m of funding for Ukraine and Moldova that was originally earmarked for Russia and Belarus.
In a statement, the commission said it will transfer the funds, which were originally planned for 2021-2027 Interreg NEXT programmes with Russia and Belarus, to other Interreg programmes with Ukraine and Moldova.
Elisa Ferreira, the commissioner for cohesion and reforms said: “The decision to cancel the originally envisaged cooperation with Russia and Belarus through our Interreg programmes is the result of the brutal war of Russia against Ukraine.
“I am glad that the funds we had initially planned for this cooperation will now benefit the EU’s programmes with Ukraine and Moldova. This will help strengthen collaboration between EU regions and local stakeholders with Ukrainian and Moldovan partners.”
We have decided to transfer to Ukraine and Moldova €135 million originally earmarked for Russia and Belarus.
— European Commission (@EU_Commission) August 16, 2023
This decision follows the suspension of cooperation with Russia and Belarus in the Interreg programmes.
Updated
Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service has claimed responsibility for an attack on the Russian-built Kerch strait bridge connecting Crimea to the mainland last month, saying it had been conducted by remotely controlled sea drones.
Vasyl Malyuk, the head of the agency, told CNN that the drone, called “sea baby”, was developed internally and that two were packed with 850kg warheads when they exploded and damaged the road and rail bridge on 17 July. Two people were killed in the attack.
“Using these drones we have recently conducted a successful hit of the Crimean Bridge,” Malyuk said, as well as more recent attacks on a Russian warship and an oil tanker, said by Kyiv to be supplying fuel for Russia’s military.
Until now, Kyiv has been coy about taking responsibility for attacks on Russian infrastructure, or in Crimea or in Russia itself, but the intelligence chief was keen to talk up the maritime threat to its enemy.
Malyuk said in the interview:
We are working on a number of new interesting operations, including in the Black Sea waters. I promise you, it’ll be exciting, especially for our enemies.
Russia takes particular pride in the Kerch strait bridge, a 12-mile crossing built after Moscow occupied Crimea in 2014. President Putin was filmed visiting the bridge after its completion, telling workers its construction was a miracle.
But its position as a strategic connection between Crimea and the Russian mainland has made it a repeated target for Ukraine. It was also damaged in an apparent truck bombing last October, an attack that Malyuk also claimed responsibility for, although the intelligence chief declined to provide evidence.
Read more here:
Updated
Germany walks back from legally committing to 2% Nato GDP pledge
Reuters reports that the German government has retreated from a plan to legally commit itself to meeting Nato’s 2% military spending target on an annual basis, a government source told the news agency on Wednesday.
A corresponding clause in a draft of the budget financing law passed by the cabinet of Olaf Scholz, the chancellor, on Wednesday was deleted at short notice, the source said.
The change means that Germany will be able to stick to its current pledge of meeting the 2% target on average over a five-year period.
This wording is softer than the original pledge Scholz made in a speech on 27 February 2022, in which he announced a “Zeitenwende” or sea change three days after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“From now on, we will invest more than 2% of the GDP into our defence year after year,” Scholz said at the time.
A German government spokesperson declined to comment on the particulars of the draft law.
Nato allies have criticised Berlin strongly in the past for not spending 2% of its GDP on defence annually.
It is unclear whether Berlin will keep military spending over this threshold once a €100b ($101bn) special fund to bring the Bundeswehr back up to standard is used up.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that it had signed arms contracts worth more than 400b roubles ($4.18bn) at the ongoing Army-2023 arms fair near Moscow, Reuters reports, citing the TASS news agency.
Russia has claimed the FSB security service foiled an attempt by Ukrainian saboteurs to cross into Bryansk region, Reuters reports, citing the Russian state news agency TASS, who added that four people had been killed in the incident.
Neither the Guardian or Reuters could independently verify the report.
Our defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, brings us this report from Kyiv.
Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war, a senior Nato official has suggested, prompting an angry reaction from Kyiv.
Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said at an event in Norway on Tuesday that while any peace deal would have to be acceptable to Ukraine, alliance members were discussing how the 18-month war might be brought to an end.
“I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory, and get Nato membership in return,” Jenssen told his audience, noting that discussions about Ukraine’s postwar status were continuing in diplomatic circles.
Ukraine, however, has consistently called for a restoration of its internationally recognised pre-2014 borders and is engaged in a counteroffensive in an attempt to recapture large parts of its territory seized by Russia.
Five sources in Moscow have told Reuters that authorities were considering reimposing stringent capital controls as the rouble showed signs of strain.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has brought huge military spending and western sanctions.
Mykhailo Podolyak, a senior adviser to the Ukrainian president, has called for an end to “any direct communications” with top Russian leadership as a way to “accelerate a fair end of the war”. He does not specify if Ukraine, its allies, or both, should follow these actions.
On Twitter, which is now known as X, he also called for “an official change of Russia’s status to a terrorist state”.
Three problems that require stronger solutions to accelerate a fair end to the war...
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 16, 2023
1. Sanctions circumvention and missile production in Russia. The solution: either an official change of Russia's status to a terrorist state or tough secondary sanctions against private…
Reuters reports that the Lithuanian government has decided to close two of the country’s six border crossing points with Belarus due to “geopolitical circumstances”, weeks after Russian Wagner Group mercenaries took refuge in the country.
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
Ukraine’s forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said. Hanna Maliar posted on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning that the village had been liberated, adding that offensive operations continue.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania. The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at about 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital. Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, the ministry said on Telegram.
Three people were killed, several people were wounded and buildings were damaged in a large-scale air-attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv and the north-western region of Volyn. “Many missiles were shot down, but there were also hits in Lviv,” city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said, adding that orders were given to evacuate at least one burning apartment building. The barrage came just hours before top Russian military officials and their counterparts from allied countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa gathered outside Moscow for a security conference.
The Bank of Russia raised its key rate to 12% from 8.5%. The statement announcing the increase did not mention the rouble, which dropped to its lowest level in nearly 17 months on Monday. The Russian currency was boosted by the central bank’s move.
Russia fined social media site Reddit for the first time for not deleting “banned content” that it said contained “fake” information about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, RIA reported, citing a Moscow court. Reddit joins a list of sites under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, including Wikimedia, streaming service Twitch, and Google.
Three Bulgarian nationals suspected of spying for Russia while living in the UK have been arrested and charged, police have said. The defendants were among five people detained in February after a long-running counter-terrorism investigation. Three of those were then charged with possession of false identity documents, according to the Metropolitan police, which is responsible for espionage cases.
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said Russian athletes should be banned from participating in international competitions after Russian strikes destroyed a sports facility in Dnipro. Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian MP and the leader of the liberal Golos party, also said Ukraine will boycott the Olympic Games if Russia and Belarus participate in the competition.
Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita said on Tuesday that he had spoken on the phone to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, about the coup in Niger. Putin “stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel,” Mali’s interim president, Assimi Goita, said on Twitter. The Kremlin said the call was initiated by Mali. The statement added: “The parties specifically focused on the current situation in the Sahara-Sahel region and emphasised, in particular, the importance of settling the situation in the Republic of Niger solely through peaceful political and diplomatic means.”
The US said that Russia would be violating UN resolutions if it reaches an arms deal with North Korea, after the two countries’ leaders called for greater cooperation. State department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters: “Any kind of security cooperation or arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of UN security council resolutions.”
Sweden’s government said Tuesday that it would donate to Ukraine ammunition and spare parts for previously donated weapon systems worth over $300m (£240m). Speaking at press conference, defence minister Pal Jonson said the military aid package, Sweden’s 13th to Ukraine, would include ammunition and spare parts valued at about 3.4bn kronor ($313m/£250m).
The Ukrainian government is to build new fortifications and military infrastructure in northeast regions that border Russia and Belarus at a cost of nearly $35m, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian president Zelenskiy visited the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia and met troops fighting in the counteroffensive against Russian forces, the president’s office said on Tuesday. Zelenskiy was shown in a video with senior Ukrainian soldiers examining a battlefield map at what the president’s office said was the frontline command point of the 46th separate airmobile brigade, near the town of Orikhiv.
Russia and North Korea on Tuesday advocated closer collaboration including in the defence sector. Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine and commenced large-scale hostilities last year, according to AFP.
Russia hits Ukrainian grain depots again as a foreign ship uses Kyiv's new Black Sea corridor
Russia resumed its targeting of grain infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, local officials said on Wednesday, using drones in overnight strikes on storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Kyiv has increasingly used for grain transport to Europe after Moscow broke off a key wartime export deal through the Black Sea.
Here’s Associated Press’ reports on the developments:
Officials say Russia has resumed its targeting of grain infrastructure in Ukraine’s southern Odesa region, using drones in overnight strikes on storage facilities and ports along the Danube River. Kyiv has increasingly used those terminals for grain transport to Europe after Moscow broke off a key wartime export deal through the Black Sea.
At the same time, a loaded container ship stuck at the port of Odesa since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail and was heading through the Black Sea to the Bosporus along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping.
Ukraine’s economy, crunched by the war, is heavily dependent on farming. Its agricultural exports, like those of Russia, are also crucial for world supplies of wheat, barley, sunflower oil and other food that developing nations rely on.
After the Kremlin tore up a month ago an agreement brokered last summer by the U.N. and Turkey to ensure safe Ukraine grain exports through the Black Sea, Kyiv has sought to reroute transport through the Danube and road and rail links into Europe. But transport costs that way are much higher, some European countries have balked at the consequences for local grain prices, and the Danube ports can’t handle the same volume as seaports.
Odesa governor Oleh Kiper said the primary targets of Russia’s overnight drone bombardment were port terminals and grain silos, including at the ports in the Danube delta. Air defenses managed to intercept 13 drones, according to Kiper.
It was the latest attack amid weeks of aerial strikes as Russia has targeted the Danube delta ports, which are only about 15km (10 miles) from the Romanian border. The Danube is Europe’s second-longest river and a key transport route.
Ukraine said the first cargo ship to use new Black Sea shipping lanes had exited a southern port despite threats from Russia that its navy could target vessels leaving the country.
Kyiv announced the maritime corridors for civilian vessels last week after Russia exited an agreement allowing safe sea passage for grain exports and threatened cargo ships in the Black Sea, AFP reports.
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said:
The first vessel is moving along the temporary corridors established for civilian vessels to and from Black Sea ports.
It named the vessel as the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte, and said it had left the port of Odesa, one of three transit hubs that participated in the now scrapped grain deal.
Kubrakov added:
Ukraine proposed this route in its appeal to the International Maritime Organisation (IMO).
The corridor will be primarily used to evacuate ships that were in the Ukrainian ports of Chornomorsk, Odesa and Pivdenny at the time of the full-scale invasion by the Russian Federation.
Over the weekend, Moscow said it fired warning shots from a Russian warship at a cargo vessel heading towards the Ukrainian port of Izmail.
Attacks have increased on both sides of the Black Sea since Moscow exited the grain deal.
Russia has repeatedly attacked port infrastructure on the Black Sea and the Danube in Ukraine, which has targeted Russian warships in the region.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday its forces had shot down a Ukrainian drone over Crimea, Interfax reported, the latest in a flurry of what Moscow calls “terrorist attacks”.
Russia annexed the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
There was no immediate comment from Russia on the recapture of the village of Urozhaine. Here’s a report from Reuters on what’s happening on the ground.
The village’s recapture would indicate Ukraine is pressing ahead with an offensive drive south towards the Sea of Azov that aims to cut Russian occupying forces in half. Urozhaine lies just over 90km (55 miles) from the Sea of Azov.
Russian military bloggers said fierce fighting raged near the village and that Russian units were trying to prevent Ukraine strengthening its positions in Urozhaine.
In a sign of the difficulty of the battlefield operations, Urozhaine is the first village Ukraine says it has retaken since June 27 when it announced the recapture of neighbouring Staromaiorske.
Kyiv says its counteroffensive push is progressing slower than it wanted because of vast Russian minefields and prepared Russian defensive lines.
The recapture of Urozhaine would bring Ukraine closer to threatening the village of Staromlynivka, several kilometres to the south, which military analysts say serves as a Russian stronghold in the area.
Russia controls nearly a fifth of Ukraine, including the peninsula of Crimea, most of Luhansk region and large tracts of the regions of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.
Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
Ukraine's grain exports total 3.3m metric tons for far for 2023/24 July-June season, says agricultre ministry
Ukraine’s grain exports have totalled 3.3m metric tons so far in the 2023/24 July-June season, agriculture ministry data showed on Wednesday.
The ministry gave no comparative figures for the same period a year earlier but said shipments were at 2.99m tons as of Aug. 19, 2022, AFP reports.
Exports have been affected since Russia quit a UN backed grain deal last month but the ministry’s data did not give a breakdown on exports since the deal collapsed.
The ministry said Ukraine had exported 1.03m tons of grain in August. The total volume of grain exports this season included 1.6m tons of corn, 1.3m tons of wheat and 397,000 tons of barley.
Exports for the entire 2022/23 season were almost 49m tons, exceeding the previous season’s 48.4m tons.
Most of the volume was exported via deep Black Sea ports under the deal brokered by the UN and Turkey last July to tackle a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and blockade of Ukrainian ports.
However, Russia left the deal on 17 July after saying its demands to ease sanctions on its own grain and fertiliser exports had not been met. Russia also complained that not enough grain had reached poor countries.
A major grain grower and exporter, Ukraine’s grain output dropped to about 55m tons in clean weight in calendar 2022, down from a record 86m tons in 2021.
The ministry has said the crop could total about 56m tons of grain in 2023.
Updated
The liberation of the settlement of Urozhaine in the industrial Donetsk region is part of Ukraine’s grinding push to wrest Russian forces along the southern front in Ukraine, AFP reports.
Kyiv launched its long anticipated counteroffensive in June, but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
The announcement about Urozhaine comes one day after Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that Ukraine’s military resources were “almost exhausted”, despite receiving arms deliveries from Western allies.
There was no immediate response to the Ukrainian claim from Moscow, which has repeatedly downplayed Kyiv’s offensive capabilities.
The Donetsk region, which has faced the brunt of fighting in recent months, is one of four Ukrainian regions that the Kremlin claimed to have annexed last year, months after invading in February.
Urozhaine, with an estimated pre-war population of around 1,000 people, is among a cluster of villages that Ukrainian forces have been attempting to wrest over recent weeks.
Russia is likely aiming for self-sufficiency in Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (OWA-UAVs) – more commonly known as drones – in the coming months, the British military said on Wednesday.
Russia has almost certainly started to deploy domestically produced one way attack drones based on Iranian Shahed designs, the defence ministry said in its daily intelligence on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
It said:
Indigenous manufacturing will likely allow Russia to establish a more reliable supply of OWA-UAVs.
The performance of these weapons has been variable and Ukraine has proved effective in neutralising the majority of incoming OWA-UAVs.
Ukraine says recaptures Urozhaine in Donetsk region from Russian forces
Ukraine’s forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said.
Hanna Maliar posted on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning that the village had been liberated, adding that offensive operations continue.
“Urozhaine liberated,” Maliar said in the post. “Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts.”
Ukrainian troops have liberated Urozhaine village, Donetsk region!
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 16, 2023
🇺🇦
The Guardian has not been able to independently verify the report.
Updated
Russian drones threatened Ismail river port – Odesa governor
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania.
Social media groups reported hearing air defence systems firing in the area near two Danube ports– Izmail and Reni.
The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at about 1:30 a.m. (2230 GMT) and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Ukraine’s Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia pulled out of a UN-backed deal to provide safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea. They have since become the main route out, with grain sent on barges to Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.
A Russian attack on the Izmail port sent global food prices higher in early August.
US pressing Iran to halt drone sales – report
Reuters: The US is pushing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia as part of discussions on a broader unwritten understanding between Washington and Tehran to de-escalate tensions, the Financial Times reports today, citing people briefed on the matter.
The US is pressing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia, which Moscow is using in the war in Ukraine, as well as spare parts for the unmanned aircraft, the report said, citing an Iranian official and another person familiar with the talks.
The White House and Iran’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The news comes as Washington and Iran are trying to ease tensions and revive broader talks over Iran’s nuclear program. US secretary of state Antony Blinken said on Tuesday that he would welcome any Iranian steps to de-escalate its “growing nuclear threat.”
These discussions have taken place alongside the negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal last week, the newspaper said. Iran allowed four detained U.S. citizens to move into house arrest from Tehran’s Evin prison while a fifth was already under home confinement.
Last week, sources told Reuters that Iran may free five detained U.S. citizens as part of a deal to unfreeze $6bn in Iranian funds in South Korea.
Drones destroyed over Russia’s Kaluga region, says Moscow
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital, AFP reports.
Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, the ministry said on Telegram.
“All UAVs were detected and destroyed in a timely manner by Russian air defence systems.”
Kaluga’s governor said the drones were shot down in the south of the region, a few hundred kilometres southwest of Moscow.
“There are no consequences for people and infrastructure,” Vladislav Shapsha said on Telegram.
The air attack is at least the fifth this month over the Kaluga region that Russia says it has thwarted.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Our top story this morning: Russia’s air defence systems destroyed three Ukrainian drones early on Wednesday over the Kaluga region, the Russian defence ministry said.
Meanwhile the US is pushing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia as part of discussions on a broader “unwritten understanding” between Washington and Tehran, the Financial Times reports today, citing people briefed on the matter.
Elsewhere:
Three people were killed, several people were wounded and buildings were damaged in a large-scale air-attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv and the north-western region of Volyn. “Many missiles were shot down, but there were also hits in Lviv,” city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said, adding that orders were given to evacuate at least one burning apartment building. The barrage came just hours before top Russian military officials and their counterparts from allied countries in Asia, the Middle East and Africa gathered outside Moscow for a security conference.
The Bank of Russia raised its key rate to 12% from 8.5%. The statement announcing the increase did not mention the rouble, which dropped to its lowest level in nearly 17 months on Monday. The Russian currency was boosted by the central bank’s move.
Russia fined social media site Reddit for the first time for not deleting “banned content” that it said contained “fake” information about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, RIA reported, citing a Moscow court. Reddit joins a list of sites under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, including Wikimedia, streaming service Twitch, and Google.
Three Bulgarian nationals suspected of spying for Russia while living in the UK have been arrested and charged, police have said. The defendants were among five people detained in February after a long-running counter-terrorism investigation. Three of those were then charged with possession of false identity documents, according to the Metropolitan police, which is responsible for espionage cases.
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said Russian athletes should be banned from participating in international competitions after Russian strikes destroyed a sports facility in Dnipro. Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian MP and the leader of the liberal Golos party, also said Ukraine will boycott the Olympic Games if Russia and Belarus participate in the competition.
Mali’s military leader Assimi Goita said on Tuesday that he had spoken on the phone to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, about the coup in Niger. Putin “stressed the importance of a peaceful resolution of the situation for a more stable Sahel,” Mali’s interim president, Assimi Goita, said on Twitter. The Kremlin said the call was initiated by Mali. The statement added: “The parties specifically focused on the current situation in the Sahara-Sahel region and emphasised, in particular, the importance of settling the situation in the Republic of Niger solely through peaceful political and diplomatic means.”
The US said that Russia would be violating UN resolutions if it reaches an arms deal with North Korea, after the two countries’ leaders called for greater cooperation. State department spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters: “Any kind of security cooperation or arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of UN security council resolutions.”
Sweden’s government said Tuesday that it would donate to Ukraine ammunition and spare parts for previously donated weapon systems worth over $300m (£240m). Speaking at press conference, defence minister Pal Jonson said the military aid package, Sweden’s 13th to Ukraine, would include ammunition and spare parts valued at about 3.4bn kronor ($313m/£250m).
The Ukrainian government is to build new fortifications and military infrastructure in northeast regions that border Russia and Belarus at a cost of nearly $35m, prime minister Denys Shmyhal said on Tuesday.
Ukrainian president Zelenskiy visited the south-eastern region of Zaporizhzhia and met troops fighting in the counteroffensive against Russian forces, the president’s office said on Tuesday. Zelenskiy was shown in a video with senior Ukrainian soldiers examining a battlefield map at what the president’s office said was the frontline command point of the 46th separate airmobile brigade, near the town of Orikhiv.
Russia and North Korea on Tuesday advocated closer collaboration including in the defence sector. Moscow and Pyongyang have drawn closer since the Kremlin deployed troops to Ukraine and commenced large-scale hostilities last year, according to AFP.
