Photograph: Narendra Modi/X/Reuters
Russia accused Ukraine today of trying to attack the Kursk nuclear power station in what it called an act of “nuclear terrorism”, Reuters reported.
TASS cited an unnamed source as saying a drone was shot down near a storage facility for spent nuclear fuel.
Rustem Umerov, the Ukrainian defence minister, has said he is grateful to Latvia for providing 1,400 drones for Kyiv.
+1 400 drones from Latvia for Ukraine.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) August 23, 2024
In total, Latvia provided Ukraine with 3 000 combat drones of various types within the Drone Coalition.
We are grateful to our Latvian friends for their staunch support.
Together, we are stronger 🇺🇦🤝🇱🇻 https://t.co/1W4b2vgt1U
Here’s footage of Narendra Modi’s arrival in Kyiv.
For the first time in history, the Prime Minister of India visited Ukraine personally. Before arriving to Kyiv by our train, @narendramodi called India a "friend&partner" of Ukraine, hoping for a "restoration of peace" and "strengthening of IND-UA friendship."#IronDiplomacy🇺🇦🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/EFBzoFeCH9
— Ukrainian railways || Укрзалізниця (@Ukrzaliznytsia) August 23, 2024
Updated
Indian prime minister arrives in Kyiv
India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, has arrived in Kyiv for a closely-watched visit.
The trip marks the first visit by an Indian prime minister to Ukraine since its independence in 1991, and comes after Modi visited Russia in July.
“I look forward to the opportunity to ... share perspectives on peaceful resolution of the ongoing Ukraine conflict,” Modi said ahead of the trip, Reuters reported.
“As a friend and partner, we hope for an early return of peace and stability in the region,” he added.
Opening summary
Good morning,
Here are the latest developments:
Russian forces mounted 53 attacks on the Pokrovsk front in Donetsk oblast on Thursday as Moscow pressed to take the town, which Kyiv’s military described as the main focus of the invaders’ efforts in Ukraine. Elsewhere in eastern Ukraine, Russian forces attacked Ukrainian positions near the settlement of Niu-York. Russia earlier said it had seized the settlement. Russia’s army also claimed it had captured the village of Mezhove, between already held Avdiivka and Pokrovsk. Ukraine did not confirm the Russian claims.
A ferry loaded with fuel tanks sank in the Russian port of Kavkaz in southern Krasnodar region on Thursday after a Ukrainian attack, local authorities said. Kavkaz port is one of Russia’s largest on the Black Sea, exporting as well as sending fuel across to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian territory of Crimea.
Ukraine’s air force said it used a US-made GBU-39 bomb to strike a Russian platoon command post in the Kursk region of Russia which Ukraine has invaded. The model is a precision-guided small diameter bomb with wings that unfold so it can glide to its target using built-in navigation after being dropped from a plane. Allies including the US are supplying weapons to Ukrainian forces but have imposed restrictions on how and when they can be used inside Russia.
The Biden administration will send about $125m in new military aid to Ukraine including air defence missiles; Himars ammunition; Javelin anti-tank missile systems and other anti-armour missiles; counter-drone and counter-electronic warfare systems and equipment; 155mm and 105mm artillery ammunition; vehicles and other equipment. Officials said the weapons were being provided through presidential drawdown authority, which means they are taken from Pentagon stockpiles and can be delivered more quickly.
A Russian strike killed a 56-year-old man and injured eight others in the Kharkiv region of north-east Ukraine, the Ukrainian prosecutor general’s office said on Thursday. The injured included a 15-year-old boy, while residential buildings were also damaged in the Russian strike on the village of Bohodukhiv, the prosecutor general’s office said.
Russian drone attacks killed two civilians and wounded a third, while a guided bomb attack killed two people, said prosecutors and officials in Sumy, which borders Russia’s Kursk region that Ukrainian troops have partly occupied.
Ukraine’s drone attack on Thursday at Marinovka airbase in Russia’s Volgograd region caused fires and ammunition explosions lasting hours, Dan Sabbagh and Luke Harding report. Ukraine’s SBU security service said it carried out the remote raid on the base, home to about 30 Su-34 and Su-35 fighter jets. The planes carry out regular bombing runs against Ukrainian positions on the frontline about 280 miles away, the SBU told the Kyiv Independent newspaper. It is unclear how many jets were damaged or destroyed.
Warren Murray with Guardian writers and agencies
