Closing summary
Cuba is not against the legal participation of its citizens in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Russian state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Cuban envoy to Moscow.
Britain’s most senior military officer, Sir Tony Radakin, said that Ukraine “continues to hold the initiative, it is pushing Russia back” in a short assessment of the current state of the fighting.
Russia said it is expelling two US diplomats accused of working with a Russian national who is accused of collaborating with a foreign state. Slovakia has expelled a diplomat based in Russia’s embassy, the Slovak foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday. The ministry said: “The reason is his activities, which were in direct violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.”
South Korea has expressed “deep concern and regret” over a meeting between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, which apparently focused on expanding military cooperation.
Alexander Lukashenko left Belarus on Thursday for an official visit to Russia, according to his press service. Talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are scheduled for Friday.
Bulgaria decided on Thursday not to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports in five eastern EU nations that is set to expire this week, AFP reported. Ukraine’s foreign ministry reportedly said that any decision by European states to extend import restrictions on Ukrainian food from 15 September would be illegal and harm common economic interests.
Ukraine earlier claimed to have destroyed a Russian air defence system near the town of Yevpatoriya in occupied Crimea in an overnight drone and missile attack which was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine and the navy on Thursday morning.
Suspilne reported that a six-year-old boy was killed and other people injured by Russian shelling in the village of Novodmytrivka, which is located in Kherson region.
Boris Johnson, the UK’s former prime minister, has attacked the government over its policy on Ukraine, saying it should urgently provide more weaponry requested by Kyiv and asking the west: “What the hell are we waiting for?”
Ukraine’s president, Volodymr Zelenskiy, is planning to attend the UN general assembly next week and is expected to meet with US president Joe Biden, NBC reported on Thursday, citing a senior Ukrainian official.
Ukraine’s military said on Thursday it had damaged two Russian patrol ships in the Black Sea in a morning attack, Reuters reports.
A report on Telegram said the attack took place in the south-west part of the Black Sea and had inflicted “certain damage”.
Russia’s defence ministry said it had detected and destroyed an uncrewed Ukrainian boat in the Black Sea. These claims are yet to be independently verified.
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Romania, a Nato member, has imposed additional flight restrictions in parts of its airspace along the border with Ukraine, the defence ministry said on Thursday.
It comes after elements of a possible drone were identified on Romanian territory on Wednesday, according to the defence ministry.
Ukraine said the attack early on Wednesday had struck the ports of Reni and Izmail, which lie across the Danube from Romania, damaging warehouses used for grain cargoes, oil storage tanks and administrative buildings.
The attacks, which have intensified since mid-July when Moscow abandoned a deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, have increased security risks for Nato, whose members have a mutual defence commitment.
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Cuba is not against its citizens fighting on Russia's side in Ukraine war - reports
Cuba is not against the legal participation of its citizens in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Russian state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Cuban envoy to Moscow.
Last week, Cuban authorities said they had arrested 17 people on charges related to a ring of human traffickers that allegedly had lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military amid the war in Ukraine.
The Cuban ambassador to Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Peña, said the arrested people, all Cuban citizens, had been engaged in illegal activities and had broken the law.
RIA quoted the ambassador as saying:
We have nothing against Cubans who just want to sign a contract and legally take part with the Russian army in this operation. But we are against illegality and these operations that have nothing to do with the legal field.
He did not say whether Cuba would also be relaxed about its citizens fighting on Ukraine’s side in the war, now in its 19th month.
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The US president, Joe Biden, said he had appointed the former commerce secretary Penny Pritzker to serve as the new US special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery.
Biden said she would mobilise public and private investment, shape donor priorities, and work to open export markets and businesses shut down by what he called Russia’s brutal attacks and destruction.
He said in a statement:
As we take this next step to help Ukraine forge a stronger future, we remain steadfastly committed to helping it defend its freedom today.
Pritzker, 64, served as secretary of the US commerce department under president Barack Obama from June 2013 to January 2017.
.@POTUS has appointed Penny Pritzker as the U.S. Special Representative for Ukraine’s Economic Recovery. She will work with Ukraine’s government, international partners, and the private sector to accelerate Ukraine's economic transformation. pic.twitter.com/uhTC8jgeZL
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) September 14, 2023
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The US has blacklisted five Turkish companies as part of sweeping new sanctions aiming to hamstring the Russian economy over its war on Ukraine, AFP reports.
Three Turkish firms were placed under sanctions for supplying Russian defence-related manufacturers, including UAV producers, with parts and technology equipment.
Another two Turkish firms, and the owner of one of them, were hit for providing ship repair services to vessels controlled by or involved with the Russian defence sector.
They were among more than 150 individuals, companies and institutions added to the US Treasury and state department blacklists for their alleged roles in supporting Russia’s nearly 19-month-old war against Ukraine.
Most of those named were Russian manufacturers, trading companies and institutes supporting the production of arms and other supplies for the Russian armed forces, and individuals who own or manage those entities.
Two Russian Tu-95MS strategic bombers have carried out a patrol over the neutral waters of the Barents and Norwegian seas, Russian news agencies reported on Thursday, citing the defence ministry.
According to the ministry, the patrol was planned and lasted about four hours, Reuters reports.
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Slovakia expels Russian diplomat – foreign ministry
Slovakia has expelled a diplomat based in Russia’s embassy, the Slovak foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday.
The ministry said:
The reason is his activities, which were in direct violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations, which were thoroughly documented by the competent authorities of the Slovak Republic.
It added that the Russian diplomat had 48 hours to leave the country, Reuters reports.
The ministry further said it had summoned the Russian ambassador and urged the embassy to conduct its activities in accordance with the Vienna convention.
Russia will give “an appropriate response” to the expulsion of one of its diplomats from Slovakia, state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Russian foreign ministry.
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Ukraine 'holds the initiative' as it makes progress in counteroffensive, senior military officer says
Britain’s most senior military officer, Sir Tony Radakin, said that Ukraine “continues to hold the initiative, it is pushing Russia back” in a short assessment of the current state of the fighting given at the DSEI arms fair in London.
Rejecting claims that Ukraine’s counteroffensive was struggling, he said “in the north they are holding and fixing Russian forces there and in the south they are making progress between 10 and 20km depending on how you judge it”.
Radakin, who is closely involved with advising Ukraine’s most senior commander Valerii Zaluzhnyi, said that Ukraine’s slow counteroffensive progress could not be measured by a predictable timetable.
“The idea that war is neat and tidy, and you can plan and predict it to the nth degree is nonsense”.
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Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said he expects the European Commission to “keep its word and lift all restrictions on Ukrainian agricultural exports tomorrow”.
Kuleba tweeted:
No form of continuing the ban is acceptable since it would undermine the single market, the Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, and trust in EU commitments.
Restrictions imposed by the EU in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere.
The restrictions, designed to ease excess supply, are due to expire on Friday.
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Ukraine’s prosecutor general said the international criminal court (ICC) had opened a field office in Kyiv, as part of efforts to hold Russian forces accountable for potential war crimes, AFP reports.
Kyiv has called for a special tribunal to be created to hold Moscow responsible for violations committed during its full-scale invasion, launched last February.
“Today marks a pivotal stride in our journey towards restoring justice,” Prosecutor Gen Andriy Kostin wrote on social media.
“The field office of the international criminal court has opened in Ukraine, the largest ICC office outside The Hague. Now our cooperation will be even more effective and efficient.”
The move comes after an international office to probe Russia for the war crime of aggression opened in The Hague in March in what Kyiv called a “historic” first step towards a tribunal for Moscow’s leadership.
“Unlike Russia’s criminal regime, Ukraine has nothing to hide,” Kostin said.
“Together with the entire civilised world, we are united by one goal – to ensure the aggressor is held accountable for all the crimes perpetrated,” he added.
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Ukraine said that any move by eastern European states to extend restrictions on Ukrainian food exports that are due to expire on Friday would be illegal and harm common economic interests, Reuters reports.
Restrictions imposed by the EU in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere.
Farmers in these eastern European countries have complained of a cereal glut sending domestic prices crashing and blamed it on cheap Ukrainian imports.
“We’re convinced that any decision … that will further restrict Ukrainian agricultural exports will not only be unjustified and unlawful,” foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko wrote on Facebook, but will also harm “the common economic interests” of Ukraine and EU member states.
Before Russia’s war in Ukraine, eastern European countries were not among the main importers of Ukrainian grain, but dynamics shifted after Russia enforced a de facto blockade of Ukraine’s main export route via the Black Sea.
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Ukraine’s foreign ministry said on Thursday that any decision by European states to extend import restrictions on Ukrainian food from 15 September would be illegal and harm common economic interests, Reuters reports.
Restrictions imposed by the European Union in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere.
The restrictions are due to expire on Friday. Several states, including Hungary, have indicated they will continue with the ban.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un exchanged rifles as gifts – Kremlin
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un gave each other rifles as presents, the Kremlin has said, after the two leaders held a high-profile summit in the far east of Russia.
Putin has sought to strengthen alliances with other hardline leaders ostracised by the west and met Kim amid speculation they would agree on an arms deal.
Putin “gave [Kim] a rifle from our production of the highest quality. In turn, he also received a North Korean-made rifle,” the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters.
Putin also gave Kim “a glove from a space suit that has been in space several times”, Peskov said, according to AFP.
Kim invited Putin to North Korea during their meeting in Russia and Putin accepted, Pyongyang’s state media KCNA reported on Thursday.
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Russia expels two US embassy staff
Russia has said it is expelling two US diplomats accused of working with a Russian national who is accused of collaborating with a foreign state.
Reuters reports:
The Russian foreign ministry said in a statement that it had summoned US envoy Lynne Tracy and told her that embassy first secretary Jeffrey Sillin and second secretary David Bernstein must leave Russia within seven days.“The named people conducted illegal activity, maintaining contact with Russian citizen R Shonov, accused of ‘confidential cooperation’ with a foreign state,” the ministry said.
Robert Shonov, a Russian national, was employed by the US Consulate General in the eastern Russian city of Vladivostok for more than 25 years until Russia in 2021 ordered the termination of the US mission’s local staff.
The United States in August accused Moscow of attempting to intimidate and harass US employees after Russian state media reported that Shonov had been charged by security services with collecting information on the war in Ukraine and other issues for Washington.
Russian state news agency Tass quoted the FSB security service as saying that Shonov relayed information to US embassy staff in Moscow on how Russia’s conscription campaign was impacting political discontent ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Russia.
The FSB had said it planned to question US embassy employees who were in contact with Shonov, who has been under arrest since May.
The foreign ministry on Thursday said Shonov had been paid to complete tasks aimed at damaging Russia’s national security and that any US embassy interference in its internal affairs would be suppressed.
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The Kremlin has said that Russian businessmen who voiced anti-Russian views in an effort to get personal western sanctions on them lifted were traitors ready to sell out their country.
The EU has just removed three Russian business leaders from its sanctions list, which it introduced to punish Moscow for its war in Ukraine, the EU’s official journal showed on Thursday.
However, personal sanctions for many others were extended, according to Reuters.
When asked to comment on the development, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters it was unlikely that Europe itself could explain the logic of the decision-making process behind the sanctions.
He said:
There are businessmen who slip into anti-Russian positions and who try to get sanctions taken off for 12 pieces of silver – they are traitors.
There are (also) entrepreneurs who systematically and methodically defend their interests in court – this is the right of any entrepreneur and we treat this with respect.
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Downing Street has said the former UK defence secretary Ben Wallace provided all the information to MPs after an incident last year involving a Russian pilot and an RAF plane.
The BBC reported this morning that a “rogue Russian pilot” tried to shoot down an RAF aircraft in 2022 (see earlier post at 08.20 for more details).
The prime minister’s official spokesperson said on Thursday:
The defence secretary set out the detail relating to misfire of a missile and I believe that’s correct. I think he provided the level of detail he was able to give to parliament at that stage.
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South Korea expresses 'concern and regret' over military cooperation talks between Kim and Putin
South Korea has expressed “deep concern and regret” over a meeting between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, which apparently focused on expanding military cooperation.
Lim Soo-suk, South Korea’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said:
We express our deep concern and regret that despite repeated warnings from the international community, North Korea and Russia discussed military cooperation issues, including satellite development, during their summit.
Any science and technology cooperation that contributes to nuclear weapons and missile development, including satellite systems that involve ballistic missile technologies, runs against UN security council resolutions.
US and South Korean officials have expressed concern that Kim could provide weapons and ammunition to Russia, which has expended vast stocks in more than 18 months of war in Ukraine. Moscow and Pyongyang have denied such intentions.
On Wednesday, Putin gave numerous hints that military cooperation was discussed at the summit between the two leaders, but disclosed few details. Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, attended the talks. The Kremlin said sensitive discussions between neighbours were a private matter.
Lim said Kim’s delegation in Russia included several people sanctioned by the security council over involvement in illicit North Korean weapons development activities, the Associated Press reports.
Lim said Moscow should realise there will be “very negative impacts” on its relations with Seoul if it proceeds with military cooperation with Pyongyang.
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Here are some of the latest images coming from the newswires:
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Vladimir Putin has “gratefully accepted” Kim Jong-un’s invitation to visit North Korea, the Kremlin said on Thursday, after the two men held a rare summit in the far east of Russia.
The summit has stoked US concerns that a revived Moscow-Pyongyang axis could bolster Russia’s military in Ukraine and provide the North Korean leader with sensitive missile technology.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters that Kim’s visit to Russia would continue for several days. The Kremlin said Putin has now returned to Moscow from the far east, where he showed Kim around Russia’s most modern space launch facility.
Peskov described the summit between the two leaders as “timely, useful and constructive”, and that Moscow would continue developing relations with Pyongyang.
He also confirmed that the Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, would visit North Korea in October, Reuters reports.
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Lukashenko and Putin to talk about 'regional issues' during meeting on Friday – reports
Alexander Lukashenko left Belarus on Thursday for an official visit to Russia, according to his press service.
Talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are scheduled for Friday and will cover “the international agenda and regional issues,” as well as economic issues like “joint efforts in import substitution”, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Belarus is one of Russia’s few remaining friends. Lukashenko allowed the Kremlin to invade Ukraine from its territory at the beginning of the war, which saw Moscow make a failed attempt to capture Kyiv.
Moscow also has deployed tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus which it retains control over, and has garrisoned thousands of Russian troops there.
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The EU has removed three Russian business leaders from its sanctions targeting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, the EU’s Official Journal showed on Thursday.
The EU removed Grigory Berezkin, the billionaire Farkhad Akhmedov, and Alexander Shulgin, a former head of the Russian e-commerce firm Ozon, Reuters reports.
The team of lawyers representing Berezkin and Shulgin said:
Whether this decision can be seen as a sign of a shift from total sanctions policy to a more discretionary one or whether that would be ‘wishful thinking’ is difficult to say at this stage.
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The US is to give Kyiv about £1bn as part of the World Bank’s Peace in Ukraine project, Sky News reports.
Ukraine’s finance ministry said the funds would be focused on helping vulnerable groups as well as those helping maintain key public services.
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Bulgaria lifts ban on Ukraine grain imports
Bulgaria decided on Thursday not to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports in five eastern EU nations that is set to expire this week, AFP reports.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has closed off Black Sea shipping routes used before the war, resulting in the EU becoming a major transit route and export destination for Ukrainian grain.
But in June, the EU agreed to restrict Ukrainian grain imports to five member states, seeking to protect their farmers who blamed the imports for a slump in prices on local markets.
The five member states are Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. The Polish government decided on Tuesday to extend the ban, which expires on Friday.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said on Thursday he was grateful to Bulgaria for not extending restrictions on Ukrainian grain exports from Friday.
“I thank [prime minister] Nikolai Denkov and his team, as well as Bulgarian parliamentarians who supported this move. Bulgaria sets an example of true solidarity,” Zelenskiy said on X, formerly known as Twitter.
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Thousands of food parcels for Ukrainian railway workers and their families have been paid for by UK train companies, PA media reports.
The industry body Rail Partners said its fundraising received nearly £106,000 in donations to support the scheme. This means 7,056 food parcels will be delivered to Ukrainian railway employees and their loved ones through the Global Ukraine Rail Task Force.
The country’s rail network has been under huge pressure since Russia’s full-scale invasion in February last year. It helped coordinate the mass evacuation of people in the early stages of the war and has suffered major infrastructure damage from bombings.
The sector has also been forced to deal with the loss of workers who have gone to fight on the frontline, and the reduction in revenue from freight and passenger usage.
Each food package costs about £15 and consists of staples, such as flour, rice, pasta and tinned fish and meat, all sourced in Ukraine. They have been funded by the private sector members of Rail Partners, such as Arriva and FirstGroup.
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Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine claims to have destroyed a Russian air defence system near the town of Yevpatoriya in occupied Crimea in an overnight drone and missile attack which was conducted by the security service of Ukraine and the navy on Thursday morning. The claim was made to Reuters by a Ukrainian intelligence source.
The Ukrainian source told Reuters drones blinded a Russian Triumf air defence system by attacking its radar and antenna. The navy then fired two Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missiles at the system’s launch complexes, the source said. The Neptune anti-ship missile has been modified to attack ground targets, military analysts say.
Ukraine’s air force has claimed that it downed 17 out of 22 drones sent over its territory by Russia overnight.
The Russian military claimed to destroy Ukrainian five drone boats that were trying to attack a patrol ship in the Black Sea early on Thursday, Russian official media reported, citing the defence ministry. The ministry said the unmanned boats were “destroyed by fire from the ship’s standard weapons” while repelling the attack on the Sergei Kotov about 5am.
A six-year-old boy was killed and four more people were injured by Russian shelling in the village of Novodmytrivka, which is located in Kherson region.
Roman Starovoyt, the governor of the Russian region of Kursk, has reported that one person has been killed by Ukrainian cross-border shelling on the village of Tyotkino.
The Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is travelling to Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday.
That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later on. Yohannes Lowe will be with you for the next few hours.
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South Korea’s national security council has urged North Korea and Russia to fulfil their duty not to trade weapons, Reuters reports, citing the Yonhap news agency.
Reuters is carrying a little more detail about Ukraine’s earlier claim to have destroyed a Russian air defence system near the town of Yevpatoriya in Crimea, which Russia unilaterally annexed in 2014. [See 8.55 BST]
The Ukrainian source told Reuters drones blinded a Russian Triumf air defence system by attacking its radar and antenna. The navy then fired two Ukrainian-made Neptune cruise missiles at the system’s launch complexes, the source said.
The Neptune anti-ship missile has been modified to attack ground targets, military analysts say.
Updated
Roman Starovoyt, the governor of the Russian region of Kursk, has reported on his Telegram channel that one person has been killed by Ukrainian cross-border shelling on the village of Tyotkino.
Updated
The Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko is travelling to Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin on Friday, Reuters reports, citing the Belarusian state news agency Belta.
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Ukraine claims to have destroyed a Russian air defence system in Crimea
Ukraine claims to have destroyed a Russian air defence system near the town of Yevpatoriya in occupied Crimea in an overnight drone and missile attack which was conducted by the security service of Ukraine and the navy on Thursday morning.
Reuters reports the claim was made to it by a Ukrainian intelligence source.
Russia earlier said its air defences had shot down 11 attack drones overnight over Crimea, which Russia unilaterally declared it had annexed in 2014.
Ukrainian sources on social media had been sharing an unverified clip of a large explosion purporting to be in the area.
Video of a powerful explosion near the Crimean town of Yevpatoria
— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) September 14, 2023
Telegram channels publish video and photos of a large column of smoke from an explosion near Yevpatoria in Crimea, which has been occupied by Russia.
The column of smoke is illuminated with a glow, probably from… pic.twitter.com/24ieRZBqj6
On its Telegram channel for the occupied region of Crimea, Suspilne had reported that “Yevpatoria residents do not understand what is happening. The occupation authorities do not explain and ambulances and the police are driving around the city.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
The BBC is reporting this morning that what it calls a “rogue Russian pilot” tried to shoot down an RAF aircraft in 2022. It claims sources have shed new light on an incident that had already caused some controversy.
In October 2022 the then UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, revealed that a Russian fighter jet “released a missile” in the vicinity of a British aircraft in international airspace over the Black Sea because of a technical malfunction.
He told the House of Commons the incident occurred on 29 September 2022 in “international airspace”, adding that an “unarmed RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint” plane was “interacted with” by two Russian SU-27s, one of which “released a missile in the vicinity of the RAF Rivet Joint beyond visual range”.
Wallace told the Commons that Russia had blamed the missile release on a “technical malfunction”.
“In light of this potentially dangerous engagement,” he said, “I have communicated my concerns directly to my Russian counterpart, defence minister [Sergei] Shoigu, and the chief of defence staff in Moscow.”
However, BBC defence correspondent Jonathan Beale now writes:
Three senior western defence sources with knowledge of the incident have told the BBC that Russian communications intercepted by the RAF RC-135 Rivet Joint aircraft give a very different account from the official version.
The intercepted communications show that one of the Russian pilots thought he had been given permission to target the British aircraft, following an ambiguous command from a Russian ground station.
One western source told the BBC the words they received were to the effect of “you have the target”.
This ambiguous language was interpreted by one of the Russian pilots as permission to fire.
The loose language appears to have shown a high degree of unprofessionalism by those involved, sources said. In contrast, Nato pilots use very precise language when asking for and receiving permission to fire.
The pilot of the second SU-27 did not think they had been given permission to fire. He is said to have sworn at his comrade, effectively asking him what he thought he was doing.
The official version of events was questioned in April, when the senior Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood accused Wallace of concealing a potential Russian “act of war” during an emergency debate in the Commons. A leak of hundreds of top secret Pentagon documents had described the incident as a “near-shoot down”.
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Roman Starovoyt, the governor of Russia’s Kursk region, has reported that the water supply to the village of Gordeevka has been disrupted after cross-border shelling by Ukrainian forces. Tass reports there were no casualties.
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Six-year-old boy killed by Russian shelling in Kherson region – reports
Suspilne reports that a six-year-old boy was killed and four more people were injured by Russian shelling in the village of Novodmytrivka, which is located in Kherson region. It cited the local prosecutors office.
Drone debris is also reported to have partially destroyed a house near Nikopol region in the Dnipropetrovsk region.
Russian anti-aircraft units downed Ukrainian drones overnight in two regions of southern Russia, the Russian military and media reported on Thursday.
Reuters reports that Russian news agencies, quoting local officials and the defence ministry, said five drones had been downed over the Bryansk region and one over the Belgorod region.
No casualties or damage were reported.
Both regions border Ukraine.
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Ukraine air force claims it downed 17 drones overnight
Ukraine’s air force has claimed on the Telegram messaging service that it downed 17 out of 22 drones sent over its territory by Russia overnight.
Reuters reports it posted: “On the night of 14 September, between 9pm to 2.30am, the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with several groups of Shahed-136/131 types from three directions.”
This is Martin Belam with you now on the live blog from London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
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Traffic stopped on Crimean bridge
Vehicle traffic has been suspended on the bridge that connects the Crimea peninsula to mainland Russia, state media has reported.
No reasons were given for the move, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday.
A message on bridge operations on the messaging app Telegram said:
Those on the bridge and in the inspection area are asked to remain calm and follow the instructions of transport security officers.
The 19km (12-mile) Crimean bridge, also known as the Kerch bridge, has been attacked repeatedly during the war.
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Russian drones struck the Danube river port of Izmail in southern Ukraine, the region’s governor has said, as Moscow continued to pound Kyiv’s vital export routes.
Agence France-Presse reports that the Ukrainian military claimed 32 drones were downed during Wednesday’s attack, which the Odesa region governor said injured several people and caused a fire.
Oleg Kiper said on social media:
A total of seven civilians were injured as a result of Russian attack drones in the Izmail district. Six people in Reni and one in Izmail. Damage to port and other civil infrastructure was recorded.
Since pulling out of a UN-brokered deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s grain-exporting infrastructure in the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.
Izmail, on the border with Nato member Romania, has become a major export route for Ukrainian agricultural products since Russia’s withdrawal from the grain deal in July.
Five Ukrainian boats attacking ship destroyed, says Moscow
The Russian military destroyed Ukrainian five drone boats that were trying to attack a patrol ship in the Black Sea early on Thursday, Russian official media reported, citing the defence ministry.
The ministry said the unmanned boats were “destroyed by fire from the ship’s standard weapons” while repelling the attack on the Sergei Kotov about 5am.
On Wednesday the Russian military destroyed three Ukrainian unmanned boats in the Black Sea, it said.
Boris Johnson blasts UK for 'dragging feet' on Ukraine
Boris Johnson has attacked the UK government over its policy on Ukraine, saying it should urgently provide more weaponry requested by Kyiv and asking the west: “What the hell are we waiting for?”
The former prime minister, who formed a close relationship with Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskiy after the outbreak of the war with Russia, called on the UK to provide howitzers, Storm Shadow cruise missiles and “as much help as we can give them with drone technology”.
Writing for the Spectator magazine, which he used to edit, Johnson said it could be a “relatively trivial outlay for extraordinary potential reward” if western nations were to provide more military support. He called for a “far greater sense of urgency about our programme of military assistance”.
He wrote:
I have asked it before and I ask it again: what the hell are we waiting for?
Johnson said Ukrainians did not want warm words but “weaponry to finish the job – and so I simply do not understand why we keep dragging our feet”.
Read the full story by Rowena Mason here:
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our rolling coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a rundown on the latest key developments.
Five Ukrainian sea drones attacked a Russian navy ship in the Black Sea on Thursday and were destroyed, Russia’s defence ministry said.
It also said Russian air defences had destroyed 11 hostile drones over Crimea, the official RIA news agency reported.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has blasted the UK government over its policy on Ukraine, saying it should urgently provide more weaponry requested by Kyiv and asking the west: “What the hell are we waiting for?”
The former prime minister called on the UK to provide howitzers, Storm Shadow cruise missiles and “as much help as we can give them with drone technology”. He also called for a “far greater sense of urgency about our program of military assistance”.
More on both those stories shortly. In other news:
Ukraine struck Russian naval targets and port infrastructure in the Crimean city of Sevastopol early on Wednesday in what appeared to be the biggest attack yet on the home of the Russian navy’s Black Sea fleet. A large vessel and a submarine struck in the pre-dawn attack were so badly damaged as to be likely beyond repair, Ukrainian military intelligence official Andriy Yusov said. Russia’s defence ministry said Ukraine attacked a Black Sea shipyard with 10 cruise missiles and three uncrewed speedboats, wounding 24 people.
Kim Jong-un invited Vladimir Putin to his country during their meeting in Russia and Putin accepted, Pyongyang’s state media KCNA reported on Thursday. The invitation came after the North Korean leader offered the Russian president his support for Russia’s “sacred fight” against the west during talks at a space base in Russia’s far east. The talks also touched on possible Russian help with North Korea’s space program.
The US state department said the Biden administration “won’t hesitate” to impose additional sanctions on Russia and North Korea if they establish further new arms deals.
Romania has found new fragments of a drone similar to those used by the Russian army near its border, officials say. Romanian specialist teams were deployed to the eastern county of Tulcea, where the fragments were spread over an area of “several dozen metres”, the defence ministry said. Preliminary analyses of the first two drone fragments had shown they did not explode in Romania, a Nato member, and were not carrying explosives.
The US ambassador to Russia has visited jailed US citizen Paul Whelan and reiterated Washington’s support to bring him back to the US, the state department said on Wednesday. Whelan, a former marine, was arrested in 2018 in Russia, convicted in 2020 on espionage charges and sentenced to 16 years in prison.
A Russian-installed court in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region jailed two Ukrainian soldiers for 29 years each, Russia’s investigative committee has said, after it accused them of killing three civilians. Moscow has repeatedly sentenced captured Ukrainian soldiers to long jail terms, in court proceedings that Kyiv does not recognise on Russian-occupied territory.
Russia’s defence minister said his forces were maintaining “active defence” in the face of Ukraine’s counteroffensive and that Moscow had no choice but to win. Sergei Shoigu said the autumn campaign was now under way and acknowledged to Rossiya-1 state TV that the situation on the front was difficult in places.
More than 100 port infrastructure facilities have been damaged in Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports since 18 July, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister has said. Oleksandr Kubrakov also said Ukrainian grain exports had fallen by almost 3m tonnes a month since 18 July, a day after Russia quit the UN- backed Black Sea grain export deal.
The European Commission president has said a major series of policy reviews will launched to ensure the 27-nation bloc can still function properly as it invites in new members in coming years. Ursula von der Leyen said the EU must prepare to grow to more than 30 members. Ukraine, Moldova and countries in the western Balkans are among those in line.
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