A civilian cargo ship sailing from Ukraine reached Istanbul on Thursday in defiance of a Moscow blockade that saw another ship come under attack from Russian military personnel. Earlier in the day, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said his country would need weapons from the West "until we have won" the war against Russia. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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9:51pm: Ukraine port ship reaches Istanbul
The civilian cargo ship that left the Ukrainian port of Odesa reached Istanbul late Thursday, marine traffic sites showed.
The Hong Kong-flagged ship had left Ukraine on Wednesday, in defiance of a Moscow blockade.
9:43pm: China’s defence minister visits Russian ally Belarus, promises to boost military cooperation
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu visited Belarus on Thursday and said his country would increase military cooperation with Russia’s neighbour and ally, where Moscow is deploying tactical nuclear weapons.
Shangfu met with President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk and said “the purpose of my visit to Belarus is precisely the implementation of important agreements at the level of heads of state and the further strengthening of bilateral military cooperation.”
Neither side gave details of what the cooperation will entail, but the two countries have agreed to hold joint military exercises next year.
Li visited Russia just before going to Belarus.
Russian troops that were deployed in Belarus were part of Russia’s invading force in Ukraine and Russian troops and weapons remain there.
Belarusian forces have not taken part in the Ukraine war and Lukashenko on Thursday said China’s military assistance would not be directed against third countries. Lukashenko has previously said Belarus has taken delivery of Russian nuclear weapons and on Thursday he said they could only be used by Belarus if the country was under threat.
9:01pm: Slovakian military chief visits Ukrainian front line, say military sources
Slovakia’s army chief of general staff has visited the front line in southern Ukraine, in a rare official visit from a high-ranking NATO officer, Ukrainian military sources said Thursday.
The Ukrainian army’s general staff said General Daniel Zmeko met with the Tavria operational-strategic group serving on the front to the south of Zaporizhzhia.
Zmeko said in a Facebook post that the Ukrainians had thanked Slovakia for providing “material and technical assistance” to Kyiv.
Ukrainian military photographs showed Zmeko talking with troops outside an arms hangar.
7:48pm: Turkey says it ‘warned’ Russia after Black Sea ship attack
Turkey warned Moscow to avoid further escalations after a Turkish-owned cargo vessel was attacked by the Russian navy last weekend, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s office said Thursday.
“After the (Russian) intervention, our interlocutors in the Russian Federation were warned appropriately to avoid such attempts, which escalate tensions in the Black Sea,” the Turkish presidency said, breaking a days-long silence over the incident.
6:52: Cargo ship from Ukraine reaches Turkey
A civilian cargo vessel sailing from Ukraine reached Turkish waters on Thursday after moving along a western route that avoided international waters in favour of those controlled by NATO members Romania and Bulgaria.
The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte left the port of Odesa on Wednesday – the first vessel to directly challenge Russia’s bid to block Ukraine's ability to export via the Black Sea.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the ship was using a “new humanitarian corridor” that Kyiv established after Russia last month scuppered an agreement that had allowed Ukraine to export grain and foodstuffs.
The Joseph Schulte’s mission came days after the Russian navy fired warning shots and boarded a small Turkish-crewed cargo ship that was travelling to the Ukrainian port of Izmail.
Russia has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian Black Sea and Danube River port infrastructure since pulling out of the UN and Turkey-mediated grain deal.
6:25pm: Only Ukraine can decide peace terms with Russia, NATO chief says
Only Ukraine can decide the terms of a possible peace negotiation with Russia, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday, reiterating the Alliance’s position after controversial remarks by his chief of staff.
“It’s up to Ukrainians, and Ukrainians alone, to decide when the conditions for negotiations are in place, and to decide at the negotiating table – in the event of eventual negotiations – what an acceptable solution is,” he said. “Our job is to support them.”
Earlier this week, Stian Jenssen, Stoltenberg's chief of staff, came under fire for suggesting that one solution to the conflict could be that Ukraine be granted NATO membership in exchange for ceding some of its territory to Russia.
Jenssen later walked back his remarks.
“NATO’s policy is unchanged,” Stoltenberg said. “We support Ukraine in its internationally recognised borders... (its) sovereignty, and (its) territorial integrity.”
5:45pm: Ukraine receives new air defence systems from Berlin
Ukraine has received new IRIS-T anti-aircraft systems from Germany, Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s presidential office, said Thursday.
“Many thanks to our partners for IRIS-T. Our sky will be more protected,” Yermak wrote in a post on social media.
Ukraine bolstered its air defence systems with Western help after being pummelled by waves of Russian cruises missiles and attack drones in the early stages of Moscow’s invasion.
There are now fewer successful strikes on the capital Kyiv but Moscow has mounted increasing aerial attacks on cities in the south and west of the country.
2:22pm: Kyiv says Russian shelling kills woman, Moscow claims gains
Ukraine said Thursday that Russian shelling in the northern region of Kharkiv had killed an elderly woman, while Moscow announced its forces had taken up improved positions along the front line.
The Russian military has said over recent days it is advancing towards Kupiansk, a frontline town that Ukrainian forces captured back from Moscow's army last year.
The head of the region Oleg Synegubov said that Russian forces had shelled Zaoskillya, a suburb just east of Kupiansk, killing a woman born in 1962.
"Another woman, born in 1963, suffered shrapnel wounds. Medics provided assistance to the injured on the spot," he wrote on social media.
1:50pm: Ship from Ukraine port nears Turkey despite Russian blockade
A civilian cargo vessel sailing from Ukraine in defiance of a Russian blockade was hugging the coast of Bulgaria on Thursday on its way to Turkey, marine traffic monitors said.
The Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte left the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Wednesday morning – the first vessel to sail since Russia attacked another ship in the Black Sea over the weekend.
A German company that co-owns the container vessel said it would "probably" reach its destination in Istanbul later Thursday.
1:24pm: Russia-installed court jails three Ukrainian soldiers
A Russia-installed court in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region has jailed three Ukrainian soldiers, Russia's Investigative Committee said Thursday, accusing them of a range of crimes including murder.
The verdicts came a day after the same court sentenced three other Ukrainian soldiers, all of whom were charged with inflicting "cruel treatment on the civilian population".
The soldiers named on Thursday all fought in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was captured by Russian forces last May after a devastating, three-month-long siege that left the city in ruins.
Russia's Investigative Committee identified the three accused as Ukrainian marines "Vladimir Pafitsevich" and "Yevgeny Vakhnenko", as well a serviceman named as "Yegor Kuranov".
The court alleged that Pafitsevich and Vakhnenko killed an unarmed 44-year-old civilian during the siege of Mariupol, while Kuranov was charged with multiple crimes dating back to 2018 – when Ukraine was battling Russian-backed separatists in the region.
Russia now claims Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region as its own, along with the regions of Lugansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, which it claimed to annex after a formal ceremony last September.
1:04pm: Russia fines Google $32,000 for videos about the conflict in Ukraine
A Russian court on Thursday imposed a 3-million-ruble ($32,000) fine on Google for failing to delete allegedly false information about the conflict in Ukraine.
The move by a magistrate's court follows similar actions in early August against Apple and the Wikimedia Foundation that hosts Wikipedia.
According to Russian news reports, the court found that the YouTube video service, which is owned by Google, was guilty of not deleting videos with incorrect information about the conflict – which Russia characterizes as a “special military operation”.
Google was also found guilty of not removing videos that suggested ways of gaining entry to facilities which are not open to minors, news agencies said, without specifying what kind of facilities were involved.
In Russia, a magistrate’s court typically handles administrative violations and low-level criminal cases.
Since sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has enacted an array of measures to punish any criticism or questioning of the military campaign.
Some critics have received severe punishments. Opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza was sentenced this year to 25 years in prison for treason stemming from speeches he made against Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
10:32am: Ukraine says ‘long-term work’ needed to deepen ties with African countries
Kyiv intends to invest significant political capital to deepen ties with African countries to counter Moscow's influence on the continent, Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP in an interview on Wednesday.
"We are starting from scratch in Africa. This continent needs systematic and long-term work. It's not something that happens overnight," he said, while comparing the push to a diplomatic "counteroffensive" against Russian efforts to cement ties with African leaders.
10:27am: Kyiv ‘not feeling’ pressure from West to speed up counteroffensive, Kuleba says
Ukraine is not under pressure from its Western allies to speed up its counteroffensive against entrenched Russian positions, despite growing consternation over the pace of gains posted by Kyiv's forces, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP.
"We're not feeling this," Kuleba said during an interview in Kyiv on Wednesday, in which he acknowledged "an increase in the voices of commentators and experts in the public space" discussing the pace of Ukraine's frontline gains in the east and south of the country.
10:03am: Ukraine will need Western arms until its forces have retaken all occupied territory, FM says
Ukraine will need a steady supply of Western arms and ammunition until its military has routed Russian forces from all occupied Ukrainian territory, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP this week.
"The truth is that until we have won, we need more, we need to move forward, because war is a reality, and in this reality, we need to win. There is no other way," he said.
"Our goal is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories within (Ukraine's) borders of 1991. And we don't care how long it takes," Kuleba said during an interview on Wednesday.
"As long as the Ukrainian people share this goal, the Ukrainian government will move hand in hand with its own people."
9:20am: Container ship departs Ukraine's Odesa despite threat from Russian navy, mines
The container ship Joseph Schulte departed Ukraine's Odesa on Wednesday despite the threat from Russia's navy and mines in the Black Sea. Today, images have emerged of the liberated Donetsk village of Urozhaine, which Kyiv said its forces recaptured. FRANCE 24's Emmanuel Chaze reports from Kyiv.
9:03am: Container ship that left Ukraine’s Odesa set to reach Istanbul tonight, says co-owner
The Joseph Schulte container ship is in Romanian waters and set to reach Istanbul this evening, said a spokesperson for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement, which owns the ship jointly with a Chinese bank, on Thursday.
The Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte had on Wednesday departed from Odesa, where it had been trapped since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 last year.
Ukraine said the ship was using what it has described as a new temporary corridor in the Black Sea for merchant ships to and from its ports, which are blockaded by Russia.
Moscow had not indicated whether it would respect the corridor, and shipping and insurance sources had expressed concerns about safety.
8:56am: Russia thwarted Ukrainian drone attack over Russian territory, RIA reports
Russia's defence ministry on Thursday said its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory, the RIA news agency reported.
Interfax said a drone had been downed over Russia's southern Belgorod region, citing the defence ministry.
8:44am: US sanctions entities tied to Russia-North Korea arms deals
The United States on Wednesday sanctioned three entities accused of seeking to facilitate arms deals between North Korea and Russia as Washington tightened its restrictions on support for Moscow's war in Ukraine.
The US Treasury Department said in a statement that Russia was continuing to use up munitions and lose heavy equipment in Ukraine, forcing it to turn to its small pool of allies, including North Korea, for support.
The department said it had "imposed sanctions on three entities tied to a sanctions evasion network attempting to support arms deals between Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".
The entities targeted are Limited Liability Company Verus, Defence Engineering Limited Liability Partnership and Versor S.R.O.
"The United States continues to root out illicit financial networks that seek to channel support from North Korea to Russia's war machine," Brian Nelson, the Treasury's under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said in the statement.
8:26am: EU transfers €135 million allocated for Russia, Belarus programmes to Ukraine and Moldova effort
The EU transferred €135 million initially allocated for programmes with Russia and Belarus towards strengthening the cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova, it said in a statement on Wednesday afternoon.
"The decision ... is the result of the brutal war of Russia against Ukraine", EU Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms Elisa Ferreira said.
The EU also decided that regions in Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Poland that were supposed to participate in cooperation programmes with Russia and Belarus may participate in other existing programmes.
8:15am: Ukrainian forces claim success on its southeastern front
Ukrainian forces on Thursday claimed success on the southeastern front, where Kyiv’s deputy defence minister said they had liberated the Donetsk region village of Urozhaine.
"In the direction south of Urozhaine they (Ukrainian troops) had success," military spokesman Andriy Kovaliov told national television. He gave no more details.
Ukraine's forces had entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the village from Russian forces, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said in a social media post earlier this week.
Urozhaine, on the edge of Donetsk region, is the first village Kyiv said it has retaken since July 27, a sign of the challenge Ukraine faces advancing through heavily mined Russian defensive lines without powerful air support.
12:51am: Ukraine will not be able to operate F-16s this year, says its air force
Ukraine will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this coming autumn and winter, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday.
"It's already obvious we won't be able to defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during this autumn and winter," Ihnat told a joint telethon broadcast by Ukrainian channels.
Ukraine has repeatedly called its Western allies to supply the country with F-16s, which President Volodymyr Zelensky said would be a signal that Russia's invasion would end in defeat.
US President Joe Biden endorsed training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in May but no timing for the supply of the jets has been given so far.
Key developments from Wednesday, August 16:
Ukraine says a container ship left the Black Sea port of Odesa using what it has described as a new temporary corridor for merchant ships to and from its ports, which are blockaded by Russia.
Kyiv last week announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports since the start of Russia's invasion in February 2022.
Russian air strikes on southern Ukraine overnight damaged grain silos and warehouses at one of the Danube river ports, a key facility for grain shipments, the governor of the Odesa region said.
"Russian terrorists attacked Odesa region twice last night with attack drones," Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app. "The main target is port and grain infrastructure in the south of the region."
The presidential office said in a separate statement that there were no casualties.
Read yesterday's liveblog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
