Two cargo ships arrived on Saturday at one of Ukraine's ports in the southern Odesa region, the Ukrainian Sea Ports authority said in a statement. The Palau-flagged carriers are the first civilian cargo ships to reach an Odesa port since Russia withdrew from a wartime deal designed to ensure safe Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
02:15am: China's foreign minister to visit Russia Sept 18-21, says Chinese foreign ministry
China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit Russia on Sept. 18 to 21 for the China-Russia strategic security consultations, his foreign ministry said, the latest in a series of high-level visits and phone calls between the two sides.
01:05am: North Korea's Kim heads home after final stop in Russia's Vladivostok
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un was headed home after making a final stop in Russia's far eastern city of Vladivostok, where he visited a university, an aquarium and an animal food plant, state media KCNA reported on Monday.
Kim spent two days in Vladivostok while inspecting various facilities in the fields of military, economy, science, education and culture, before bidding farewell at a send-off ceremony at the Artyom station, KCNA said.
It wrapped up Kim's unusually lengthy, week-long trip to Russia, during which he pledged to step up military and economic cooperation with President Vladimir Putin.
8:08pm: Russian forces downed Ukrainian drones over Crimea, defence ministry says
Russia's defence ministry said its forces downed three Ukrainian drones over southwestern Crimea on Sunday evening.
The ministry said air defence systems destroyed one drone at about 9:30pm Moscow time, an hour after it said its forces downed another two Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles in the same area.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of Sevastopol, the largest city in Crimea and a major Black Sea port, said debris from the downed third drone fell over farmland and no damage was done.
He also said that if anyone saw smoke in the South Bay area, the Black Sea Fleet reported this was due to "standard aerosol camouflage." He said all was calm in the city and that despite the unpleasant smell from the camouflage, it was safe.
7:13pm: Ukraine claims control of key town on eastern front
Ukraine said Sunday that its forces had retaken Klishchiivka, a tactically important town south of the key frontline city of Bakhmut, as it pursues a counter-attack against Russia's grinding offensive against the country.
Battlefield victories are especially important for Ukraine as President Volodymyr Zelensky prepares his second wartime visit to Washington next week in a bid to rally support.
"Klishchiivka was cleared of Russians," Oleksandr Syrsky, commander of the Ukrainian military's ground forces, posted on social media.
Zelensky praised the soldiers fighting near Bakhmut and singled out those who had retaken Klishchiivka, saying "Well done!" in his evening address to the nation.
Zelensky also said that Kyiv was "preparing new defence solutions for Ukraine", saying that "air defence and artillery are the priority", without providing details.
3:11pm: Two cargo ships arrive in Odesa port, the first since Russia left Black Sea grain deal
Two cargo ships arrived in one of Ukraine's ports over the weekend, using a temporary Black Sea corridor established by Kyiv following Russia's withdrawal from an agreement meant to ensure safe grain exports from the invaded country’s ports.
Two Palau-flagged bulk carriers, Aroyat and Resilient Africa, docked Saturday at the sea port of Chornomorsk in the southern Odesa region, according to an online statement by the Ukrainian Sea Ports Authority. The vessels are the first civilian cargo ships to reach one of the Odesa ports since Russia exited the agreement.
Oleksandr Kubrakov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said in an online statement Saturday that the two ships will be delivering some 20,000 tonnes of wheat to countries in Africa and Asia.
2:53pm: Ukraine farm worker in killed in Kherson region after tractor hits mine
One farm worker died and another was injured on Sunday in Ukraine's southern Kherson region after their tractor hit a mine while ploughing a field, Kherson Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
Liberated after a long Russian occupation, the Kherson region is heavily mined and farmers risk their lives trying to work in fields that have not yet been cleared of mines.
"I'm once again appealing to the residents of the region. Do not start any work until the fields have been inspected by sappers. Take care of your safety," Prokudin said on the Telegram messaging app.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmygal earlier this year said that Russia's invasion of Ukraine had created the world's largest minefield with an area of 250,000 square kilometres (96,525 square miles).
1:32pm: Russia says it hit armoured vehicle repair plant in Ukraine's Kharkiv
Russia has carried out a missile strike on a plant in the northeast Ukrainian city of Kharkiv where armoured vehicles for Ukraine's military are repaired, the Russian defence ministry said on Sunday.
The ministry did not say when the strike had taken place or provide any other details.
Regional Governor Oleh Synehubov, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said on Sunday that Russia had hit the building of a "civilian enterprise" in Kharkiv with four S300 missiles.
The Kharkiv regional administration did not immediately respond to a request from Reuters for comment.
Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, had a population of more than 1.4 million before Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Parts of the city lie less than 32 kilometres from the Russian border.
Its northern suburbs were scarred by fighting earlier in the conflict.
12:29pm: International Court of Justice to hear Russian objections to Ukraine 'genocide' case
Russia and Ukraine will square off before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday in a case that centres around claims by Moscow that its invasion of Ukraine was done to prevent genocide.
Ukraine brought the case to the United Nations' highest court just days after the Russian invasion on February 24 last year. Kyiv argues Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine.
Russian officials continue to accuse Ukraine of committing genocide.
Russia wants the case to be thrown out and objects to the jurisdiction of the ICJ. The hearings, set to run until September 27, will not delve into the merits of the case and are instead focused on legal arguments about jurisdiction.
Moscow says Ukraine is using the case as a roundabout way to get a ruling on the overall legality of its military action.
Ukraine already cleared one hurdle when the court decided in its favour in a preliminary decision in the case in March 2022. Based on that, the court ordered Russia to cease military actions in Ukraine immediately.
11:18am: North Korea's Kim Jong-un wraps up Russia trip
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un left Russia on Sunday, ending a visit affirming close ties with President Vladimir Putin and fuelling Western fears that Pyongyang might provide Moscow with arms for its war in Ukraine.
Kim's extended tour of Russia's far eastern region, which began Tuesday, focused extensively on military matters, with his own entourage dominated by officers, a symbolic exchange of rifles with Putin and a tour of a fighter jet factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur.
The Russian state-owned Ria Novosti agency published a video on Sunday of Kim's departure, and said a "departure ceremony" was held at the Artyom-Primorsky-1 station.
Footage shows Kim waving goodbye from his train to a Russian delegation led by Natural Resources Minister Alexander Kozlov, before the Russian march "Farewell of Slavianka" is played as the train departs.
10:02am: North Korea's Kim given gift of drones on Russia trip
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un received five explosive drones, a reconnaissance drone and a bulletproof vest as gifts from a regional governor on his visit to Russia, the official TASS news agency said Sunday.
Kim's first official visit abroad since the coronavirus pandemic has fanned Western fears that Moscow and Pyongyang will defy sanctions and strike an arms deal.
Moscow is believed to be interested in buying North Korean ammunition to continue fighting in Ukraine, while Pyongyang wants Russia's help to develop its internationally condemned missile programme.
The Kremlin has said no agreement has or will be signed.
TASS said the "leader of the DPRK received five kamikaze drones and a 'Geran-25' reconnaissance drone with vertical takeoff", using the official name of North Korea.
TASS said the governor of the Primorye region, which borders China and North Korea, also "offered Kim Jong-un a set of bulletproof protection" and "special clothing not detectable by thermal cameras".
8:00am: Russian missiles hit agriculture facility in Odesa, Ukraine's air force says
Russia launched a combined drone and missile attack on Ukraine early on Sunday, targeting chiefly the southern parts of the Odesa region and hitting an agriculture facility there, Ukraine's air force said on the Telegram messaging app.
Russia launched six Iranian-made Shahed drones and 10 cruise missiles, with Ukraine's forces destroying six drones and six missiles before they hit their target, the air force said.
"Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units, mobile fire groups and other means of attack were involved in repelling the air attack," the air force said.
The extent of the damage was not immediately known and it was not clear what facility was hit. The air force said only that emergency services were on the site.
FRANCE 24 could not independently verify the report and there was no immediate comment from Russia.
The entire territory of Ukraine was under air-raid alerts for several hours.
6:08am: Ukrainian drone damages oil depot in southwestern Russia, governor says
A Ukrainian drone damaged an oil depot in southwestern Russia early on Sunday, sparking a fire at a fuel tank that was later extinguished, the regional governor said.
"There are no casualties, all emergency services are working on the territory of the facility," the governor of the Oryol region, Andrei Klychkov, said on the Telegram messaging app.
FRANCE 24 could not independently verify the report, which did not specify whether the depot was hit by debris or targeted by the drone.
3:26am: Russian-installed official says at least five civilians killed from Ukrainian shelling in Donetsk
Five civilians were killed and one wounded as a result of intense Ukrainian shelling of the Donetsk region on Saturday, said a Russian-installed official in that eastern region of Ukraine.
The five were killed in the Kirov and Kuibyshevskyi districts and a woman was injured in Svetlodarsk, the Russian-appointed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
FRANCE 24 could not independently verify the information out of Donetsk, which along with some other parts of eastern Ukraine has been partly controlled by Russian-backed separatists since 2014.
There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.
2:55am: Russia says seven Ukrainian drones were destroyed over Moscow, Crimea
Russia shot down one Ukrainian drone over the outskirts of Moscow and six more over the Moscow-annexed Crimean peninsula on Sunday, according to the ministry of defence.
At around 1:45am (2245 GMT on Saturday), one drone was intercepted over Moscow's Istrinsky district, the defence ministry said in a Telegram post.
"According to preliminary data, there was no damage or casualties at the site where the debris fell," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin wrote in a separate Telegram post. "Emergency services specialists are working at the scene."
Two Ukrainian drones were also destroyed at 1:15am over the west coast of Crimea, with another four drones detected and destroyed over the peninsula between 1:45 and 2:20am, according to the ministry.
Since Ukraine launched its counteroffensive in early June, Russia has weathered waves of drone attacks that have sporadically damaged buildings, including in Moscow.
Russian officials have downplayed the significance of the attacks.
1:15am: "There is no doubt that Ukraine will eventually be in NATO," says Stoltenberg
"There is no doubt that Ukraine will eventually be in NATO," said NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg during an interview on Sunday with Germany's Funke media group.
Kyiv had "moved closer to NATO" at a summit of the alliance in July, he said.
"When this war ends, we need security guarantees for Ukraine. Otherwise, history could repeat itself," he added.
At the July summit in Vilnius, NATO leaders agreed that Ukraine could join the alliance once certain conditions were met, and US and German officials made it clear that these would include Kyiv carrying out reforms to protect democracy and the rule of law.
Read moreStoltenberg 'confident Ukraine will move closer to NATO' at Vilnius summit
1:01am: "We must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine," says NATO chief Stoltenberg
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg has warned that there will not be a swift end to the war in Ukraine, in an interview published Sunday, as Kyiv pushes on with its counteroffensive against Russian forces.
"Most wars last longer than expected when they first begin," Stoltenberg said in an interview with Germany's Funke media group. "Therefore we must prepare ourselves for a long war in Ukraine."
"We are all wishing for a quick peace," said Stoltenberg.
"But at the same time we must recognise: if President (Volodymyr) Zelensky and the Ukrainians stop fighting, their country will no longer exist. If President (Vladimir) Putin and Russia lay down their weapons, we will have peace."
Key developments from Saturday, September 16:
The first cargo ships sailed to Ukraine to load grain following the collapse of a grain export deal with Russia, a Kyiv official said on Saturday. In August, Ukraine announced the establishment of a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to circumvent a Russian blockade; since then, five vessels have used the corridor to exit Ukraine's ports.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected Russian nuclear-capable bombers and other warplanes in Russia's far east on Saturday as he continued a trip that has sparked Western concerns about an arms alliance that could fuel Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Read yesterday’s liveblog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP & Reuters)
