Summary of the day
We’re closing this live blog down now. Thanks for reading. Here’s a summary of the day’s main events:
Reviving the Black Sea grain deal is “critical” for food security, Turkey’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan said. During a joint media appearance with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, he said: “We underlined its critical role for global food security and stability in the Black Sea.”
The Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko criticised what he called “stupid demands” from Poland and the Baltic states for Wagner fighters sheltering in his country to leave, AFP reported. Wagner fighters took refuge in Belarus after their short-lived rebellion against Moscow’s military leadership in June, prompting concerns from neighbouring countries.
Ukrainian troops achieved some new “successes” in the south and east as they tried to advance their counteroffensive against Russian forces, the deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar said. Kyiv’s forces have been making slow progress against Russian minefields and trenches that have blocked a Ukrainian push in the south intended to reach the Sea of Azov and split Russian forces, the Associated Press reported.
The alleged co-founder and military commander of the Russian mercenary group Wagner, Dmitry Utkin, was buried near Moscow on Thursday.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has hit out at critics of Kyiv’s tactics in its counteroffensive against Russia’s invasion, saying they were spitting in the faces of Ukrainian soldiers and should “shut up”.
Royal Navy warships and RAF patrol aircraft have tracked a series of Russian warships as they travelled close to the UK including through the Channel.
Two Ukrainian “saboteurs” were killed and five captured during an incursion into the region of Bryansk, a Russian official reportedly said on Thursday. Separately, Russia reportedly said on Thursday it intended to develop ties with North Korea.
A newly released video of Yevgeny Prigozhin purports to show the Wagner group boss in Africa addressing rumours about his wellbeing and threats to his life, just days before his death.
The UK government has named ex-energy secretary Grant Shapps as the new defence secretary. A former chief of the general staff of the British army said Shapps knows “very little about defence” and it will take him “quite some time to get up to speed”.
A military spokesperson said Ukrainian armed forces are making progress in the direction of Novoprokopivka – the village beyond Robotyne, in the direction of Melitopol.
Russia’s air defences are struggling to detect and destroy Ukrainian drones launched on its territory, judging by how many have reached their targets, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence update.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has decried corrupt medical exemptions that have enabled people to avoid military service, saying the system was subject to bribes and mass departures abroad.
Reviving Black Sea grain deal 'critical' for food security, says Turkey at meeting with Russia
Here’s a little more detail on the discussions between Turkey and Russia from the French press agency Agence France-Presse (AFP). The former’s foreign minister Hakan Fidan has said reviving the Black Sea grain deal is “critical” for food security. During a joint media appearance with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov, he said:
We underlined its critical role for global food security and stability in the Black Sea.
Moscow pulled out last month from the UN-backed agreement Turkey helped broker. Moscow says the agreement imposed indirect restrictions on its grain and fertiliser exports by limiting Russia’s access to global payment systems and insurance. Lavrov repeated Russia’s position that it will return to the deal once its demands are met.
Everything rests on the fact that the West is hindering the solution of problems that prevent a more active export of Russian grain and fertiliser.
Turkey wants the warring sides to return to the agreement and use it as a basis for broader peace talks. Fidan said Turkey wanted to begin a “process focused on understanding and answering Russia’s demands”.
As the Turkish diplomat visited Moscow, the UN chief Antonio Guterres said Thursday he had sent a letter to Lavrov with a “set of concrete proposals, allowing to create the conditions for the renewal of the deal”, AFP reports.
Guterres said he had taken “into concern Russian requests” and that the proposal included “some concrete solutions for allowing more effective access of Russian food and fertilisers to global markets at adequate prices”.
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