Summary of the day
Hello –
As night begins in Ukraine, here are all the key developments from Friday:
The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said Russia is threatening civilian vessels in the Black Sea and urged the international community to condemn what he said were “the methods of terrorists”.
Poland and Lithuania are considering closing their respective borders with Belarus amid concerns over the presence there of the Wagner mercenary group, a Lithuanian deputy interior minister said on Friday.
Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged Russia on Friday to revive the Black Sea grain deal. Sisi told the Russia-Africa summit in St Petersburg that it was “essential to reach agreement” on reviving the deal.
Vladimir Putin told African leaders on Friday that Moscow respected their peace proposal on Ukraine and was carefully studying it. Putin also said that Russia was increasing food supplies to Africa, including some free grain shipments, which he announced a day earlier, and was interested in developing military cooperation with the continent.
Qatar will provide Ukraine with $100m in humanitarian aid to support health, education and demining, the Ukrainian prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said on Friday after talks with his Qatari counterpart.
The head of Ukraine’s ground forces has said Russian forces are constantly attacking in the direction of Kupiansk and Lyman in Donetsk but that Ukraine’s defence line is holding firm. Oleksandr Syrskyi said the main task for Ukrainian troops at the moment was to knock out enemy artillery where possible, and he claimed small advances in the Bakhmut direction.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, had posted a video on Thursday showing Ukrainian soldiers saying they have recaptured the village of Staromaiorske. In the video, Ukrainian fighters say they have “liberated the village”, located east of Zaporizhzhia city.
Yevgeny Balitsky, the head of the Russian-imposed administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine, described the situation on the frontline there as “tense”, and on Friday claimed that Russian forces control the Vremivka direction, and that “The enemy suffers significant losses but is trying to hold out in the northwestern part of the village of Staromaiorske.”
Yuriy Ihnat, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s air force, said on television that despite a relatively quiet night, residents should stay vigilant as there is still “a high probability of missile attacks”. He said “The night was quiet. There was little activity of enemy aircraft. There are not many nights like this. Many Ukrainians had the opportunity to sleep at least. We hope this day will be calm.”
Russian air defences shot down a Ukrainian military drone before it could attack its targets near Moscow on Friday, the RIA news agency cited Russia’s defence ministry as saying. The ministry said the incident caused no casualties or damage to buildings.
Ukrainians are celebrating the day of Ukrainian statehood today, a new holiday created by Volodymyr Zelenskiy in 2021 to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.
Thanks for following today. We’re closing the blog for now, but will be back tomorrow to update you on all the key developments in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russia has not offered the UN World Food Programme (WFP) any free grain, deputy WFP chief Carl Skau told reporters on Friday.
“We have not been in talks about any free grain so far,” Skau said. “We have not been approached for any such discussion.”
His comments come nearly two weeks after Moscow quit a deal that allowed the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, which is a primary U. food aid source.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday told African leaders at a summit in St Petersburg that Moscow is able to replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa and that he would gift tens of thousands of tons of grain to six countries within months.
Ukraine, along with Russia, is one of the world’s biggest exporters of grain and any interruption could drive up food prices around the globe.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned on Thursday that a “handful of donations” won’t correct the dramatic impact of the end of the Black Sea grain deal.
Under the Black Sea export pact, the WFP purchased and shipped 725,000 tonnes of grain to Afghanistan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen over the past year. The pact has allowed WFP so far to procure 80% of its wheat grain purchases this year from Ukraine, up from 50% in 2021 and 2022.
Overall, nearly 33 million tonnes of grain were exported by Ukraine under the deal, which aimed to combat a global food crisis worsened by Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
“For our operations the impact will be that we have to look elsewhere, which potentially can be more costly and certainly will have longer lead ways,” Skau said. “One of the reasons why Ukraine has been such an important source for us is the proximity to many of our operations.”
Updated
