Closing summary
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has confirmed he is ready to visit the Kursk nuclear power plant in Russia at the end of August, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on Wednesday. Russia’s defence ministry last week accused Ukraine of planning to attack the Kursk plant as part of its ongoing incursion into the Russian region, an assertion Kyiv denied.
The juntas of Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger have written to the UN security council to denounce Ukraine’s alleged support of rebel groups in West Africa’s Sahel region, a copy of their letter showed. Mali cut diplomatic ties with Ukraine at the start of the month over comments by a spokesperson for Ukraine’s military intelligence agency about fighting in Mali’s north that killed Malian soldiers and Russian Wagner mercenaries in late July.
A Hungarian programme easing visa restrictions for Russians and Belarusians will involve the same security screening as other residence permits, the interior minister said in a letter published on Wednesday, amid European Union concerns over espionage. Budapest last month extended its “national card” immigration programme to include Russians and Belarusians, triggering alarm among EU officials who feared that Russia could use it to send saboteurs and spies into the EU’s border-free Schengen zone, Reuters reported.
Hungary’s energy supply is not in danger, its foreign minister said on Wednesday, adding that the state’s gas supply is not threatened by the ongoing fighting in Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region, as other pipelines transport sufficient amounts of gas. “Hungary’s energy supply is secured,” Peter Szijjarto said on Facebook.
Russia’s state telecommunications monitoring service said on Wednesday it has recorded mass disruptions in the popular Telegram and WhatsApp messaging apps, Reuters reports. It did not say what could have caused the disruptions.
Joe Biden has approved a US nuclear strategy to prepare for possible coordinated nuclear confrontations with Russia, China and North Korea, according to a New York Times reported on Tuesday. On Tuesday, the White House said the plan was approved by the US president earlier this year and was not a response to a single country or threat. Spokesperson Sean Savett said that while “the specific text of the guidance is classified, its existence is in no way secret. The guidance issued earlier this year is not a response to any single entity, country, nor threat.”
Russian air defences shot down 11 Ukrainian drones targeting Moscow, “one of the largest” such strikes ever against the capital, officials said on Wednesday. “Eleven drones were destroyed” over Moscow and its surrounding region, the defence ministry said. “This is one of the largest ever attempts to attack Moscow with drones,” Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin added. Sobyanin said in an earlier post that no damage or casualties had been reported.
Russian forces have taken control of the settlement of Zhelanne, in the Pokrovsk district of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday.
Ukraine’s incursion into Russia’s Kursk region means that there will be no talks between Moscow and Kyiv until Ukraine is completely defeated, Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s security council, said on Wednesday. “The empty chatter of intermediaries that no one had appointed about the wonderful peace is over. Everyone understands everything now, even though they do not say it out loud,” Medvedev wrote on the Telegram messaging app. “There will be NO MORE NEGOTIATIONS UNTIL THE COMPLETE DEFEAT OF THE ENEMY!”
Ukraine’s parliament voted on Wednesday to ratify the Rome Statute, a senior lawmaker said, paving the way for Kyiv to join the international criminal court. In a Telegram post, Yaroslav Zhelezniak said 281 deputies had voted for the measure, a key requirement for Ukraine to eventually join the European Union.
Switzerland’s government said on Wednesday it has decided to join further European Union measures in the bloc’s 14th sanctions package against Russia. The measures contain a clarification of the bans on Russian diamonds, which are thus being internationally harmonised, the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement.
Ukraine’s military said it struck an S-300 anti-aircraft missile system based in Russia’s southern Rostov region overnight. Kyiv’s general staff said the attack took place near the settlement of Novoshakhtinsk, and that S-300s had been used to attack civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, Reuters reported.
One person was killed and two wounded in Russia’s Kursk region after a Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive device on their car on Wednesday, acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov said on the Telegram messaging app.
Sergei Chemezov, a close ally of Russian president Vladimir Putin, says the United States and its western allies risk triggering a global war if Washington continues to “provoke” the conflict in Ukraine and allow Kyiv to attack Russian territory. His remarks to Reuters offer a rare insight into thinking in Putin’s inner circle after a surprise Ukrainian incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, to which the president has promised a “worthy” response but has not yet said what that will entail, Reuters reported.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov inspected Chechen troops and volunteers readying to fight Ukraine on Tuesday, the Kremlin said, in what was Putin’s first trip in 13 years to the North Caucasus republic. The previously unannounced trip to the mostly Muslim republic that is part of Russia comes as Moscow fights to push Ukrainian forces out of its Kursk region two weeks after they smashed through the border in the largest invasion of Russia since the second world war, Reuters reported.
Russia’s air defence units destroyed 45 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting Moscow and several other regions, Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday. Eleven of the drones were destroyed over the Moscow region, 23 over the border Bryansk region, six over the Belgorod region, three over the Kaluga region and two over the Kursk region, the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.
India prime minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday he will “share perspectives” on the peaceful resolution of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia during his visit to Kyiv this week. Modi departed for Poland on Wednesday and will visit Kyiv on Friday, a first visit to Ukraine by an Indian prime minister since diplomatic relations were established 30 years ago, Reuters reported.
Moscow airports were back to normal operations on Wednesday after temporary restrictions were in place overnight at three airports in the Russian capital after a drone attack, the aviation watchdog Rosaviatsia said Wednesday. Ukraine launched one of the largest ever drone attacks on Moscow on Wednesday, the city’s mayor said, with Russian air defence units destroying 11 drones flying towards the capital.
That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine-Russia war live blog for today. Thanks for following along.
Switzerland’s government said on Wednesday it has decided to join further European Union measures in the bloc’s 14th sanctions package against Russia.
The measures contain a clarification of the bans on Russian diamonds, which are thus being internationally harmonised, the Swiss Federal Council said in a statement.
It said it had also extended deadlines for granting exemptions regarding the withdrawal of investments from Russia, Reuters reported.
