A summary of today's developments
Russia on Saturday denied a Ukrainian claim to have recaptured the devastated eastern village of Andriivka, a stepping stone on the way to the town of Bakhmut. “The enemy did not abandon plans to capture the city of Artyomovsk of the Donetsk People’s Republic and continued to conduct assault operations ... unsuccessfully trying to oust Russian troops from the population centres of Klishchiivka and Andriivka,” the Russian defence ministry said in its daily briefing.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, inspected Russian nuclear-capable strategic bombers and hypersonic “Kinzhal” missiles on Saturday, accompanied by Vladimir Putin’s defence minister. Reuters reports a smiling Kim was greeted by Sergei Shoigu in Russia’s Knevichi, about 30 miles (50km) from the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Shoigu saluted Kim before the North Korean leader inspected a guard of honour.
North Korea may be able to boost Russia’s supply of artillery munitions for the war in Ukraine, but that is not likely to make a big difference, the top American military officer said as he arrived in Norway for Nato meetings. US Army Gen Mark Milley, chair of the joint chiefs of staff, said the recent meeting in Russia between the North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will probably lead North Korea to provide Soviet-era 152mm artillery rounds to Moscow. But he said it was not yet clear how many or how soon, AP reported.
Ukraine will be able to conduct more attacks on Russian ships, a Ukrainian minister who has played a key role in building the country’s drone industry told Reuters after a recent series of sea raids. “There will be more drones, more attacks, and fewer Russian ships. That’s for sure,” the digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said in an interview on Friday, answering a question about recent attacks near Crimea.
The EU should earmark more cash to support Ukraine in its revised long-term budget and top up the funds for EU military mobility, Lithuania’s finance minister, Gintarė Skaistė, said.
Russia will probably be able to build a significant stockpile of air-launched cruise missiles and use them to target Ukrainian infrastructure over the coming winter, the UK Ministry of Defence says. In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said air-launched cruise missiles (ALCMs) – particularly the modern AS-23a Kodiak – were at the heart of most of Russia’s long-range strikes against Ukraine’s national energy infrastructure between October 2022 and March 2023.
The US expects to announce additional aid to Ukraine next week, the national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said, while announcing that the US president, Joe Biden, would host Volodymyr Zelenskiy next Thursday at the White House. The Ukrainian leader was also expected to meet with congressional leaders from both political parties while he was in Washington, Sullivan said on Friday.
A body has been found in Ukraine in the search for a British man who was reported missing a month ago, PA Media reported. Daniel Burke, 36, from south Manchester, was reported missing on August 16 by family who had not heard from him believing that he had travelled to Ukraine. Officers searching for Burke have been informed by Ukrainian authorities that they have found a body.
Russian-installed authorities in Crimea said on Saturday they planned to sell about 100 Ukrainian properties, including one belonging to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. Vladimir Konstantinov, speaker of the Crimean parliament, said the nationalised properties would be sold “soon” and the authorities had held the first eight auctions for the properties of Ukrainian business figures, Reuters reports.
Donald Trump enjoyed hearing that he had drawn praise from the Russian leader, Vladimir Putin, the former US president and frontrunner for the 2024 Republican White House nomination has said. Told during a recorded interview with the new NBC Meet the Press moderator Kristen Welker that Putin had fawned over his stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Trump replied: “I like that he said that. Because that means what I’m saying is right.”
Poland is set to ban the entry of passenger cars registered in Russia starting on Sunday, state-run Polish news agency PAP has reported. Poland’s interior minister, Mariusz Kaminski, said the ban is a further part of sanctions imposed on Russia and its citizens in connection with the war in Ukraine.
Moscow has dismissed as “politically motivated” the conviction of Russian businessman Vladislav Klyushin in a US court for participating in a $93 million insider-trading scheme, the state news agency RIA reported on Saturday. Klyushin, who has ties to the Kremlin, was sentenced on 7 September to nine years in prison after being found guilty in February of trading shares using hacked secret earnings information about multiple companies.
Romanian farmers have asked the government to unilaterally ban the import of Ukrainian grain and other food products after the European Commission decided to lift restrictions.
Romania is one of five eastern EU countries alongside Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia that saw a surge of Ukrainian grain imports after the Russian invasion, which distorted local markets and prompted protests from farmers, leading the EU to approve trade restrictions until 15 September.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced their own unilateral bans on Friday. The Romanian government said it would wait for Ukraine to present its plan to prevent a surge on Monday before deciding how to protect Romanian farmers.
“If a country like Poland, which strongly and thoroughly supports Ukraine against the Russian aggression, has taken such a unilateral decision after the 15 September deadline expired, we don’t understand why Romania would be reserved about doing the same,” the farmers’ association said in a statement.
“Our request in no way affects the transit of Ukrainian farm products through Romania to other destinations, as it is going on at present.”
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