Closing summary
Here is a round-up of the day’s headlines:
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has reported that it has seized the village of Andriivka in the partially-occupied Donetsk region. In a statement on Facebook, the general staff said of the battle around Bakhmut: “In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy does not abandon the attempt to break through the defence of the armed forces of Ukraine in the Bohdanivka area. In their turn, the defence forces of Ukraine during the offensive actions had partial success in the area of Klishchiivka. During the assault operations they had success and mastered Andriivka, causing the enemy significant losses in manpower and equipment.”
Air force Col Yuriy Ihnat said in televised comments in Ukraine that an overnight Russian drone attack on the region of Khmelnytskyi was an attempt to target warplanes used this week to attack Russian-occupied Crimea. Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired 17 drones at the central Khmelnytskyi region that is home to the Starokostiantyniv airbase. Debris damaged 12 homes and shattered windows in a school, but no one was hurt, regional official Serhiy Tiurin said.
A Ukrainian sea drone damaged the “Samum” small Russian missile ship in an attack at the entrance to occupied Crimea’s Sevastopol Bay on Thursday and the vessel had to be towed away for repairs, a Ukrainian intelligence source said on Friday. Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it repelled an attack on the Samum in the Black Sea, during which it destroyed a naval drone. Reuters could not independently verify the two accounts.
The Belarus leader Alexander Lukashenko told Russian president Vladimir Putin on Friday that the country has recently supplied 60,000 tons of diesel and 60,000 tons of petrol to Russia, and is ready to further increase shipments
Putin has told journalists that he is open to negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, but Ukraine does not want them.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said on Friday that the Russian navy has received two new ships this year, and is to receive another 12 by the end of 2023. The figure is significantly lower than the 30 new ships that in July the president claimed would be arriving. Shoigu was visiting the Russian Pacific fleet to check on the repair and modernisation of its nuclear submarines at the Zvezda plant in the town of Bolshoi Kamen.
Poland will itself extend a ban on Ukrainian grains into Poland from midnight, the prime minister said on Friday, after the European Union said it would not extend a ban it had imposed. “We will extend this ban despite their disagreement, despite the European Commission’s disagreement,” Mateusz Morawiecki told a rally in the northeastern town of Elk.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence appears convinced of Ukrainian claims to have inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, suggesting that satellite images show the destroyed landing ship Minsk and the “catostrophically damaged” submarine Rostov.
The US plans to increase monthly production of 155 millimeter artillery shells over the coming years to 100,000 in 2025, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer said on Friday. “We’re going to be at 100,000 per month in 2025. We were at 14,000 per month 6 or 8 months ago, we are now at 28,000 a month today,” Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer said at a conference on Friday.
Romania’s plan to double Ukrainian grain transit capacity through its Constanța port in the coming months remains achievable, the country’s transport minister Sorin Grindeanu said on Friday.
A Belgian government official said on Friday it expects the G7 to announce an indirect ban on Russian diamonds in the next two-to-three weeks.
Senior diplomats and defence officials of South Korea and the US agreed on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is a serious violation of UN sanctions and urged Moscow to show responsibility as a security council permanent member.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected to meet Joe Biden in Washington next week. His visit comes as Congress is debating providing as much as $21bn in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion. Zelenskiy is expected to be in the US to attend the United Nations general assembly.
Nato has confirmed to the media that its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, will travel to New York next week to attend the UN general assembly.
Putin and Kim Jong-un gifted each other rifles when they met in far eastern Russia, the Kremlin said on Thursday, and confirmed the isolated Russian leader would visit North Korea though no further details have been revealed. The Russian president, who has sought to strengthen alliances with other hardline leaders, met Kim on Wednesday amid speculation they would agree on an arms deal to bolster Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Britain’s most senior military officer, Sir Tony Radakin, said that Ukraine “continues to hold the initiative, it is pushing Russia back” in a short assessment of the current state of the fighting.
Russia said it is expelling two US diplomats accused of working with a Russian national who is accused of collaborating with a foreign state. The US said the move was unprovoked and wholly without merit. Separately, Slovakia has expelled a diplomat based in Russia’s embassy, the Slovak foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday. The ministry said: “The reason is his activities, which were in direct violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.”
Satellite images appear to show the dismantling of a Wagner militia base south-east of the Belarus capital, Minsk. The images of activity in recent weeks showed tents being taken down at the Tsel military base in Mogilev region, and may indicate the winding down of the Russian mercenary company’s presence in the country after a brief mutiny inside Russia.
Poland will itself extend a ban on Ukrainian grains into Poland from midnight, the prime minister said on Friday, after the European Union said it would not extend a ban it had imposed.
“We will extend this ban despite their disagreement, despite the European Commission’s disagreement,” Mateusz Morawiecki told a rally in the northeastern town of Elk.
“We will do it because it is in the interest of the Polish farmer.”
The US plans to increase monthly production of 155 millimeter artillery shells over the coming years to 100,000 in 2025, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer said on Friday.
“We’re going to be at 100,000 per month in 2025. We were at 14,000 per month 6 or 8 months ago, we are now at 28,000 a month today,” Bill LaPlante, the Pentagon’s chief weapons buyer said at a conference on Friday.
Demand for 155mm artillery rounds has soared in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Reuters reported.
But allies’ supplies for their own defence have been run down as they have rushed shells to Kyiv, which fires thousands of rounds per day.
The US ambassador to Moscow has visited Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is being held in pre-trial detention on charges of espionage, state news agency TASS reported on Friday.
Russian deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov said earlier that Moscow had approved a US consular request to visit Gershkovich, who denies the spy charges.
A Ukrainian sea drone damaged the “Samum” small Russian missile ship in an attack at the entrance to occupied Crimea’s Sevastopol Bay on Thursday and the vessel had to be towed away for repairs, a Ukrainian intelligence source said on Friday.
Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Thursday that it repelled an attack on the Samum in the Black Sea, during which it destroyed a naval drone. Reuters could not independently verify the two accounts.
Romania’s plan to double Ukrainian grain transit capacity through its Constanța port in the coming months remains achievable, the country’s transport minister, Sorin Grindeanu, said on Friday, Reuters reports.
Grindeanu was meeting officials from Ukraine, Moldova, the European Commission and the US.
Since Russia withdrew from the Black Sea grain initiative, Ukraine has been seeking further alternative routes to export its goods.
Updated
Nato has confirmed to the media that its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, will travel to New York next week to attend the UN general assembly.
Updated
Ukraine claims Russia is trying to hunt for warplanes used in Crimea strikes
Col Yuriy Ihnat of the Ukrainian air force said in televised comments that an overnight Russian drone attack on the region of Khmelnytskyi was an attempt to target warplanes used this week to attack Russian-occupied Crimea.
Ukraine’s air force said Russia had fired 17 drones at the central Khmelnytskyi region that is home to the Starokostiantyniv airbase. Debris damaged 12 homes and shattered windows in a school, but no one was hurt, regional official Serhiy Tiurin said.
“Khmelnytskyi region was attacked. We understand what the enemy is looking for: where the command has hidden our bombers after the events that happened recently in the sea near Crimea,” Reuters reports Ihnat said.
Russia unilaterally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and bases its Black Sea fleet there. This week strikes by Ukraine appear to have destroyed a large landing vessel and a submarine that were in dry dock near Sevastopol.
Updated
Energy supplies continue to cause tension in Moldova, with Reuters reporting that energy regulator ANRE has fined a unit of Russia’s Gazprom $1.9m (£1.5m/€1.78m) for not complying with a requirement on the separation of gas transporting activities from those of a supplier.
Wedged between Ukraine and EU member Romania, and with Russian troops stationed in the breakaway region of Transnistria, Moldova has sought to avoid involving itself directly in the war.
Updated
Lukashenko proposes 'three-way cooperation' with Russia and North Korea
Russian president Vladimir Putin hosted a meeting on Friday with his Belarusian ally, who suggested that Minsk could could join Moscow’s efforts to revive an old alliance with North Korea after this week’s summit with Kim Jong-un.
Alexander Lukashenko, the Belarusian president, made the proposal as he met Putin in the Black Sea resort of Sochi, where the Russian leader said he would brief him about the talks with Kim on Wednesday at the Vostochny spaceport in Russia’s far east, Reuters reported.
“I would like to inform you about the discussion on the situation in the region, which was quite important, and also to touch on the most acute issue, the situation in Ukraine,” Putin said at the start of the meeting.
Lukashenko responded by saying that “we could think about three-way cooperation,” adding that “I think a bit of work could be found for Belarus to do there as well”.
Updated
Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit the US Congress next week, according to media reports, after a US official earlier said the Ukrainian president was expected to meet Joe Biden on Thursday.
Punchbowl News on Friday said Zelenskiy’s visit with Congress was tentatively scheduled for Thursday. The Washington Post also reported Zelenskiy was set to travel to the US Congress on Thursday, while the Wall Street Journal said he would meet US lawmakers.
Representatives for the Ukrainian president and congressional leaders could not be immediately reached for comment on the reports.
Zelenskiy is expected to head to Washington next week after his trip to New York for the UN general assembly meeting, the US official told Reuters on Thursday.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said on Friday that its forces had destroyed two Ukrainian naval drones in the south-west part of Black Sea, state news agency Tass reported.
Earlier the ministry said a Russian warship had destroyed a naval drone, apparently in a separate incident.
Updated
The Russian deputy foreign minister, Sergei Ryabkov, said on Friday that Moscow has approved a US consular request to visit the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who is being held in pre-trial detention on charges of espionage, state news agency RIA reported.
Gershkovich was arrested on 29 March in the city of Yekaterinburg. He, the Wall Street Journal and the US deny he is a spy.
Updated
The Russian foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, said on Friday that Moscow was expecting a visit from the Vatican’s envoy on Ukraine and was ready to meet with him.
Lavrov said in televised comments:
Now the efforts of the Vatican, whose envoy is going to come once again, are continuing. We are ready to meet with everyone, ready to talk to everyone.
Vatican envoy Matteo Zuppi has been in China this week as part of a diplomatic push to facilitate peace in Ukraine.
Lavrov did not say when he was expected in Russia.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has said the village of Andriivka, in the partially occupied Donetsk region, has been seized. In a statement on Facebook, the general staff said of the battle around Bakhmut: “In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy does not abandon the attempt to break through the defence of the armed forces of Ukraine in the Bohdanivka area. In their turn, the defence forces of Ukraine during the offensive actions had partial success in the area of Klishchiivka. During the assault operations they had success and mastered Andriivka, causing the enemy significant losses in manpower and equipment.”
The Belarus leader, Alexander Lukashenko, told the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Friday that the country has recently supplied 60,000 tons of diesel and 60,000 tons of petrol to Russia, and is ready to further increase shipments
Putin has told journalists that he is open to negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, but Ukraine does not want them.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Friday that the Russian navy has received two new ships this year, and is to receive another 12 by the end of 2023. The figure is significantly lower than the 30 new ships that in July the president claimed would be arriving. Shoigu was visiting the Russian Pacific fleet to check on the repair and modernisation of its nuclear submarines at the Zvezda plant in the town of Bolshoi Kamen.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence appears convinced of Ukrainian claims to have inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol, suggesting that satellite images show the destroyed landing ship Minsk and the “catostrophically damaged” submarine Rostov.
A Belgian government official said on Friday it expects the G7 to announce an indirect ban on Russian diamonds in the next two-to-three weeks.
Senior diplomats and defence officials of South Korea and the US agreed on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is a serious violation of UN sanctions and urged Moscow to show responsibility as a security council permanent member.
The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia and North Korea had not signed any agreements on military matters, or on any other areas, during Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia this week.
Updated
Kremlin says Russia and North Korea did not sign any military agreement during Kim visit
The Kremlin said on Friday that Russia and North Korea had not signed any agreements on military matters, or on any other areas, during Kim Jong-un’s visit to Russia this week.
The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said there had not been a plan to sign any formal agreements during the visit, Reuters reports.
Updated
In Sochi, Vladimir Putin has told journalists that he is open to negotiations on ending the war in Ukraine, but Ukraine does not want them.
Tass quotes the Russian president saying:
I have already said about this: we have never refused negotiations. Therefore, please, if the other side wants, let them say so directly. So I’m talking, but from the other side we don’t hear anything.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has repeatedly put forward a 10-point peace plan to end the conflict, but it would require Russia to remove its troops from Ukraine’s territory.
Updated
The Belarus leader, Alexander Lukashenko, told the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, on Friday that the country has recently supplied 60,000 tons of diesel and 60,000 tons of petrol to Russia, and is ready to further increase shipments, Reuters reports, citing Interfax.
Updated
These drone images are from 6 September, but they show what remains of the village of Andriivka in Donetsk region, which today Ukraine has claimed it has gained control of.
A Belgian government official said on Friday it expects the G7 to announce an indirect ban on Russian diamonds in the next two-to-three weeks, Reuters reports. The ban would come into effect in January.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, is taking part in an ambassadors’ round table about Ukraine. We will bring you any key new lines that emerge.
More details soon …
Updated
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said on Friday that the Russian navy has received two new ships this year, and is to receive another 12 by the end of 2023, Russian state news agency RIA reported.
Reuters notes that in July, Vladimir Putin said that the Russian navy would receive 30 new ships in 2023. In his comments, Shoigu did not give a reason for the decrease in expected deliveries.
Updated
Ukraine seizes village of Andriivka in Donetsk region
The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces has reported that it has seized the village of Andriivka in the partially-occupied Donetsk region, and that it shot down 17 drones launched at Ukraine by Russia.
In a statement on Facebook, the general staff said of the battle around Bakhmut:
In the Bakhmut direction, the enemy does not abandon the attempt to break through the defence of the armed forces of Ukraine in the Bohdanivka area.
In their turn, the defence forces of Ukraine during the offensive actions had partial success in the area of Klishchiivka.
During the assault operations they had success and mastered Andriivka, causing the enemy significant losses in manpower and equipment.
Andriivka lies to the south of Bakhmut.
The report also claims:
There were 25 combat clashes in the last 24 hours. The enemy fired 2 missiles and 59 air strikes, carried out 56 shellings both on the positions of our troops and on civilian objects of our country. Also, yesterday the invaders attacked Ukraine and used 22 Shahed-136/131 kamikaze drones, 17 of which were destroyed by Ukrainian anti-air defence.
Updated
Yesterday deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar suggested on her Telegram channel that Ukrainian forces had taken the village of Andriivka, which is in Donetsk.
There was then some suggestion that the announcement had been premature, and that Ukraine had not achieved its objective. However, this morning Suspilne reports that the general staff have again claimed to have taken the settlement. Suspilne writes:
The defence forces took control of Andriivka during an assault, continue their offensive, and have partial success in the Klishchiivka region of Donetsk region, the general staff reported.
The 3rd separate assault brigade confirmed the release of Andriivka and declared the 72nd brigade of the Russian Federation “totally destroyed”. They added that the battles are currently ongoing, Ukrainian military forces are establishing themselves in new positions.
The claims have not been independently verified.
The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has visited the Russian Pacific fleet to check on the repair and modernisation of its nuclear submarines at the Zvezda plant in the town of Bolshoi Kamen, Reuters reports.
In a statement the Russian defence ministry said Shoigu also visited the Progress plant in the town of Arsenyev, which produces Ka-52 military helicopters.
Earlier this week Shoigu was part of the Russian delegation that met North Korea’s leader, Kim Jong-un.
Updated
In its daily public intelligence briefing on the war in Ukraine, the UK’s Ministry of Defence appears convinced of Ukrainian claims to have inflicted significant damage on the Russian Black Sea fleet in Sevastopol. Citing satellite imagery, it writes:
Despite the Russian ministry of defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk [landing ship] has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov [submarine] has likely suffered catastrophic damage.
(2/5) Despite the Russian Ministry of Defence downplaying the damage to the vessels, open-source evidence indicates the Minsk has almost certainly been functionally destroyed, while the Rostov has likely suffered catastrophic damage. pic.twitter.com/hqs2Cpce0n
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 15, 2023
The ministry adds that the significance of the attack is not just any damage to the vessels themselves, but also the longer-term implications for the shipyard:
Any effort to return the submarine to service is likely to take many years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. There is a realistic possibility that the complex task of removing the wreckage from the dry docks will place them out of use for many months. This would present the Black Sea fleet with a significant challenge in sustaining fleet maintenance.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine – 15 September 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 15, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/tKSmS6UlRk
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/NsvSVAkC60
As my colleague Andrew Roth noted yesterday, Russian and Ukrainian sources have reported that the strike against the shipyard was carried out using Storm Shadow missiles delivered by the UK and launched from Ukrainian aircraft. The head of the Ukrainian air force thanked his pilots for their “excellent combat work” shortly after the Sevastopol strike. Russia has not lost a submarine in combat since 1945 and the last peacetime loss of a submarine came in the early 2000s.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
I’ll now hand the blog over to my colleague Martin Belam who will continue our rolling coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war. Thanks for your company so far.
Japan’s Kishida willing to meet North Korea’s Kim
News via AFP:
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is willing to meet North Korea’s Kim Jong Un “without preconditions”, a top government official said Friday.
The prime minister has previously said he was ready to hold talks with Kim, but the reiterated invitation comes after the North Korean leader travelled to Russia to met President Vladimir Putin this week.
That meeting sparked worries of a possible arms agreement after US officials warned Moscow was in search of ammunition to use in the Ukraine conflict.
Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa told reporters on Thursday that Tokyo was watching the Russia-North Korea talks “with concerns, including the possibility that it could lead to violations of the Security Council’s ban on all arms-related material transactions with North Korea”.
Photos from the war in Ukraine:
Senior South Korea, US officials agree North Korea-Russia arms cooperation violates UN sanctions
Reuters reports senior diplomats and defence officials of South Korea and the United States agreed on Friday that military cooperation between North Korea and Russia is a serious violation of U.N. sanctions and urged Moscow to show responsibility as a Security Council permanent member.
It comes as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un visits to Russian weapons and technology sites and holds meetings with President Vladimir Putin, raising speculation Kim will supply ammunition to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Russia.
Updated
Russian authorities propose blocking WhatsApp
Russian State Duma and Federation Council members proposed blocking WhatsApp if it launches Russian language channels, according to a US think-tank who says the bid is “likely part of the Kremlin’s broader initiative to establish central control over the Russian information space”.
On Wednesday, Meta announced it would launch a WhatsApp channel feature, that would function similar to Telegram, in over 150 countries.
The Institute for the Study of War reported in its assessment of Russia’s offensive campaign in Ukraine:
Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security Head Viktor Bondarev, State Duma Committee on Information Policy Head Alexander Khinshtein, and State Duma Deputy Anton Gorelkin said that Russia should consider blocking WhatsApp in Russia if WhatsApp launches Russian language channels.
Russian state media censor Roskomnadzor reported that Russia could block WhatsApp if it disseminates prohibited information.
Russian authorities are likely attempting to funnel the Russian information space onto a limited number of closely monitored or controlled social media platforms.
Zelenskiy to visit Biden as Congress debates $24bn in aid
As we mentioned earlier, the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US during the United Nations general assembly.
Zelenskiy’s trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as $24bn in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
We have the full story for you here:
Updated
Cuba issues conflicting statements on use of its citizens in Ukraine war
Earlier we brought you news that the Cuban ambassador to Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena, had said Cuba is not against the legal participation of its citizens in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
This statement has been contradicted by Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodriguez, who said on Thursday his country rejects the participation of its citizens as mercenaries in war.
Reuters reported the apparently conflicting statements follow Cuban state-run and foreign media reports suggesting that young Cuban men have enlisted in the Kremlin´s military in recent months as mercenaries and victims in alleged human trafficking schemes.
Rodriguez said on social media:
The unequivocal and unswerving position of the Cuban government, in accordance with its national legislation, is contrary to the participation of Cuban citizens in conflicts of any sort and against mercenarism and trafficking in persons.
Last week Cuban authorities said they had arrested 17 people on charges related to a ring of human traffickers that allegedly had lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military amid the Ukraine conflict.
Updated
Kim Jong Un stops to see a fighter jet factory as Russia and North Korea are warned off arms deals
News via AP:
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un stopped in a far eastern Russian city Friday to see a factory that builds the country’s most advanced fighter jets on his extended trip that hints at his interest in sophisticated weaponry, as the U.S. and others warned Moscow and Pyongyang against making banned weapons transfer deals.
Kim’s visits to Russian weapons and technology sites and meetings with President Vladimir Putin have raised speculation he will supply ammunition to Russia for its war efforts in Ukraine in exchange for receiving advanced weapons or technology from Russia as the two nations deepen their ties while both are increasingly isolated and sanctioned in separate confrontations with the West.
Russia’s state news agency RIA Novosti published video showing Kim’s armored train pulling into a station in the city of Komsomolsk-on-Amur and Kim’s convoy sweeping out of the station shortly afterward. TASS news agency said Kim and local Russian officials were headed for a plant that produces Su-35 and Su-57 fighter jets.
Kim is to travel next to Vladivostok to view Russia’s Pacific fleet, a university and other facilities, Putin told Russian media after his summit with Kim.
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Jordyn Beazley with the latest developments.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US during the United Nations general assembly.
Zelenskiy’s trip comes as Congress is debating President Joe Biden’s request to provide as much as $24bn in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine as it fights the Russian invasion.
More on that story later, but first, here is a summary of today’s news so far from Ukraine:
Cuba is not against the legal participation of its citizens in Russia’s war in Ukraine, the Russian state-run RIA news agency reported on Thursday, citing the Cuban envoy to Moscow. Last week, Cuban authorities said they had arrested 17 people over a human trafficking ring that allegedly had lured young Cuban men to serve in the Russian military. The Cuban ambassador to Moscow, Julio Antonio Garmendia Pena said: “We have nothing against Cubans who just want to sign a contract and legally take part with the Russian army in this operation. But we are against illegality and these operations that have nothing to do with the legal field,” RIA quoted the ambassador as saying.
Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong-un gifted each other rifles when they met in far eastern Russia, the Kremlin said on Thursday, and confirmed the isolated Russian leader would visit North Korea though no further details have been revealed. The Russian president, who has sought to strengthen alliances with other hardline leaders, met Kim on Wednesday amid speculation they would agree on an arms deal to bolster Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Britain’s most senior military officer, Sir Tony Radakin, said that Ukraine “continues to hold the initiative, it is pushing Russia back” in a short assessment of the current state of the fighting.
Russia said it is expelling two US diplomats accused of working with a Russian national who is accused of collaborating with a foreign state. The US said the move was unprovoked and wholly without merit. Separately, Slovakia has expelled a diplomat based in Russia’s embassy, the Slovak foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday. The ministry said: “The reason is his activities, which were in direct violation of the Vienna convention on diplomatic relations.”
South Korea has expressed “deep concern and regret” over a meeting between the North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, which apparently focused on expanding military cooperation.
Alexander Lukashenko left Belarus on Thursday for an official visit to Russia, according to his press service. Talks with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, are scheduled for Friday.
Satellite images appear to show the dismantling of a Wagner militia base south-east of the Belarus capital, Minsk. The images of activity in recent weeks showed tents being taken down at the Tsel military base in Mogilev region, and may indicate the winding down of the Russian mercenary company’s presence in the country after a brief mutiny inside Russia.
Bulgaria decided on Thursday not to extend a ban on Ukrainian grain imports in five eastern EU nations that is set to expire this week, AFP reported. Ukraine’s foreign ministry reportedly said that any decision by European states to extend import restrictions on Ukrainian food from 15 September would be illegal and harm common economic interests.
Ukraine’s military said on Thursday it had damaged two Russian patrol ships in the Black Sea in a morning attack. Ukraine also claimed to have destroyed a Russian air defence system near the town of Yevpatoriya in occupied Crimea in a drone and missile attack which was conducted by the Security Service of Ukraine and the navy on Thursday morning.
A six-year-old boy was reportedly killed and other people injured by Russian shelling in the village of Novodmytrivka, which is located in Kherson region.
