Closing summary
This blog is now closing. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg said only Kyiv can decide conditions for peace talks after territory row. The comments come after his chief of staff suggested Ukraine could give up land as a condition of Nato membership. “It is the Ukrainians, and only the Ukrainians, who can decide when there are conditions in place for negotiations, and who can decide at the negotiating table what is an acceptable solution,” Stoltenberg said.
The US has imposed sanctions on four Russians it accused of being involved in the 2020 poisoning of now jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. The US Treasury Department in a statement said the four hit with sanctions are linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and included two it said are among the main reported perpetrators of Navalny’s poisoning.
Russia is making steady progress toward its goal of mass producing Shahed-136 drones that can travel more than 1,000 miles and target Ukrainian cities, the Washington Post reported, citing documents about the plan. Moscow is working on its own version of the Shahed-136, despite delays and sanctions that impact components needed from other countries, according to the documents.
Russian president Vladimir Putin is not trying to push Belarus into joining the war in Ukraine, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said in an online interview. “If you Ukrainians do not cross our border, we will never participate in this war. In this hot war. But we will always help Russia - they are our allies,” he said.
Ukraine will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this coming autumn and winter, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday. “It’s already obvious we won’t be able to defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during this autumn and winter,” Ihnat told a joint telethon broadcast by Ukrainian channels.
The US condemned Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure and called for Moscow to return immediately to the grain deal, the state department said on Wednesday. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not care about global food security, the state department deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, told reporters after Ukraine said earlier on Wednesday Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight.
A civilian cargo vessel has left Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa, Kyiv has said, despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target ships using the Black Sea export hubs. The announcement raises the spectre of a standoff with Russian warships, after Moscow pulled out of a key deal last month brokered by the UN and Turkey, which guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments from three Ukrainian ports.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory on Thursday morning. Interfax said a drone had been downed over Russia’s southern Belgorod region, citing the defence ministry.
A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments, a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war. Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, said “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake.”
Ukraine’s forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said. Hanna Maliar posted on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning that the village had been liberated, adding that offensive operations continue.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania. The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at about 1:30 am and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital. Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, the ministry said on Telegram.
Russian authorities refused to renew the visa for Dutch journalist Eva Hartog, who has lived and worked in the country for 10 years, and gave her six days to leave Russia, she said in a column published Wednesday. Her effective expulsion is one of several in recent years and comes amid a months-long crackdown that the Kremlin has unleashed on independent journalists, critical news outlets, opposition activists and human rights groups.
Vladimir Putin is reportedly planning to hold a meeting with Russian policymakers on Wednesday in order to discuss reintroducing some capital controls to help prop up the struggling rouble. Citing a Russian finance ministry proposal, the Financial Times said large exporters could be forced to convert up to 80% of their foreign currency into roubles in order to raise demand for the currency.
There have been direct contacts between Ukraine and Belarus but Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy put a halt to them, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said during an online interview broadcast on Thursday, Reuters reports.
The last such contact occurred a few months ago and included a discussion of the possibility of Belarus entering the war on Russia’s side, he said.
Lukashenko says Russia not trying to push Belarus into Ukraine war
Russian president Vladimir Putin is not trying to push Belarus into joining the war in Ukraine, Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said in an online interview published on Thursday, Reuters reports.
“To involve Belarus … what will that give? Nothing,” said Lukashenko, one of Putin’s closest allies, whose country borders Ukraine, Russia and three Nato countries including Poland.
“If you Ukrainians do not cross our border, we will never participate in this war. In this hot war. But we will always help Russia - they are our allies,” he said in the interview with Diana Panchenko, a pro-Russian Ukrainian journalist.
Lukashenko also said he believed Putin had already achieved his goals in what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, and said the two sides should sit at the negotiating table and be ready to discuss all the issues, including the future of Crimea and other Ukrainian territories Moscow claims.
“Its (Russia’s) goals have already been fulfilled to date. Ukraine will never behave so aggressively towards Russia after the end of this war, as it did before the war,” Lukashenko said.
Putin said Russia had to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last year to protect its own security and that of native Russian-speakers, especially in eastern Ukraine, from what he said were “neo-Nazis” and ultra-nationalists in power in Kyiv.
Ukraine and its western allies say this is nonsense and cast Russia’s invasion as an imperial-style land grab.
Lukashenko warned that Belarus would respond in the event of external aggression, including through the use of nuclear weapons that Moscow has stationed on its territory.
“There can be only one threat - aggression against our country. If aggression against our country starts from Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, we will respond instantly with everything we have,” he said.
Updated
Russian president Vladimir Putin and his Iranian counterpart Ebrahim Raisi discussed Iran’s possible future membership of the BRICS grouping during a phone call on Thursday, Reuters reports, citing the Russian state news agency TASS.
The BRICS grouping of emerging economies – comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – is due to discuss its possible expansion at a summit in South Africa next month.
Putin and Raisi also reaffirmed their support for further developing bilateral ties in trade, transport and logistics, and energy, TASS reported, citing the Kremlin.
US sanctions four Russians they accuse of being involved in 2020 poisoning of Alexei Navalny
The US has imposed sanctions on four Russians it accused of being involved in the 2020 poisoning of now jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, Reuters reports.
The US Treasury Department in a statement said the four hit with sanctions are linked to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and included two it said are among the main reported perpetrators of Navalny’s poisoning.
”Today we remind Vladimir Putin and his regime that there are consequences not only for waging a brutal and unprovoked war against Ukraine, but also for violating the human rights of the Russian people,” the Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, Brian Nelson, said in the statement.
“The assassination attempt against Aleksey Navalny in 2020 represents the Kremlin’s contempt for human rights, and we will continue to use the authorities at our disposal to hold the Kremlin’s willing would-be executioners to account.”
Thursday’s sanctions were levied under a 2012 act which authorises the US government to sanction those connected to gross violations of human rights in Russia, freezing their assets and banning them from entering the US.
Those targeted on Thursday are FSB Criminalistics Institute operatives Alexey Alexandrovich Alexandrov, Konstantin Kudryavtsev and Ivan Vladimirovich Osipov, as well as FSB operative Vladimir Alexandrovich Panyaev.
Russia’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s foreign minister, said he had a “historic” call with his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Salem Merzoug on Thursday.
On Twitter, which is now known as X, Kuleba said this was “the first-ever call between foreign ministers of Ukraine and Mauritania.”
We made history today with my Mauritanian counterpart @MS_Merzoug by holding the first-ever call between foreign ministers of Ukraine and Mauritania. We discussed ways to strengthen bilateral ties and realize the potential of the Ukrainian-Mauritanian partnership.
— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) August 17, 2023
Russia making progress towards mass producing own Shahed drones, leaked documents show
Russia is making steady progress toward its goal of mass producing a type of Iranian attack drone that could travel more than 1,000 miles and target Ukrainian cities, Reuters reports, citing the Washington Post, who cited documents about the plan.
Moscow is working on its own version of the Shahed-136, despite delays and sanctions that impact components needed from other countries, according to the documents.
The Post obtained the documents from a source it said was involved in the work at the Russian Republic of Tatarstan’s Alabuga Special Economic Zone but who opposes Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Iran has acknowledged sending drones to Russia but previously said they were sent before Russia’s February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has previously denied its forces use Iranian drones in Ukraine, though President Vladimir Putin has called for an increase in domestic drone production.
In April he said Russia’s drone industry could soon be worth more than $20bn. Russian officials were not immediately available to comment on the Washington Post report.
The White House earlier this summer said Russia appeared to be deepening its cooperation with Iran and had already received hundreds of Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) from Tehran, which the United States, Ukraine and other Western nations have said violates a 2015 U.N. Security Council resolution enshrining the Iran nuclear deal.
The White House said in June that Iran was building UAVs then shipping them across the Caspian Sea to be used by Russian forces against Ukraine, transferring several hundred drones since last August.
This week, the Financial Times reported Washington was pressing Iran to halt drone sales to Moscow.
The Post report on Thursday, however, highlights Russia’s efforts to build its own drone factory in the Tatarstan region 500 miles (800 km) east of Moscow, and aims to manufacture 6,000 drones by the summer of 2025.
The documents, reviewed by researchers at the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security at the Post’s request, showed the Russian facility is about a month behind schedule.
Engineers there are trying to build their version of the Iranian drone on a larger scale and at a higher quality, and are also seeking to add capabilities so that they could launch a coordinated “swarm attack” on a target, the Post reported.
The documents, from winter 2022 to spring 2023, include factory blueprints and technical schematics, among other details, and some were reported last month by the Russian-language news outlet Protokol, according to the report.
Washington has imposed sanctions on both Russia and Iran, including Iranian executives at a defense manufacturer over drone supplies to Russia, among other drone-related entities and individuals.
Updated
Ukraine’s emergency service has released more information about and images of the alleged Russian shelling of Zaoskillya, a suburb just east of the city of Kupiansk in the Kharkiv region, which killed one woman and injured another.
On Twitter, which is now known as X, the emergency service said: “The occupiers hit the city with heavy artillery. A utility building, a kitchen and 2 garages caught fire. As a result, a 60-year-old woman was injured, and her 61-year-old neighbour died.”
“The total area of the fire was 80 square meters. Under the threat of constant shelling, firefighters eliminated all sources of ignition,” they added.
#Харківщина: ворог вчергове обстріляв м. Куп’янськ, одна жінка загинула, ще одна поранена
— DSNS.GOV.UA (@SESU_UA) August 17, 2023
17 серпня окупанти вдарили з важкої артилерії по приватному сектору міста. Загорілась господарча будівля, літня кухня та 2 гаражі.
Внаслідок удару 60-річна жінка отримала поранення, а її… pic.twitter.com/wHcZiNrMSp
The Ukrainian interior ministry has released footage depicting troops fighting inside the village of Klishchiivka, just south of Bakhmut, Reuters reports.
Neither the Guardian or Reuters was able to verify the footage or when it was filmed.
The footage showed troops engaged in firefights in and around the village, as well as clearing a basement using grenades.
In pictures: the soldiers learning to live without their vision
An organisation in Ukraine is helping former soldiers who lost their vision in combat against Russia to reclaim a sense of autonomy.
Along a bustling city street, former soldier Denys Abdulin, 34, takes his first independent steps since a mine exploded behind him more than a year ago. His goal is completing a 600-metre route with the help of a white mobility cane and a trainer walking ahead of him with a bracelet of small metal bells, Associated Press reports.
Over several weeks, he and other men who lost their vision in combat relearn how to prepare their own meals, to take public transportation and to use cellphones. The camp also features programs for wives and fiancees.
The war has killed tens of thousands of fighters on both sides. Countless others, both Ukrainian military personnel and civilians who took up arms to defend their country, have been maimed or suffered other injuries that irreversibly reshaped their lives.
No statistics currently exist for how many service members have lost their sight due to severe wounds sustained in the war, according to Olesia Perepechenko, executive director of Modern Sight, the non-governmental organisation that puts on the camp. But demand for the program is growing as the war nears its year and a half point.
Updated
Ukraine said Russian shelling in the northern region of Kharkiv had killed an elderly woman, while Moscow announced its forces had taken up improved positions along the frontline, AFP reports.
The Russian military has said over recent days it is advancing towards Kupiansk, a frontline town that Ukrainian forces captured back from Moscow’s army last year.
The head of the region Oleg Synegubov said that Russian forces had shelled Zaoskillya, a suburb just east of Kupiansk, killing a woman born in 1962.
He wrote on social media:
Another woman, born in 1963, suffered shrapnel wounds. Medics provided assistance to the injured on the spot.
His announcement came as Russian forces said they had “improved positions” along the frontline near Kupiansk with the support of artillery and aviation forces.
Those reported advances have spurred Ukrainian authorities in Kharkiv to urge vulnerable residents to evacuate.
In the southern frontline in the Donetsk region, Russia said it was fending off attacks from Ukrainian forces near Urozhaine, which Ukrainian forces claimed to have captured earlier this week.
Kyiv launched a long-anticipated counteroffensive in June but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
In Klietz, Ukrainian soldiers are taking part in a media day for the European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of the country.
Here are some pictures from the event:
Updated
Germany has delivered two more Iris-T air defence systems to Ukraine, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The German government announced on Thursday the delivery of another military aid package to Ukraine, including two Iris-T air defence systems and about 4,500 rounds of 155 mm ammunition.
Olexander Scherba, the ambassador for strategic communications for Ukraine’s ministry of foreign affairs, responded to the news with “Danke, Deutschland! This will save many lives!”
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office, said: “Many thanks to our partners for Iris-T. Our sky will be more protected.”
🇩🇪 Many thanks to our partners for IRIS-T 🚀💪
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) August 17, 2023
Our sky will be more protected.
Danke, Deutschland!
— olexander scherba🇺🇦 (@olex_scherba) August 17, 2023
This will save many lives! #StandWithUkraine #StopRussianImperialism https://t.co/9Ok9rU2QAw
Updated
Nato chief rebuffs official's earlier remarks: 'Only Ukrainians can decide conditions for negotiations'
It is up to Ukraine to decide when the conditions are right to join any negotiations after the Russian invasion, the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday, emphasising the alliance’s unchanged stance after comments this week by a senior colleague, Reuters reports.
“It is the Ukrainians, and only the Ukrainians, who can decide when there are conditions in place for negotiations, and who can decide at the negotiating table what is an acceptable solution,” Stoltenberg said.
Speaking at a conference in the Norwegian town of Arendal, he added that Nato’s role was to support Ukraine.
The statement followed remarks by Stoltenberg’s chief of staff at Nato, Stian Jenssen, who on Tuesday said Ukraine may in the end give up territory to Russia as part of a deal to end the war. Jenssen subsequently said he regretted his comments.
“His (Jenssen’s) message, and which is my main message, and which is Nato’s main message, is, firstly, that Nato’s policy is unchanged - we support Ukraine,” Stoltenberg said.
Nato at its summit last month said it will extend an invitation to Ukraine to join the military alliance when “members agree and conditions are met”, and that the country has the right to choose its own path independently of Russia.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has said while the outcome of the July Nato summit was good, it would have been ideal if Kyiv had received an outright invitation to join the western military alliance.
Updated
Russia’s defence ministry said on Thursday its forces had succeeded with an offensive in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Reuters reports, citing Russian news agencies.
The RIA news agency cited the ministry as saying that Ukraine had lost four Stryker armoured vehicles, the first time Russia has claimed to hit the US-supplied vehicles.
Vladimir Rogov, a Russian-installed official in parts of Zaporizhzhia controlled by Moscow, said Urozhaine and the neighbouring village of Staromaiorske were not under Ukrainian control, Reuters reports.
Rogov, writing on Telegram, said Russian forces had halted a Ukrainian offensive towards the village of Robotyne in Zaporizhzhia region, to the west of Urozhaine, on Thursday morning.
Jens Stoltenberg, the Nato secretary general, said the alliance had not seen any changes to Russia’s nuclear forces and had no reason to reconsider its corresponding setup.
Speaking at a conference in Norway on Thursday, Stoltenberg said: “We haven’t seen any changes in their nuclear forces that trigger us to change our forces and the way those are arranged. So far we haven’t seen anything that demands that from our side.”
Updated
Summary of the day so far...
Ukraine will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this coming autumn and winter, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday. “It’s already obvious we won’t be able to defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during this autumn and winter,” Ihnat told a joint telethon broadcast by Ukrainian channels.
The US condemned Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure and called for Moscow to return immediately to the grain deal, the state department said on Wednesday. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not care about global food security, the state department deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, told reporters after Ukraine said earlier on Wednesday Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight.
A civilian cargo vessel has left Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa, Kyiv has said, despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target ships using the Black Sea export hubs. The announcement raises the spectre of a standoff with Russian warships, after Moscow pulled out of a key deal last month brokered by the UN and Turkey, which guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments from three Ukrainian ports.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory on Thursday morning. Interfax said a drone had been downed over Russia’s southern Belgorod region, citing the defence ministry.
A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments, a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war. Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, said “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake.”
Ukraine’s forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said. Hanna Maliar posted on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning that the village had been liberated, adding that offensive operations continue.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania. The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at about 1:30 am and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital. Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, the ministry said on Telegram.
Russian authorities refused to renew the visa for Dutch journalist Eva Hartog, who has lived and worked in the country for 10 years, and gave her six days to leave Russia, she said in a column published Wednesday. Her effective expulsion is one of several in recent years and comes amid a months-long crackdown that the Kremlin has unleashed on independent journalists, critical news outlets, opposition activists and human rights groups.
Vladimir Putin is reportedly planning to hold a meeting with Russian policymakers on Wednesday in order to discuss reintroducing some capital controls to help prop up the struggling rouble. Citing a Russian finance ministry proposal, the Financial Times said large exporters could be forced to convert up to 80% of their foreign currency into roubles in order to raise demand for the currency.
Ukraine’s military will liberate all territory occupied by Russian forces regardless of how long it takes, foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba told AFP this week, adding this was the Ukrainian people’s wish.
He said:
Our goal is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories within (Ukraine’s) borders of 1991. And we don’t care how long it takes.
As long as the Ukrainian people share this goal, the Ukrainian government will move hand in hand with its own people.
Kyiv launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive in June but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
But Ukraine is not under pressure from its Western allies, which have provided far-reaching contributions to the military, to make faster gains, Kuleba said.
“We’re not feeling this,” he told AFP, acknowledging “an increase in the voices of commentators and experts in the public space” discussing the pace of Ukraine’s gains on frontlines in the east and south of the country.
He jokingly encouraged critics of Ukraine’s offensive to “go and join the foreign legion” to aid Ukraine’s efforts.
It’s easy to say that you want everything to be faster when you are not there.
He said, however, that Ukraine will still need a steady supply of Western arms and ammunition until its military has routed Russian forces from all occupied Ukrainian territory.
He said:
The truth is that until we have won, we need more, we need to move forward, because war is a reality, and in this reality, we need to win. There is no other way.
Russia fined Alphabet’s Google 3m roubles (£25,000) for not deleting what it said was fake information about what Moscow calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.
A host of sites are under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal. Social media site Reddit was fined for the first time on Tuesday.
The US has sanctioned three entities accused of seeking to facilitate arms deals between North Korea and Russia as Washington tightens its restrictions on support for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The US treasury department said in a statement that Russia was continuing to use up munitions and lose heavy equipment in Ukraine, forcing it to turn to its small pool of allies, including North Korea, for support.
The department said it had “imposed sanctions on three entities tied to a sanctions evasion network attempting to support arms deals between Russia and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.
It added:
This action is part of the continuing US strategy to identify, expose, and disrupt third-country actors seeking to support Russia’s brutal war against Ukraine.
The entities targeted are Limited Liability Company Verus, Defense Engineering Limited Liability Partnership and Versor SRO.
In a statement, Brian Nelson, the Treasury’s under secretary for terrorism and financial intelligence, said:
The United States continues to root out illicit financial networks that seek to channel support from North Korea to Russia’s war machine.
Alongside our allies and partners, we remain committed to exposing and disrupting the arms trade underpinning Putin’s brutal war in Ukraine.
Leaders of the Brics group of emerging national economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – are set to meet next week to discuss how to turn a loose club of nations accounting for a quarter of the global economy into a geopolitical force that can challenge the West’s dominance in world affairs.
Vladimir Putin, who faces an international arrest warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not join leaders from Brazil, India, China and South Africa amid rifts over whether to expand the bloc to include dozens of “Global South” nations queuing up to join.
South Africa will host Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the BRICS summit from August 22 to 24.
Spread over the globe and with economies that operate in vastly different ways, the main thing uniting the Brics is scepticism about a world order they see as serving the interests of the US and its rich-country allies who promote international norms they enforce but don’t always respect.
Few details have emerged about what they plan to discuss, but expansion is expected to be high on the agenda, as some 40 nations have shown interest in joining, either formally or informally, according to South Africa. They include Saudi Arabia, Argentina and Egypt.
Here’s more on why the Russian president will not be attending the summit:
Updated
Russian defence ministry says it has stopped Ukrainian drone attack over Bolgorod region
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory on Thursday morning, the RIA news agency reported.
Interfax said a drone had been downed over Russia’s southern Belgorod region, citing the defence ministry.
Updated
A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war.
Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, told a Norwegian newspaper that he should not have spoken as simplistically as he did, after his initial comments prompted an angry reaction from Kyiv.
At a panel event in Norway on Tuesday, Jenssen had said that while any peace deal reached would have to be acceptable to Ukraine, alliance members were discussing how the 18-month war might be brought to an end.
“I think that a solution could be for Ukraine to give up territory and get Nato membership in return,” Jenssen told his audience, noting that discussions about Ukraine’s postwar status were continuing in diplomatic circles.
A day later, he gave an interview to the same newspaper, VG, that had reported on his original comments.
He said:
My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake.
But Jenssen did not walk back the idea that a land-for-Nato-membership deal could ultimately be on the table. If there were serious peace negotiations then the military situation at the time, including who controls what territory, “will necessarily have a decisive influence,” the chief of staff said.
“Precisely for this reason, it is crucially important that we support the Ukrainians with what they need,” the official continued as he sought to emphasise that Nato members remained behind Ukraine.
Ukraine has consistently called for a restoration of its internationally recognised pre-2014 borders and is engaged in a counteroffensive in an attempt to recapture large parts of its territory seized by Russia.
Read more here:
Ukraine’s energy minister German Galushchenko said Kyiv will not join in talks with Russia about a renewal of the contract for the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory which is due to expire next year.
He told the Ukrainian service of US broadcaster Voice Of America:
We will not be a party at the talks with the Russians for sure, it’s absolutely obvious.
Russia has said that it would consider extending the contract that allows it to send gas to Europe via Ukraine beyond 2024, if the European Union – that has pledged to quit Russian gas by 2027 – still needs such supplies.
Galushchenko said that chances were high that there would be no demand for Russian gas in European countries.
Voice Of America quoted him as saying:
The next year will show if Europe can function without Russian gas at all.
I see all preconditions for that to happen.
First cargo ship leaves Ukraine port since end of grain deal despite Russian threats
A civilian cargo vessel has left Ukraine’s southern port of Odesa, Kyiv has said, despite warnings from Russia that its navy could target ships using the Black Sea export hubs.
The announcement raises the spectre of a standoff with Russian warships, after Moscow pulled out of a key deal last month brokered by the UN and Turkey, which guaranteed safe passage for grain shipments from three Ukrainian ports.
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, said the Hong Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte left on Wednesday morning from the port of Odesa – one of three vessels that participated in the now-scrapped grain export deal.
US condemns Russian grain attacks
The US condemned Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure and called for Moscow to return immediately to the grain deal, the state department said on Wednesday.
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, did not care about global food security, the state department deputy spokesperson, Vedant Patel, told reporters after Ukraine said earlier on Wednesday Russia had attacked its grain storage facilities overnight.
Updated
No chance of using F-16 jets this year, Ukraine says
Ukraine will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this coming autumn and winter, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday.
“It’s already obvious we won’t be able to defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets during this autumn and winter,” Ihnat told a joint telethon broadcast by Ukrainian channels.
US President Joe Biden endorsed training programmes for Ukrainian pilots on F-16s in May but no timing for the supply of war planes has been given so far.
“We had big hopes for this plane, that it will become part of air defence, able to protect us from Russia’s missiles and drones terrorism,” Ihnat said.
Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Our top stories this morning: Ukraine will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this coming autumn and winter, air force spokesperson Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian television late on Wednesday.
And the United States condemned Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine’s grain infrastructure in a state department statement on Wednesday, as it called for Moscow to return immediately to the grain deal.
Elsewhere:
A senior Nato official has apologised and clarified his comments, a day after he said publicly that Ukraine could give up territory to Russia in exchange for Nato membership and an end to the war. Stian Jenssen, the chief of staff to the Nato secretary general, said “My statement about this was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I shouldn’t have said it that way. It was a mistake.”
Ukraine’s forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine’s deputy defence minister said. Hanna Maliar posted on the Telegram messaging app on Wednesday morning that the village had been liberated, adding that offensive operations continue.
Ukraine’s air force on Wednesday said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river and headed toward the Izmail river port near the border with Romania. The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at about 1:30 am and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Russia’s defence ministry said Wednesday it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, the latest in a surge of aerial attacks near the capital. Ukraine launched the attack at 5:00 am using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, the ministry said on Telegram.
Russian authorities refused to renew the visa for Dutch journalist Eva Hartog, who has lived and worked in the country for 10 years, and gave her six days to leave Russia, she said in a column published Wednesday. Her effective expulsion is one of several in recent years and comes amid a months-long crackdown that the Kremlin has unleashed on independent journalists, critical news outlets, opposition activists and human rights groups.
Vladimir Putin is reportedly planning to hold a meeting with Russian policymakers on Wednesday in order to discuss reintroducing some capital controls to help prop up the struggling rouble. Citing a Russian finance ministry proposal, the Financial Times said large exporters could be forced to convert up to 80% of their foreign currency into roubles in order to raise demand for the currency.
