Closing summary
This blog is now closing. Below is a roundup of today’s stories:
The US president, Joe Biden, said there was “no real prospect of Putin using nuclear weapons”. He was asked a question about whether the Russian president could escalate actions in Ukraine after the disarray caused by the failed Wagner mutiny during a press conference with the Finnish president, Sauli Niinistö, in Helsinki following the US-Nordic leaders’ summit.
Biden also said he was “serious about prisoner exchange” when asked about the Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich, who has been detained in a Moscow prison for more than 100 days.
Three people have been killed by Russian shelling across Ukraine. A man in his 40s was killed by shelling in the Zaporizhzhia region. A 60-year-old in Sumy and an 85-year-old woman in Kherson were also killed by Russian shelling.
Russia’s nuclear chief denies claims Moscow plotted to blow up Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. Alexei Likhachev said that only “a complete idiot” would do such a reckless thing.
The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, told CNN on Thursday he had “no doubt” that Ukraine would become part of Nato after Russia’s war against the country ends. Speaking to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, Austin said: “I have no doubt that will happen, and we heard just about every country in the room say as much.”
Ukraine’s top security official has dismissed criticism of Kyiv from the UK defence secretary, Ben Wallace, suggesting Wallace misspoke due to a surfeit of emotion. “I wouldn’t pay too much attention to what he said,” Oleksiy Danilov, the secretary of Ukraine’s security council, told the Guardian in Kyiv on Thursday. “Everyone can say something when they are emotional and then regret it … I know for sure this isn’t his actual position.”
Ukraine claims its air defences during the night shot down all 20 Shahed drones and two Kalibr missiles launched by Russia. At least four people in Kyiv were injured by falling debris, and Ukraine’s governor of Donetsk reported eight civilian injuries in the last 24 hours.
A Russian general said he had been fired as a commander after telling the military leadership “the truth” about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine, as tensions in the Russian army grow in the aftermath of Wagner’s short-lived mutiny. Maj Gen Ivan Popov, who commanded the 58th Combined Arms Army, which is fighting on the front in Ukraine near Zaporizhzhia, said in a voice message that he had been fired after he brought up problems on the battlefield.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has welcomed a “good result” from the Nato summit. His remark came after Britain’s defence secretary and the US national security adviser suggested Ukraine ought to show more gratitude for the help it has received from the west, in response to Zelenskiy’s complaints that his country has not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato. In regular remarks made on Thursday night, Zelenskiy struck a positive note: “For the first time since independence, we have formed a security foundation for Ukraine on its way to Nato.”
A senior Russian official has described Sergei Surovikin, the general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine and hasn’t been seen in public since the Wagner mutiny, as “resting” and “not available”.
Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said he had not heard any new proposals on the Black Sea grain export deal, which is due to expire on Monday.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, reported sustained instances of cross-border shelling from Ukraine, but stated that no injuries were incurred, and there was only minor damage.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has suggested that Russian forces have been using improvised car bombs in Donetsk region, possibly instigated due to the experience of the Chechen forces deployed there.
Updated
Reuters reports that the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, on Thursday urged Vladimir Putin to prolong a deal allowing the Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, saying the consequence of not doing so would be global food insecurity.
The ball was now in Russia’s court with the whole world watching, Von der Leyen told a press conference.
Updated
