Closing summary
Here’s a recap of today’s developments.
At least six people were killed after a Russian missile slammed into a residential building in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, far from the front line of the war. The youngest was 21 years old and the oldest was a 95-year-old woman, according to Lviv province governor Maksym Kozytskyi. Lviv’s mayor, Andriy Sadovyi, called the attack the biggest of the war on civilian areas of Lviv since Russian troops invaded Ukraine last year.
The US is weighing whether to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine, the White House said. Two US officials told Reuters that the Biden administration will announce a new Ukraine weapons aid package on Thursday that will include cluster munitions.
Human Rights Watch urged the US not to supply the cluster munitions to Ukraine, and called on Moscow and Kyiv to stop using the controversial weapons. Transferring cluster bombs to Ukraine would inevitably cause long-term suffering for civilians, the group said.
Ukraine would like a “clear signal” “in the direction of an invitation” to join Nato during the upcoming summit in Lithuania, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said. The Ukrainian leader was speaking at a joint press conference in Prague with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel, who said “as soon as the war is over, [Kyiv] should start negotiations on joining Nato.”
Volodymyr Zelenskiy will visit Turkey on Friday for talks with president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on the Black Sea grain deal and developments in the war in Ukraine. Zelenskiy visited the Czech Republic and Bulgaria today.
Ukraine’s military spy chief says that the threat of a Russian attack on the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is receding. The intelligence chief, Kyrylo Budanov, warned that it could easily return as long as the facility remained under occupation by Moscow’s forces.
Romania is reportedly considering opening a regional training hub for F-16 fighter jet pilots which would ultimately be available to its Nato allies and partners, including Ukraine. Romania, both an EU and Nato member, is host to a US ballistic missile defence system and, as of last year, has a permanent alliance battlegroup stationed on its territory.
A group of former senior US national security officials have held secret talks with a number of prominent Russians, including foreign minister Sergei Lavrov, with the aim of laying the groundwork for potential negotiations to end the war in Ukraine, according to a report. A US state department spokesperson said the Biden administration “did not sanction those discussions”.
The Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin has returned to Russia, the Belarusian president has said, despite a peace deal with the Kremlin under which Prigozhin had agreed to move to Belarus. “As for Prigozhin, he’s in St Petersburg. He is not on the territory of Belarus,” Alexander Lukashenko said. “Where is Prigozhin this morning? Maybe he left for Moscow.”
Updated
Zelenskiy urges Nato leaders to send 'clear signal' on membership
Ukraine would like a “clear signal” “in the direction of an invitation” to join Nato during the upcoming summit in Lithuania, Volodymyr Zelenskiy has said.
The Ukrainian leader, at a joint press conference in Prague with his Czech counterpart Petr Pavel, said:
We just need an invitation. We understand that there may be difficulties with this or that, but we need to get the united support of all the partners of the alliance.
He added:
We are talking about a clear signal, some concrete things in the direction of an invitation. We need this motivation. We need honesty in our relations.
Pavel, who has previously said that Kyiv needs support to join Nato and the EU but that joining either would be a lengthy process, said:
It should be made absolutely clear that it is in the interest of the Czech Republic that Ukraine, as soon as the war is over, should start negotiations on joining Nato, because it is also in the interest of our security, regional stability, and economic prosperity,
Updated
