Closing summary
It’s 11pm in Kyiv. Here’s where things stand:
Ukraine said it has filed lawsuits at the World Trade Organization against its three EU neighbours – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – over their bans on Ukrainian grain imports.
A top Ukrainian general hailed the recent recapture of two eastern villages, Andriivka and Klishchiivka, as an important breakthrough on Monday, saying it had enabled Kyiv’s troops to breach Russian lines near the shattered city of Bakhmut.
The Russian foreign ministry said it summoned French ambassador Pierre Levy to protest over what it called the “discriminatory and openly Russophobic” actions of French authorities against Russian journalists at the recent G20 summit in New Delhi.
The Moscow-installed governor of the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region confirmed on Monday a blast at the local government headquarters, but said that no one had been killed or injured.
People’s rights in Russia have substantially worsened since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, a top UN expert said.
The Ukrainian government decided to dismiss six deputy defence ministers following the appointment of a new defence minister earlier this month.
The office of the Brazilian presidency has confirmed reports that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York on Wednesday.
Overnight Ukraine claims to have shot down all 17 cruise missiles fired into its territory by Russia. The air force also earlier reported that 18 out of 24 “Shahed” drones were downed.
A drone carrying explosives that landed in the Bulgarian town of Tyulenovo was destroyed in a controlled explosion, the defence ministry said. The drone landed on Sunday evening in the Black Sea town situated 70km from the Romanian border and across the sea from Crimea.
Georgia’s security services accused a former minister of plotting from Ukraine to overthrow the Black Sea nation’s government by organising mass unrest.
China’s top diplomat began several days of security consultations with Russian officials. The foreign minister, Wang Yi, will be in Russia through to Thursday for strategic security consultations, the foreign ministry said in a brief statement.
The Ukrainian president said his forces have recaptured the strategically important village of Klishchiivka on the southern flank of the key frontline city of Bakhmut.
Here are some images from the newswires from the village of Andriivka near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, which has recently been recaptured by Ukrainian ground forces.
Ukraine says its forces also recaptured the tactically important village of Klishchiivka. Both settlements were substantially destroyed in months of fighting for Bakhmut.
Bulgarian army detonates explosives on drone that landed in Black Sea resort
A drone carrying explosives that landed in the Bulgarian town of Tyulenovo was destroyed in a controlled explosion, the defence ministry said.
Bulgaria’s defence ministry said earlier on Monday that it had sent a special unit to inspect and deactivate a drone carrying explosives which landed on Sunday evening in the Black Sea town.
Tyulenovo is situated 70km from the Romanian border and across the sea from Crimea, which Russia occupied and unilaterally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
In a statement, the defence ministry said an army bomb disposal team had inspected the site and concluded that transporting the drone to another location with the explosives still attached would not be possible, Reuters reported.
“We can certainly assume that it is related to the war that Russia launched against Ukraine,” Bulgaria’s defence minister Todor Tagarev told reporters.
This war is inevitably associated with increasing risks to our security.
He did not provide additional information on where the drone came from and how it had reached Bulgaria.
Germany unveiled a new €400m (£345m) package of aid for Ukraine ahead of key talks among Kyiv’s allies at Ramstein airbase.
“We are supplying additional ammunition,” the German defence minister, Boris Pistorius, told the tabloid newspaper Bild, AFP reported.
Ammunition is what Ukraine needs most in its defensive struggle against the brutal war of aggression. In addition, we will help with armoured vehicles and mine-clearing systems.
The package will include clothing and power generators as winter approaches, he added. It will not include long-range Taurus cruise missiles – a decision that Pistorius described as “not easy”. “A multitude of political, legal, military and technical aspects have to be clarified,” he said.
Kyiv has been pushing Berlin to supply it with the Taurus missiles, which have a range of more than 500km (311 miles) and are launched by fighter jets. Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said Berlin will only act in concert with Washington on arms deliveries.
Britain and France have provided Ukraine with Storm Shadow and Scalp cruise missiles, which are similar to the Taurus, Reuters reported.
Updated
A US senator, Mark Kelly, was in Kyiv today where he met Ukrainian officials and soldiers to assess the military’s current needs and discuss ATACMS tactical ballistic missiles, which the Biden administration is considering providing to Kyiv.
“No single capability is going to make the difference between winning and losing,” said the Democratic senator from Arizona, who praised forces for progress, though he said he wished it would move faster, AP reported.
Bridget A Brink, the US ambassador to Ukraine, tweeted about Kelly’s visit to the country.
The United States has committed $45 billion in security assistance to enable Ukrainians to defend their borders. Today @SenMarkKelly and I saw how Ukrainians are using that assistance – from armored vehicles to weapons to protective and other equipment. We stand with Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/YhJ1yqd3NR
— Ambassador Bridget A. Brink (@USAmbKyiv) September 18, 2023
Updated
Here’s some more detail on that earlier report that security services in Georgia accused a former minister of plotting from Ukraine to overthrow the Black Sea nation’s government by organising mass unrest.
In a statement, it said it had been monitoring a group led by Georgia’s former deputy interior minister Giorgi Lortkipanidze, who it alleged was working as a deputy head of Ukrainian military intelligence and a former member of a strongly pro-western Georgian government. The statement reads:
According to confirmed and verified information, the implementation of the plan – developed by Giorgi Lortkipanidze – would involve a rather large group of Georgian fighters in Ukraine and a part of Georgian youth.
The service said the alleged plotters were plotting “destabilisation aimed at a violent overthrow of the government” and that they had planned to channel frustration among young Georgians if the US failed to grant their country candidate status at an EU summit in mid-December.
In response, Ukraine’s foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said Georgia was “trying to demonise Ukraine” for domestic reasons. Posting on Facebook, he said:
The Ukrainian state did not interfere, does not interfere and does not plan to interfere in the internal affairs of Georgia.
Andriy Yusov, a spokesperson for Ukrainian military intelligence, said it had never had a Giorgi Lortkipanidze as deputy head, though he declined to say whether it employed such a person, Reuters reported.
Updated
Zelenskiy to meet Brazil's Lula for first time on Wednesday
The office of the Brazilian presidency has confirmed reports that President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, on Wednesday.
The pair are expected to meet on the sidelines of the UN general assembly in New York after the Brazilian leader meets US president Joe Biden, Reuters reported, citing two sources in the Brazilian government.
Zelenskiy and Lula have never met, though they spoke by video call in March days after Brazil voted for a UN resolution that called for peace and demanded Russia withdraw its troops.
Last month, Lula told reporters neither Zelenskiy nor Russian leader Vladimir Putin were ready for peace. He has also previously irked western leaders by saying that both sides were to blame for the conflict.
Summary of the day so far...
Kyiv says it has filed lawsuits at the World Trade Organization against its three EU neighbours – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – over their bans on Ukrainian grain imports.
A top Ukrainian general hailed the recent recapture of two eastern villages as an important breakthrough on Monday, saying it had enabled Kyiv’s troops to breach Russian lines near the shattered city of Bakhmut.
The Russian foreign ministry said it summoned French ambassador Pierre Levy to protest over what it called the “discriminatory and openly Russophobic” actions of French authorities against Russian journalists at the recent G20 summit in New Delhi.
The Moscow-installed governor of the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region confirmed on Monday a blast at the local government headquarters, but said that no one had been killed or injured.
People’s rights in Russia have substantially worsened since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, a top UN expert said.
The Ukrainian government decided to dismiss six deputy defence ministers on Monday following the appointment of a new defence minister earlier this month.
Overnight Ukraine claims to have shot down all 17 cruise missiles fired into its territory by Russia. The air force also earlier reported that 18 out of 24 “Shahed” drones were downed.
China’s top diplomat on Monday began several days of security consultations with Russian officials. The foreign minister, Wang Yi, will be in Russia through to Thursday for strategic security consultations, the foreign ministry said in a brief statement.
The Ukrainian president said his forces have recaptured the strategically important village of Klishchiivka on the southern flank of the key frontline city of Bakhmut.
Updated
Ukraine says it has filed lawsuit against EU neighbours over grain import ban
Kyiv says it has filed lawsuits at the World Trade Organization against its three EU neighbours – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary – over their bans on Ukrainian grain imports.
The central European countries went against a decision by the European Commission last week to end the import ban, with Kyiv warning of legal action.
The import bans have led to an awkward diplomatic spat with Poland, Kyiv’s staunchest ally against Russia.
“It is crucially important for us to prove that individual member states cannot ban imports of Ukrainian goods,” Ukraine’s economy minister, Yulia Svyrydenko, said in a statement.
“That is why we are filing lawsuits against them.
“At the same time, we hope that these countries will lift their restrictions and we will not have to settle the matter in courts for a long time,” Svyrydenko said, according to AFP.
She said Ukrainian exporters “continue to suffer significant losses” over the bans.
Russia’s invasion has hugely disrupted Ukrainian grain exports in the Black Sea, resulting in the EU becoming a major transit route and export destination for Ukrainian grain.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary defied a European Commission decision to end restrictions on Ukrainian grain, extending their bans.
Updated
China’s top diplomat on Monday began several days of security consultations with Russian officials (see earlier post at 06.31).
The foreign minister, Wang Yi, who simultaneously holds the ruling Communist party’s top foreign policy post, will be in Russia through to Thursday for strategic security consultations, the foreign ministry said in a brief statement.
Wang opened his talks with Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, by hailing “strategic cooperation” between the two countries and their shared commitment to a “multipolar world” and a “more just world order”.
In comments quoted by the Associated Press, Wang said:
China and Russia, as leading global powers and permanent members of the UN security council, bear special responsibility for maintaining global strategic stability and global development.
The more violent the unilateral actions of hegemony and bloc confrontation become, the more important for us to keep up with the times, show a sense of duty as great powers, and further fulfil our international obligations.
Updated
Brazil’s president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will meet his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in New York on Wednesday, two sources from the Brazilian government said on Monday.
Lula has irked some western leaders who support Ukraine’s fight against Russia with his refusal to take a clear side in the war.
Lula has attempted to position himself as a potential peace broker between Moscow and Kyiv, arguing some countries must remain “neutral” if peace is to be achieved.
Updated
Russia’s central bank said on Monday it expected annual inflation to continue to rise in the coming months, Reuters reports.
The bank said inflation was being fuelled by the weakness of the rouble and by growth in domestic demand outstripping supply.
It expects annual inflation to be 6.0–7.0% in 2023, before returning to its 4% target in 2024 and remaining close to that level.
The rouble has had a period of turbulence since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, dropping to a record low of 150 to the dollar two weeks after the start of the war before sharply recovering after the central bank imposed strict capital controls that limited the flow of money out of the country.
Ukraine breached Russian lines by taking two eastern villages - commander
The commander of Ukrainian ground forces said the recent recapture of the eastern villages of Andriivka and Klishchiivka had enabled Kyiv’s troops to breach Russian lines near the devastated city of Bakhmut (see earlier post at 06.07).
“These settlements, at first glance small, were important elements in the enemy’s defensive line which stretched from Bakhmut to Horlivka,” Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Telegram, referring to a town about 40km (25 miles) from Bakhmut.
“As a result of our troops’ successful actions, the enemy’s defensive line – which it tried to close by throwing all available reserves into battle – was breached.”
Syrskyi said Russian troops were still trying to regain the positions they had lost in the Bakhmut sector, and that fighting there was heavy. His claims are yet to be independently verified.
Ukrainian forces have been conducting offensives north and south of Bakhmut for several months in order to dislodge Russian units.
Ukraine military analysts said this week the liberation of settlements near Bakhmut would allow the military to advance from the southern flank in the area, gaining control of the heights.
Updated
Pope Francis welcomed Russia’s new ambassador to the Vatican on Monday and the envoy said the pontiff told him he was determined to forge ahead with his peace and humanitarian initiatives for Ukraine.
The envoy, Ivan Soltanovsky, said Francis also told him he wanted another meeting with Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, who has strongly supported Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
Soltanovsky, a 68-year-old career diplomat, presented his credentials to Francis at the Vatican, succeeding Alexander Avdeev, who was ambassador when Russia invaded Ukraine last year, Reuters reports.
Russia summons French ambassador in protest at exclusion of journalists from Macron briefing
The Russian foreign ministry said it summoned French ambassador Pierre Levy on Monday to protest over what it called the “discriminatory and openly Russophobic” actions of French authorities against Russian journalists at the recent G20 summit in New Delhi.
It said reporters of RIA Novosti and the editor-in-chief of Russia-News were “rudely denied” access to the press conference of France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, according to Reuters.
Updated
The EU is gearing up for a fight over what should be included in its 12th package of sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
The new measures, which could be presented as early as next month, would probably include the EU’s version of the upcoming G7 ban on purchases of Russian diamonds and possibly a long-awaited proposal to use the profits generated by frozen central bank assets to aid Kyiv, the report added, citing people familiar with discussions.
Western governments have imposed sweeping economic sanctions, including Russian oil import bans, on Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine in February last year.
Updated
Tass reports that Russian security forces claim to have arrested two men belonging to the Freedom of Russia Legion that were planning to attack an administrative building in Rostov.
Citing the FSB, Tass writes that “during a search, four molotov cocktail bottles, filled out forms of contracts for service in the armed forces of Ukraine, as well as questionnaires and handwritten statements with an anti-Russian position” were found.
Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has used social media to reiterate that Ukraine’s position is that Russian president Vladimir Putin poses a threat beyond its borders. He posted:
Putin’s Russia is a threat to everyone, not just Ukraine. Regardless of geographical distance. Its hybrid warfare arsenal includes election meddling, hacking, bribery, blackmail, sabotage, coups, assassinations, and other tools. We must defeat Russia now, while it is weak.
Updated
Russia scrambled a MiG-31 jet fighter on Monday to intercept a US Navy P-8A Poseidon patrol plane approaching its airspace over the Barents Sea, the Russian defence ministry said, according to Reuters.
The Moscow-installed governor of the Russian-held part of Ukraine’s Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, has confirmed the reported blast at the local government headquarters, but said that no one had been killed or injured.
Updated
Russia fired cruise missiles at mock targets in the seas separating it from Alaska on Monday, in what it said was an exercise to protect its northern shipping route in the Arctic, Reuters reports.
The defence ministry said Vulcan, Granit and Onyx cruise missiles were fired over distances of hundreds of kilometres to strike targets simulating enemy ships in the Bering Sea.
The exercise involved land, ship and submarine-launched missiles and included about 10,000 military personnel, as well as planes and helicopters, the ministry said.
The drills took place on Russia’s Chukotka peninsula and in the Chukchi and Bering Seas, and were supervised by admiral Nikolai Yevmenov, commander-in-chief of the Russian navy.
Updated
Blasts heard at government headquarters in Russian-held Donetsk - reports
The Russian state news agency RIA reported on Monday that a series of blasts had been heard at the headquarters of the Russian-installed local authorities in the Russian-held city of Donetsk, in east Ukraine.
The city’s Russian-installed mayor said in a statement on Telegram that central Donetsk was under fire, Reuters reports. These claims are yet to be independently verified.
Updated
Georgia accuses Ukrainian official of plotting coup
Georgia on Monday accused a senior Ukrainian official of plotting to overthrow the Black Sea nation’s government by organising mass unrest.
AFP reports:
Georgia has been accused of cooperating with the Kremlin even though Russian forces have deployed to separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia since 2008, when Moscow invaded the tiny Caucasus country.
Georgian security services said the deputy chief of Ukraine’s military counterintelligence and Georgia’s former deputy interior minister, Giorgi Lortkipanidze, was plotting “destabilisation aimed at a violent overthrow of the government.”
It said Georgians fighting Russian forces in Ukraine, including a bodyguard of Georgia’s jailed ex-president Mikhail Saakashvili, were among the conspirators being trained near Ukraine’s border with Poland.
Ukraine has repeatedly called for Georgia to release Saakashvili, who is now a Ukrainian national and a top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Kyiv has said that the Georgian authorities are “killing” the ailing politician on Kremlin orders and has demanded his transfer to a clinic abroad.
Georgia in turn has condemned what it said was “an extreme form of escalation in diplomatic relations.”
Georgia’s security service said anti-government protests “are being planned for October and December, when the European Commission is set to publish its decision on Georgia’s EU membership application.”
It said the plot “is being carried out with the coordination and funding from a foreign country.”
Western firms that continued to operate in Russia since Moscow’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine have generated billions of dollars in profits, but the Kremlin has blocked them from accessing the cash in a bid to turn the screw on “unfriendly” nations, the FT reports.
The FT reports:
Groups from such countries accounted for $18bn of the $20bn in Russian profits that overseas companies reported for 2022 alone, according to figures compiled by the Kyiv School of Economics, and $199bn of their $217bn in Russian gross revenue.
“The figures may have grown considerably since then, although it is not possible to assess exactly how much since most international businesses operating in Russia only disclose their local results annually,” said KSE deputy development director Andrii Onopriienko, who compiled the data.
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More information has come in about the possible circumstances surrounding the Ukrainian government’s dismissal of six deputy defence ministers on Monday (see earlier post at 10:40).
The Ukrainska Pravda news site quoted unnamed government sources as saying all the deputy ministers had resigned voluntarily after a request by Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s newly appointed defence minister, and would not be returning to their posts.
It said consultations were under way on candidates to replace them, and quoted a source close to the ministry as saying “a complete overhaul is under way” at the ministry.
Updated
Rights in Russia 'significantly deteriorated' since war in Ukraine - UN expert
People’s rights in Russia have substantially worsened since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine last year, a top UN expert said on Monday.
The UN special rapporteur on the rights situation in Russia, Mariana Katzarova, said Moscow had launched a systematic crackdown on critics since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
“The situation of human rights in the Russian Federation has significantly deteriorated since its invasion of Ukraine,” Katzarova said in her first report.
The dramatic degradation came after “the situation had already been on a steady decline over the past two decades,” she added.
Last April, Katzarovabecame the first monitor appointed by the UN human rights council to examine the rights situation in Russia or any permanent member of the UN security council.
She said Russian authorities had “severely curtailed the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression” and undermined the independence of the judiciary and the guarantees of fair trial.
According to AFP, Katzarova said sanctions were “being applied arbitrarily against dissenters and force used against peaceful protesters”. She also decried the “persistent use of torture” and sexual violence.
The report read:
Both the harshness of recent criminal sentences and the number of people sentenced on politically motivated charges has increased.
Katzarova said she had been granted no access to Russia, adding that Moscow tried to “obstruct” her work.
Her findings were based on consultations with more than 60 Russian and international rights groups and individuals, in person, by phone or online, and nearly 100 written submissions.
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Ukraine’s Danube Shipping Company (DSC) has asked Romania’s Constanta Black Sea port to allow ship-to-ship grain transfers which would almost double its barge export capacity, the company said on Monday.
A major grower and exporter, Ukraine’s 2023 grain output is seen as up to 56m metric tonnes but a blockade of its major Black Sea ports since Russia’s invasion has constrained shipments.
Ukraine’s Danube River ports, which previously accounted for around a quarter of grain exports, are now the main route out for the country’s harvest, some of which is sent on barges to Constanta for onwards shipment.
DSC said on Telegram that 60% of the grain export flow through Constanta is by river fleet, with barges delivering more than 700,000 tonnes of agricultural products to the Romanian port every month.
However, the company said it currently had about 600 barges at Constanta, with waiting times for unloading in port sometimes stretching to up to 60 days, Reuters reports.
It said:
If Constanta allows the development of …transshipment, the rivermen are ready to increase the volumes by another 500,000 tonnes.
DSC said it had a project to set up three more anchorages near Constanta, one of which should be assigned to Ukraine, and is ready to create a Ukrainian port operator in Constanta.
Updated
A former deacon in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa has been detained on allegations that he took bribes to help men evade conscription by disguising them as church missionaries so they could leave the country.
The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) said last week that the former deacon belonged to the Ukrainian Orthodox church, one of two main branches of Orthodoxy in the country and until recently linked to the Moscow patriarchy. Investigators say the former deacon – who has not been named – successfully facilitated the escape of at least six individuals to several EU countries.
“The suspect had compiled lists of missionaries who were intended to travel abroad on behalf of the diocese’s leader and the religious community, with the aim of becoming priests,” the SBU said.
You can read the full story, by my colleagues Lorenzo Tondo and Shaun Walker, here:
Updated
Russia has called on the UN’s highest court in The Hague to throw out what it described as a “hopelessly flawed” case challenging Moscow’s argument that its invasion of Ukraine was carried out to prevent genocide.
The Russian request was made at the start of hearings dealing with the jurisdiction of the international court of justice, also known as the world court, Reuters reports.
Moscow says Ukraine is using the case as a roundabout way to get a ruling on the overall legality of Russia’s military action.
Some experts say a ruling in Kyiv’s favour would not stop the war but could impact future reparations payments.
Ukraine brought the case days after the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022.
Kyiv argues Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine.
Ukraine says there was no risk of genocide in eastern Ukraine, where it had been fighting Russian-backed forces since 2014, and that the genocide treaty does not in any case allow an invasion to stop an alleged genocide.
Updated
Summary of the day so far …
The Ukrainian president says his forces have recaptured the strategically important village of Klishchiivka on the southern flank of the key frontline city of Bakhmut. “Today I would like to particularly commend the soldiers who, step by step, are returning to Ukraine what belongs to it, namely in the area of Bakhmut,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Sunday. Officials shared a video of Ukrainian forces displaying flags including the blue and yellow national flag, with ruined buildings and the sound of ongoing fighting in the background.
Overnight, Ukraine claims to have shot down all 17 cruise missiles fired into its territory by Russia. The air force also reported that 18 out of 24 “Shahed” drones were downed. Suspilne, Ukraine’s state broadcaster, also reports that four people have been injured near a bus station in Beryslav in Kherson region, and that a recreational facility in Odesa region was set on fire during an attack, but that there were no casualties.
The Ukrainian government decided to dismiss six deputy defence ministers on Monday following the appointment of a new defence minister earlier this month. The government gave no reason for the dismissals. Those removed from their post included Hanna Maliar, who has frequently issued public updates on Russia’s war against Ukraine. Rustem Umerov was appointed defence minister less than two weeks ago to replace Oleksii Reznikov.
Earlier Maliar had issued a lengthy update on Telegram, claiming that Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks in a number of areas, including in the Kupyansk, Bakhmut, and Marinka directions. Maliar also gave new figures for the amount of territory recaptured by Ukraine. She said 2 sq km had been captured around Bakhmut, and in the past week, and that 51 sq km had been recaptured there since the start of the counteroffensive.
Russia called on the UN’s highest court in The Hague on Monday to throw out a case that centres around claims by Moscow that its invasion of Ukraine was carried out to prevent genocide. The request was made at the start of hearings dealing with the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court. Ukraine brought the case just days after the Russian invasion on 24 February last year. Kyiv argues Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, reports that power supplies have been cut to the villages of Glotovo and Bezymeno near the border with Ukraine after shelling. He said there were no casualties.
Roman Starovoyt, governor of neighbouring region Kursk in Russia, reported on Telegram that a woman had been injured by cross-border fire into the village of Tetkino.
Russia said it repelled Ukrainian drone attacks over several parts of Crimea, outer Moscow and two border regions on Sunday. Russia occupied and unilaterally annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Bulgaria’s defence ministry said on Monday it had sent a special unit to inspect and deactivate a drone carrying explosives which landed on Sunday evening in the Black Sea town of Tyulenovo. Following inspection the team from Bulgaria, a Nato member, will decide how to dispose of it
Ukraine plans to sue Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over bans on Ukrainian agricultural products, Politico quoted Ukrainian trade representative Taras Kachka as saying in an interview published on Monday.
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, will begin a four-day visit to Russia for security talks on Monday.
A United Nations report said on Monday that the human rights situation in Russia had significantly deteriorated since it invaded Ukraine in February last year, describing a “systematic crackdown” on civil society organisations. “Russian authorities have severely curtailed the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression, both online and offline, and have fundamentally undermined the independence of the judiciary and the guarantees of fair trial,” said a copy of the report seen by Reuters.
Updated
Ukraine government dismisses six deputy defence ministers, including Hanna Maliar
The Ukrainian government decided to dismiss six deputy defence ministers on Monday following the appointment of a new defence minister earlier this month.
The government gave no reason for the dismissals. Those removed from their post included Hanna Maliar, who has frequently issued public updates on Russia’s war against Ukraine.
Rustem Umerov was appointed defence minister less than two weeks ago to replace Oleksii Reznikov. The ministry had been dogged by media allegations of corruption while Reznikov was in the post although he faced no corruption allegations himself.
“Rebooting. We started. We continue. Ministry continues to work as usual,” Umerov said in a Facebook post.
Reuters reports that Maliar, a war crimes lawyer, had served as a deputy defence minister since 2021 and her latest update on the war in Ukraine appeared on Monday morning.
She faced criticism last week after initially reporting that Ukrainian forces had recaptured an eastern village from Russian forces, but later saying her report was inaccurate and that fighting was still raging around the village.
Hearing at World Court in The Hague over genocide case begins
Russia called on the UN’s highest court in The Hague on Monday to throw out a case that centres around claims by Moscow that its invasion of Ukraine was carried out to prevent genocide.
The request was made at the start of hearings dealing with the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court.
Ukraine brought the case just days after the Russian invasion on 24 February last year. Kyiv argues Russia is abusing international law by saying the invasion was justified to prevent an alleged genocide in eastern Ukraine.
Russian officials continue to accuse Ukraine of committing genocide. On Monday, Russia repeated allegations that the “Russophobic and neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv” was using the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which both countries are a party, as a pretext to “drag” a case before the court.
Russia wants the case to be thrown out and says the court has no jurisdiction. The hearings, set to run until 27 September, will not delve into the merits of the case and are instead focused on legal arguments about jurisdiction.
Reuters reports that while Russia has so far ignored the ICJ’s orders to stop its military actions and the court has no way of enforcing its decisions, experts say an eventual ruling in favour of Ukraine could be important for any future reparations claims.
Deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar among officials dismissed by Ukraine
Reuters has a quick snap that Ukraine’s government has dismissed deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar along with five other deputies.
More details soon …
Ukraine plans to sue Poland, Hungary and Slovakia over bans on Ukrainian agricultural products, Politico quoted Ukrainian trade representative Taras Kachka as saying in an interview published on Monday.
Restrictions imposed by the EU in May allowed Poland, Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania and Slovakia to ban domestic sales of Ukrainian wheat, maize, rapeseed and sunflower seeds, while permitting transit of such cargoes for export elsewhere.
Poland, Slovakia and Hungary announced their own restrictions on Ukrainian grain imports on Friday after the executive European Commission decided not to extend its ban on imports into Ukraine’s five EU neighbours.
Warsaw, Bratislava and Budapest say they are acting in the interests of their economies and that their moves are intended to protect their farmers from a glut of products.
“It is important to prove that these actions are legally wrong. And that’s why we will start legal proceedings tomorrow,” Politico quoted Kachka as saying.
Kachka told Politico that Ukraine could also impose reciprocal measures on Poland if Warsaw did not drop its additional measures.
“We would be forced to retaliate on the additional products, and would prohibit the import of fruit and vegetables from Poland,” Politico quoted him as saying.
Reuters reports Kyiv had already said it could seek international arbitration over the restrictions.
Updated
A United Nations report said on Monday that the human rights situation in Russia had significantly deteriorated since it invaded Ukraine in February last year, describing a “systematic crackdown” on civil society organisations.
“Russian authorities have severely curtailed the freedoms of association, peaceful assembly and expression, both online and offline, and have fundamentally undermined the independence of the judiciary and the guarantees of fair trial,” said a copy of the report seen by Reuters.
“An array of administrative sanctions is being applied arbitrarily against dissenters and force used against peaceful protesters,” it said.
The report by the special rapporteur is the first time that the 16-year-old Human Rights Council (HRC) has been mandated to examine the rights record of one of the members which hold permanent seats on the security council.
Reuters reports there was no immediate comment from the Russian diplomatic mission in Geneva.
Updated
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of the Belgorod region in Russia, reports that power supplies have been cut to the villages of Glotovo and Bezymeno near the border with Ukraine after shelling. He said there were no casualties.
Earlier, Roman Starovoyt, governor of neighbouring region Kursk in Russia, reported on Telegram that a woman had been injured by cross-border fire into the village of Tetkino.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Updated
Ukraine claims it shot down all 17 cruise missiles fired by Russia overnight
Overnight Ukraine claims to have shot down all 17 cruise missiles fired into its territory by Russia. The air force also reported that 18 out of 24 “Shahed” drones were downed.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, also reports that four people have been injured near a bus station in Beryslav in Kherson region, and that a recreational facility in Odesa region was set on fire during an attack, but that there were no casualties.
In the Mykolaiv region, debris from a downed drone hit a residential building, but there were no injuries.
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, reports that the regional authority in Kherson has recorded one person killed and another injured after an overnight Russian attack on residential buildings in the village of Mykolaivka in the region.
Bulgaria sends team to inspect drone landed in Black Sea resort
Bulgaria’s defence ministry said on Monday it had sent a special unit to inspect and deactivate a drone carrying explosives which landed on Sunday evening in the Black Sea town of Tyulenovo.
Following inspection the team from Bulgaria, a Nato member, will decide how to dispose of it, Reuters reports the defence ministry said in a statement adding that the team was sent upon the request of the regional government.
The tourist town of Tyulenovo is situated 70km from the Romanian border and across the sea from Crimea, which Russia occupied and unilaterally annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
Bulgarian media reported that a drone carrying explosives landed late on Sunday evening. One local news website quoted witnesses saying that the drone was between 3 and 3.5 metres long, and had a container with explosives attached to it.
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In her statement on Telegram, Hanna Maliar also gave new figures for the amount of territory recaptured by Ukraine. She said 2 sq km had been captured around Bakhmut and in the past week, and that 51 sq km had been recaptured there since the start of the counteroffensive.
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Ukrainian deputy defence minister Hanna Maliar has issued a lengthy update on Telegram, claiming that Ukrainian forces have repelled Russian attacks in a number of areas, including in the Kupyansk, Bakhmut, and Marinka directions.
She claimed that the successes Ukraine says it has had in Andriivka and Klishchiivka “is carried out by the forces with which we defend ourselves. That is, without the creation of an offensive group, without the use of additional resources and material means”. She said that “the enemy is trying with all its might to regain lost positions” in those areas.
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
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Russia said it repelled Ukrainian drone attacks over several parts of Crimea, outer Moscow and two border regions on Sunday.
The Russian defence ministry said the attacks were thwarted, Agence France-Presse reports.
The ministry said on the Telegram messaging app:
Drones were intercepted over the western, southwestern, northwestern and eastern parts of the Crimean peninsula; Istra and Domodedovo districts of Moscow region, Belgorod and Voronezh regions.
Most of the attacks were early on Sunday. Later on Sunday, three drones were destroyed over south-western Crimea, as was a solitary drone over the Belgorod border region, defence ministry updates said.
The Telegram updates throughout the day totalled 13 drones destroyed, including nine over Crimea.
They did not say whether there had been any casualties or damage in the attacks.
Attacks on Russian-annexed Crimea have recently intensified as Kyiv vows to recapture the Black Sea peninsula, while Russia has been hit by waves of drone attacks that have sporadically damaged buildings, including in Moscow.
The Hungarian parliamentary speaker of the ruling Fidesz party says he is “not sure” it needs to approve the ratification of Sweden’s accession to Nato, Reuters has quoted Hungary’s Hír TV as reporting.
Sweden’s bid to join the western military alliance has been held up by Hungary and Turkey.
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed in July to set aside his veto and recommend to his parliament that Sweden’s application go ahead.
At the time Hungary was also yet to approve it, though the government of the prime minister, Viktor Orbán, vowed it would not be the last to make the step, implying it would move soon.
Finland, a fellow Nordic country to Sweden, was admitted to Nato in April.
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Chinese foreign minister set to begin talks in Russia
China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, will begin a four-day visit to Russia for security talks on Monday, his foreign ministry said.
Agence France-Presse reports that his trip is the latest in a series of high-level visits and phone calls between the two sides, which have a “no limits” partnership.
China’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Monday that Wang would go to Russia for the “18th round of the China-Russian strategic security consultations” from 18 to 21 September at the invitation of Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Moscow’s security council.
Photograph: Reuters
In an earlier briefing, Moscow’s foreign ministry said Wang would meet with his Russian counterpart, Sergei Lavrov, and the two planned to “focus on efforts to strengthen collaboration on the international scene”.
A spokesperson said:
There will be a detailed exchange of views on issues related to a settlement in Ukraine, as well as ways of ensuring stability and security in the Asia-Pacific region.
China has sought to position itself as a neutral party on the Ukraine war while offering Moscow a vital diplomatic and financial lifeline as its international isolation deepens.
The high-level contact looks set to ramp up, with an aide to Vladimir Putin saying in July that the Russian president was planning to visit China in October.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow after Ukraine claimed its forces had recaptured the village of Klishchiivka, near Bakhmut.
On Sunday, Russia’s defence ministry said in its daily briefing that its forces kept up their attacks near Klishchiivka, Reuters reports.
The heavy fighting for the strategically important village, spread on higher grounds about 9km (six miles) south of Bakhmut, has taken weeks and comes after Kyiv said on Friday it had gained control of the tiny nearby village of Andriivka.
The gains have been among the most significant in Ukraine’s counteroffensive, which began in June and has struggled to break through entrenched Russian lines.
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Ukraine has retaken key village near Bakhmut, says Zelenskiy
The Ukrainian president says his forces have recaptured the strategically important village of Klishchiivka on the southern flank of the key frontline city of Bakhmut.
“Today I would like to particularly commend the soldiers who, step by step, are returning to Ukraine what belongs to it, namely in the area of Bakhmut,” Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
The deputy defence minister, Hanna Maliar, shared a video of Ukrainian forces displaying flags including the blue and yellow national flag, with ruined buildings and the sound of ongoing fighting in the background. Russia was still trying to regain lost positions despite Klishchiivka’s liberation, she said on Telegram.
Col Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi, commander of Ukraine’s ground forces, also confirmed the recapture of the village, which Russia claimed control of in January and is about 9km (six miles) south of Bakhmut, the city taken by Russia in May after months of heavy fighting.
Ilia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukrainian troops in the east, said the battle inflicted “powerful damage” on Russian forces.
Read the full story here:
Opening summary
Welcome back to our rolling coverage of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a roundup of the latest developments.
Ukrainian forces have recaptured the tactically important village of Klishchiivka near the key frontline city of Bakhmut, the Ukrainian president has said, in what would be Ukraine’s second significant gain in three days.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy praised the soldiers fighting near Bakhmut and singled out those who had retaken Klishchiivka, saying “well done!” in an address.
Russia, meanwhile, said it repelled Ukrainian 13 drone attacks on Crimea as well as outer Moscow and two border regions on Sunday.
And China’s foreign minister, Wang Yi, will begin a four-day visit to Russia for security talks on Monday, his foreign ministry said.
More on those stories shortly. In other news:
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un was on his way home from Russia on Sunday, ending a six-day trip that triggered global concerns about weapons transfer deals between the two countries. Kim began his journey back onboard his armoured train from the Primorye region in Russia’s far east after a farewell ceremony at the train station, Russian state news agency RIA said. After entering Russia on Tuesday in his first overseas trip in more than four years, Kim met Russian president Vladimir Putin, visited key military and technology sites and pledged to step up military and economic cooperation.
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 between Kim and Putin would 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.
US oil and gas multinationals are facing fresh questions over their trade with Russia after Russian customs records revealed that more than $7.1m (£5.7m) worth of equipment manufactured by Halliburton has been imported into the country since it announced the end of its Russian operations. Last September Halliburton, one of the world’s largest providers of products and services for oil and gas exploration, sold its Russian office to local management amid pressure on all US companies to cease their trade after the invasion of Ukraine.
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.
The US expects to announce additional aid to Ukraine next week, national security adviser Jake Sullivan said, while announcing that the US president, Joe Biden, would host Zelenskiy next Thursday at the White House. The Ukrainian leader was also expected to meet with congressional leaders from both political parties.
A body has been found in Ukraine in the search for a British man who was reported missing a month ago. Daniel Burke, 36, from south Manchester, was reported missing on 16 August 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 they have found a body.
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