Thursday, August 3, 2023

1325 GMT — Ukraine and the United States started talks aimed at providing security guarantees for Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's chief of staff has said, a follow-up to pledges by G7 countries at last month's NATO summit.

Ukraine was told that the Group of Seven (G7) would draw up and honour security guarantees and help bolster its military in light of Russia's 17-month-old invasion of Ukraine.

The Kiev government sees the talks as an interim stage pending its accession to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization military alliance. At the summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, NATO leaders offered support to Ukraine but ruled out any notion of membership until the war with Russia is resolved.

Presidential Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the agreement reached in Vilnius was "the basis for working out corresponding bilateral agreements".

"It is symbolic that the United States - our biggest strategic partner - became the first country with which Ukraine has started this process," Yermak wrote. "Through this process, we will create a successful model for other partners ."

More updates 👇

2333 GMT — Zelenskyy decries ‘revolting’ practices at recruitment centres

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has decried "revolting" practices exposed during an audit of Ukraine's military recruitment centres and pledged to fix the system by placing in charge people who understood the meaning of war.

"We had a detailed conversation," Zelenskyy said after meeting Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and the head of the SBU security service, Vasyl Maliuk. "The investigation is revealing numerous abuses," Zelenskyy said. "And they are frankly revolting."

The probe of recruitment offices is part of a long-running campaign to root out corruption, a critical issue as Ukraine presses a campaign to join NATO and the European Union.

1915 GMT- Zelenskyy says frontline combat ‘hard’ but Ukraine 'dominates'

President Zelenskyy has said that Kiev's troops were faced with brutal fighting all along the front but were prevailing nonetheless.

"The occupiers are trying to stop our guys with all their might. The attacks are very brutal," Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine began its long-awaited counteroffensive in June to push back Russian forces from territories in the east and the south but made modest advances.

1907 GMT — White House concerned over North Korea's possible munitions delivery

The United States remains concerned that North Korea will send munitions to Russia, White House national security advisor John Kirby told a briefing.

"Our information indicates that Russia is seeking to increase military cooperation" with North Korea, he said.

1850 GMT — US to help Russia's food exports if grain deal restored: Blinken

The United States would continue to do "whatever is necessary" to ensure Russia can freely export food if there was a revival of a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukrainian grain, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

"In the event of a return to the agreement, of course, we'll continue to do whatever is necessary to make sure that everyone can export their food and food products freely and safely to include Russia," Blinken told reporters at the United Nations.

"We want to see that food on world markets. We want everyone to benefit from the lower prices," he said after chairing a UN Security Council meeting on food insecurity caused by conflict.

1325 GMT - Ukraine helicopter was flying low before crash - prosecutors

A helicopter that crashed in a suburb of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev, killing 14 people, including the interior minister, had been flying at a low level in atrocious weather, prosecutors said.

The helicopter crashed in fog near a nursery on January 18 in what President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a "terrible tragedy" before calling for an investigation.

Interior Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, 42, a prominent member of Zelenskyy's team in fighting Russia's military operation, and his first deputy were among the dead.

The helicopter had been flying to a location near the frontline. The Prosecutor General's office accused five emergency services officials of violating flight safety rules.

1324 GMT - Russia to cut oil exports by 300,000 bpd in September

Russia will cut oil exports by 300,000 barrels per day in September, Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said.

"Within the efforts to ensure the oil market remains balanced Russia will continue to voluntarily reduce its oil supply in the month of September, now by 300,000 barrels per day, by cutting its exports by that quantity to global markets," Novak said.

1301 GMT - Germany reaffirms opposition to sending cruise missiles to Ukraine

Germany Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reiterated his opposition to delivering Taurus-type cruise missiles to Ukraine.

"We are still of the opinion that this is not our top priority right now," Germany’s dpa news agency quoted Pistorius as saying during his visit to the 23rd Mountain Infantry Brigade in the southern German town of Bad Reichenhall.

Concerns about the delivery are “obvious,” he said, adding: “We're not the only ones not delivering. Our American allies do not supply these cruise missiles either. Ours have a special reach.”

Ukraine has been demanding Taurus cruise missiles from Berlin in order to be able to attack the positions of the Russian armed forces far behind the front line.

But the German government is reluctant to do so because these missiles can also reach Russian territory.

0954 GMT - Russia fines Apple for not deleting 'inaccurate' content on Ukraine conflict

A Moscow court fined Apple 400,000 roubles ($4,274) for not deleting "inaccurate" content about Russia's offensive against Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.

TASS said it was the first time Apple had been fined for that offence.

Moscow has clashed with Big Tech for years over content, censorship, data and local representation in disputes that escalated after Russia sent its armed forces into Ukraine on Feb.

0943 GMT -Russian shelling hits a landmark church in the Ukrainian city of Kherson

Russian shelling damaged a landmark church in the city of Kherson that once held the remains of the renowned 18th-century commander who exerted Russian control through the southeast parts of modern Ukraine and annexed the Crimean Peninsula.

Ukraine's emergency service said four of its workers were wounded in a second round of shelling as they fought the fire at St Catherine's Cathedral. Four other people were wounded in the first shelling attack, which also hit a trolleybus, the prosecutor general's office said.

The shelling followed the severe damage sustained by a b eloved Orthodox cathedral in a missile strike last week in Odesa and underlined the war's risk to the country's cultural monuments.

0937 GMT —Fighters from Russia's private Wagner mercenary force are being moved close to NATO's eastern flank to destabilise the military alliance, Poland's prime minister has said.

"We need to be aware that the number of provocations will rise," Mateusz Morawiecki said after meeting Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda in eastern Poland.

"The Wagner group is extremely dangerous and they are being moved to the eastern flank to destabilise it."

Wagner soldiers have begun training with the Belarus national army, prompting Poland to start moving more than 1,000 troops closer to the border. On Tuesday, it accused Belarus of violating its airspace with military helicopters.

0925 GMT -Ukraine weighs possibility of insuring ships going via 'grain corridor' - Interfax-Ukraine

Ukraine is considering the possibility of insuring ships going through the "grain corridor", news agency Interfax-Ukraine reported on Thursday, citing Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

0850 GMT -Russia adds Norway to list of countries 'unfriendly' to its diplomats

Russia has added Norway to its list of foreign states that have committed so-called "unfriendly" acts against Russian diplomatic missions, news agencies reported.

Countries on the list are limited in the number of local staff they can hire in Russia, with Norway restricted to 27, state news agency RIA Novosti said.

Norway expelled 15 Russian diplomats for alleged spying in April, and Russia responded by ordering out 10 Norwegian diplomats.

"Today's situation is the result of Russia's war on Ukraine. Russia can itself choose to end the war," Norwegian Foreign Minister Anniken Huitfeldt said in a statement to Reuters.

"As neighbouring countries we both have an interest in functioning diplomatic relations and channels of contact, not least in difficult times," Huitfeldt said.

0830 GMT -Russia: 6 Ukrainian drones shot down in Kaluga region

"Last night, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack by unmanned aerial vehicles was stopped over the territory of the Kaluga region. Six UAVs (unmanned aerial vehicles) destroyed by air defence means," the ministry said in a statement.

The ministry added that the attack caused no casualties or damages.

0356 GMT -'Almost 15' drones downed over Kiev: Ukrainian officials

Almost 15 drones were downed during an overnight attack on Kiev, Ukrainian officials said, in the second strike on the capital in as many days.

Air defence forces "detected and destroyed almost 15 air targets", said Sergiy Popko, head of the Kiev city military administration, without specifying who launched the attack.

Early information indicated no damage or casualties, he said. Popko said the attackers had used a barrage of Shahed drones, in an onslaught that lasted three hours.

0050 GMT -Russians fail to advance but well dug in – Ukraine

Russian forces have made no headway along the front lines, but are entrenched in heavily mined areas they control, making it difficult for Ukrainian troops to move east and south, Ukrainian officials said.

Russian accounts of the fighting on the frontline said 12 Ukrainian attacks had been repelled in Donetsk region - a focal point of Russian advances for months.

Deputy Ukrainian Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said Russian forces had "tried quite persistently to halt our advance in the Bakhmut sector. Without success."

Russian forces, she wrote on the Telegram messaging app, were beefing up reserves and equipment in three areas further north, where heavy fighting has also been reported in recent weeks.

Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of Ukraine’s Security Council, said Russian forces had ample time in months of occupation to prepare defences and lay extensive minefields.

“The enemy has prepared very thoroughly for these events,” he told national television. "The number of mines on the territory that our troops have retaken is utterly mad."

0127 GMT —Anti-aircraft units in action during three-hour Kiev alert

Anti-aircraft units have been in action against attack drones during a three-hour air raid alert in and around Kiev, the military said, with several explosions reported but no strikes or casualties announced.

Kiev military authorities lifted the alert just after 4 am (0100 GMT).

One report by the military said airborne targets had been downed, but no details were provided.

Alerts were also lifted in most other areas of the country.

For our live updates from Wednesday (August 2), click here.