Russia-Ukraine latest updates: Kyiv claims gains against Moscow

The Biden administration has imposed new sanctions on several Iranian companies, accusing them of involvement in the production and transfer of drones to Russia for its war against Ukraine.

The measures by the US Department of the Treasury targeted Safiran Airport Services, a Tehran-based air transportation service provider, as well as three other firms and one individual that it said were involved in the manufacturing of unmanned aerial vehicles.

“The United States is committed to strictly enforcing our sanctions against both Russia and Iran and holding accountable Iran and those supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine,” Treasury official Brian Nelson said in a statement.

Zelenskyy has said Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 1,000sq km (390sq miles) of territory since September 1, gaining control over dozens of settlements as part of a counteroffensive against Russia.

Zelenskyy made the remarks in an evening address. Separately, he released a video in which Ukrainian soldiers said they had taken the key eastern town of Balakleeia.

Blinken has said he is “proud” that American and international assistance is helping Ukraine “liberate territory” seized by Russia.

The top US diplomat said he received a “comprehensive update” about the Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces during his visit to the country.

“Again, it’s very early. But we’re seeing clear and real progress on the ground, particularly in the area around Kherson but also some interesting developments in the Donbas in the East,” Blinken told reporters before leaving Kyiv.

Zelenskyy has paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth II, describing her death as an “irreparable loss” and sending condolences on behalf of Ukrainians to the British royal family.

The head of Ukraine’s atomic energy operator has accused Russia of trying to “steal” Europe’s largest nuclear plant by cutting it off from the Ukrainian electricity grid and leaving it on the brink of a radiation disaster.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remains without an outside source of electricity since Monday and receives power for its own safety systems from the only one of its six reactors that remains operational, Energoatom chief Petro Kotin told The Associated Press news agency.

Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for the shelling that has damaged parts of the plant and the transmission lines that connect the plant to Ukraine’s electricity network and provide power for crucial cooling systems needed to prevent a meltdown.

Kotin said of the Russians, “This is the highest degree of impudence and confidence in their actual thieving actions. Because first, they want to steal the plant, and then they want to sell what it produces.”

US President Joe Biden has discussed international aid to Ukraine and “the sustained imposition of costs on Russia to hold the Kremlin accountable for its aggression” in a call with allies, the White House has said.

The US president held a conference call with foreign leaders, including the prime ministers of the UK, Italy, Canada and Japan, as well as the Polish president and German chancellor to “underscore continued international support for Ukraine”, the White House said in a statement.

“The leaders also discussed Russia’s weaponization of energy and the need for further coordination to secure sustainable and affordable energy supplies for Europe,” it added.

The United States sees no indication that a UN-brokered Ukrainian grain export deal is unraveling, the White House has said, after President Vladimir Putin triggered fears that Russia could withdraw support.

“We see no indication that it’s falling apart now and it is in fact having the intended effect,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters.

Milley, the top US general, has said Ukrainian forces are not “particularly overstretched” by the counteroffensive they launched against Russian forces in the east and south of the country.

“I would characterise it as a very deliberate offensive operation that is calibrated to set conditions and then seize their objectives,” Milley said.

“I don’t think they are particularly overstretched, per se,” he added.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has warned that Ukraine and its supporters face a tough winter in the coming months, but he urged the public in Western nations to keep faith in their efforts, saying that the war is at a critical point as Russia loses some territory.

“We need at least to be prepared for this winter, because there is no sign of Russia giving up its goal of taking control of Ukraine,” Stoltenberg told The Associated Press news agency.

While Ukraine has sought weapons and ammunition, it now needs winter equipment.

“Winter’s coming, and winter’s going to be hard on the battlefield in Ukraine. We know that the size of the Ukrainian army is now roughly three times as big as what it was last winter,” Stoltenberg said.

“They are in urgent need for more winter uniforms, for generators that create electricity, warmth, and also, of course, tents and other things that can help them through the winter.”

US Secretary of Defense Austin has said he expects continued bipartisan support in Congress for Ukraine aid.

The White House requested additional funds from Congress last week to be allocated for assistance to Ukraine after lawmakers had overwhelmingly approved a $40bn aid package to the Eastern European country earlier this year.

“Based upon the interest and the support that we’ve seen, I fully expect that we’ll continue to receive broad, bipartisan support because our leaders recognise how important this is,” Austin said.

Top US general Mark Milley has said Russia is failing in its invasion of Ukraine, but stressed that the war is not over and Western military aid to Kyiv needs to be sustained.

Milley added that Ukrainian forces are using the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS) to “devastating effect” on Russian forces.

“We are seeing real and measurable gains from Ukraine in the use of these systems. For example, the Ukrainians have struck over 400 targets with the HIMARS and they’ve had devastating effect,” he told reporters at Ramstein Air Base in Germany after a meeting of US-allied defence officials to discuss support for Ukraine.

“Russian lines of communication and supply chains are severely strained. It is having a direct impact on the Russian ability to project and sustain combat power. Russian command and control in the headquarters have been disrupted, and they’re having great difficulty resupplying their forces and replacing their combat losses.”

Russia has said it will not close up to Europe in response to recent European Union curbs on visas for Russians, but that Moscow would take other retaliatory action.

“The interests of us, of our people, will be taken into account in the first place when choosing retaliatory measures,” Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “The Russian Federation won’t close itself up to the EU in response.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s visit to Kyiv as an “important signal” to Ukraine as it pushes on with a counteroffensive against Russia in the south and east of the country.

“This is a very important signal that the United States is with us. For us this is a guarantee that we can return our territories and our land,” Zelenskyy said in video comments circulated by his office.

Ukraine has recaptured more than 700sq km (270sq miles) of its territory in the east and south during a lightning counteroffensive, a Ukrainian general has said, offering the first official assessment of the operation.

The gains, if confirmed and held, would represent a big boost for Kyiv, which is eager to show its Western backers that it can change the facts on the ground by force and deserves continued support.

Some of the biggest gains appear to have been made this week during a surprise Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kharkiv region of northeastern Ukraine.

Brigadier General Oleksiy Gromov told a news briefing that Ukrainian forces had advanced up to 50km (30 miles) behind Russian lines and recaptured more than 20 villages in the Kharkiv region.

A Russian official said Moscow’s forces had put up stiff resistance and prevented Kyiv’s forces from taking at least one key town in the Kharkiv region.

European Union members Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have agreed to restrict the entry of Russian citizens travelling from Russia and Belarus, their foreign ministers said on Wednesday, Reuters reported.

The three Baltic nations expect the entry ban to be in place by the middle of September, after they get formal approval from the national governments, Latvian foreign minister Edgars Rinkevics said.

“In the last couple of weeks and months, the border crossing by Russian citizens holding Schengen visas have dramatically increased. This is becoming a public security issue, this is also an issue of a moral and political nature,” he told a news conference in Lithuania.

The countries will turn back all Russian citizens with visas to enter the EU’s Schengen open border area. Exceptions will be made for humanitarian and family reasons, truck drivers and diplomats.

Norway has announced that it will give about 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine in addition to launching pads and guidance units.

Norwegian defence minister Bjorn Arild Gram said his country would also supply Ukraine with night vision equipment, adding that Kyiv had requested the weapons, AP reported.

In a meeting of 40 allied defence departments at the Ramstein base in Germany, the minister said, “This is the weapon that Ukraine asked for, and it will come in handy in the fight against Russian occupying forces.”

The Hellfire is an anti-tank and anti-aircraft missile that Arild Gram said is easy to control and can be used on land or sea targets.

The Ukrainian military has said it has ha recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in the northeastern Kharkiv region as part of a counteroffensive against Moscow’s forces.

Ukrainian “military units have penetrated 50 kilometres (31 miles) beyond the enemy lines. During active operations in the Kharkiv area, more than 20 settlements have been liberated,” said Oleksiy Gromov, a senior official in the Ukrainian military.

Ukraine has been fighting a counteroffensive in the southern Kherson region, but only launched the counteroffensive in the northeastern Kharkiv region in recent days.

Three of Germany’s leading economic institutes have lowered their forecast for Europe’s largest economy next year, predicting high energy prices caused by the Ukraine war will take their toll.

The IfW institute in Kiel and Halle’s IWH predicted on Thursday that the economy would contract in 2023, a U-turn from June forecasts that predicted growth of 3.3 percent and 2.0 percent, respectively.

The IfW said the economy would shrink by 0.7 percent while the IWH saw a more drastic contraction of 1.4 percent. The RWI institute lowered its 2023 forecast but still predicted growth, of 0.8 percent.

For the current year, IfW, IWH and RWI still expect the German economy to grow, but not as strongly as previously thought, with the forecasts ranging between 1.1 percent and 1.4 percent.

Poland has joined the Baltic states in a common stance on limiting the admission of Russian nationals onto their territories, its government said in a statement.

Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia states earlier this week agreed to limit the entry of Russian nationals into their countries. The wider EU has rolled back a special visa arrangement with Russia, creating higher costs and longer waits, but has avoided limiting entry.

UK Prime Minister Liz Truss has said her government will cap domestic energy prices for homes and businesses to ease a cost-of-living crisis fuelled by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Truss told legislators in Parliament that the two-year “energy price guarantee” means average household bills will be no more than 2,500 pounds ($2,872) a year for heating and electricity. Bills had been due to rise to 3,500 pounds ($4,000) a year from October, triple the cost of a year ago.

The government has said the cap will cut the UK’s soaring inflation rate by 4 to 5 percentage points. Inflation hit 10.1 percent in July and has been forecast to rise to 13 percent before the end of the year.

The government has not said how much the price cap will cost, but estimates have put it at more than 100 billion pounds ($116bn). Truss has rejected opposition calls to impose a windfall tax on oil companies’ profits. The cap will be paid for out of Treasury funds and by borrowing.