Russia-Ukraine war updates: Putin ‘gratefully’ accepts North Korea invite

Slovakia has expelled a diplomat based in Russia’s embassy, the Slovak foreign ministry said on its website on Thursday.

The ministry said: “The reason is his activities, which were in direct violation of the Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations, which were thoroughly documented by the competent authorities of the Slovak Republic.”

It added that the Russian diplomat had 48 hours to leave the country, Reuters reports.

The ministry further said it had summoned the Russian ambassador and urged the embassy to conduct its activities in accordance with the Vienna Convention.

Russia will give “an appropriate response” to the expulsion of one of its diplomats from Slovakia, state-run RIA Novosti news agency reported on Thursday, quoting the Russian foreign ministry.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed what he described as Ukraine’s destruction of a Russian air defence system in the annexed Crimea Peninsula.

“A special mention should be made to the entire personnel of the Security Service of Ukraine as well as our naval forces,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video message on Thursday.

“I thank you for today’s triumph,” he said, a reference to Russia’s Triumf air defence system. “The invaders’ air defence system was destroyed. Very significant, well done!”

The US Department of State has said the expulsion of two American diplomats from Russia was unprovoked and wholly without merit, as State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller warned Washington would respond appropriately.

“Yet again, Russia has chosen confrontation and escalation over constructive diplomatic engagement. It continues to harass employees of our embassy, just as it continues to intimidate its own citizens,” Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing on Thursday.

Pope Francis’s envoy, cardinal Matteo Zuppi, had “open and cordial” talks in Beijing with a Chinese government official on the need to find ways to achieve peace in Ukraine, the Vatican has said.

The meeting was with Li Hui, China’s special envoy for Eurasian affairs, according to the Reuters news agency.

The two sides underlined “the need to combine efforts to encourage dialogue and find paths that lead to peace”, the Vatican added.

Romania, a NATO member, imposed additional flight restrictions in parts of its airspace along the border with Ukraine, the defence ministry has said.

It comes after elements of a possible drone were identified on Romanian territory on Wednesday, according to the defence ministry.

Ukraine said the attack early on Wednesday had struck the ports of Reni and Izmail, which lie across the Danube from Romania, damaging warehouses used for grain cargoes, oil storage tanks and administrative buildings.

The attacks, which have intensified since mid-July when Moscow abandoned a deal that lifted a de facto Russian blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, have increased security risks for NATO, whose members have a mutual defence commitment.

Washington is not worried that sanctions imposed on Turkish firms as part of broad action against Russia could derail Sweden’s bid to join NATO, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller has said.

“We don’t see these as any way connected, and we don’t see that in any way these sanctions should have any impact at all on that accession,” Miller told reporters, adding Washington has a constructive, warm relationship with Ankara.

Top national security officials of the United States, South Korea and Japan held a call on Thursday to discuss the recent meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, the White House has said in a statement.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan spoke to his counterparts, Takeo Akiba of Japan and Cho Tae-yong of South Korea, wherein they reiterated cooperation “toward the complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula”, the White House said on Thursday.

Satellite images of a military base southeast of the Belarus capital Minsk appear to show the dismantling of tents in recent weeks, which may indicate the winding down of the base for Wagner, the Russian mercenary company behind an abortive mutiny.

On August 23, Wagner’s boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and his top lieutenants were killed when a private jet he used crashed in so-far unexplained circumstances, leaving the fate of his mercenaries in doubt.

Images of the Tsel military base in Mogilev region, taken on July 25, August 25 and September 9 and provided by Earth imaging company Planet Labs, appear to show the gradual dismantling of tents in the camp.

In June, the Wagner group launched a brief mutiny against the army’s top brass in Russia, condemned as treason by President Vladimir Putin.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko invited Wagner to set up operations in his country as part of a deal that ended the mutiny.

Ukrainian pilots completed a first training with Sweden’s Gripen fighter jets, the Scandinavian country has said, although it has not yet confirmed whether Stockholm will donate any of the jets to Kyiv.

“The orientation training has been completed and according to the report I received from the defence forces, the training went well,” Swedish Defence Minister Pal Jonson said in remarks emailed to AFP on Thursday.

The preliminary training “included test flights both in the aircraft and simulators and information sessions for ground crew”, Jonson said.

The experience would “form the basis of the ongoing work to determine” whether Sweden can donate some of its Gripens, Jonson added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been pressing Western allies to provide his country with modern fighter jets to help defend itself against Russia.

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un gave each other rifles when they met in eastern Russia, the Kremlin has said.

Putin “gave [Kim] a rifle from our production of the highest quality. In return, he also received a North Korean-made rifle,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

Putin also gave the North Korean leader a “glove from a space suit that has been to space several times”.

Kim, who seldom leaves his country, held talks with Putin at the Vostochny Cosmodrome. The Kremlin said his visit to eastern Russia would last “a few more days”.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general has said that the International Criminal Court (ICC) opened a field office in Kyiv, as part of efforts to hold Russian forces accountable for potential war crimes.

“Today marks a pivotal stride in our journey towards restoring justice,” Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin wrote on social media on Thursday.

“The field office of the International Criminal Court has opened in Ukraine, the largest ICC office outside The Hague. Now our cooperation will be even more effective and efficient.”

The ICC, based in The Hague, is probing possible war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the war in Ukraine.

It has also issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over the illegal movement of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar has backtracked on an announcement that Ukraine had retaken an eastern village near Bakhmut after troops on the ground said fighting was ongoing.

Maliar had announced on Thursday that the village of Andriivka was “ours”, saying Kyiv’s forces were “moving forward in the Bakhmut sector”.

The announcement was rejected by Ukrainian soldiers on the ground.

“The statement about the capture of Andriivka is premature,” the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade, fighting in the Donetsk region, said on social media.

“There are serious and important battles in the areas of Klishchivka and Andriivka,” it said, calling the statement “unfair.”

Maliar in an updated post said she was “clarifying” the situation, blaming the announcement on a “communication breakdown”.

Andriivka is around 14km (9 miles) south of Bakhmut, with an estimated pre-war population of fewer than 100 people.

Wealthy Russians have continued to move cash through Swiss bank accounts after Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, including family members of a tycoon publicly backing the war, a media investigation has shown.

Leaked documents analysed by the Tamedia group showed on Thursday that family members of Alexander Ponomarenko, the head of Moscow water company Mosvodokanal, had “placed millions in Switzerland, even after the start of the war”.

Traditionally neutral Switzerland decided four days after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022 to align itself with the neighbouring European Union’s sanctions against Moscow.

Last year the wealthy Alpine country banned banks from accepting deposits of more than 100,000 Swiss francs ($111,634) from Russian nationals or people or entities based in Russia.

But the restrictions are easily circumvented, due among other things to the ease with which wealthy Russians can obtain passports and residence permits in a European Union country, allowing them to not be counted as Russian clients, Tamedia said.

Switzerland has regularly faced criticism from the United States and others over allegations that it is not doing enough to track down Russian assets.

US President Joe Biden appointed former Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker as the new special representative for Ukraine’s economic recovery.

Biden said Pritzker would mobilise public and private investment, shape donor priorities, and work to open export markets and businesses closed by what he called Russia’s brutal attacks and destruction.

He said: “As we take this next step to help Ukraine forge a stronger future, we remain steadfastly committed to helping it defend its freedom today.”

Separately, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Pritzker would also work closely with Kyiv on reforms needed to mobilise foreign direct investment.

The US has blacklisted five Turkish companies as part of sanctions targeting Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Washington penalised three Turkish firms that it said had supplied Russian defence-related manufacturers, including drone makers, with parts and technology equipment.

Another two Turkish firms and the owner of one of them were also targeted for providing ship repair services to vessels controlled by or involved with the Russian defence sector.

The firms were among more than 150 individuals, companies and institutions added to the blacklist.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a statement: “The US government is targeting individuals and entities engaged in sanctions evasion and circumvention, those complicit in furthering Russia’s ability to wage its war against Ukraine, and those responsible for bolstering Russia’s future energy production.”

Four F-35 fighter jets have landed at an airbase in Denmark in the first instalment to replace its ageing fleet of jets, some of which have been promised to Ukraine.

Ukraine has been asking for fighter jets to fight back against Russia’s invasion and air superiority.

Last month, Denmark and the Netherlands said they would donate F-16 aircraft to Ukraine with Denmark pledging 19 and the Netherlands an unspecified number.

Denmark said it would need to receive new F-35s first, and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in August that she hoped the first six F-16s could be handed over to Ukraine around New Year’s Day.

NATO member Norway also has indicated its intention to donate F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 568 of the war.

Keep reading:

• US has little leverage against Russia-North Korea cooperation, experts say
• Kim Jong Un’s support for Russia sparks warnings from the West
• Fresh debris of Russian-style drones found in Romania
• Ukraine’s long arm disrupts Crimea, its patience breaches Russian defences

Kyiv’s foreign ministry says any plan to extend import restrictions on Ukrainian food from September 15 would be illegal and harm common economic interests.

In May, the European Union 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.

The restrictions, aimed to ease excess supply and pressure on local farmers, are due to expire on Friday.

Earlier Thursday, Bulgaria said it lifted its ban on Ukrainian grain and said it will not be extending restrictions after the expiry date.

Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar says Ukrainian forces have recaptured the eastern village of Andriivka near Bakhmut.

On Telegram, Maliar wrote, “We are moving forward in the Bakhmut direction. On the northern flank, the enemy is trying to recapture lost positions. And in the south, we are making good progress.

“The main battles continue in Andriivka, Kurdyumivka, and Klishchiivka districts. And we have good news there. Andriivka is ours. We fix on occupied positions.”

Russia is expelling two US diplomats accused of working with a Russian national accused of collaborating with a foreign state.

In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it summoned US Ambassador Lynne Tracy and told her that her embassy first secretary, Jeffrey Sillin, and second secretary, David Bernstein, must leave Russia within seven days.

“The named people conducted illegal activity, maintaining contact with Russian citizen R Shonov, accused of ‘confidential cooperation’ with a foreign state,” the ministry said.

Robert Shonov, a Russian national, was employed by the US consulate in Vladivostok until 2021 when Russia ordered the termination of the mission’s local staff.

Russian state news agency TASS quoted the FSB security service as saying that Shonov had passed information to US embassy staff in Moscow on Russia’s conscription campaign ahead of the 2024 presidential election in Russia.