Ukraine-Russia war updates: EU allows ban on grain imports to expire

Turkey and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres are “working hard” to revive the Black Sea grain deal, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan has said.

Sullivan during a news briefing said the US does not see an immediate pathway back to the deal, saying that “Russia’s excuses, answers on this just keep shifting”.

“We’re going to continue to press on them [Russians]. We’re going to call on the rest of the world to do the same. We know the Turks are working hard at this, Guterres is working hard at this. So we hope that they can generate an outcome,” said Sullivan.

“But the Russians are not giving us a huge amount of cause for optimism at this moment.”

Kyiv, Ukraine – The very names of suburbs where Marina Krasnolenska sells real estate may make one tear up.

Bucha, Irpin, Vorzel and nearby areas north of the Ukrainian capital are where Russian servicemen were accused of killing, wounding, robbing or raping thousands of civilians.

Shelling during Moscow’s invasion destroyed or damaged hundreds of buildings, often burying residents alive, and the shock waves made thousands of roofs leaky.

Selling property in the area in the months following the withdrawal of Russian troops last year was tricky.

Read more here.

Slovakia has also imposed a ban on grain from Ukraine following similar steps announced by Poland and Hungary after EU’s decision to not extend its own restrictions past Friday.

The EU “did not extend the import ban on four commodities from Ukraine … so the Slovak government has decided to ban their import at the national level until the end of the year,” Bratislava said.

The government said the ban will concern wheat, corn, rapeseed and sunflower seeds.

“We must prevent excessive pressure on the Slovak market in order to remain fair to domestic farmers,” it added.

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the EU’s decision not to further expand the ban on grain exports from Ukraine, calling it an example of true unity and trust.

As Poland, Slovakia and Hungary indicated they would impose their own ban after an EU decision to lift it, Zelenskyy said that if neighbouring countries violate EU law, “Ukraine will respond in a civilised manner”.

“It is important now for European unity to work at the bilateral level as well. So that neighbors support Ukraine during the war,” he said on the Telegram messaging app after talks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Poland says it would extend an embargo on Ukrainian grain, shortly after a European Commission decision announced earlier in the day to end the import ban.

“A government order extending the embargo on Ukrainian grain will be issued and published today,” government spokesperson Piotr Muller told state news agency PAP.

“We do not agree with the European Commission’s decision and in the interest of Polish farmers and consumers, we are introducing national measures,” he added.

Thousands of Jewish pilgrims gathered in the Ukrainian city of Uman on Friday to mark the Rosh Hashanah religious festival, despite warnings not to travel due to Russia’s invasion.

Security was tightened before this year’s gathering, as Ukrainian officials urged pilgrims to follow warnings.

“At present, about 32,000 pilgrims have already arrived in Uman,” said Iryna Rybnytska from the Historical Cultural Center of Uman, which looks after Jewish monuments and cemeteries in the city.

Uman has been a site of pilgrimage for over 200 years, as Jews from Israel and across the world celebrate the life of Hasidic leader Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, who was buried in the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected at the White House and on Capitol Hill next week as he visits the US during the UN General Assembly.

It will mark the third time the US President Joe Biden and the Ukrainian leader have met at the White House.

“It certainly comes at a critical time, as Russia desperately seeks help from countries like North Korea for its brutal war in Ukraine, as Ukrainian forces continue to make progress in their counteroffensive, and just after the next Ukraine defence contact group meeting that [Defense] Secretary [Lloyd] Austin is organising with dozens of our allies and partners in Europe earlier next week,” Sullivan said during a news briefing at the White House.

A prominent Russian general has resurfaced in Algeria after disappearing from public eye following the Wagner mercenary group’s attempted mutiny in June.

Nicknamed “General Armageddon”, Sergei Surovikin was removed from his post as commander of Russia’s aerospace force in August, two months after the mercenary group sought to topple Russia’s military command.

The general, one of the leading commanders of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, was a mediator between the Russian army on the one hand, and Wagner and its leader Yevgeny Prigozhin on the other.

Surovikin appeared in images published on the Facebook page of the grand mosque of the Algerian coastal city of Oran that were picked up by Russian media.

Hungary imposed a national import ban on 24 Ukrainian agricultural products, including grains, vegetables, several meat products and honey, according to a government decree.

The ban is effective from September 16. Hungary decided to unilaterally ban the imports of Ukrainian foodstuff after the European Commission said it would not extend a current ban on imports of Ukrainian grains into Ukraine’s five EU neighbours that is due to expire on Friday.

The UN’s World Heritage Committee has placed two major historical sites in Ukraine on its list of such sites that it considers to be in danger.

The iconic St Sophia Cathedral in the capital, Kyiv, and the medieval centre of the western city of Lviv are UNESCO World Heritage Sites central to Ukraine’s culture and history.

A Ukrainian government official welcomed the move.

“We are very happy to have a very rich history and culture of our country, and we would like to say that it has been over thousands of years, and we try to preserve it for our future generations,” Deputy Culture Minister Anastasia Bondar said. “So it’s very much important that the whole world community will join us also.”

The decision to put those two on the body’s list of sites “in danger” has no enforcement mechanism, but could help deter Russian attacks.

Ukrainian forces have allegedly recaptured a war-ravaged settlement in the country’s embattled east, Kyiv’s military leaders have said, a small territorial win in a counteroffensive marked by small victories but no major breakthroughs.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces announced the reclaiming of Andriivka early Friday. The 3rd Assault Brigade said it took Andriivka after surrounding the Russian garrison in the village during what it described as a “lightning operation” and destroying it over two days. It called the success a breakthrough on the southern flank of Bakhmut and “key to success in all further directions”.

The 3rd Assault Brigade initially contested a statement by Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar that said Andriivka was reclaimed but confirmed early Friday that it had done so.

“It was difficult and yesterday’s situation changed very dynamically several times,” she said.

The European Union has announced it was ending an import ban on Ukrainian grain in five member states, after Kyiv promised to control exports.

“Existing measures will expire today,” the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement.

Two Russians and an American rocketed toward the International Space Station (ISS) despite heightened tensions between Moscow and Washington over Ukraine.

Roscosmos cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Nikolai Chub and NASA astronaut Loral O’Hara lifted off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan aboard the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft. The launch took place at 15:44 GMT as scheduled.

Finland will join the Baltic states in prohibiting the entry of cars with Russian licence plates, the government in Helsinki has said.

As of midnight Saturday, it is forbidden to enter the Northern European state with vehicles registered in the neighbouring country.

Finland is following the line of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania, which all barred Russian-registered vehicles from crossing their borders in the past few days.

The Russian Olympic Committee (ROC) says Moscow will not boycott the 2024 Olympics in Paris, and athletes can choose to participate under a neutral banner.

During a briefing on Thursday, ROC President Stanislav Pozdnyakov said, “Boycotting the games leads to nowhere.”

“We live together in a free state. Every person can, if they so wish, take the path” of competing under a neutral banner, Pozdnyakov said.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich [Putin] again said very clearly that this is everyone’s moral choice,” he added.

However, Pozdnyakov said, “The current recommendations are … prohibitive in nature and will not allow a large number of our athletes to take part in the Olympic Games.”

The International Olympic Committee recommended allowing athletes from Russia and Belarus to compete as individuals in international competitions.

A Ukrainian intelligence source says a sea drone damaged a small Russian missile ship near Crimea, contradicting a Russian account that the attack was repelled.

The unnamed source told the Reuters news agency that the sea drone hit the back right part of Russia’s Samum missile ship on Thursday at Crimea’s Sevastopol Bay entrance and inflicted “significant damage”.

The vessel had to be towed away for repairs and was listing to one side, the source added.

On Thursday, Russia’s Defence Ministry reported the attack on the Samum but said it was repelled and the naval drone was destroyed.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify the reports.

Romania’s plans to double the capacity of Ukrainian grain through its Constanta port to 4 million tonnes in the coming months remain achievable, Transport Minister Sorin Grindeanu says.

Grindeanu was meeting officials from Ukraine, Moldova, the European Commission and the US as they look to help Kyiv, a top global grain exporter, maintain exports after Russia quit the Black Sea grain deal in July.

Click here for a roundup of the key events from day 569 of the war.

KEEP READING

• Romania ups flight restrictions at Ukraine border as drone debris found
• Despite Russia’s war, house prices in some parts of Ukraine still rise
• Ukrainian President Zelenskyy set to visit to Washington amid budget debate

Putin has met his Belarusian counterpart, Alexander Lukashenko, who suggested Minsk could join Moscow’s efforts to revive an alliance with Pyongyang following a summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

“I would like to inform you about the discussion on the situation in the region, which was quite important, and also to touch on the most acute issue, the situation in Ukraine,” Putin said at the start of the meeting.

Lukashenko responded by saying, “We could think about three-way cooperation.”

“I think a bit of work could be found for Belarus to do there as well,” he added.

Meanwhile, the North Korean leader continued his trip by visiting an aircraft factory in Komsomolsk-on-Amur to see the latest Russian fighter jets.

On Saturday, he is scheduled to arrive in Vladivostok, where he will see Russian Pacific Fleet warships and visit a university.

Ukraine says an overnight Russian drone attack on a military airfield showed Moscow was searching for warplanes involved in strikes on Crimea.

Ukraine’s air force said Russia fired 17 “kamikaze” drones at the Khmelnytskyi region, home to the Starokostiantyniv airbase, which has been attacked repeatedly during the war.

The debris of downed drones damaged 12 homes and broke school windows but hurt no one, regional official Serhiy Tiurin said.

“Khmelnytskyi region was attacked. We understand what the enemy is looking for where the command has hidden our bombers after the events that happened recently in the sea near Crimea,” Colonel Yuriy Ihnat said in televised comments.

On Wednesday, Ukraine conducted a missile strike on a shipyard in Sevastopol, seriously damaging two naval vessels.