Newest information on Russia and the conflict in Ukraine

The group overseeing the export of agricultural merchandise from Ukraine stated that 5 ships carrying grains and different crops have been accepted to depart Ukrainian ports on Thursday.

The vessel Ascanios is carrying 58,510 metric tons of corn and is destined for Germany. The vessel Mohamad is carrying 11,000 metric tons of wheat and is destined for Israel. The ship named Bellis can even journey to Israel and is carrying 6,000 metric tons of soybeans. The vessel Oris Sofi is transporting 5,900 metric tons of sunflower oil to Turkey. One other ship, Zelek Star can also be destined for Turkey and is transporting 3,700 metric tons of peas.

In whole, the 5 vessels are carrying 85,110 metric tons of grain and meals merchandise underneath the Black Sea Grain Initiative. 

— Amanda Macias

U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield stated potential Russian conflict crimes are mounting in Ukraine.

“The proof of Russian forces interrogating, detaining, and forcibly deporting a whole lot of hundreds of Ukrainians, together with kids, continues to mount. Their causes are clear: They wish to destroy Ukraine – its tradition, its individuals, its very existence,” Thomas-Greenfield stated throughout a U.N. Safety Council assembly.

“For all this violence and carnage, these starvation and humanitarian crises, these human rights abuses and threats to weak teams. Russia and Russia alone bears sole duty,” she added.

Thomas-Greenfield referred to as on the worldwide discussion board to carry Russia accountable.

— Amanda Macias

Nationwide safety council spokesman John Kirby stated that U.S. intelligence signifies that Russia might attempt to maintain “sham referendums” as early as this week.

Kirby advised reporters that the referendums are a means of Russia making an attempt to indicate that the Ukrainian individuals wish to turn into a part of Russia. Kirby stated that the U.S. believes that the referendums might start in Kharkiv, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk and Donetsk.

Kirby added that the Biden administration won’t view the end result of the referendum as reputable.

“Since they clearly are having bother reaching geographic beneficial properties inside Ukraine, they’re making an attempt to achieve that by means of false political means,” Kirby advised reporters.

“We count on Russia to attempt to manipulate the outcomes of those referenda, to falsely declare that the Ukrainian individuals wish to be a part of Russia,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

The World Well being Group warned that Russia’s conflict has severely impacted Ukraine’s capacity to offer sufficient healthcare.

“No system can ship optimum well being to its individuals underneath the stress of conflict, which is why we proceed to name on the Russian Federation to finish this conflict,” stated Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-Normal in a press release.

“Although shaken, the well being system has not collapsed,” stated Ghebreyesus, including that the WHO will proceed to assist the Ministry of Well being of Ukraine to revive disrupted providers, displaced well being staff and destroyed infrastructure.

He stated that to date the WHO has delivered greater than 1,300 metric tons of important medical provides to Ukraine. The provides embody energy turbines, ambulances, oxygen provides for medical services, provides for trauma and emergency surgical procedures and drugs to assist deal with non-communicable illnesses. 

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s president says Russian forces have launched a rocket assault on a railroad station in central Ukraine on the nation’s Independence Day, killing not less than 15 individuals and wounding about 50.

The deadly strike got here after warnings from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in current days that the Russians would possibly “attempt to do one thing notably nasty, one thing notably merciless” this week.

Wednesday is a nationwide vacation in Ukraine commemorating the nation’s declaration of independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. It additionally marks the six-month level within the conflict in opposition to Russia.

— Related Press

The Biden administration introduced roughly $3 billion in safety help for Ukraine on Wednesday.

The announcement of the upcoming army help package deal, the nineteenth such installment, comes as Ukraine celebrates 31 years of its independence from the Soviet Union.

The package deal consists of six extra Nationwide Superior Floor-to-Air Missile Programs, or NASAMS, in addition to munitions for these programs, 24 counter-artillery radars, 245,000 rounds of 155 mm artillery ammunition, 65,000 rounds of 120 mm mortar ammunition, laser-guided rocket programs, assist gear for the Scan Eagle drone in addition to Puma drones.

New to this safety package deal is the Vampire drone. It was not instantly clear what number of the Pentagon would supply.

Thus far, the U.S. has dedicated greater than $13.5 billion in safety help to Ukraine since January 2021.

— Amanda Macias

United Nations Below-Secretary-Normal Rosemary DiCarlo warned that Ukrainians will want extra assist as the tough winter season approaches.

“As winter approaches the destruction brought on by conflict, mixed with the dearth of entry to electrical energy on account of broken infrastructure might turn into a matter of life or loss of life,” DiCarlo stated throughout a gathering of the U.N. Safety Council

“The United Nations estimates that 1.7 million individuals are already in want of pressing help with heating, shelter restore and different winterization preparations as temperatures in elements of the nation are anticipated to say no to minus 20 levels Celsius,” she added.

DiCarlo stated U.N. organizations have been working with Ukraine to deal with their winterzation efforts.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy addressed the United Nations Safety Council as his war-torn nation celebrates its thirty first Independence Day.

“There is no such thing as a such conflict crime that the Russian occupiers haven’t but dedicated on the territory of Ukraine,” Zelenskyy advised the worldwide discussion board.

“If Russia shouldn’t be stopped now in Ukraine, if it isn’t stopped by the victory of Ukraine then all these Russian murderers will in all probability find yourself in different international locations,” he warned.

Zelenskyy, who spoke by way of video teleconference, referred to as on the United Nations physique to carry Russia accountable for its unprovoked conflict in Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

The British authorities celebrates Ukraine’s Independence Day by erecting a flower arch over the doorway to Quantity 10 Downing Avenue in London.

The sunflower, Ukraine’s nationwide flower, is seen with pops of blue flowers to additional symbolize the colours of the nationwide flag.

Seen underneath the flower arch is a 15-year-old tabby cat named Larry that lives within the Quantity 10 residence.

— Amanda Macias

Quite a few civilians try to depart the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv as fears develop over Russian strikes across the interval of Ukraine’s Independence Day, Aug. 24, an adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated.

There may be “actually some concern” {that a} Russian assault might hit strategic elements of Kyiv, notably authorities areas, presidential advisor Alex Rodnyansky stated.

And in response to the top of Ukraine’s intelligence directorate, Andriy Yusov, Russian President Vladimir Putin is “actually obsessive about dates and symbols, so it will be logical to be looking out and be ready for independence day to be attacked.”

Celebrations have been canceled and huge gatherings banned for many of this week as Kyiv stays on excessive alert.

— Natasha Turak

United Nations investigators stated the conflict in Ukraine “might depart the nation and area with a poisonous legacy for generations to return,” in response to preliminary monitoring reviews from the area.

The United Nations Setting Program, or UNEP, discovered hundreds of potential incidents of air, water and land air pollution and the degradation of ecosystems, together with dangers to neighboring international locations.

“The mapping and preliminary screening of environmental hazards solely serves to substantiate that conflict is kind of actually poisonous,” wrote UNEP Govt Director Inger Andersen within the report.

“The primary precedence is for this mindless destruction to finish now. The setting is about individuals: it is about livelihoods, public well being, clear air and water, and fundamental meals programs. It is a few protected future for Ukrainians and their neighbors, and additional harm should not be completed,” she added.

— Amanda Macias

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson visited Kyiv to rejoice Ukraine’s Independence Day.

“What occurs in Ukraine issues to us all. That’s the reason I’m in Kyiv right this moment. That’s the reason the UK will proceed to face with our Ukrainian mates,” Johnson wrote on Twitter.

“I imagine Ukraine can and can win this conflict,” he added.

Johnson, who was one of many first world leaders to go to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv following Russia’s invasion, has shortly turn into one of the crucial seen Western supporters of Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

The White Home issued a press release from President Joe Biden congratulating Ukraine on its thirty first anniversary of independence, wherein he reaffirmed his administration’s assist for the nation in its conflict in opposition to Russia.

“Over the previous six months, Ukrainians have impressed the world with their extraordinary braveness and dedication to freedom. They’ve stood resolute and robust within the face of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. And right this moment shouldn’t be solely a celebration of the previous, however a convincing affirmation that Ukraine proudly stays – and can stay – a sovereign and unbiased nation,” Biden’s assertion learn.

It highlighted the most recent U.S. safety help package deal for Ukraine totaling roughly $2.98 billion, its largest but. Up to now six months for the reason that conflict started, Ukraine has misplaced hundreds of civilian and combatant lives, seen swathes of cities and infrastructure destroyed, and had its inhabitants depleted by not less than 10 million as individuals flee to different international locations.

“I do know this independence day is bittersweet for a lot of Ukrainians as hundreds have been killed or wounded, thousands and thousands have been displaced from their properties, and so many others have fallen sufferer to Russian atrocities and assaults,” Biden’s assertion continued.

It added that the U.S. “appears ahead to persevering with to rejoice Ukraine as a democratic, unbiased, sovereign and affluent state for many years to return.”

— Natasha Turak

The previous Russian mayor of Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest metropolis, was arrested and charged with discrediting the nation’s army, within the newest instance of the Kremlin’s harsh legal guidelines in opposition to dissent.

Yevgeny Roizman, 59, was Yekaterinburg’s mayor from 2013 to 2018 and had already been fined earlier this 12 months underneath Russia’s legislation that bans any exercise “discrediting” the army or spreading “faux info” about its operations.

The legislation got here into place shortly after Russia launched its conflict in opposition to Ukraine, which it calls a “particular army operation.” Russian authorities are well-known to label criticism as equal to spreading faux info.

In accordance with Reuters, the previous mayor stated he had been arrested “mainly for one phrase, ‘the invasion of Ukraine’.”

Roizman might serve as much as 5 years in jail if convicted. Just a few related arrests of native officers and journalists have been made in earlier months.

— Natasha Turak

U.S. President Joe Biden introduced a brand new almost $3 billion army help package deal for Ukraine, the biggest but since Russia launched its full invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24.

“The US of America is dedicated to supporting the individuals of Ukraine as they proceed the combat to defend their sovereignty,” a White Home assertion from the president stated.

“I’m proud to announce our greatest tranche of safety help so far: roughly $2.98 billion of weapons and gear to be offered by means of the Ukraine Safety Help Initiative,” the assertion stated. “This can enable Ukraine to amass air protection programs, artillery programs and munitions, counter-unmanned aerial programs, and radars to make sure it will probably proceed to defend itself over the long run.”

The U.S. is by far the biggest provider of army and monetary help to Ukraine because it fights to defend itself from Russian forces, and has dedicated greater than $10.5 billion to the nation within the final six months.

The U.Ok. might resolve to toughen visa situations for Russians getting into the nation, British Protection Secretary Ben Wallace advised BBC Radio, although he questioned the knowledge of an outright ban on Russian residents, which has been referred to as for by some European leaders.

“I actually assume we will toughen up the situations of our visas. I’m not certain whether or not an outright ban is the suitable means,” Wallace stated.

“I believe that is a matter for the house secretary to take a look at. However I do not like … watching oligarchs’ wives or certainly Russian senior officers’ wives having fun with themselves in Greece or the south of France, or on superyachts all over the world whereas their military is committing conflict crimes in Ukraine,” he added.

Estonia, Finland and the Czech Republic have all referred to as for an EU-wide ban on the entry of Russian vacationers from the Schengen free motion space. The transfer would function additional punishment for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, supporters of the ban say.

U.S. President Joe Biden has additionally signaled he’s not in favor of an outright ban on Russian vacationers.

— Natasha Turak

“The tip shouldn’t be in sight,” stated former U.S. ambassador to Georgia and Kazakhstan, William Courtney, who added that the end result of the conflict is troublesome to foretell. Ukraine marked the sixth month since Russia invaded the nation.

Courtney, who’s now an adjunct senior fellow at Rand Company, added that whereas Russia is prone to “undertake some type of assault” on Ukraine’s Independence Day, Russia shouldn’t be able to change the end result of the conflict.

“It does not seem that Russia is able to make an advance … this isn’t one thing that may have an effect on the end result of the combating,” he stated.

Russia’s continued assault can proceed “so long as the Kremlin retains assist,” the senior fellow stated, however cautioned that the disposable incomes of households in Russia have significantly dropped since its first invasion of Ukraine in 2014, and are “taking place additional.”

Courtney famous that inflation in Russia is way increased than wage progress, and that “there is a potential for public unrest.”

Ukraine marks the sixth month of Russia’s invasion, and analysts expect the battle to be an extended, grinding “conflict of attrition” endlessly.

Russia initially anticipated a fast victory in Ukraine, however hopes of swiftly overthrowing Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s pro-Western authorities dissipated.

Geopolitical analyst and affiliate fellow on the Royal United Companies Institute, Sam Ramani, stated there was one thing of a reversal in Russia’s fortunes for the reason that begin of the invasion.

“Within the first month of the conflict, the stronghold for Russia was actually southern Ukraine. They took over Kherson in a short time and two thirds of Zaporizhzhia. They’d Snake Island. The entire of the Black Beach was nearly underneath their management,” he stated, including that “now they’re weak within the south.”

Russian troops in current months pulled out of Snake Island and occupied areas, comparable to Crimea and Kherson. Moreover, Russian forces are seeing rising numbers of Ukrainian strikes in what could possibly be the beginning of Kyiv’s counteroffensive to reclaim misplaced territory within the south.

The transport of grain exports from Ukrainian ports has additionally been capable of resume underneath a U.N.-Turkey brokered deal between Moscow and Kyiv, bringing an finish to a months-long Russian blockade.

Regardless of these beneficial properties by Ukraine, many analysts have been left asking the place and when Ukraine will launch a counteroffensive within the south like they introduced.

Max Hess, a fellow on the Overseas Coverage Analysis Institute, a U.S.-based assume tank, advised CNBC that the outlook for the subsequent six months is prone to resemble a quagmire, each bodily on the bottom and on a geopolitical degree, with neither facet capable of make advances and no impetus for a return to cease-fire negotiations after talks failed earlier this 12 months.

— Lee Ying Shan, Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine marks its thirty first anniversary of independence right this moment, Aug. 24, precisely six months after the beginning of Russia’s full-fledged army invasion.

The nation regained its independence following the autumn of the Soviet Union in 1991, declaring itself impartial and establishing a restricted partnership with the ex-Soviet Commonwealth of Impartial States and later becoming a member of NATO’s Partnership for Peace in 1994.

The nation is at the moment on excessive alert as intelligence companies in each Ukraine and the USA anticipate intensified Russian assaults on Ukrainian infrastructure, and the capital Kyiv has banned massive gatherings for many of this week.

Kyiv’s important boulevard is lined with captured Russian tanks and different army {hardware}, representing the defiance and resilience of the nation, which Moscow and plenty of different governments had anticipated to fall to invading forces inside days.

— Natasha Turak

Ukraine’s Protection Minister Oleksii Reznikov referred to as for extra weapons and tighter sanctions on Russia because the Kremlin’s conflict approaches its sixth month, a somber milestone that coincides with Ukraine’s Independence Day.

“Sanctions must be tightened and loopholes closed. Russian residents ought to face a Schengen Zone vacationer visa ban, with solely humanitarian circumstances permitted to enter the EU,” Reznikov wrote for the Atlantic Council.

Reznikov additionally referred to as on Western governments to assist Ukraine with extra weapons and humanitarian help.

“The present conflict isn’t just about Ukraine. It’s a wrestle to find out who will get to set the principles the entire world will stay by,” he wrote.

“Additionally it is a wake-up name for the numerous Europeans nonetheless in denial over the menace going through the continent from a hostile Russia,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

Russia’s conflict in Ukraine has left about 17.7 million individuals in severe want of humanitarian help, in response to United Nations estimates.

The U.N. additionally warned that the disaster will have an effect on extra individuals as the tough winter season approaches.

The United Nations estimates that humanitarian organizations have scaled up operations with a view to attain 11.7 million individuals since Russia’s conflict in Ukraine started six months in the past.

— Amanda Macias