Czechs freeze Russian state-owned property; Russia concedes Ukrainians hold territory on illegally occupied side of Dnipro river
The Czech Republic has frozen property owned by Russia on Czech soil, it was announced. Jan Lipavský, the Czech foreign minister, said: “At my suggestion, the government today approved the freezing of Russian state assets in the Czech Republic. The commercial activities from which Russia finances the murder of Ukrainians ends here.”
Russia said that Ukrainian accession to the US-led Nato military alliance would be unacceptable, according to Reuters. “Whether in parts or in any form, Ukraine’s accession to Nato is unacceptable for Russia,” Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry, told reporters.
A Russian missile killed two emergency workers in southern Ukraine as they put out a fire from an attack only minutes earlier, Ukrainian officials said. At least seven other people were injured in the strikes in the Zaporizhzhia region, in which Russian forces fired three missiles in about half an hour, according to the regional governor, Yuriy Malashko.
The EU has proposed banning the export of machine tools and machinery parts that Russia uses to make weapons targeting Ukraine, documents seen by Bloomberg reveal. The proposal is contained in the EU’s 12th sanctions package, which also includes a ban on diamonds, the outlet reported.
Russia said for the first time that some Ukrainian troops had established positions on the Russian-held side of the Dnipro River.
A report in the Wall Street Journal said Ukrainian marines were reinforcing positions in three villages on the eastern bank of the Dnipro, including placing armoured Humvees and at least one infantry-fighting vehicle, and had cut off one road that Russians used to resupply troops in the area.
Ukraine’s state railway said it had restricted grain deliveries to Odesa, one of the country’s key Black Sea ports, because of repairs.
Nato has announced it will buy six Boeing aircraft to replace its ageing fleet of Awacs surveillance planes, bolstering the alliance’s capabilities to track the threat from Russia, AFP reported.
Hungary has sought a review of the EU’s policy towards Ukraine, disagreeing with Germany, Lithuania, Finland and Ireland, who backed bringing Kyiv closer to the bloc more quickly and granting it more aid.
Pope Francis has called on the faithful to pray regularly for peace in Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan and all other war-torn places.
Vladimir Putin is likely to announce his presidential candidacy before the end of 2023, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.
