Four people wounded in third consecutive night of strikes on Ukraine’s capital; ‘We are returning home with a good result for our country’, says Ukrainian president
A Russian drone strike on Kyiv killed one person and wounded at least four others, authorities said on Thursday, with AFP reporting that explosions were heard across the Ukrainian capital in the third night of attacks.
“Tonight, a massive attack by Iranian drones took place,” Kyiv’s military administration said on Telegram.
US president Joe Biden concluded a Nato summit on Wednesday denouncing Russian president Vladimir Putin as “craven” and promising Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy full support even without membership in the military alliance. Biden, who has made unifying Nato countries a foreign policy priority, said Putin had badly underestimated their resolve.
Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary said “people want to see a bit of gratitude” and Ukraine needed to put more emphasis on saying thank you for western help when he was asked about president Zelenskiy’s complaints on Tuesday that the country had not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato. Wallace said Ukrainians’ haste to get all the help they could meant they did not always say they were grateful for the help received.
UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, distanced himself from Wallace’s comments, saying Zelenskiy has expressed gratitude for UK support. He highlighted that president Zelenskiy had expressed gratitude on multiple occasions, including his address to parliament earlier this year. “I know he and his people are grateful to the UK,” said Sunak.
Zelenskiy said he “didn’t understand” Wallace’s comments. He also said “we could express our words of gratitude personally to the minister”.
The G7 signed a declaration outlining support for Ukraine and help towards governance reforms needed for ‘Euro-Atlantic aspirations’. The member nations said they would provide security and economic support, including modern military equipment, across land, air, and sea, intelligence sharing and the training of Ukrainian forces in exchange for Ukraine committing to reforms “to underscore its commitments to democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and media freedoms”, “put its economy on a sustainable path” and strengthen “democratic civilian control of the military”.
Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sweden’s Nato accession will not be put to Turkish parliament until autumn when it reopens. Speaking at a news conference after the Nato summit in Vilnius, Erdogan said that Sweden would provide a roadmap for Turkey regarding the steps to take against purported terrorism before the ratification.
UN secretary-general António Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters. The last two ships traveling under the Black Sea agreement are currently loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Odesa ahead of the deadline.
An 81-year-old man was killed after shelling in Kherson. His 82-year-old wife was wounded in shelling of the southern city of Kherson, the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram on Wednesday.
