The US has announced approval to sell to Ukraine a combined $322m worth of Bradley infantry fighting vehicles and Hawk surface-to-air missile systems. The US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said the Hawks would bolster Ukraine’s air defences while the Bradleys would help meet Ukraine’s “urgent need to strengthen local sustainment capabilities to maintain high operational rates for United States-provided vehicles and weapon systems”. The state department approved the possible sales and the DSCA notified Congress, which would also need to approve the transactions.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy promised a new bill to strengthen the rule of law as mass protests over his decision to weaken the powers of two independent anti-corruption agencies roiled his government. Luke Harding writes from Kyiv that in a video address, Zelenskyy sought to deflect criticism by promising a new presidential bill would guarantee the independence of anti-corruption institutions and at the same time ensure there was “no Russian influence”.
Zelenskyy responded to the backlash on Wednesday evening by saying he would submit a further bill ensuring “all norms for the independence of anti-corruption institutions will be in place”. “Of course, everyone has heard what people are saying these days – on social media, to each other, on the streets. It’s not falling on deaf ears,” Zelenskyy said. Thousands of protesters took to the streets of Kyiv for a second day, while European leaders expressed concern at the Ukrainian president’s contentious decision. They want him to scrap a controversial law passed this week that effectively places anti-corruption agencies under direct government control.
The Institute for the Study of War said the protests in Ukraine were notably not anti-war or anti-Zelenskyy demonstrations but Russian propagandists were enthusiastically portraying them as such. “Russia likely hopes that the rhetorical effort it is pursuing to undermine Ukraine will lead to a weakened Ukrainian military, which Russia can more readily defeat on the battlefield,” said an ISW analysis.
Chinese-made engines for war drones are being covertly shipped to the Russian manufacturer IEMZ Kupol labelled as “industrial refrigeration units” to avoid detection and western sanctions, according to three European security officials and documents reviewed by the Reuters news agency. The state-owned armourer makes the Garpiya-A1 attack drone partly modelled on the Iranian-designed Shahed. Reuters said the sources and documents included contracts, invoices and customs paperwork. The long-range drone has been used against civilian targets, with about 500 launched per month, the Ukrainian military intelligence agency told Reuters.
Reuters previously reported that Kupol was using L550E engines made by Chinese Xiamen Limbach Aviation Engine Co. After the report, the EU and US sanctioned companies including Xiamen. A new Chinese firm called Beijing Xichao International Technology and Trade then sprang up to supply the L550E engines through front companies, according to invoices, a Kupol internal letter and transportation documents reviewed by Reuters. China’s foreign ministry told Reuters it was unaware of the exports and it had controlled foreign sales of dual-use goods in line with China’s own laws and international obligations, while opposing the sanctions.
Early on Thursday morning, Russian forces staged the latest in a series of mass aerial strikes on Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Odesa. The city’s historic centre – a Unesco world heritage site – was hit, said Oleh Kiper, the regional governor. Pictures showed the historic Privoz market on fire.
An oil facility burned at Sirius, south of Sochi in Russia’s Krasnodar region, after a Ukrainian strike early on Thursday morning. A Russian official confirmed a drone hit the facility. Russia’s Rosaviatsia aviation authority said operations were also suspended at Sochi’s nearby airport for about four hours. Emergency officials in Russia’s Krasnodar region said debris from a falling drone struck and killed a woman in the Adler district where the airport is located. Further Ukrainian drone strikes deep inside Russia appeared to be taking place.
Ukrainian prosecutors earlier said Russian forces injured a man, 61, when they shelled the Kharkiv regional village of Petro-Ivanivka; and injured a 75-year-old woman and a 79-year-old man when they struck the city of Kupyansk. The attacks were reported late on Tuesday night.
The European Council president, Antonio Costa, urged China to “use its influence” with Russia to help end the Ukraine war, as EU chiefs met the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, in Beijing on Thursday. “As a permanent member of United Nations security council, we call on China to use its influence on Russia to respect the United Nations charter and to bring an end … [to the] war of aggression against Ukraine.”
Russia and Ukraine discussed further prisoner swaps on Wednesday at a brief session of peace talks in Istanbul, but the sides remained far apart on ceasefire terms and a possible meeting of their leaders. Ukraine’s chief delegate, Rustem Umerov, said after talks that lasted just 40 minutes that Ukraine had proposed a meeting before the end of August between Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, and the Russian president, Vladimir Putin. “By agreeing to this proposal, Russia can clearly demonstrate its constructive approach.”
Russia’s chief delegate, Vladimir Medinsky, said the point of a leaders’ meeting should be to sign an agreement, not to “discuss everything from scratch”. He renewed Moscow’s call for a series of short ceasefires of 24-48 hours to enable the retrieval of bodies. Ukraine says it wants an immediate and much longer ceasefire.
Ukraine brought home a new group of prisoners of war from Russia on Wednesday, Zelenskyy said, saying it took to more than 1,000 the number of returning soldiers as agreed at talks in Turkey. “The servicemen who are returning today defended Ukraine in different sectors of the front,” he said. “A significant number spent more than three years as prisoners. All are receiving key support and medical assistance.”
Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he discussed strengthening Ukraine’s air defences with the Israeli foreign minister, Gideon Saar, in Kyiv on Wednesday. Zelenskyy said opportunities in joint weapons production were also a topic of talks. Israel’s Iron Dome and David’s Sling air defence systems – used to protect against terrorist rockets and ballistic missiles – are known to be the envy of Ukraine’s military.
