Russia-Ukraine war updates: Ship that used Kyiv corridor arrives in Turkey

One person has been killed and two were injured as a result of Russian shelling of a village near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson on Friday, according to the prosecutor general’s office.

The prosecutors did not provide details of the incident and did not name the village, but said some private houses were damaged.

In a separate case, the prosecutors said, four people were injured after Russia shelled the residential area of the city of Chasiv Yar, located in the Donetsk region close to Bakhmut.

The United States, Japan and South Korea have agreed to continue supporting Kyiv and to maintain strong, coordinated sanctions against Moscow, while also aiming to further curb dependence on Russian energy.

US President Joe Biden on Friday earlier welcomed the leaders of South Korea and Japan to a summit at Camp David.

In the Korean version of a Camp David summit joint statement seen by the Reuters news agency, the three countries also committed to consult promptly with each other during crises and to coordinate responses to regional challenges, provocations and threats affecting common interests.

Ukrainian forces do not appear likely to reach and retake the Russian-occupied strategic southeastern city of Melitopol during their counteroffensive aimed at winning back territory from Moscow’s army, according to a US official quoted by the Reuters news agency.

The Ukrainian military on Thursday said it had made gains on the southeastern front, pushing forward from a newly liberated village, Urozhaine, in an attempted drive towards the Sea of Azov.

Melitopol, which had a pre-war population of about 150,000, has been under Russian control since March 2022 and has roads and railways used by Russian troops to transport supplies to areas they occupy.

Russia has banned entry to 54 British nationals, including the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan, in response to UK sanctions against its citizens and enterprises, according to the foreign ministry.

The ICC issued arrest warrants in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, charges Moscow denies.

Moscow also added the UK’s Minister of State for Defence Annabel Goldie as well as a number of correspondents from the BBC, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph to the travel ban list. The ministry said it will continue expanding the list in retaliation for sanctions.

The United States has extended its temporary protected status (TPS) for Ukraine and Sudan nationals through the spring of 2025, citing ongoing conflicts in their countries.

The US Department of Homeland Security, in separate statements, said it would extend the status for 18 months from October 20 through April 19, 2025.

The department also announced changes that would enable additional Ukrainian and Sudanese nationals to apply for the status, extending relief to citizens from both countries who are studying in the US to maintain their student status even if they take fewer courses to work more.

“Russia’s ongoing military invasion of Ukraine and the resulting humanitarian crisis requires that the United States continues to offer safety and protection to Ukrainians who may not be able to return to their country,” Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas wrote. “We will continue to offer our support to Ukrainian nationals through this temporary form of humanitarian relief.”

The extension impacts about 26,000 current Ukrainian beneficiaries and makes an estimated 166,700 additional individuals eligible for the protected status, the department said.

 The number of Ukrainian and Russian troops killed or wounded since the war in Ukraine began in Febeuary 2022 is nearing 500,000, the New York Times reports, citing unnamed US officials.

Russia’s military casualties are approaching 300,000, including as many as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injuries, the newspaper said. Ukrainian deaths were close to 70,000, with 100,000 to 120,000 wounded, it added.

Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk will play its home Champions League games in Germany this season at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg.

Unable to host European games in Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, Shakhtar’s home games were held in the Polish capital Warsaw last season.

The Ukrainian champion said that UEFA has agreed the team can play in Hamburg where it’s likely to attract the support of Ukrainians who have been displaced during the war and are living in Germany and other countries.

The 57,000-capacity Volksparkstadion is home to Hamburger SV, which has been a second-division team since 2018. It’s also a venue for the European Championship in Germany next year.

A senior Moldovan official has said Russia’s decision to ban several Moldovan officials from entering the country is regrettable.

“This is not the first time the Russian authorities have resorted to such measures,” said Igor Zakharov, a communications adviser to Moldova’s foreign minister.

“The Republic of Moldova is determined to resist destabilising actions,” he added.

Moldova shares a border with both Ukraine and NATO member Romania.

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba spoke with his Senegalese counterpart Aissata Tall Sall on Friday.

The meeting comes just two days after Kuleba said he intended to invest significant political capital in deepening ties with African countries, in a bid to counter Moscow’s influence on the continent.

“We are starting from scratch in Africa. This continent needs systematic and long-term work. It’s not something that happens overnight,” Kuleba said in an interview with AFP on Wednesday in Kyiv.

It was good to talk today with my Senegalese counterpart and friend @ATallSall about enhancing the bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and Senegal.

— Dmytro Kuleba (@DmytroKuleba) August 18, 2023

North Korea’s latest Hwasong-18 intercontinental ballistic missile – its first ICBM to use solid rocket fuel – has ignited a new debate over a possible Russian role in the nuclear-armed state’s dramatic missile development.

In a report published on Thursday by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Theodore Postol, professor emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argued that the Hwasong-18 ICBM is likely the result of technical cooperation sourced to Russia.

The Hwasong-18 has been tested twice, including on July 12 in what was the longest flight time ever for a North Korean missile test.

“The sudden appearance of these advanced capabilities is difficult to explain without cooperation from the Russian government and its scientists,” Postol wrote, saying visual similarities suggest Russia may have decided to transfer an “advanced 50-ton solid propellant ICBM, the Topol-M” to North Korea.

The Sakharov Center, a prominent rights group, was permanently closed down on Friday, as the Kremlin continues to clamp down on liberal-leaning organisations that challenge official narratives, including over Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine.

The Moscow City Court said in a statement it had “decided to dissolve” the Sakharov Center, which launched nearly three decades ago, for illegally hosting conferences and exhibitions.

The Sakharov Center building, which hosts a museum and cultural space, was first closed in early 2023 by the capital’s authorities.

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Friday that he hoped 60 percent of Ukrainian grain exports will transit through Romania, although he stressed this was an ambitious target.

The Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta has been highlighted as a potential transit point for Ukrainian grain after Russia pulled out of the safe passage grain corridor brokered by the UN and Turkey.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday said his country received new military equipment from its partners.

“Agreements with partners are being implemented. Heavy equipment, artillery, air defence systems are coming in. We continue [to] work on the next packages. News will be coming soon,” Zelenskyy said in a message on Telegram.

Ukraine is currently pushing for new weapons systems including the German Taurus missile system and the US Army Tactical Missile System, or ATACMS.

The sooner the necessary weapons are provided, the more lives will be saved.

Providing Taurus and ATACMS long-range missiles can help accelerate the progress of 🇺🇦 #Ukraine's counteroffensive and weaken 🇷🇺 #Russia's combat capabilities, resources, and reserves.#ArmUkraineNow pic.twitter.com/Br6nd1z8Ys

— MFA of Ukraine 🇺🇦 (@MFA_Ukraine) August 18, 2023

Belarus has claimed that it is protecting Russia from a possible NATO attack, according to state news agency Belta.

“The brotherly country of Russia, which is conducting a ‘special military operation’ in Ukraine, is at the forefront of the fight against neo-Nazism. On its territory, Belarus reliably protects Russia from a NATO strike in Russia’s back. It is the most important area of work for us,” Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin told a session at the second so-called International Anti-Fascist Congress in Minsk on Friday.

Russia has banned several unnamed Moldovan officials from entering the country, Russian state news agency RIA reported on Friday, citing the foreign ministry.

Relations between Russia and Moldova, which has a pro-European government, have steadily deteriorated since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Moldova shares a border with Ukraine and also with NATO member Romania.

Oil tycoon Eugene Shvidler lost his attempt at London’s High Court on Friday to overturn British sanctions imposed on him after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Shvidler, whose net worth is estimated by Forbes magazine at $1.6bn, was sanctioned in March 2022 on the grounds of his association with former Chelsea Football Club owner Roman Abramovich. His two private jets were also seized.

Britain alone has sanctioned about 1,600 people – including Abramovich, who is separately challenging sanctions imposed by the EU – following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and frozen more than £18 billion ($23bn) in assets.

After the High Court’s ruling to reject Shvidler’s challenge, his lawyer Michael O’Kane said the oil tycoon – a dual British-US citizen – would seek to appeal Friday’s judgement “at the earliest opportunity,” adding that his client “has never been a citizen of Russia, has not visited Russia for more than 15 years and has been critical of the Russian government’s actions in Ukraine”.

Beijing’s deputy permanent representative at the UN, Ambassador Geng Shuang, told a UN Security Council briefing that arming Ukraine “cannot win peace.”

Geng said China finds the “dire consequences of continuous provision of weapons to the battlefield worrying and disconcerting”.

“Weapons may be used to win the war, but they cannot win peace,” said Geng, according to a transcript of his statement to the UNSC on Thursday.

“Currently, the massive influx of weapons and equipment to the battlefield persists with expanding spillover effect, making the hope of ceasing hostilities more remote,” said the Chinese diplomat.

More than half of Germans are against delivering Taurus missiles to Ukraine, a new poll revealed on Friday.

The poll by public broadcaster ARD found 52 percent of the Germans surveyed oppose supplying cruise missiles to Ukraine as they can be used to attack targets in Russia.

Some 36 percent spoke in favour of delivering the Taurus missiles, which are jointly produced by Germany and Sweden, and have a range of more than 500km (310 miles).

Despite growing pressure from Ukraine, Chancellor Olaf Scholz has been cautious so far about delivering Taurus missiles, fearing that this could make Germany a party to the conflict with Russia.

Russian news site Gazeta.ru has reported an evacuation in Moscow after a false alarm was raised concerning a possible drone attack.

In a video posted on the social media platform X people are seen being evacuated from a tower block.

В Москва-Сити эвакуация. У IQ-квартала и ТЦ «Афимолл Сити» заметили машины МЧС. Telegram-каналы пишут, что все из-за ложного сообщения о «прилете БПЛА»

По их данным, неизвестные сообщили об очередном ударе беспилотника, из-за этого из башни А вывели 2 тыс. человек pic.twitter.com/9ESQa5znt8

— Газета.Ru (@GazetaRu) August 18, 2023