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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has told Volodymyr Zelenskiy the war with Russia is in a “pivotal moment” as Ukraine’s military continues its counteroffensive in the south of the country. The Associated Press reported that Blinken told the Ukrainian president: “We know this is a pivotal moment, more than six months into Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, as your counteroffensive is now under way and proving effective.”
Blinken’s surprise trip to Kyiv came after the US unveiled nearly $2.7bn (£2.4bn) in new military support to Ukraine and other European countries threatened by Russia. Blinken travelled in secret on his second trip to Kyiv since the Russian invasion began in February. He approved $2bn in foreign military financing under a programme in which the US offers loans or grants to other nations to buy US-produced weapons. That amount is in addition to another $675m in military assistance announced by the defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, and includes more arms, ammunition and supplies for precision-guided Himars rockets.
Poland and the Baltic states have announced they will temporarily restrict access for Russian citizens holding European Union visas. The prime ministers of Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland said in a statement that the move had been taken to address “public policy and security threats” arising from the “substantial and growing influx of Russian citizens” into the EU. The measures were expected to come into force by 19 September and would “restrict the entry into the Schengen area for Russian citizens travelling for tourism, culture, sport and business purposes”.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s forces had “liberated dozens of settlements” and reclaimed 1,000 sq km (385 sq miles) of territory in the east and south since 1 September in the counteroffensive. The Ukrainian president also posted a video in which Ukrainian soldiers claimed to have captured the eastern town of Balakliia near Ukraine’s second city of Kharkiv, Reuters reported.
Heavy fighting was reported on Thursday in areas near the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in the south, after Ukraine warned it might have to shut down the plant to avoid disaster, Reuters reported.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy paid tribute to Queen Elizabeth, who has died at the age of 96. The Ukrainian president said on Twitter: “It is with deep sadness that we learned of the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. On behalf of the people, we extend sincere condolences to the @RoyalFamily, the entire United Kingdom and the Commonwealth over this irreparable loss.”
Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, extended his condolences to King Charles for the “irreparable loss” of his mother, saying the Queen had “rightfully enjoyed the love and respect of her subjects, as well as authority on the world stage”.
Norway said it would donate about 160 Hellfire missiles to Ukraine as well as launching pads, guidance units and night-vision equipment.
Two people have been killed and four injured by Russian shelling in the Donetsk region amid “massive shelling” in Bakhmut city, the Ukraine prosecutor general’s office said. In Kharkiv’s industrial district, authorities said two people had been killed and five injured in Russian shelling.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said Ukraine appeared to be “imposing pressure on Russian forces” in Kherson and had probably destroyed a bridge that served as “one of the main routes between the northern and southern sectors of Russia’s military presence along the Dnieper River”.
Ukraine’s top military chief has claimed responsibility for an attack on Russia’s Saky airbase in Crimea last month – the first official acknowledgment from Kyiv that it was behind the strike, which destroyed at least nine Russian aircraft.
The UK’s permanent representative to the UN, Dame Barbara Woodward, has said the deportation of people from Ukraine has “chilling echoes from European history” and that the “appalling term ‘denazification’” was a “cover for obliterating Ukraine from the map”.
Belarus has started week-long military exercises near the Polish border, its capital of Minsk and the north-eastern region of Vitebsk, the country’s defence ministry said.
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