Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Ukrainians to be vigilant next week as they prepare to celebrate Independence Day on Wednesday. In his late-night video address on Saturday, Zelenskiy said Ukrainians should not allow Moscow to “spread discouragement and fear” as they marked the 31st anniversary of independence from Soviet rule. “We all have to be aware that this week Russia might try to do something particularly ugly, something particularly vicious,” Zelenskiy said.
The curfew in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, will be extended throughout the day on Wednesday, regional governor Oleh Synehub said on Saturday. The north-eastern city is regularly hit by Russian bombing and normally has a curfew from 10pm to 6am, but extra precautions were required on Independence Day.
Ukraine launched a new attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet headquarters in Sevastopol on Saturday. Officials in the annexed Crimean peninsula said at least one drone had been shot down and the city’s air defense system had returned to action by Saturday night.
The video shared on Twitter appeared to show Russian air defenses trying to destroy the UAV and dark plumes of smoke rising from the city.
Three people with Russian and Ukrainian passports have been detained on suspicion of espionage after trying to break into a military base and a weapons factory in central Albania, the Albanian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. Two Albanian soldiers were injured in the incident at the Gramsh base, the ministry said, adding that the soldiers’ conditions were stable. Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said the three people are “suspected of espionage”.
The United States plans to buy about 150,000 metric tons of grain from Ukraine in the coming weeks for an upcoming shipment of food aid from ports no longer blockaded by war, the head of the World Food Program has said . The planned shipment, one of several that the UN agency fighting hunger is pursuing, is more than six times the amount of grain that the first ship organized by WFP in Ukraine is now carrying to the people from the Horn of Africa at risk of starvation.
António Guterres, the UN Secretary General, said he was moved to see the Ukrainian wheat sent from Turkey. Russian fertilizers and agricultural products must be able to reach world markets “unimpeded” or a global food crisis could occur next year, he said.
Four children have been injured after a Russian attack on a residential building in Ukraine’s Mykolaiv region.
Three people with Russian and Ukrainian passports have been detained on suspicion of espionage after trying to break into a military base and a weapons factory in central Albania, the Albanian Defense Ministry said on Saturday. Two Albanian soldiers were injured in the incident at the Gramsh base, the ministry said, adding that the soldiers’ conditions were stable. Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said the three people are “suspected of espionage”.
Russian entities and individuals were trying to use Turkey to avoid Western sanctions imposed over Moscow’s war in Ukraine, US Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo told Turkish Deputy Finance Minister Yunus Elitas, the department said of the US Treasury. In a phone call, the department said, the two also discussed efforts to implement and enforce sanctions against Russia, Reuters reports.
Ukraine’s defense ministry said on Saturday that its forces had killed a total of 44,900 Russian soldiers, an increase of 200 the previous day.
Olaf Scholz has praised Alexei Navalny on the second anniversary of the attempted poisoning of the jailed Russian opposition politician.