Live blog: EU delivers Ukraine over 200,000 shells under ammo plan

Friday, August 11, 2023

1736 GMT — The EU has delivered Ukraine 223,800 shells under the first part of a plan to provide a million artillery rounds to aid Kiev's fight against Russia, a spokesman said.

Earlier this year, the 27-nation European Union pledged to step up supplies of much-needed artillery shells to Ukraine as Kiev's forces faced shortfalls.

Its members agreed a $2.18-billion (two-billion-euro) plan to raid their stockpiles and place joint orders for shells, in a bid to deliver Ukraine a million shells over 12 months.

Under the first stage of the plan, running between February 9 and May 31, one billion euros was earmarked to reimburse EU members roughly half the cost of shells provided from their existing arsenals.

"Member states have delivered around 223,800 artillery ammunition -- long-range self-propelled, precision-guided ammunitions as well as mortar ammunitions -- and 2,300 missiles of all types," EU spokesman Peter Stano said.

Overall, the total value of the ordnance provided was 1.1 billion euros, the EU said. EU funds reimbursed only part of that, suggesting the measure fell short of the target.

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1553 GMT — US sanctions privately owned Russian investment groups

The US Treasury Department has imposed financial sanctions against four Russians on the board of Alfa Group, one of Russia's largest conglomerates with interests in oil, natural gas and banking.

The sanctions are part of continuing efforts to place restrictions on the economy of Russia and its wealthiest powerbrokers, a response to its offensive in Ukraine.

Sanctioned by Treasury are Petr Olegovich Aven, Mikhail Maratovich Fridman, German Borisovich Khan and Alexey Viktorovich Kuzmichev.

“Wealthy Russian elites should disabuse themselves of the notion that they can operate business as usual while the Kremlin wages war against the Ukrainian people,” said Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo.

Also sanctioned is the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

1534 GMT — Ukraine begins consultations with UK on security guarantees

Ukraine has begun holding consultations with Britain to secure security guarantees and Kiev aims to have the first such agreements in place by the end of the year, a senior Ukrainian official said.

Ukraine is pushing to secure security guarantees from powers including the United States pending what it hopes will be its eventual accession to the Washington-led NATO military alliance.

"Our goal is to have the first such agreements in place by the end of the year," Andriy Yermak, the Ukrainian president's chief of staff said in televised comments.

"Our consultations with Britain have begun," he said.

1503 GMT — Germany yet to make decision on sending Taurus missiles to Ukraine

Germany is considering sending technically modified long-range Taurus missiles to Ukraine, Der Spiegel magazine has reported.

The government is holding talks with the defence industry to restrict the programming of Taurus missiles so that they will not be used to attack targets in Russia, according to the weekly.

The government has not yet taken a decision, but the talks are ongoing, the magazine reported.

1440 GMT — Ukrainian president fires military recruitment chiefs over corruption

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has sacked chiefs of all military recruitment centres over corruption concerns.

"We fire all regional military commissars... Cynicism and bribery during the war is treason," Zelenskyy said after a special meeting of the National Security and Defense Council.

"Someone took cash, someone took cryptocurrency," he said, adding that 112 criminal cases were initiated against employees of military recruitment offices and 33 persons have been charged with corruption.

He asked Valeriy Zaluzhniy, commander-in-chief of the armed forces, for new appointments of handicapped people who got injured in the war with Russia.

The move followed a series of scandals including forced recruitment, and officers said to be taking huge sums of money for allowing exemption from conscription.

1320 GMT — At least 385 deported Ukraine children returned from Russia: NGO

At least 385 Ukrainian children deported to Russia have been returned home, an Austria-based international charity involved in some of the repatriations confirmed.

According to Kiev, more than 19,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the February 2022 offensive, with many allegedly placed in institutions and foster homes. Russia denies the allegations.

"SOS Children's Villages supports the parents, by making financial resources available or by helping them plan the route," charity spokeswoman Anna Radl told AFP.

"A total of 385 deported children have been returned to Ukraine so far, 84 of them by SOS Children's Villages and its partner organisations," the NGO said in a press release on Thursday.

The total is based on official Ukrainian governmental statistics, Radl said.

1026 GMT — Russia says strike hit foreign mercenary base in Zaporizhzhia

Russia said that it had struck a temporary base for foreign mercenaries in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, one day after Kiev said a hotel was destroyed by Moscow's forces.

"In the area of the city of Zaporizhzhia, the point of temporary deployment of foreign mercenaries was hit," the defence ministry said in a statement.

0921 GMT — Russia accuses Ukraine of thwarted Moscow drone attack

Russia said it had destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the western outskirts of Moscow, the latest in a growing number of aerial attacks on the capital.

"This afternoon, an attempt by the Kiev regime to carry out a terrorist attack using an unmanned aerial vehicle on a facility in Moscow was thwarted," the defence ministry said, adding there was no damage or casualties as a result of the incident.

Friday's attack was the latest in a series of Ukrainian drones to target Moscow in the past week.

"The drone was electronically disabled and crashed in a forest in the west of Moscow," the defence ministry said.

0755 GMT — Moscow's Vnukovo Airport suspends flights due to suspected drone

The airspace over Moscow's Vnukovo airport was temporarily closed, with all arrivals and departures suspended, and Russia's RIA news agency said the move was due to a suspected drone flight in the area.

"For reasons beyond the control of the airport, temporary restrictions on the landing and take-offs of aircraft were introduced in Vnukovo," the airport said.

"For safety reasons, some of the flights were redirected to other airports of the Moscow aviation hub," it said, without commenting further.

0731 GMT — Explosions heard in Kiev amid Ukraine-wide air raid alert

Several explosions were heard in the Ukrainian capital Kiev after authorities declared a nationwide air raid alert.

Mayor Vitali Klitschko told residents to stay in air raid shelters. Kiev city officials said air defences were at work and the air force reported that Russia had launched hypersonic missiles at the Kiev region.

"Explosions in the city. Stay in shelters!" Klitschko wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

He said fragments of a downed missile had come down on the territory of a children's hospital in the city, but that there were no injuries or damage.

0509 GMT — Two Ukrainian drones downed near Russia's Kursk

Two Ukrainian drones were destroyed by air defences on approach to the Russian city of Kursk, the TASS news agency said, citing regional governor Roman Starovoit.

0044 GMT — Russia reportedly lays siege to Ukraine's Kupiansk

Russian forces have almost reached the outskirts of the Ukrainian city of Kupiansk, state news agency TASS has reported.

TASS said Ukrainian troops are abandoning their positions and just "a number of kilometres are left to pass."

Ukraine denied the report, saying all Russian attacks were repelled and attempts to lay siege were unsuccessful.

Independent verification of claims is impossible due to the ongoing conflict.

For our live updates from Thursday (August 10), click here.