Live blog: Ukraine 'grateful' to UN, Türkiye after grain deal extended

Wednesday, May 17, 2023

Ukraine has thanked the United Nations and Türkiye after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced a two-month extension of a deal allowing Ukrainian grain exports via the Black Sea.

"The Black Sea Grain Initiative has been unblocked, (and) continues to be valid", Ukraine's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Twitter, adding that Kiev was "grateful to our partners" for their efforts in "strengthening food security."

Earlier, Erdogan said Russia agreed to extend the deal to July 18, a day before it was set to expire.

Meanwhile, the Russian foreign ministry said "disparities" in the deal's implementation still need to be fixed.

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1527 GMT — Ukraine tells China envoy it would not accept proposals ceding territory to Russia

Ukraine's foreign minister had told a top Chinese envoy at talks in Kiev that Ukraine would not accept any proposals to end the war with Russia that involved it losing territory or freezing the conflict.

Li Hui, China's special representative for Eurasian affairs and former ambassador to Russia, visited Ukraine on May 16-17 and met Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, the Ukrainian foreign ministry said in a statement.

1509 GMT — Russia moves to impose its own sports federations in occupied Ukraine regions

Russia's State Duma has approved the first reading of a bill that would put sports bodies in occupied regions of Ukraine under the jurisdiction of its own sporting federations.

The draft law would apply to the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia that Russia claimed as its own territory last year in a move rejected as illegal by most countries, but which it only partly occupies.

It is part of a pattern of actions by Russia to impose its laws, language, culture, currency and education system in territory seized from Ukraine since February.

1427 GMT — Hungary stalls new EU funds for Ukraine arms

Hungary is blocking the release of another $540 million from EU funds to pay for weapons for Ukraine over Kiev's blacklisting of one of its banks, Budapest said.

Foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said Budapest would hold up the disbursement until Ukraine removes Hungarian bank OTP from a blacklist of firms working in Russia.

1333 GMT — Ukraine reports new advances near eastern city of Bakhmut

Ukraine's military has said it made new advances in heavy fighting near the eastern city of Bakhmut, and that Russia was continuing to send in new units including paratroopers.

The remarks were the latest by Kiev in the past week to indicate that Russian forces have been pushed back in some areas around Bakhmut after months of combat.

"We are successfully conducting a defensive operation, counterattacking and during this day our units have penetrated up to 500 metres in some parts of the Bakhmut front," military spokesperson Serhiy Cherevatyi told Ukrainian television.

1312 GMT — Britain, Germany say US must decide on jets for Ukraine

Any decision to send F16 fighter jets to Ukraine will fall on the White House, the UK and German defence ministers have said despite a jet "coalition" announced by Britain and the Netherlands this week.

"This is up to the White House to decide whether it wants to release that technology," British Defence Minister Ben Wallace said after talks with his German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin.

"It depends on the White House... to decide whether the F16 fighter planes can be delivered," Pistorius added.

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and Dutch counterpart Mark Rutte had agreed on the fighter jet club on the first day of a Council of Europe summit in Iceland this week.

1217 GMT — Ukraine joins NATO cyber-defence centre

Ukraine has joined NATO's cyber defence centre, the Tallinn-based body said, with Kiev calling the move "a step on the way" to NATO membership.

The Western defence alliance's Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) added that it had also welcomed Iceland, Ireland and Japan into the fold.

"We are particularly glad to see Ukraine here with us," Estonian Defence Minister Hanno Pevkur was quoted as saying in a CCDCOE statement.

"This offers a unique opportunity to simultaneously contribute to Ukraine's defence in Russia's brutal war and learn from the cyber battlefield to improve the cyber security of all members."

1150 GMT — Russia says forces continue fighting in western parts of Bakhmut

Russia's Defence Ministry has said its forces were continuing to fight to capture western parts of the town of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

It also said its forces had hit a large ammunition depot in the Ukrainian city of Mykolayiv overnight.

1140 GMT — Europe, G7 sign war register for Ukraine

Europe and the United States have hailed a newly created "register of damage" for Ukraine as a first step to making Russia pay for its war.

The instrument, created by the 46-nation Council of Europe, records claims of damage or loss, paving the way to a future mechanism to compensate victims of the conflict.

The register is a "first, necessary, urgent step" ensuring "justice that is centred on the victims" of the war, said council head Marija Pejcinovic Buric on the second day of the summit in Iceland.

She said that, by early Wednesday, 40 countries had signed onto the register, including the United States, Japan and all other G7 nations.

1108 GMT — Russia orders arrest of prominent producer, director who criticised Ukraine war

A Moscow court has ordered the arrest of prominent film producer Alexander Rodnyansky and theatre director Ivan Vyrypaev for “spreading false information” about the Russian army.

The initial court hearings against Rodnyansky and Vyrypaev were held on 27 April, but not reported by the court until Wednesday.

According to the court’s press service, Rodnyansky and Vyrypaev, who are outside Russia, will be placed in custody once Russian authorities manage to detain them or to get them extradited. Russia’s Interior Ministry additionally put Vyrypaev on the federal wanted list.

1001 GMT — Ukraine says US-supplied Patriot 'in service'

Ukraine has said that a US-supplied Patriot air defence system continued to operate in Ukraine, after Moscow claimed it had struck the powerful weapon.

"Don't worry, all is fine with the Patriot," air force spokesman Yury Ignat told AFP news agency. "The Patriot is in service. All is well."

Kiev received the first shipments of the American-made Patriot surface-to-air missile system in April. But CNN reported, citing a US official, that a US-made Patriot air defence system was likely damaged as a result of a Russian missile attack early Tuesday.

0230 GMT — Russia claims it hit US Patriot air defence system in Kiev

Russia has claimed that it hit a US-made Patriot air defence system in Ukraine's capital Kiev with a Kinzhal hypersonic missile during airstrikes overnight.

The Russian Defence Ministry said in a statement that it carried out "concentrated strikes" with long-range air and sea-based weapons against deployment points of the Ukrainian armed forces.

It said Russia hit storage facilities containing Western-delivered ammunition, weapons and equipment, adding that all targets were struck.

It noted that Russian air defence systems intercepted seven UK-made Storm Shadow missiles fired by Ukraine as well as three US-built HARM missiles and struck seven US HIMARS multiple rocket launchers during the day.

0216 GMT — South Korea signs $130M aid package with Ukrainian minister

South Korea signed an agreement with Ukraine on its plan to provide a $130 million financial aid package, a day after the visiting first lady of the war-hit country asked for military assistance.

South Korea's Finance Ministry said Minister Choo Kyung-ho and Ukrainian Economy Minister Yulia Svyrydenko met in Seoul to attend a conference, and signed the agreement on the package, consisting of donations and aid loans.

South Korea, a major producer of artillery shells, has said it was not providing lethal weapons to Ukraine, citing its relations with Russia.

For our live updates from Tuesday (May 16), click here.