Updated September 7, 2023 at 6:37 am EDT|Published September 7, 2023 at 3:34 am EDT
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tours a state border patrol site in Kiev, Ukraine, on September 7. (Brendan Smialowski/AP)
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Thursday that Kiev’s counteroffensive is “gradually gaining ground” as Ukrainian troops fight to retake territory from entrenched Russian forces in the east and south of the country.
“It proves how important our support is,” said Stoltenberg told the European Parliament. “There is fierce fighting, difficult fighting, but they have managed to reach the defense lines of the Russian forces and are moving forward,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken visits Ukraine, where he received an update on the battlefields from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and pledged more than $1 billion in additional aid. The Pentagon also announced plans to send Ukraine depleted uranium munitions, which are reasonably radioactive and can penetrate armor – a move Moscow denounced as an escalation by the US.
Here you will find the latest information about the war and its global impact.
Russian authorities said air defenses shot down two drones over the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District, a strategic command center, is located here. One person was injured and cars were damaged after one drone crashed in the city center and the second outside the city, Rostov Governor Vasily Golubev said early Thursday. The Post could not independently verify the claims. Videos verified by Storyful showed an explosion and emergency responders in the town near the military base. Rostov-on-Don is about 120 kilometers from the Ukrainian border and has been attacked several times.
NATO has no information “indicating a deliberate attack by Russia” in Romania and are waiting for the result of an investigation, said Stoltenberg. Romanian officials said debris that could possibly be a drone was found on the country’s territory. They had previously rejected claims that Russian drones had entered the country in an attack near the Danube in neighboring Ukraine.
A Russian rocket attack on a crowded market in Kostyantynivka. One of the deadliest attacks in Ukraine in months, at least 16 people were killed and 32 injured, according to the Interior Ministry. Zelensky described Wednesday’s attack, which hit a market frequented by Ukrainian soldiers stationed in the east of the country, as “complete inhumanity.”
The European Union condemned the attack which took place in Kostiantynivka, near the front line around the destroyed city of Bakhmut to the east. The EU statement said the attack “follows an escalation of missile and drone attacks across Ukraine in recent months,” which have killed and injured more than 410 civilians in the past two weeks.
Blinken visited a state border guard facility in the Kiev region on Thursday after commercial “Real progress” in Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Blinken, who is among Ukraine’s staunchest supporters within the government, has pushed officials to provide more sophisticated weapons and suppressed calls for a negotiated ceasefire.
The new US funding includes air defense components, 155mm artillery ammunition, anti-tank missiles and air navigation systems, the Washington Post reported. Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister called the US decision to send depleted uranium ammunition to Ukraine an “escalating step” and a “criminal act.”
Russian drone strikes damaged port infrastructure and buildings in Odessasaid the governor of the southern Ukrainian port region, Oleh Kiper, overnight. He said it was the fourth attack on Izmail district in recent days.
Moldova will conduct joint military exercises with about 500 Moldovan, Romanian and US soldiers from September 10 to 22, including infantry and artillery exercises, the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Moldova said.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has arrived in the Indonesian capital and will attend the East Asia Summit The Russian news agency Tass reported this on Thursday.
The Russians are on the rise in northeastern Ukraine – or they may be setting up a diversionary tactic: Ukrainian troops in the south are conducting a grueling counteroffensive against Russian forces that have penetrated defensive positions. But in the Northeast, it is unclear whether Russia is trying to move forward or is creating a diversion aimed at diverting Ukrainian resources, Alex Horton and Serhii Korolchuk report.
“Ukrainian officials say Moscow is trying to gain ground toward Kupyansk, a small town with strategic roads and railways, including a rail line that runs to the Russian border,” they write.