Ukraine latest: Kyiv touts American assurances of aid despite U.S. spending vote

The war in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022 with Russia’s invasion of its neighbor, shows no sign of ending as both sides intensify attacks to gain control of contested regions.

Read our latest updates here. For all our coverage, visit our Ukraine war page.

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Note: Nikkei Asia decided in March 2022 to suspend its reporting from Russia until further information becomes available regarding the scope of the revised criminal code. Entries include material from wire services and other sources.

Here are the latest developments:

Monday, Oct. 2 (Tokyo time)

5:03 a.m. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says in a speech released Sunday that nothing will weaken his country’s fight against Russia, a day after the U.S. Congress passes a stopgap funding bill that omits aid to Kyiv.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov says he received reassurances about further military assistance in a telephone call with U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin.

“Secretary Austin assured me,” Umerov writes in a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, using flags in place of country names, that U.S. support to Ukraine “will continue” and that Ukrainian “warriors will continue to have a strong back-up on the battlefield.”

U.S. President Joe Biden had said on Sunday that Republicans pledged to provide aid for Ukraine through a separate vote and that American support could not be interrupted “under any circumstances.”

Sunday, Oct. 1

10:37 p.m. Slovakia’s pro-Russian and anti-liberal election winner Robert Fico is poised to begin coalition talks toward a government likely to join Hungary in opposing the European Union’s military aid for Ukraine. The 59-year-old former prime minister’s SMER-SSD party scored nearly 23% of Saturday’s vote.

Fico’s campaign call of “Not a single round” for Ukraine resonated in the nation of 5.5 million. Fico had said Slovakia — a NATO member — has bigger problems than the Ukraine issue, including energy prices and living costs, but that his party would do everything possible to start peace talks.

Analysts consider Fico to be inspired by Hungary’s nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has frequently clashed with the EU. The liberal Progressive Slovakia party finished second in Saturday’s election with almost 18% of the vote and wants to stay the course on backing Ukraine.

1:30 p.m. The threat of a U.S. federal government shutdown suddenly lifted late Saturday local time as President Joe Biden signed a temporary funding bill to keep agencies open with little time to spare after Congress rushed to approve the bipartisan deal. The package drops aid to Ukraine, a White House priority opposed by a growing number of Republican lawmakers, but increases federal disaster assistance by $16 billion, meeting Biden’s full request. The bill funds government until Nov. 17.

After chaotic days of turmoil in the House, Speaker Kevin McCarthy abruptly abandoned demands for steep spending cuts from his right flank and instead relied on Democrats to pass the bill, at risk to his own job. The Senate followed with final passage closing a whirlwind day at the Capitol.

Saturday, Sept. 30

4:46 a.m. The U.S. still thinks a price cap on Russian oil exports is an important tool, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby says.

“Nobody should be buying Russian oil in violation of the price cap,” Kirby says.

4:24 a.m. Russian President Vladimir Putin signs a decree calling up 130,000 citizens for military service for the country’s routine fall conscription campaign as fighting continues in Ukraine.

All men in Russia are required to serve in the military for a year between the ages of 18 and 27, or go through equivalent training while in higher education. Another 147,000 citizens were called up in the spring.

4:10 a.m. NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg says he is confident Poland and Slovakia will continue to support Ukraine, even as rhetoric on Kyiv hardens in the countries ahead of their upcoming elections.

Poland last week said it no longer will agree to new arms deliveries to Ukraine, while Slovakian opposition leader Robert Fico pledged to end military support to Kyiv.

Friday, Sept. 29

3:35 a.m. France and Ukraine vow to work to continue securing arms for Kyiv’s counteroffensive against Russian forces and to develop weapons production together in a meeting between defense ministers.

“Dozens of projects have either been launched or are under discussion, aimed at organizing joint production of new weapons or maintenance of weapons already with us,” Ukrainian Defense Minister Rustem Umerov tells a news conference alongside French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu.

Lecornu says Paris will maintain its current levels of training Ukrainian soldiers, more than 7,000 this year.

Thursday, Sept. 28

9:40 p.m. British Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has made his first trip to Ukraine since taking office last month. Shapps and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy discuss topics including stronger air defenses as the approaching winter raises fears that Russia will step up aerial attacks.

The day before, Zelenskyy said in a nightly address to the nation that “our warriors need more means of destroying Russian missiles, ‘Shaheds’ and other combat drones,” referring to Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles.

Britain’s military aid to Ukraine has included air-launched Storm Shadow cruise missiles, which have bolstered Kyiv’s ability to strike from a distance.

Zelenskyy “praised the level of cooperation with the United Kingdom in the defense sector, which allows the Ukrainian army to significantly expand its capabilities on the battlefield, in particular by means of long-range weapons,” the president’s office says in a statement.

NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg also pays a visit to Zelenskyy in Kyiv. Speaking at a news conference alongside the president, Stoltenberg says Ukrainian forces are “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.

2:50 p.m. Ukraine’s air force says its air defense systems shot down 34 of 44 Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight. “Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups were engaged to repel the attack,” the military said on the Telegram messaging app. Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said his region was the main target, but the attack left no casualties. “There were no casualties. There were only a few small fires on dry grass as a result of the falling wreckage of the downed Shahed,” Kiper said.

3:00 a.m. Bulgaria’s parliament has approved the provision of additional military aid to Ukraine in its war with Russia. At a closed-door meeting, lawmakers voted 141-40, with three abstentions, in favor of supplying Ukraine with defective surface-to-air missiles for the Russian-made S-300 air defense system and small-caliber automatic weapon ammunition discarded by the Interior Ministry, the state-run BTA news agency reported.

Military experts said the missiles cannot be repaired in Bulgaria, but Ukraine has the needed facilities to fix them or use them for spare parts.

1:45 a.m. Ukraine urges judges at the United Nations’ highest court to dismiss Russia’s objections and hear in full Kyiv’s claim that Moscow abused international law by saying the 2022 invasion was done to stop an alleged genocide, reports Reuters.

“Your jurisdiction to resolve the dispute is clear. Your judgment remains urgently needed,” Ukraine’s representative Oksana Zolotaryova says, addressing judges at the International Court of Justice.

Wednesday, Sept. 27

7:00 a.m. Russia struck the Black Sea region of Odesa in a drone barrage that damaged a warehouse, charred dozens of trucks and injured two drivers in fiery explosions that led to the suspension of the ferry service between Romania and Ukraine, officials say. Video shot from the Romanian side of the Danube River showed rapid bursts of Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire streaking through the night sky followed by two orange fireballs exploding near the port area. Photos showed burned-out frames of trucks. Romanian Border Police said ferries were anchored on the Romanian shores of the Danube in Isaccea due to the attacks on Ukraine.

12:09 a.m. Adm. Viktor Sokolov, the commander of Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, was shown on Russian state television attending a defense leaders’ meeting remotely, a day after Ukrainian special forces said they had killed him, reports Reuters. It is not clear when the video was filmed.

Tuesday, Sept. 26

5:50 a.m. The first U.S.-supplied Abrams battle tanks have arrived in Ukraine, deputy Pentagon press secretary Sabrina Singh tells reporters.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had said earlier that the tanks were already in Ukraine, without saying how many. Singh declines to say how many batches of tanks were headed to Ukraine.

The U.S.-made Abrams joins the U.K.-supplied Challenger 2 and the Leopard 2 tanks provided by Germany and other European countries.

2:50 a.m. The U.S. has sanctioned nine companies from China and elsewhere, alleging they conspired to violate U.S. export controls in order to supply drone components to Russia, according to the Commerce Department.

The nine companies include China-based Asia Pacific Links. The others are based in Germany, Finland and Russia. They have been placed on the Bureau of Industry and Security’s Entity List, which marks them for export restrictions.

These entities “have been implicated in a conspiracy to violate U.S. export controls, including a scheme to supply the Special Technology Center, an entity on the Entity List, with components to make unmanned aerial vehicles for Russia’s Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff,” the BIS says.

Two China-based companies were also sanctioned involving supplies of U.S.-origin items for Iran’s drones and alleged weapons of mass destruction.

“We continue to impose export restrictions on entities supporting weapons of mass destruction or military activities of concern in China, Iran, and Russia,” Thea D. Rozman Kendler, assistant secretary of commerce for export administration, says in a news release.

In all, 28 names were added to the Entity List “for having been involved, being involved, or posing a significant risk of being or becoming involved in activities contrary to the national security or foreign policy of the United States,” the BIS says.

11:15 p.m. Ukraine’s military says the commander of Russia’s Black Sea fleet was killed in Friday’s Ukrainian attack on the fleet headquarters in Sevastopol. There was no immediate comment from the Russian Defense Ministry on the fate of Adm. Viktor Sokolov.

The strike on fleet headquarters in Russian-occupied Crimea killed 34 officers, including the commander, and injured another 105 people, the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine claims. “The headquarters building cannot be restored.”

8:00 a.m. North Korea slams South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol for criticizing its cooperation with Moscow following leader Kim Jong Un’s visit there, saying it is “natural” and “normal” for neighbors to keep close relations. Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly last week, Yoon said that if Russia helped North Korea enhance its weapons programs in return for assistance for its war in Ukraine, it would be “a direct provocation.” In a piece carried by KCNA news agency, the North denounced Yoon for “malignantly” slandering its friendly cooperation with Russia and said Yoon was serving as a “loudspeaker” for the United States.

Sunday, Sept. 24

7:00 p.m. The Russian-installed head of the Russian-annexed Ukrainian region of Donetsk has imposed a curfew, according to a decree published on Sunday. Denis Pushilin has banned civilians from streets and public places from 11 p.m. until 4 a.m., Mondays through Fridays, according to the decree. The decree forbids assemblies, rallies and demonstrations as well as other mass events in Russia-controlled parts of Donetsk region unless they were permitted by Operational Headquarters for Military Threat Response in Donetsk People’s Republic.

1:30 a.m. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov lambastes the West as an “empire of lies,” adding that the latest U.N. proposals to revive the Black Sea grain initiative would not fly because they do not deliver on promises made to Moscow.

In a letter to Lavrov last month, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres outlined four measures the U.N. could facilitate to improve Russia’s grain and fertilizer exports in a bid to convince Moscow to return to the Black Sea deal, which allowed Ukraine to export grain through the corridor and helped address a global food shortage.

“We explained to the secretary-general why his proposals won’t work. We don’t reject them. They’re simply not realistic. They cannot be implemented,” Lavrov tells a news conference after a week of intense global diplomacy at the annual gathering of world leaders at U.N. headquarters in New York where Ukraine and its Western allies sought to drum up support for Kyiv.

Saturday, Sept. 23

9:00 a.m. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his South Korean and Japanese counterparts expressed “serious concern” over the discussion of military cooperation between Russia and North Korea, including possible arms trade, South Korea’s Foreign Ministry says. Blinken, South Korea’s Foreign Minister Park Jin and Japan’s Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa agreed to respond firmly to any acts that threaten regional security in violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions in a brief meeting on Friday, the ministry said in a statement. North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un made a weeklong visit to Russia last week and discussed military cooperation with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

5:16 a.m. U.S. President Joe Biden has informed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Washington will provide Kyiv with a small number of Army Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) long-range missiles, NBC News reports, citing three U.S. officials and a congressional official familiar with the discussions.

The unidentified officials do not say when the missiles will be delivered or when a public announcement will be made. A small number of missiles “will be sent in coming weeks and more could be provided later,” The Wall Street Journal reports, citing unidentified U.S. officials.

Ukraine has for months asked for ATACMS, “which would give Kyiv the ability to strike targets from as far away as about 180 miles [290 kilometers], hitting supply lines, railways, and command and control locations behind the Russian front lines,” according to NBC.

12:15 a.m. Ukrainian forces have struck the headquarters of Russia’s Black Sea navy in the Crimean port of Sevastopol, Kyiv’s military confirms. “Around 12:00 on September 22, the Defense Forces of Ukraine launched a successful attack on the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the temporarily occupied Sevastopol,” the military’s communications office says in a statement.

Russian authorities described the strike as a missile attack.

Russia’s Defense Ministry says one serviceman was missing after the attack, revising its earlier statement that the man had been killed, Reuters reports.

For earlier updates, click here.

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