Russia-Ukraine war live: person killed in ‘massive’ overnight strikes on Kyiv; Zelenskiy welcomes ‘good result’ from Nato summit | Ukraine

Dan Sabbagh

It was, by the standards of international summits, an undiplomatic intervention. A clearly frustrated Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted that Nato allies were showing Ukraine disrespect, that they were discussing his country’s hopes of joining the military alliance without him. “It seems there is no readiness neither to invite Ukraine to Nato nor to make it a member of the alliance,” he wrote.

The outburst was certainly last minute, coming less than an hour before Joe Biden, Rishi Sunak and Nato other’s 29 leaders were due to sign off a final summit declaration on the topic. It turned out to be a communique that did not spell out a timeline by which Ukraine could join, nor a list of conditions it would have to meet, nor even extend an invitation to join at an unspecified future date once the war with Russia is over.

In truth, the public lobbying was always going to be far too late:

A senior Russian official has described Sergei Surovikin, the general who previously led the invasion force in Ukraine and hasn’t been seen in public since the Wagner mutiny, as “resting” and “not available”.

Asked by Russian media outlet Shot if he had communicated with Surovikin, Andrei Kartapolov, a retired general who heads the defence affairs committee in the lower house of the Russian parliament, said, “No. He is resting now. Not available.”

Surovikin reportedly has close ties to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin. Last month, US intelligence reportedly claimed that Surovikin had prior knowledge of the armed uprising led by Prigozhin, during which Wagner mercenaries captured the city of Rostov and moved on Moscow before cutting an amnesty deal.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has welcomed a “good result” from the Nato summit.

His remark came after Britain’s defence secretary and the US national security adviser suggested Ukraine ought to show more gratitude for the help it has received from the west, in response to Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s complaints that his country has not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato.

In regular remarks made on Thursday night, Zelenskiy struck a positive note, saying, “for the first time since independence, we have formed a security foundation for Ukraine on its way to Nato.”

“Very importantly, during these two days of the Summit, we have put to rest any doubts and ambiguities about whether Ukraine will be in Nato. It will!”

He added that he was “grateful to all those who have worked for unity in Vilnius”.

A Russian drone strike on Kyiv killed one person and wounded at least four others, authorities said on Thursday, with AFP reporting that explosions were heard across the Ukrainian capital in the third night of attacks.

“Tonight, a massive attack by Iranian drones took place,” Kyiv’s military administration said on Telegram.

Iran-made Shahed explosive drones had “entered the capital from different directions,” it said, adding “about a dozen” had been downed in the city’s airspace.

Falling debris was reported in five districts, it said, adding that a 19-year-old woman and 23-year-old man had been hospitalised with shrapnel wounds.

Two people were wounded in Darnytsky district “as a result of falling debris,” Sergiy Popko, head of Kyiv’s military administration, wrote on Telegram.

Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine with me, Helen Sullivan.

Our top story this morning: a Russian drone strike on Kyiv killed one person and wounded at least four others, authorities said on Thursday, with explosions heard across the Ukrainian capital in the third night of attacks.

The attack came hours after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy welcomed renewed commitments from Nato and G7 leaders, saying, “We are returning home with a good result for our country“ and that, “for the first time since independence, we have formed a security foundation for Ukraine on its way to Nato.”

Other recent developments include:

• US president Joe Biden concluded a Nato summit on Wednesday denouncing Russian president Vladimir Putin as “craven” and promising Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy full support even without membership in the military alliance. Biden, who has made unifying Nato countries a foreign policy priority, said Putin had badly underestimated their resolve.

• Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary said “people want to see a bit of gratitude” and Ukraine needed to put more emphasis on saying thank you for western help when he was asked about president Zelenskiy’s complaints on Tuesday that the country had not been issued a firm timetable or set of conditions for joining Nato. Wallace said Ukrainians’ haste to get all the help they could meant they did not always say they were grateful for the help received.

• UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, distanced himself from Wallace’s comments, saying Zelenskiy has expressed gratitude for UK support. He highlighted that president Zelenskiy had expressed gratitude on multiple occasions, including his address to parliament earlier this year. “I know he and his people are grateful to the UK,” said Sunak.

• Zelenskiy said he “didn’t understand” Wallace’s comments. He also said “we could express our words of gratitude personally to the minister”.

• The G7 signed a declaration outlining support for Ukraine and help towards governance reforms needed for ‘Euro-Atlantic aspirations’. The member nations said they would provide security and economic support, including modern military equipment, across land, air, and sea, intelligence sharing and the training of Ukrainian forces in exchange for Ukraine committing to reforms “to underscore its commitments to democracy, the rule of law, respect for human rights and media freedoms”, “put its economy on a sustainable path” and strengthen “democratic civilian control of the military”.

• Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Sweden’s Nato accession will not be put to Turkish parliament until autumn when it reopens. Speaking at a news conference after the Nato summit in Vilnius, Erdogan said that Sweden would provide a roadmap for Turkey regarding the steps to take against purported terrorism before the ratification.

• UN secretary-general António Guterres has proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he extend a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of grain from Ukraine in return for connecting a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank to the SWIFT international payment system, sources told Reuters. The last two ships traveling under the Black Sea agreement are currently loading cargoes at the Ukrainian port of Odesa ahead of the deadline.

• An 81-year-old man was killed after shelling in Kherson. His 82-year-old wife was wounded in shelling of the southern city of Kherson, the region’s governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said on Telegram on Wednesday.