Ukraine war briefing: Two people killed as Russia pounds Zaporizhzhia
Russian attacks killed two people in Ukraine's south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia late on Friday. The Zaporizhzhia regional governor, Ivan Fedorov, said on Telegram the city had been struck more than 10 times, killing two people and injuring nine. The injured included a nine-month-old infant and a woman in serious condition. Pictures posted online showed rescue teams sifting through rubble and apartment blocks and homes with windows and facades badly damaged. Fires burned amid piles of rubble.
Two people were reported killed in the Sumy region, on Ukraine's northern border with Russia, after Russian forces dropped at least six guided bombs on the village of Krasnopillia, while in the eastern Donetsk region, Russia dropped three bombs on the town of Kostiantynivka, close to the frontlines, killing one person.
Germany on Friday approved €3bn (£2.5bn) in new military aid for Ukraine, including artillery munitions and air defence systems, government officials have said. The funds were released after months of delay and come on top of €4bn in Ukraine military aid already planned in the budget for 2025. Government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said the latest package would include units of the German-made Iris-T air defence systems that had yet to be built and would be delivered over the next two years.
The UK is to 'accelerate the pace and scale' of its military planning to be ready to support Ukraine, with No 10 saying all options, including troops on the ground, are possible. Keir Starmer's spokesperson said thousands of troops would be needed to support Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire and agreement to end the war with Russia, whether by 'sea, on land or in the air'. 'Not all the countries in the coalition will have capabilities for Ukraine but might have the capability for other deployments, which would free up other nations to deploy to Ukraine,' the prime minister's spokespersons said.
The UK said on Friday it had frozen more than £25bn in Russian assets since the start of the war in Ukraine three years ago. In a report, the UK Treasury also said it had sanctioned '2,001 individuals and entities' in the period between Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine and March 2024. The economic secretary to the Treasury, Emma Reynolds, said: 'Working with our allies, we have deprived [Russia] of over $400bn the equivalent to four years of Russia's military spending.'
A Soviet-era dissident has been sentenced to 16 years in prison in Russia for his anti-war views. Alexander Skobov, 67, was sentenced on Friday over a social media post supporting Ukraine's 2022 strike on the Crimea Bridge, as well as his alleged involvement with the foreign-based opposition group the Free Russia Forum. In a final statement before sentencing, Skobov accused the Putin regime of 'waging an aggressive war [and] of committing war crimes in Ukraine'.
Ukraine accused Russia on Friday of illegally pressuring Ukrainians in occupied territory to change their legal status or leave, and said it would report the practice to the international criminal court. The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, issued a decree on Thursday saying Ukrainian citizens living 'in Russia without legal grounds' should 'regulate' their status by 10 September. Ukraine's foreign ministry spokesman, Heorhii Tykhyi, said Russia was conducting the 'forced displacement of Ukrainian citizens from their homeland, or forcing them to acquire foreigner status'. Putin's decree affects Ukrainians who live in the Crimean peninsula, as well as occupied parts of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
The North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, expressed his unwavering support for Russia's war in Ukraine during a meeting with Russia's security council secretary, Sergei Shoigu, in Pyongyang on Friday. North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency said Kim during the meeting said his government will 'invariably support Russia in the struggle for defending the national sovereignty, territorial integrity and security interests'. Shoigu expressed gratitude for North Korea's 'solidarity with Russia's position on all critical geopolitical issues, particularly on the Ukrainian issue,' according to his televised comments.
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