US approves sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark, Netherlands

Washington has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands, it has been reported.

The White House has given the two European nations official assurances that it will expedite approval of transfer requests for the F-16s as soon as Ukrainian pilots have completed training programmes for the aircraft, an unnamed US official told Reuters.

“The United States is in active discussions with our European partners about how we can support the efforts to provide Ukraine with F-16 pilot training as quickly as possible,” Politico quoted a State Department spokesperson as saying.

Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra welcomed Washington’s decision to “pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine”.

“Now, we will further discuss the subject with our European partners,” he added.

Denmark, which is hosting the Ukrainian pilots for training and has said it hopes to see “results” from the programme in early 2024, also said providing Ukraine with the jets would now be discussed.

Ukraine has actively sought the US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. But Kyiv said earlier this week that its pilots will not be able to operate US-built F-16 fighter jets this year.

03:01 PM BST

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02:59 PM BST

US 'doing everything it can' to support Ukraine

Jake Sullivan, the US national security adviser, spoke of the US’ ongoing support for Ukraine.

Mr Sullivan told a press conference:

02:21 PM BST

US extends protected status for Ukrainian nationals through spring 2025

The United States on Friday extended its temporary protected status for Ukraine for 18 months and made other changes that would enable additional eligible Ukrainian nationals to apply for the status, the US Department of Homeland Security said.

The extension will be in effect from October 20 through April 19, 2025, the department said in a statement.

02:08 PM BST

Watch: Moment Ukrainian drone crashes into building in Moscow

01:35 PM BST

Romanian PM hopes 60 per cent of Ukrainian grain exports will go through Romania

Roughly 60 per cent of Ukraine’s grain exports could transit through neighbouring Romania after Russia quit a U.N.-brokered safe passage deal through the Black Sea, Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu said on Friday.

Ukraine is one of the world’s top grain exporters and Russia has been attacking its agricultural and port infrastructure after refusing to extend the year-old safe passage corridor.

Even before the deal fell through, Romania’s Black Sea port of Constanta had emerged as Ukraine’s biggest alternative shipping route.

Ukraine shipped 8.1 million tonnes of grain through Constanta in the first seven months of the year, and 8.6 million tonnes overall in 2022.

“We hope that over 60 per cent of the total volume of Ukrainian grain exports will transit Romania,” Mr Ciolacu said after meeting Ukraine’s Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in Bucharest.

01:20 PM BST

ISW: ‘Tactically significant’ Ukrainian advances reflect ‘degrading’ of Russian forces

Ukrainian advances in the southeast have likely been “tactically significant” and recent success there points to “a wider degradation of defending Russian forces”, a thinktank has said.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) said recent Ukrainian advances in areas of Robotyne and Urozhaine - where Russian forces have dedicated significant effort, resources, and personnel to hold settlements - are likely reflective of a wider degradation of defending Russian forces.

The thinktank said: “ISW continues to assess that Russian forces lack significant operational reserves, and the intense Russian effort to hold these settlements instead of withdrawing their forces means that Ukrainian forces have likely had to thoroughly degrade Russian units before advancing.”

12:40 PM BST

Ukraine in pictures:

11:59 AM BST

Ukraine 'grateful' for Bahrain's participation in Peace Formula talks

11:54 AM BST

Fears grow for ex-Para volunteer missing near Ukraine front line

Fears are growing for the safety of a former British soldier who has gone missing in Ukraine while serving there as a military volunteer and front-line rescuer.

Daniel Burke, 36, an ex-Parachute Regiment member from Manchester, has not been seen for a week. His last known whereabouts were at his flat in the city of Zaporizhzhia in south-east Ukraine, close to the main frontlines of Ukraine’s current counter-offensive.

Local police are investigating and Foreign Office staff are liaising with his family in Britain.

Read more from Colin Freeman here

11:12 AM BST

Fire appears to break out at Russian cargo terminal

A fire appears to have broken out at the port of Novorossiysk - Russia’s main port on the Black Sea.

Unverified footage on social media shows black smoke billowing in the area.

10:43 AM BST

Pictured: Ukrainian troops repelling a night attack

10:19 AM BST

Ukrainian drone attack strikes central Moscow

A Ukrainian drone smashed into a building in central Moscow after air defences shot it down, disrupting air traffic at all the civilian airports of the Russian capital, Russian officials said.

The Russian defence ministry and Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said there were no casualties from the incident.

They said air defences had destroyed the drone, which then reportedly fell on a non-residential building of Moscow’s Expo Center complex in the early hours of Friday.

The Expo Center is a large spread of exhibition pavilions and multi-purpose halls, fewer than 3.1 miles away from the Kremlin.

There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

Drone air strikes deep inside Russia have increased since a drone was destroyed over the Kremlin in early May. Civilian areas of the capital were hit later in May and a Moscow business district was targeted twice in three days earlier this month.

09:54 AM BST

Watch: Ukraine targets teenage boys in recruitment campaign

09:41 AM BST

Russia and China hold joint naval war games

Russian and Chinese warships are conducting joint maritime patrols in the Pacific Ocean involving rescue training and drills for countering air strikes, Moscow’s defence ministry said Friday.

Video released by Russian state news agency TASS showed nine large vessels sailing in a diamond formation as crew members stood to attention on deck.

The drills also included practising the “replenishment of fuel reserves by ships and the transfer of cargo on the go”, the defence ministry said, adding that the joint detachment of ships had covered more than 6,400 nautical miles since the start of the exercises.

“A detachment of ships of the Russian Navy and the PLA Navy is currently operating in the waters of the East China Sea,” said the ministry, referring to China’s People’s Liberation Army.

“During this period, the sailors of the two countries conducted anti-submarine exercises, repulsed an air strike by a mock enemy, conducted rescue training at sea, and perfected the skills of taking off and landing helicopters on the decks of warships,” the statement read.

08:46 AM BST

Russia kidnaps children for ‘patriotic training’

Hundreds of Ukrainian children have been sent to mainland Russia for “patriotic training” as Moscow appears to have resumed its programme of mass indoctrination.

Ukraine’s Centre for National Resistance, a group that collects intelligence from occupied areas for the Ukrainian military, said more than 400 children had been sent to summer camps in Russia in recent weeks.

It is the first time Moscow has sent Ukrainian children to recreation camps in Russia since Vladimir Putin and his ombudswoman Maria Lvova-Belova were issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) this spring over the forcible removal of Ukrainian children.

Read more from Nataliya Vasilyeva here

08:02 AM BST

First ship to use Ukraine's corridor arrives in Istanbul

The first vessel that used Ukraine’s Black Sea corridor is crossing through Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait, a Reuters witness has said.

The Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte container ship that left the Russian-blocked Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odesa earlier this week had been in the port since Feb. 23, 2022, the day before the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukraine last week announced a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports after the termination of the main grain exports deal last month.

Moscow has not indicated whether it would respect the shipping corridor, and shipping and insurance sources have expressed concerns about safety.

07:56 AM BST

Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers fire a SPG recoilless gun during a military training

07:48 AM BST

Ukraine tells military-age citizens to 'overcome their fear' in recruitment campaign

Ukraine’s defence ministry urged military-age citizens to update their data at army enlistment offices and “overcome their fear” in a campaign launched on Thursday as a summer counter-offensive grinds through its third month.

The campaign, which draws on slickly-produced videos and photo testimonials of prominent soldiers describing their fears, aims to break down a major obstacle in army recruitment, Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar said.

“We’re all living people and we all overcome this fear in order to win,” she said, noting that military-age citizens are duty-bound to keep their personal data at draft offices up-to-date.

07:33 AM BST

US approves sending F-16s to Ukraine from Denmark and Netherlands

The United States has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend against Russian invaders as soon as pilot training is completed, a US official has said.

Ukraine has actively sought the US-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority.

Washington gave Denmark and the Netherlands official assurances that the United States will expedite approval of transfer requests for F-16s to go to Ukraine when the pilots are trained, the official said.

“We welcome Washington’s decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine,” Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said.

“Now, we will further discuss the subject with our European partners.”

Denmark and the Netherlands had recently asked for those assurances. The US must approve the transfer of the military jets from its allies to Ukraine.

07:31 AM BST

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