Latest in Ukraine: US Secretary of State Blinken Urges Russia to Extend Black Sea Grain Deal
By VOA News July 14, 2023
Latest developments:
- The British Defense Ministry said Friday that Russia's recent announcement that its nuclear-powered submarines will not participate in the Navy Day fleet review in St. Petersburg on July 30 is "likely primarily due to" maintenance and availability concerns. The ministry added, though, there's "a realistic possibility that internal security concerns, since Wagner Group's attempted mutiny, have contributed to the decision."
- European Union finance ministers on Friday unanimously backed extra funds for Ukraine. The European Commission has proposed increasing the EU's budget until 2027 by $74.11 billion.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday urged Russia to extend the Black Sea grain deal set to expire on Monday.
"If Moscow follows through on its threat, developing countries including in the region will pay the price, including quite literally with higher food prices, as well as greater food scarcity," Blinken told reporters after the Southeast Asian talks ended in Jakarta. Top diplomats from China, the United States and Russia were among those who gathered for diplomatic discussions.
So far, Russia has not made any statements regarding an extension of the Black Sea grain deal, the Interfax news agency reported Friday, citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov.
Earlier Friday, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reportedly said he was in agreement with Russian President Vladimir Putin that the deal allowing the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea corridor should be extended. However, Reuters reports that Erdogan's comments were misconstrued as suggesting a deal had been reached to extend the deal, which expires Monday.
Russia has said it would agree to extend the deal only if its conditions are met regarding its implementation.
During the press conference Friday at the ASEAN Regional Forum in Jakarta, Blinken also said Russia is showing no indication of backpedaling on the course of its war on Ukraine.
The U.S. secretary of state said there was no indication that Russia was willing to engage in meaningful diplomacy on the war it launched on its neighbor in February 2022.
"I didn't hear anything from Foreign Minister [Sergey] Lavrov that suggested any change in direction when it comes to what Russia is doing in Ukraine." He noted that instead, Russia was focused on blaming the U.S. for the world's problems.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said separately that Lavrov had "aggressively" rejected a call to withdraw troops from Ukraine.
Earlier this week, Lavrov said the war would not end until the West "gives up its plans to preserve its domination," including its "obsessive desire" to defeat Russia strategically.
Wagner Group
Belarus said on Friday that fighters from the Wagner mercenary group were training Belarusian soldiers at a military range southeast of Minsk. Two sources close to the fighters told Reuters the mercenaries have been stationed near the Belarusian capital since last Tuesday. This is the first indication that at least part of a deal to end a mutiny in Russia may be in effect.
In an effort to secure Wagner fighters' loyalty after their aborted revolt against the Kremlin's brass, Putin offered the military company the option of continuing to serve as a single unit under a commander, Andrei Troshev.
He is a retired military officer who has played a leading role in Wagner since its creation in 2014 and has faced European Union sanctions over his role in Syria as the group's executive director. Troshev goes by the call sign "Gray Hair." Putin made these comments Friday in an interview with top Russian newspaper Kommersant.
Putin previously said Wagner troops had to choose whether to sign contracts with the Defense Ministry, move to neighboring Belarus, or retire from service.
There has been no news about Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin's whereabouts since the short-lived revolt on June 24, though a private jet linked to him has moved between Belarus, Moscow and St. Petersburg.
President Joe Biden on Thursday said the United States was unsure where Prigozhin was but joked that the mercenary chief could be cautious.
"If I were him, I'd be careful what I ate. I'd be keeping my eye on my menu," Biden said, according to White House. "But all kidding aside ... I don't think any of us know for sure what the future of Prigozhin is in Russia."
Russian strikes
Russian attacks killed at least three Ukrainian civilians and wounded another 38, Ukraine's presidential office reported Thursday.
The government in Kyiv said Russian forces targeted 13 cities and villages under Russian control in the partially occupied eastern Donetsk region with airstrikes, missiles and heavy artillery.
In the Zaporizhzhia region, also partly Russian occupied, Ukraine said 21 people were injured by drone debris on Wednesday, and that fires broke out in Kherson after Russian shelling.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said their air defenses shot down 20 Iranian-made drones fired by Russia that targeted the Kyiv region. But they said wreckage from the drones fell on four districts of the capital early Thursday, hospitalizing two people with shrapnel wounds and destroying several homes.
The interior ministry said firefighters extinguished a blaze in a 16-story apartment building and another fire in a nonresidential building. Debris also smashed into the front of a 25-story apartment building.
The latest wave was the third consecutive night in which the drones were used in attacks on Kyiv.
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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