Ukraine war live updates: Ukraine seen stepping up its counteroffensive in the south; Russia’s defense minister meets North Korea’s Kim Jong Un

Ukraine’s central bank on Thursday announced its first wartime interest rate cut in a bid to boost the country’s economic recovery.

The National Bank of Ukraine lowered its key interest rate to 22% from 25%, where it was set in June 2022.

“The economy has proven to be resilient to new challenges of the war and is to grow by 2.9% this year,” NBU Governor Andriy Pyshnyy said in a press briefing.

“Rapid disinflation and sustained FX (foreign exchange) market conditions enabled the central bank to start the cycle of key policy rate cuts,” he added.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Ukraine’s intensified attacks on the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine had been without success.

Putin issued the remarks to state TV on the sidelines of a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, Reuters reported.

The Institute for the Study of War, a U.S. think tank, said in an update issued Wednesday that Ukraine had launched a “significant” mechanized counteroffensive and broken through defensive positions in the south of the country.

— Karen Gilchrist

Comoros President Azali Assoumani, head of the African Union, on Thursday called for a “peaceful co-existence” between Russia and Ukraine, Reuters reported.

Assoumani was speaking alongside Russian President Vladimir Putin at a plenary session during a Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg.

The African Union is a continental group composed of 55 member states.

— Karen Gilchrist

Ukrainian forces launched a “significant” mechanized counteroffensive and broke through defensive positions in the south of the country, analysis from research group the Institute for the study of War said Thursday.

In its latest update on the conflict, the research group said Ukraine’s military on Wednesday appeared to have launched the attack toward the village of Robotyne in western Zaporizhzhia, as well as broken through pre-prepared Russian defensive positions south of Orikhiv. 

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday that Moscow could replace Ukrainian grain exports to Africa, a week after withdrawing from the U.N.-brokered grain deal, Reuters reported.

Putin, who was speaking to African leaders in St Petersburg, said that Russia could start supplying grain for free to six African countries within the three to four months.

The countries he cited were Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Somalia, Central African Republic and Eritrea, saying they would each receive 25,000-50,000 tonnes.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin told the president of the African Union that he was counting on the bloc obtaining full membership of the Group of 20 nations in September, Reuters reported Thursday.

Comoros President Azali Assoumani, who heads the 55-nation union, also used the meeting in St. Petersburg to urge Russia to reinstate the recently withdrawn Ukrainian grain deal, Russian state newswire RIA Novosti reported.

— Karen Gilchrist

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited Dnipro in the southeast of Ukraine Thursday, where he discussed the situation on the battlefront, supplies of munitions and the strengthening of air defenses.

“We started the working day in Dnipro,” Zelenskyy wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

Zelenskyy said top military officials discussed “the situation at the front [and] the course of offensive and defensive operations,” as well as “the supply of troops with ammunition.”

— Karen Gilchrist

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un showcased a collection of banned ballistic missiles to Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu during his visit to Pyongyang, state media reported Thursday.

North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency reported that Shoigu was accompanied by members of Russia’s military delegation. Chinese delegates were also in North Korea to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice.

North Korea’s nuclear missiles were banned under U.N. Security Council resolutions adopted with Russian and Chinese support. However, this week’s meeting is seen by some analysts as a revival of the three countries’ Cold War-era coalition, according to Reuters.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russian air strikes have struck 26 Ukrainian port infrastructure sites and five civilian vessels in the past nine days, deputy prime minister for Restoration of Ukraine, Oleksandr Kubrakov, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday.

The statement came hours before a further overnight missile attack on the Odesa port region was reported Thursday.

— Karen Gilchrist

Russia’s Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss military issues and regional security, state media reported Thursday.

Kim and Shoigu met in the capital Pyongyang Wednesday during a visit to North Korea by Russian and Chinese delegates to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Korean War Armistice.

According to North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency, the pair reached a consensus on unspecified “matters of mutual concern in the field of national defense and security and on the regional and international security environment.”

The KCNA also reported that during the meeting, Shoigu shared with Kim an “autograph letter” from Russian President Vladimir Putin.

— Karen Gilchrist

Port infrastructure was hit and one security guard killed after an overnight Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Odesa region, the region’s governor said Thursday.

A cargo terminal, a security building and two cars was also damaged in the attack as Moscow has intensified its attacks on Odesa’s ports following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal last week.

“At night, the terrorist country launched a missile attack on the Odesa region. The target of the aggressor is the port infrastructure,” governor Oleg Kiper wrote on the Telegram messaging app.

“The Russians fired Caliber missiles from a submarine in the Black Sea. A civil guard born in 1979 died as a result of the hit. The equipment of one of the cargo terminals was damaged, the security building and two cars were destroyed,” he added.

Russia did not immediately claim responsibility for the attack.

— Karen Gilchrist

NATO said Wednesday that it was stepping up patrols of the Black Sea region to counter Russian threats to ports and ships.

The military alliance condemned Russian attacks on the region following Moscow’s withdrawal last week from a deal designed to assure the safe passage of ships carrying Ukrainian grain.

The announcement followed a meeting of the NATO-Ukraine Council, a body set up earlier this month to coordinate cooperation between the alliance and Kyiv.

— Karen Gilchrist

U.S. President Joe Biden ordered the government to start sharing information about potential Russian war crimes in Ukraine with the International Criminal Court in the Hague, a U.S. official familiar with the matter said Wednesday.

The decision, which was first reported by The New York Times, supersedes months of resistance by the Defense Department.

The U.S. is not a member of the ICC, and the Pentagon had blocked efforts to share evidence of war crimes amid concerns that it could open the door to the prosecution of U.S. troops deployed abroad.

— Karen Gilchrist

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the NATO-Ukraine Council met to discuss the security of the Black Sea following Russia’s withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“At the level of the alliance, the Russian attacks against our country and our ports have been clearly condemned,” Zelenskyy said during a nightly address.

“We discussed what specific actions can bring calm and predictability to the Black Sea region. Thank you all for the substantive work of today’s NATO-Ukraine Council,” Zelenskyy added.

— Amanda Macias

The European Union wrote on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to impose additional sanctions on Belarus for the country’s involvement with Russia’s war in Ukraine.

The European Union agreed on a draft resolution to ban exports of aviation equipment to Russia’s closest ally, Belarus.

— Amanda Macias