Ukraine has given “guarantees” that it will not use weapons supplied by Westerners on Russian territory, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kouleba told AFP.
“If our partners ask us to give a guarantee that such and such a weapon will only be used on the territory of Ukraine, we give this guarantee and respect it”, assured Dmytro Kouleba in an interview granted Wednesday to AFP. “There have been a few occasions where we have made such promises and we keep them,” he added.
“Our goal is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories within the 1991 borders. And no matter how long it takes,” he said of the counter- grueling offensive aimed at retaking the areas occupied by Moscow, which controls about 18% of Ukrainian territory.
A first freighter has left
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday called the departure of a first cargo ship from the Black Sea port of Odessa a “significant step”, a challenge to Russia, which has threatened to sink such vessels since it ended to the agreement allowing Ukraine to export its cereals.
The announcement of the release of the container ship “Joseph Schulte”, flying the flag of Hong Kong, took place despite a new Russian night bombardment of Ukrainian grain infrastructure on the Danube, in the Odessa region. This building “navigates along the corridor temporarily established for civilian ships”, announced Oleksandre Kubrakov, the Ukrainian minister in charge of infrastructure. In the afternoon, the “Joseph Schulte” was heading for the Turkish port of Ambarli in the Sea of Marmara.
Strikes on the Danube
The Russian army continued overnight from Tuesday to Wednesday to bombard the Danube port infrastructure, with a new drone attack. As a result, “grain warehouses have been damaged”, announced the governor of the Odessa region Oleg Kiper.
These Russian raids along this river show that Russian President Vladimir Putin “doesn’t care” about the supply of essential foodstuffs to developing countries, American diplomacy reacted on Wednesday.
Another Russian bombardment in the afternoon caused the death of an 18-year-old man and injured four in the Dnipro region, in the center-east, according to local authorities.
The gain of a village in the south of the country
Regarding the difficult Ukrainian counter-offensive underway since June, Kiev announced on Wednesday the liberation of Urozhaine, a locality in the Donetsk region, on the southern front, the main axis of attack for the Ukrainians.
Ukraine had already claimed some gains in the eastern and southern parts of its territory on Monday, particularly around Bakhmout in the east. Advances that remain modest, after two months of fighting.
The Ukrainian army recognizes a situation that has become “more complicated” in the northeast, around Kupiansk, where the Russians have been on the offensive for several weeks. “Every day, the enemy tries to break through our defense in different places,” said Land Forces Commander Oleksandre Syrsky.
Medvedev mocks ‘unsuccessful’ attempts
“It is absolutely clear that we have learned to counter” the Western weapons supplied to Kiev, for his part let go of the former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, adding: “the counter-offensive attempts led by Ukraine […] are essentially unsuccessful”.
He made these remarks on the occasion of the visit of an exhibition presenting on the outskirts of Moscow “trophies” of the Russian army in Ukraine, including French tanks and British machines.
45,000 Muscovites on the front, according to the mayor of the Russian capital
A rare quantified estimate of part of the forces deployed by Russia in its neighbour, the mayor of Moscow, Sergei Sobyanin, meanwhile affirmed that nearly 45,000 Muscovites were currently fighting on Ukrainian soil.
Ukrainian “saboteurs” in Russian territory
Kiev, which is still demanding more and more Western aid, always ensures that its counter-offensive is progressing methodically, against Russian defense lines made of trenches, minefields and anti-tank traps. At the same time, Russian territory continues to be the target of Ukrainian strikes.
One person was killed and two others injured on Tuesday during a bombardment in the Russian border region of Belgorod, regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Wednesday.
The Russian security services (FSB) on the same day claimed to have “eliminated” four Ukrainian “saboteurs” who were trying to enter from Ukraine in the Briansk region, also close to Ukrainian territory. The second incursion attempt in two days announced by Moscow.