Ukraine war in Newsblog | Medvedev: Delivery of NATO aircraft means entering the war

Day 372 since the beginning of the war: Dmitri Medvedev threatens NATO. The United States warns China against sanctions if it sells arms to Moscow. All information in the news blog.

9:58 p.m.: The US plans to announce a new package of military aid for Ukraine on Friday. However, White House spokesman John Kirby did not give reporters any details or volume. Aid to Ukraine is expected to be the topic of discussion between President Joe Biden and Chancellor Olaf Scholz at the White House on Friday.

9:57 p.m.: After the Russian rocket attack on the city of Zaporizhia that killed at least two, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced retaliation. “We will react militarily and legally to today’s brutal Russian rocket attack on Zaporizhia,” said Zelenskyy on Thursday in his nightly video address. “The occupier will inevitably feel our strength, the power of justice in the truest sense of the word.”

A multi-storey residential building in the southern Ukrainian city was hit by a rocket during the Russian air raid on Thursday night. Two residents were killed, eight people were injured. According to official information, ten residents were still missing on Thursday evening.

9:52 p.m.: Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tweeted after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that he wanted to encourage other countries to participate in peace talks aimed at ending the conflict. “I have reiterated Brazil’s desire to speak to other countries and to engage in any initiative to create peace and dialogue. War cannot be of anyone’s interest.”

Lula refused to supply Ukraine with German-made ammunition, which Brazil has. He also reiterated that his country would remain neutral in the conflict. But Russia made a mistake by invading a sovereign country.

8:14 p.m.: Former Kremlin chief Dmitry Medvedev has warned NATO against making warplanes available to Ukraine. The handover of NATO fighter jets and their maintenance in Poland would be tantamount to a direct entry into the war by the Western military alliance against Russia, Medvedev wrote on Telegram on Thursday. “And anyone deciding on the supply (repair) of such equipment or means of destruction, as well as foreign mercenaries and military trainers, would have to be considered a legitimate military target.”

This is probably the only thing that keeps the “Western infantilists” from supplying aircraft and long-range weapons to the “Kiev drug addicts”. “But not for long, because the temptation to destroy Russia is great,” claimed Medvedev, the current deputy secretary of the Russian Security Council.

During his time as prime minister and president, Medvedev was considered to be rather liberal. In the ongoing war he is acting as an absolute hardliner and, according to observers, is trying to underpin his position in the Russian power apparatus with exaggeratedly harsh statements.

7:36 p.m.: The defenders of the eastern Ukrainian city of Bakhmut repelled several Russian attacks on Thursday, according to the military leadership in Kiev. Russian artillery shelled a number of smaller towns around Bakhmut, the General Staff in Kiev said in its situation report. Russian troops are besieging the city from three sides and have been trying for weeks to completely encircle Bakhmut.

Repeated Russian artillery raids caused unrest on the southern front sections near Cherson and Zaporizhia. At several points, the Ukrainian military registered attempts by Russian scouting parties to scout out possible starting points for subsequent attacks.

6:51 p.m.: Ukraine sees no need to cap its wheat exports for the upcoming July 2023-June 2024 season. The reason is that the winter harvest is likely to be larger than expected, says Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysotskiy. However, the harvest will probably be lower than in peacetime.

Using data from the ministry and satellite images, the agency found that farmers planted more wheat in the south than estimated in the fall. Before the Russian invasion, Ukraine was the fifth largest wheat exporter in the world. The wheat supplies are particularly important for poorer countries in Africa and the Middle East.