September 4, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage of Russia’s war in Ukraine has moved here.

Russian journalist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov will temporarily step down as editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta to challenge his recent “foreign agent” designation in court, the independent Russian news outlet reported Monday. 

Muratov made headlines last year when he announced plans to auction his Nobel Peace Prize medal to raise money for Ukrainian refugees.

Russia’s justice ministry on Friday added Muratov to its “foreign agents” register under legislation that stifles free speech and freedom of expression in the country, critics argue. 

“Muratov is in strong disagreement with the Justice Ministry’s decision and will be filing a lawsuit,” said Novaya Gazeta Europe, the Latvia-based outlet established in 2022 after Russia’s war-related censorship laws forced the original organization to significantly scale down operations in the country.

Current deputy editor-in-chief Sergey Sokolov will become acting editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, the article continues. 

Residential buildings and other civilian infrastructure were hit by a series of Russian strikes on Monday, according to the General Staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.

Russia launched five missile and 68 air strikes, fired 42 times from multiple launch rocket systems at Ukrainian troop positions and other populated areas, it said on Telegram. 

The attacks resulted in casualties and injuries, the general staff said but did not provide detailed information on casualty figures. 

In the Zaporizhzhia region, more than 15 localities came under fire, including Mala, Tokmachka, Orikhov, Robotyne and Stepnohirsk, the general staff said. 

Russia launched an air strike near Budarky in Kharkiv region and more than 10 localities came under artillery fire in the area of Kupiansk, it added.

The general staff said Ukrainian forces were able to repel strikes in the area north of Klishchiivka in the Donetsk region. Ukrainian Defense Forces also conducted offensive operations in the Melitopol area on Monday, including 11 strikes on Russian positions and two strikes on anti-aircraft missile systems. 

The United States State Department welcomed Turkey’s efforts to revive the Black Sea Grain deal, despite no major breakthroughs resulting from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and President Vladimir Putin’s meeting in Sochi on Monday. 

“We welcome the efforts of Turkey and other countries to convince Russia to return to the deal. We are engaging with the United Nations and with Turkey, both of whom have worked very hard to make BSGI (Black Sea Grain Initiative) both possible and functional,” a State Department spokesperson said.

The spokesperson added that Russia’s decision to terminate its participation in the initiative “hurts communities vulnerable to food insecurity around the world.”

Turkey, who is a NATO ally, and the UN helped broker the previous grain deal. The State Department thanked Turkey for “its important diplomatic and operational efforts” on working to come to a new agreement.

The spokesperson added that Russia’s decision to terminate its participation in the initiative “hurts communities vulnerable to food insecurity around the world.”

Ukraine needs to “soften its approach” to revive the Black Sea grain deal, from which Russia withdrew in July, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.

“In order to be able to take common steps with Russia, Ukraine needs to soften its approach. Especially now, grain which will be sent to the least developed poverty-stricken African countries is important,” Erdogan said at a joint press conference with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a meeting in Sochi. 

“Putin rightfully does not approve if 44% of the grain goes to European countries,” the Turkish leader added. 

Erdogan said Turkey has prepared a new proposal with the United Nations to revive the grain deal, which involves “important improvements.” 

“From the Turkish side, I believe we will be able to reach a solution soon which fulfills the expectations (regarding the grain deal),” he said.

The previous grain deal from which Russia pulled out, was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations. It lasted about a year and allowed billions of dollars worth of grain and wheat to safely transit out of war-torn Ukraine via the Black Sea.

Romania was not hit by Russian drone attacks on a Ukrainian Danube river port adjacent to Romanian territory, according to the country’s foreign minister.

“Of course, there is a risk of accident or incidents, but for the time being, it was not the case,” Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu said, speaking at a joint news conference alongside German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock in Berlin.

Odobescu said the Russian drone attacks did not pose any direct military threats against Romania’s national territory or territorial waters. 

“From our part of the Danube we can see what’s going on there, and we have seen that practically Russia cynically attacks and continues to attack the infrastructure — civilian infrastructure — not allowing Ukraine to export their cereals,” Odobescu said.  

Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilvar condemned the “unjustified and criminal attacks targeting civilian infrastructure” in Ukraine, including the strikes on the port, in a post on X, formerly Twitter.

Russian official agencies are touting the elections being conducted in the four regions of Ukraine that were illegally annexed last year. Voting is taking place at people’s homes in the four regions as well as at “extraterritorial” polling stations in Russia.

Russia’s Central Election Commission said voting at the extraterritorial polling stations was coming to an end. 

There are, for example, several polling stations in St. Petersburg alone.

Residents of the self-declared Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, as well as those in occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, are entitled to vote.

A local Telegram channel in occupied Zaporizhzhia said the early voting for the elections of deputies to the Legislative Assembly and local self-government bodies is “in full progress.”

It said that in three urban districts — Melitopol, Berdyansk and Enerhodar — voting will take place on September 8, 9 and 10.

There is no way to confirm the official figures and no international observers of the polling.

The Ukrainian side has poured scorn on the process: Yuriy Sobolevsky, deputy head of the Kherson region council, told CNN that the elections had “nothing to do with democracy or free expression of will. What is happening now is a show that they call elections in order to create a propaganda narrative.”

“The emphasis in these elections is on door-to-door work, when two collaborators accompanied by armed men from the Russian Guard, police, and in some cases the military, go from house to house in the settlements. They visit every house in the settlements and actually force people to vote under psychological pressure,” Sobolevsky said.

Ukraine’s National Resistance Center said the “occupiers have already prepared the election results.”

In brief remarks on the conflict in Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin said Russia is not refusing to negotiate on how to end the war.

“I want to say that Russia has never refused negotiations and now we are not refusing,” Putin said.

He added that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan raised questions about negotiations on the war during meetings between the two leaders on Monday.

“As we know, through the mediation of the President of Turkey, an agreement was reached, draft documents were agreed upon between the Russian and Ukrainian delegations, but then Ukraine sent them to… to the scrapheap! Nobody is coming back to this. We hear about some new initiatives, but this is not something that was ever discussed with us. Therefore, we do not accept anything new. As for mediation services, we have never refused them. We are also grateful to the President of Turkey for his efforts in this direction,” Putin said.

The Russian president also said the Ukrainian counteroffensive had been a failure.

Ukrainian leaders have acknowledged the counteroffensive’s slow progress, but in recent days, the Ukrainian military said it notched victories in the southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, penetrating the “first line” of Russian defenses.

Russian President Vladimir Putin blamed the West for the collapse of the Black Sea grain deal and said, even after Moscow pulled out, there has been no shortage of food in the global market. His remarks come after several hours of talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday.

“The West, to put it mildly, deceived us about humanitarian goals by the humanitarian Black Sea initiative to assist developing countries,” Putin said.

Russia said when it left the deal that promised guarantees made about its own agricultural and fertilizer exports had not been upheld.

“As I’ve said before, we were simply forced to make this decision,” Putin said, referring to not renewing the deal.

“Obviously, the termination of the deal did not affect the global production markets, and I would like to emphasize this in particular. No matter what they say about this, grain prices continue to decline, there is no physical shortage of food. There are problems with its fair distribution, yes. But this has nothing to do with the so-called grain deal,” Putin added.

The Russian president described the meeting with Erdogan as “held in a constructive and business-like atmosphere.”

Putin said he told Erdogan Russia “will be ready to consider reviving the grain deal” and talked about supplying Russian grain free of charge to several African countries.

“We will do so as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on the export of Russian agricultural products are fully implemented,” he said.

Erdogan said he believes he and Putin will be able to reach a solution on the grain deal that will “fulfill expectations soon.”

Putin said Monday’s meeting also included discussion of joint gas and energy projects.

The Defense Intelligence of Ukraine (DI) has published an interview with a man it identifies as the Russian helicopter pilot who defected last month – and brought his Mi-8 combat helicopter with him.

DI named the pilot as Maxim Kuzminov, who explained in the interview how he planned his defection.

“I contacted representatives of Ukrainian intelligence, explained my situation, to which they offered this option: ‘Come on, we guarantee your safety, guarantee new documents, guarantee monetary compensation, a reward,’” the pilot said.

The pilot said he discussed more details with Ukrainian officials and began to plan his flight.

He continued that during one flight, “I realized that I was near the border. I relayed my location. I said: ‘Let’s give it a try, I’m not far away.’ And having made a final decision, I flew at an extremely low altitude in radio silence mode. No-one understood what was going on with me at all….I flew across [into Ukraine], landed, they met me, and explained everything to me.”

The circumstances of the interview are unclear, but the pilot appeared to be speaking freely.

Countering the official Russian narrative, he sai: “The truth is, there are no Nazis or fascists here. It’s a real disgrace what’s happening here. Murder, tears, blood. People are simply killing each other. That’s all I can make of this and I don’t want to be a part of it.” 

“What is going on now is simply the genocide of the Ukrainian people. Both Ukrainian and Russian. The motivation for my action was to not contribute to these crimes. Ukraine will unequivocally win this war simply because the people are very united. Before they were not like this, but now they are very unified. The whole world is helping them, because first and foremost, human life should be valued.”  

The pilot also urged other Russians in the military to defect to Ukraine.

“You’ll be provided for, for the rest of your lives. You will be offered a job everywhere, no matter what you do. You’ll simply discover a world of colors,” he said.

CNN has been unable to verify the pilot’s identity. But Agenstvo, an independent Russian Telegram channel, said that it had found Kuzminov’s social media profile and that he was an attack pilot of the 319th separate helicopter regiment of the Eastern Military District.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has greeted his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the southern Russian city of Sochi. The two leaders are expected to discuss the possibility of reviving the Black Sea grain deal, which Putin allowed to lapse in July.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is set to reshuffle his top military brass by appointing Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, as his new defense minister, as Kyiv seeks to consolidate its gains in the south.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian forces in the south are continuing their efforts to expand and deepen the pocket of territory they have taken toward the strategic hub of Tokmak.

Officials have said over the past two days that units are consolidating gains after piercing the first line of Russian defenses, consisting mostly of dense minefields, around the village of Robotyne.

“Over the past few days, there have been successes in the area of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are consolidating there,” Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said Monday.

Novoprokopivka is south of Robotyne, close to the next line of fixed Russian defenses and the next goal for Ukrainian forces – along with the village of Verbove further east.

“In Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, the enemy is on the defensive, and the shelling continues. The intensity of shelling in the south remains at the level of 4,000 - 4,500 enemy attacks per week,” Maliar said.

However, Russian official accounts claimed that Ukrainian efforts to advance were being repelled.

“Ukrainian troops have changed their focus and are more actively attacking west of Verbove and east of Urozhaine but all attacks are repelled, and positions are held,” Denis Pushilin, the head of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic, told Rossiya 24.

Pushilin said the Ukrainian goal was to “go further, to the main point of the [Russian] defense line, and given the limited time before the weather deteriorates, to move in the direction of Tokmak.”

Meanwhile, Maliar said Russia’s offensive focus remained on the eastern front.

“The enemy is constantly trying to advance with varying degrees of intensity in the direction of Lyman, Kupiansk, Mariinka and Avdiivka,” Maliar said.

As for Bakhmut, she said fighting continued to the south and north of the city, with the Russians trying to regain lost ground “without success.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin has told visiting Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Russia is ready to discuss resurrecting the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

“We have a lot to talk about, including ensuring security in the region,” Putin told Erdogan, in an exchange ahead of their talks in Sochi.

“We will not ignore the topic of the Ukrainian crisis. I know you intend to raise questions about the grain deal, we are open to negotiations on this issue,” Putin said.

Meanwhile, Erdogan told Putin that talks on the grain corridor will be “very important.”

“Today everybody is watching the grain corridor issue here,” Erdogan said. “I believe the message at the news conference will be a very important step, especially for underdeveloped countries in Africa.” 

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says talks between Putin and Erdogan have been constructive — but there are no plans to sign any documents on any of the topics discussed, including a grain deal

Peskov also told Russian state television that “the talks were very constructive in different areas. Detailed reports from ministers, heads of working groups. Full exchange of information.”

Peskov said the talks would continue one-to-one between the heads of state.

Russia allowed the Black Sea grain deal, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, to lapse in July. The deal guaranteed the safe passage of Ukrainian grain from its Black Sea ports.

Since withdrawing from the deal, Russia has resumed its blockade of Ukraine’s ports and subjected them to heavy bombardment, targeting storage facilities and infrastructure and sparking fears for global food security.

Putin also noted on Monday that last year the trade turnover between Russia and Turkey grew by 86%, and “in the first half of this year the positive trend continues.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan have begun talks in the Russian city of Sochi on the Black Sea coast.

Television coverage showed the two men shaking hands before talks began. Greeting the Turkish leader on Monday, Putin said: “If you want to, come on holiday here, it’s very nice here.”

“This is our first personal meeting since the elections in Turkey. I would like to congratulate you once again on the [election] results,” Putin said to Erdogan.

The talks are expected to cover the possibility of resurrecting the Black Sea Grain Initiative, from which Russia withdrew in July.

There will also be talks, according to the Russian side, on a proposal from Moscow to supply 1 million tons of Russian grain to Turkey, which would then be distributed to countries most in need, with financial assistance from Qatar.

Following bilateral talks in Moscow with his Turkish counterpart last week, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov reiterated that Russia would be ready to rejoin the Black Sea grain deal as soon as it sees guarantees that benefits promised to Russia will be implemented.

The supply of natural gas from Russia to Turkey may also be part of the discussions on Monday, according to the official Russian news agency TASS.

Rustem Umerov is set to become Ukraine’s new defense minister as the war enters a critical phase, with the counteroffensive seeking to splinter Russian fortifications in the south, and Kyiv hoping to secure further support from allies.

Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, is currently chair of the State Property Fund, designed to attract investment into Ukraine, and has been closely involved in prisoner of war exchanges since Russia invaded.

He was also a senior negotiator in the creation of the Black Sea Grain Initiative – and more than once questioned for how long Moscow would abide by the deal.

Umerov is not from President Volodymyr Zelensky’s governing Servant of the People party, but from the small Golos party. He is Muslim and his background has enabled him to develop links with the Gulf states.

Umerov will have a bulging in-tray if and when the Ukrainian parliament approves his appointment.

Ukraine is trying to accelerate the training and deployment of F-16 fighter jets as well as acquire a host of other equipment to help drive Russia from occupied territories.

The defense minister is also Ukraine’s main interlocutor with Western allies through the Ukraine Defense Contact Group. Umerov’s predecessor, Oleksii Reznikov, developed relationships with senior US and European officials through the group, which meets again later this month.

Reznikov’s tenure was damaged by contract scandals involving the defense ministry, which led to some unease about the allocation of aid among Western partners.

There were several investigations into corruption in procurement at the Ukrainian defense ministry, which threatened to overshadow the focus on reforming Ukraine’s military into a modern force based on Western technology and tactics.

While allegations of corruption did not impinge personally on Reznikov, he acknowledged they had been damaging. It’s been widely reported that Reznikov will be moved to a different ministry.

Romania’s defense minister condemned the latest Russian drone attacks on a Ukrainian port on the Danube River, which struck just across the border from Romania, a member of NATO.

“We condemn in the strongest terms the RU unjustified and criminal attacks targeting civilian infrastructure in [Ukraine], including the last night drone strikes on the port of #Reni on the #Danube,” Angel Tilvar posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Sunday.

The ministry said in a statement that the attacks were “unjustified and breaking all international humanitarian rules.”

But the ministry added that “drone attacks conducted by the Russian Federation did not pose any direct military threats against our national territory or Romania’s territorial waters.”

Ukrainian officials earlier claimed that some of the Shahed drones used by Russia had detonated on Romanian soil.

“According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, Russian ‘Shaheds’ have fallen and detonated on the territory of Romania last night, during a massive Russian attack near the port of Izmail,” Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko said Monday.

The Romanian defense ministry said it continued to implement “enhanced vigilance measures in the ground, maritime and airspace, as well as the measures designated to consolidate the defense and deterrence posture on the eastern flank.”

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Monday submitted his resignation, a day after it was announced he would be replaced.

“Following the decision of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, I submitted my resignation to the Ukrainian Parliament. I am ready for the report. Let’s keep the line!” he wrote on Facebook, alongside photos of himself with his resignation letter. 

Reznikov’s removal comes in the wake of a number of corruption scandals involving Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. While Reznikov has not been implicated in any of the scandals, they have still been seen to damage him by association.

Zelensky has nominated Rustem Umerov to become Ukraine’s new defense minister. His nomination will need to be approved by parliament before he can assume the position.

Russia attacked Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region with drones, a Ukrainian military official said Monday.

Serhii Lysak, head of the region’s military administration, said six drones were destroyed by air defenses, but a strike on an infrastructure facility sparked a fire in Dnipro.

No casualties were reported, he said.

Ukraine’s air force said Monday that 23 out of 32 Shahed drones launched by Russia toward Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa had been destroyed.

For the second consecutive night, Russian drones attacked Danube River ports in Odesa, Ukrainian officials said Monday, the latest in a spate of assaults on the facilities since Moscow pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal in July.

Around 280,000 personnel have been accepted into the Russian military for contracted service since the start of the year, senior Russian official Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday.

Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, made the claim in a video posted on Telegram ahead of a meeting on military staffing with the heads of Russia’s far eastern regions.

“Some of these people were in the reserve and some of them are volunteers and some other categories,” Medvedev said in the video.

Some context: Thousands of men have fled Russia in order to avoid being conscripted and the exact number of Russian soldiers killed and injured fighting in Ukraine has not been made public. Earlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin backed a plan to expand the Russian armed forces to 1.5 million soldiers.

Russian forces launched a “massive” drone attack on Ukraine’s Danube River area for the second straight night, Ukrainian officials said Monday, just hours before Russia’s president is scheduled to meet with his Turkish counterpart to discuss reviving the vital Black Sea grain deal.

In a Telegram post Monday, Ukraine’s Southern Defense Forces said it shot down 17 drones, but the attack in the Odesa region had damaged multiple targets, including warehouses and agricultural equipment.

“The enemy has once again defiantly and powerfully attacked the south of Odesa region,” the forces said. “A massive overnight attack by Shahed-136 unmanned aerial vehicles targeted civilian infrastructure in the Danube area.” There were no reports of casualties, it added. 

Oleh Kiper, head of the Odesa region military administration, reported damage in Izmail district, home to one of Ukraine’s main Danube ports. 

It comes a day after Russia launched a drone attack on the Danube port of Reni that killed two people, according to Ukrainian officials.

Grain deal: The airstrikes are the latest attempt by Moscow to target Ukrainian shipping infrastructure since July, when Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukrainian ships to bypass a Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and navigate safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosporus Strait in order to reach global markets.

On Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi as Ankara tries to convince Moscow to reconsider its withdrawal from the deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously said Russia will be ready to rejoin the grain initiative as soon as it sees guarantees that benefits promised to Moscow will be implemented.

Four Ukrainian military boats carrying troops were destroyed by Russian aircraft in the Black Sea overnight, Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed Monday.

In a Telegram post, the ministry claimed the four US-made Willard Sea Force boats were intercepted while heading toward Cape Tarkhankut on Crimea’s northwest coast.

There was no immediate comment from Ukraine.

Ukrainian attacks on the occupied Crimean peninsula have ramped up in recent weeks, with Russia claiming to have thwarted a number of attempted assaults.

Last Wednesday, Russia claimed it had destroyed four Ukrainian military boats with special forces on board in the Black Sea, a week after Kyiv said Ukrainian forces had carried out one of their most complex and ambitious operations to date against Russian military facilities in Crimea.

Ukraine will appoint a new defense minister this week after President Volodymyr Zelensky said Sunday he had dismissed Oleksii Reznikov and nominated Rustem Umerov, the former people’s deputy of Ukraine, to replace him.

Reznikov’s removal comes in the wake of a number of corruption scandals involving Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. While Reznikov has not been implicated in any of them, the scandals have still been seen to damage him by association.

Zelensky has said rooting out corruption across Ukraine’s government is vital to Kyiv’s chances of attaining long-awaited membership in NATO and the European Union.

Here’s what else you need to know about Russia’s war in Ukraine:

Russian air defenses destroyed two Ukrainian drones early Monday, Russia’s defense ministry said.

In a Telegram post, the ministry said the drones were attempting to carry out attacks on the southwestern Kursk region and on Crimea, the peninsula illegally occupied by Russia in 2014.

Ukrainian drones have repeatedly targeted Russian territory in recent weeks as Kyiv ramps up its apparent effort to wear down Russian domestic support for the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has dismissed Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, saying the ministry needs “new approaches” as the war with Russia enters its 19th month.

“This week, parliament will be asked to make a personnel decision … I have decided to replace the minister of defense of Ukraine. Oleksii Reznikov has gone through more than 550 days of full-scale war,” the Ukrainian leader said.

Zelensky nominated Rustem Umerov, the former people’s deputy of Ukraine, to become the new defense minister.

“The Verkhovna Rada (legislature) of Ukraine knows this person well, and Mr. Umerov does not need any additional introductions,” Zelensky said. “I expect parliament to support this candidate.”

Key context: Reznikov’s removal comes in the wake of a number of corruption scandals involving Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense. While Reznikov has not been implicated in any of them, the scandals have still been seen to damage him by association.

Zelensky has said rooting out corruption across Ukraine’s government is vital to Kyiv’s chances of attaining long-awaited membership in NATO and the European Union.

The Ukrainian president made cracking down on internal scandals a central issue in his campaign for office.

On Saturday, one of Ukraine’s most powerful oligarchs and a key Zelensky supporter, Ihor Kolomoisky, was arrested as part of a fraud investigation.

Heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops continues to rock part of the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, Illia Yevlash, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian military, said on Sunday.

The Ukrainian military refers to the area of the fighting as the Kupiansk-Lyman sector, named for two major cities in the area. Russia has committed thousands of additional troops to this area to repel Ukraine’s counteroffensive.

The fighting near Kupiansk has gotten so intense that it has forced civilians to evacuate in recent weeks.

Yevlash said Russia shelled Ukrainian positions 570 times Saturday while also attacking using aircraft. Yevlash added that Russian troops are focusing their efforts just across the border from Kharkiv, targeting the village of Novoiehorivka in Luhansk. Their aim, Yevlash said, is to “carve out a corridor” in Ukraine’s defenses from higher ground in Novoiehorivka. 

Yevlash said five firefights had taken place over the past 24 hours, none of which were successful for Russia. He claimed 126 Russian troops were killed and seven Russian drones, one field ammo depot and vehicle were destroyed.

CNN cannot independently verify battlefield reports from either side of the conflict.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian city of Sochi on Monday.

The summit will take place against the backdrop of Ankara’s efforts to convince Moscow to reconsider its withdrawal from the Black Sea grain deal.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has previously reiterated that Russia will be ready to rejoin the Black Sea initiative as soon as it sees guarantees that benefits promised to Russia will be implemented.

Here’s what to know about the deal:

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday said a three-person independent panel he appointed had found “no evidence” that any weapons were loaded for export onto a sanctioned Russian vessel late last year. 

The inquiry was launched after the US Ambassador to South Africa in May accused the South African government of delivering arms and ammunition to the Russian cargo ship Lady R last December.

Ramaphosa said Sunday the panel found that the vessel brought military equipment for the South African National Defense force that was ordered in 2018. 

“South Africa has clear laws that regulate the issuing of permits regarding the importation and export of conventional arms,” Ramaphosa said, adding all relevant permits were obtained for importing the weapons and that no arms were loaded back onto the vessel.

The classified nature of some of the documents and equipment meant he would not release the full report, Ramaphosa said. An executive summary would be released Monday, he added.

“When all matters are considered, none of the allegations made about the supply of weapons to Russia have been proven to be true. And none of the persons who made these allegations could provide any evidence to support the claims that had been leveled against our country,” he said.

Some context: Western diplomats have criticized South Africa for its perceived solidarity with Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine. South African government officials have long maintained they are a neutral party in the conflict, but have refused to condemn Russia in UN General Assembly votes. Earlier this year, South Africa also hosted the Chinese and Russian navies for war games.

Russian forces attacked Ukrainian port facilities on the Danube River used for food exports on Sunday, a day before Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to discuss reviving a grain export deal with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

At least two people were injured in the strikes, a regional military spokesman said. Port infrastructure was hit, causing a fire that was quickly extinguished.

Ukraine’s Air Force said 25 drones were used in overnight attacks on the Odesa region, 22 of which were shot down.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement that it was targeting fuel storage facilities in the Ukrainian port of Reni used to supply Ukraine’s military. The Russian statement added that the attack was successful, with “all assigned targets neutralized.”

The salvo hit just across the border from NATO member Romania, drawing a swift rebuke from the country. Romania’s Ministry of Defense condemned the attack “in the strongest possible terms,” calling it “unjustified and in deep contradiction with the rules of international humanitarian law.”

The ministry said there was no direct threat to Romanian territory or its territorial waters.

An aide to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Kremlin of trying to create a “food crisis” with the attacks.

“Russian terrorists continue to attack port infrastructure in the hope that they will be able to provoke a food crisis and famine in the world,” the aide, Andriy Yermak, said on the messaging app Telegram.

The airstrikes are the latest attempt by Moscow to target Ukrainian shipping infrastructure since July, when Russia pulled out of a deal that allowed Ukrainian ships to bypass a Russian blockade of Ukrainian Black Sea ports and navigate safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in order to reach global markets.

The accord’s collapse pushed up global food prices and fueled fears that the world’s poorest countries would struggle to feed their populations.

Read the full story here.