Ukraine war latest: Putin ‘weaponising’ food as troops target cargo ship in Black Sea

Grant Shapps pledged the UK’s “unwavering commitment” to Ukraine with tens of thousands more artillery shells as he met the country’s new defence minister for the first time.

The Defence Secretary attended the 15th meeting of the Ukraine Defence Contact Group (UDCG) at the US Air Force base in Ramstein, Germany, alongside Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin.

The group brings together ministers and senior officials from nearly 50 nations to coordinate international support for the war-torn nation.

Russia’s air defence units have shot down two Ukrainian drones flying over Belgorod and Oryol oblasts as Kyiv increases the pace of its counteroffensive against Moscow’s invasion.

The drone attacks come as Ukraine overtook two key villages recently and has stepped up counter attacks on Russia. Drone and missile attacks deep inside Russia and on Russia-controlled territory have shot up drastically in recent months, with the Russian defence ministry blaming the “Kyiv regime” for what it calls “terrorist attacks”.

While Ukraine has seldom responded to accusations of attacks, it has expressed satisfaction at the destruction of Russian military infrastructure and critical military sites.

Russia is “weaponising” everything from food and energy to abducted children in its war against Ukraine, president Volodymyr Zelensky told leaders at the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.

While the world has agreements that restrict arms, “there are no real restrictions on weaponization,” he said.

He was addressing the gathering at a sensitive point in his country’s campaign to maintain international support for its fight.

Alastair Jamieson reports:

Ukraine is filing a complaint at the World Trade Organization against Hungary, Poland and Slovakia after they banned grain and other food products coming from the war-torn country, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Tuesday.

It lays bare a widening rift with the three members of the European Union, which has been a pivotal backer of Kyiv as it works to fight off Russia’s invasion.

In a break with the wider EU, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia have announced bans on grain and other food from Ukraine, a major agricultural supplier to parts of the world where people are going hungry. The 27-nation bloc last week lifted restrictions on Ukraine’s exports to five member states, also including Romania and Bulgaria.

President Joe Biden on Tuesday called on world leaders to uphold the UN Charter’s “core tenet” of sovereignty and territorial integrity by supporting Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invading forces during remarks at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr Biden reminded the world leaders who had gathered to hear him at UN headquarters that the annual gathering, which he described as one that is “dedicated to peaceful resolution of conflicts,” was once again “darkened by the shadow of war, an illegal war of conquest brought without provocation by Russia against its’ neighbour, Ukraine”.

Mr Biden said the US, which has been Ukraine’s chief supporter during the nearly two-year war, wants the conflict to end, and stressed that “no nation wants this war to end more than Ukraine”.

Azerbaijan’s launch of reportedly intense artillery firing in the Nagorno-Karabakh region on Tuesday raised fears that another full-scale conflict with Armenia could be underway, less than three years after a war that killed more than 6,000 people.

Nagorno-Karabakh, with a population of about 120,000, is an ethnic Armenian region of Azerbaijan that has been a flashpoint since the collapse of the Soviet Union. The region and sizable surrounding territories came under the control of ethnic Armenian forces backed by the Armenian military at the 1994 end of a separatist war. Azerbaijan regained the territories and parts of Nagorno-Karabakh itself in fighting in 2020.

Ukraine has just four weeks to hold a “knife at Crimea‘s throat” and force Vladimir Putin into peace talks before Russia’s army recoups over winter, experts have warned.

Professor Mark Galeotti, academic and author of more than 20 books on Russia, said Volodymyr Zelensky’s troops need to move another 10 miles southwards to be in range of striking key Russian supply routes in Crimea.

He claimed this is the only “serious” chance Ukraine has to force Mr Putin into negotiations before the Russian army has the opportunity to regroup over winter.

Alexander Butler reports:

A senior Kremlin official on Tuesday called for closer policy coordination between Moscow and Beijing to counter what he described as Western efforts to contain them as he hosted China’s top diplomat for security talks.

Nikolai Patrushev, the secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, told Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi that Moscow “seeks progressive development and strengthening of the Russian-Chinese relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic cooperation.”

“Amid the campaign unleashed by the collective West that is aimed at the double containment of Russia and China, it’s particularly important to further deepen Russian-Chinese coordination and interaction on the international arena,” Patrushev said.

Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich filed an appeal Tuesday to be released from jail on espionage charges, but the Moscow City Court did not immediately rule on it, causing confusion from Russian media that reported contradictory results from the closed session.

The court said in a statement it sent Gershkovich’s case back to a lower court due to procedural violations. The state news agency Tass reported the court had rejected Gershkovich’s appeal, meaning he will remain jailed until Nov. 30.

Before the session was closed, Gershkovich appeared in the glass defendants’ cage, smiling at journalists and wearing a yellow sweater and blue jeans. He was detained in March while on a reporting trip to the city of Yekaterinburg, about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 miles) east of Moscow.

A Russian drone attack over the city of Lviv, Ukraine, early on Tuesday 19 September heavily damaged a warehouse facility and injured a 26-year-old man, according to the regional governor.

Maksym Kozytsky reported that 15 out of 18 drones were intercepted.

Footage from the ground shows flames raging from a warehouse, as firefighters battle to control the blaze.

The state emergency service said the fire, caused by the drone attack, has reached 9,450 square meters.

A total of 27 out of 30 Shahed drones were intercepted Monday night across Ukraine, according to the Air Force report.