Live blog: Expected N Korea-Russia talks to focus arms against Ukraine — US

September 4, 2023 — Monday

2031 GMT — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expects to meet with President Vladimir Putin in Russia to discuss providing arms to Moscow for its war in Ukraine, the United States has said.

The announcement comes after the White House last week warned that Russia was already in secret, active talks with the North to acquire a range of munitions and supplies for Moscow's war effort.

"As we have warned publicly, arms negotiations between Russia and the DPRK are actively advancing," National Security Council (NSC) spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said, using an acronym for the North.

"We have information that Kim Jong Un expects these discussions to continue, to include leader-level diplomatic engagement in Russia."

Kim — who rarely travels outside his country — is likely to head later this month to Vladivostok, on Russia's Pacific coast not far from North Korea, to meet with Putin, according to The New York Times.

The paper said Kim could even travel to Moscow, but that was uncertain.

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19:24 GMT — Russia 'thwarted' attempt by Ukrainian sabotage group

The governor of Russia's western Bryansk region said border guards and security forces had "thwarted" an attempt by a Ukrainian sabotage group that tried to cross into Russia.

"Employees of the FSB border force of Russia and units of the Russian defence ministry thwarted an attempt to penetrate the territory of the Russian Federation by a Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group," Bryansk governor Alexander Bogomaz said on Telegram.

1210 GMT — Russia scraps big Zapad military drills because of Ukraine war

Russia has scrapped its huge Zapad (West) military drills this year because of the war in Ukraine, Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted.

"No, this year we are having exercises in Ukraine," state news agency RIA quoted Shoigu as saying in reply to a question.

Russia last staged the Zapad drills with its ally Belarus in September 2021, five months before the war began in Ukraine. It said then that 200,000 troops were taking part.

Britain's defence ministry said in its daily intelligence update on X, formerly Twitter, last week that it believed Russia would not hold the exercises this year because it did not have enough troops and equipment to stage them while fighting the war, now in its 19th month.

1200 GMT — Pope acknowledges his Russia comments were faulty

Pope Francis has acknowledged that his recent comments on Russia, seen by Ukraine as praise for imperialism, were badly phrased and said his intention was to remind young Russians of a great cultural heritage and not a political one.

"I was not thinking of imperialism when I said that," Francis said about his comments last month.

"Maybe it wasn't the best way of putting it, but in speaking of the great Russia, I was thinking not so much geographically but culturally," Francis said, mentioning Russian literary icon Fyodor Dostoevsky, one of his favourite authors.

"Russian culture is of such beauty, such profoundness. It should not be cancelled because of political problems. There were dark political years in Russia but the heritage is there, available to all," he said.

1138 GMT — Putin calls Ukraine counteroffensive 'a failure'

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Kiev's counteroffensive to retake Ukrainian land lost to Moscow was a "failure".

"As for the stalling counteroffensive, it is not that it is stalling. It is a failure," Putin said at a press conference with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Sochi.

"At least today, this is what it looks like. Let's see what happens next. I hope that it will continue to be so."

1036 GMT — Ukraine has 'evidence' that Russian drones hit Romania

Ukraine's top diplomat has said that Kiev had photographic evidence to show that Russian drones struck Romanian territory during an overnight air attack on Ukrainian port infrastructure on the Danube River.

Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba made the comment to reporters after a press conference in Kiev. Romania denied earlier on Monday that Russian drones had struck its territory overnight.

Romanian Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu has denied that NATO-member Romania was hit by Russian drones or debris.

"Of course, there is a risk because what happened there is very close to our borders," she told reporters on the sidelines of a visit to Berlin.

1004 GMT — Ukraine defence minister says hands in resignation letter

Ukrainian Defence Minister Oleksiy Reznikov has announced that he had handed his resignation letter to parliament after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called for "new approaches" to face Russia's offensive.

Zelenskyy's decision to remove Reznikov comes after corruption scandals rocked the defence ministry.

Reznikov was appointed three months before the Russia-Ukraine war began and became one of the best-known faces of the country's war efforts.

Zelenskyy nominated Rustem Umerov, a Crimean Tatar who has been head of the State Property Fund since last year, to replace Reznikov - subject to approval by Ukraine's parliament.

0934 GMT — British actor Stephen Fry in Ukraine for mental health event

British actor Stephen Fry has arrived in Kiev to host a forum on mental health a year and a half into Russia's military offensive.

Fry is set to co-host a summit on Wednesday organised by Olena Zelenska, the wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the theme "Mental Health: Fragility and Resilience of the Future".

The actor has spoken of his struggles with mental health problems and is president of Mind, a British charity.

The organisers have said that the event will involve discussions with international health ministers and Hollywood celebrities.

Zelenska has focused on helping Ukrainians deal with the psychological impact of war. Her campaign has the slogan: "How are you?"

0458 GMT — Ukraine claims gains on southern front and near Bakhmut

Ukraine has said it had made gains against Russian forces in the south and clawed back territory near Bakhmut in the east as it battles to break through Russian defences.

"The enemy is on the defensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson sectors," Deputy Defence Minister Ganna Malyar said, referring to two southern regions that Moscow claimed to annex last year.

She said Ukraine's forces had made success near the towns of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka in the south and had also captured three square kilometres near Bakhmut.

"The enemy in the south is suffering significant losses in personnel, weapons and equipment," she said.

0404 GMT — Russia said it had destroyed four Ukrainian military boats carrying troops in the Black Sea

"Naval aviation aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet destroyed 4 'Willard Sea Force' US-made high-speed military boats with landing groups of the Armed Forces of Ukraine," Russia's defence ministry said on Telegram.

The ministry said the boats were "traveling in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean coast", without providing further details.

In a similar attack on August 30, Russia said its forces destroyed four Ukrainian military boats carrying up to 50 soldiers in the Black Sea.

The ministry said earlier it had repelled a separate Ukrainian attack over the Black Sea.

"Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) were destroyed in the air over the Black Sea near the Crimean Peninsula," it wrote on Telegram.

0106 GMT — Russia says Ukraine launched drone attacks on Kursk region

Ukraine launched drone attacks on the Kursk region of Russia overnight, with the Russian defence ministry saying its forces had shot down two drones after midnight on Monday.

The drone attack on the Kursk region, which borders Ukraine to its west, began around 1 a.m. Monday (2200 GMT Sunday), the defence ministry said on the Telegram messaging app.

This followed a report Sunday evening by the governor of the Kursk region, Roman Starovoit, that debris from a downed drone sparked a fire at a non-residential building in the city of Kurchatov.

One of Russia's biggest nuclear plants is about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) from Kurchatov, but there were no reports the plant was affected or targeted.

0017 GMT — Russia targets Ukraine's grain ports — Kiev

Russia has launched an overnight air attack on one of Ukraine's major grain exporting ports, Ukrainian officials said, hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were due to hold talks.

Ukraine's air force urged residents of Izmail port, one of Ukraine's two major grain-exporting ports on the Danube River in the Odessa region, to seek shelter after midnight on Monday. Some Ukraine media reported the sound of blasts in the area.

Putin and Erdogan were to meet on Monday in the Russian Black Sea resort of Sochi as Ankara and the United Nations seek to revive a Ukraine grain export deal that helped ease a global food crisis. Ankara called the talks vital for the deal.

Russia quit the deal in July — a year after it was brokered by Türkiye and the United Nations — complaining that its own food and fertiliser exports faced obstacles and that not enough Ukrainian grain was going to countries in need.

0048 GMT — Russia hails first crew to fire hypersonic missile in Ukraine

The first Russian crew to use hypersonic, air-launched Kinzhal missiles during Moscow's military operation in Ukraine has been presented with state awards, the Russian TASS state news agency has reported.

"The Su-34 aircraft used the Kinzhal hypersonic missile during the special military operation," TASS cited an unnamed military source as saying. "The first crew that successfully completed this task was presented with state awards."

TASS did not say when Russia used the Kinzhal missiles for the first time in Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry said in March that the missiles had been deployed to destroy Ukrainian targets, according to the ministry's Telegram channel.

The Kinzhal is one of six "next generation" weapons unveiled by President Vladimir Putin in a speech in March 2018.

For our live updates from Sunday (September 3), click here.