By This has been CNBC’s live blog covering updates on the war in Ukraine. [Follow the latest updates here.]
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the results of the NATO summit in Vilnius this week, thanking the governments supporting his country after the summit got off to a more tense start when Zelenskyy initially called NATO’s lack of a timeline for Ukraine’s membership “absurd.”
Kyiv endured a third consecutive night of airstrikes from Russia, with the city’s military administration reporting “massive” overnight strikes by Iranian-made Shahed drones in which at least one person was killed.
The Kremlin reacted with hostility to the outcome of the NATO summit, calling the Group of Seven countries’ pledge of security guarantees for Ukraine a “very dangerous mistake” and saying it will respond with “all means and methods at our disposal.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin said during a television address that the new international commitments to supply Ukraine with additional arms and security assistance packages following the NATO summit will only escalate the ongoing conflict.
Putin said that in particular, Russian forces will make tanks given to Ukraine for use on the battlefield “a priority target,” according to a Reuters report. Putin’s comments follow a NATO leaders summit in Lithuania’s capital.
The Russian leader reiterated the Kremlin’s position that Kyiv’s ascension to the NATO alliance, which has been ongoing since 2002, will also pose a risk to Russia’s security.
— Amanda Macias
Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow could withdraw from the Black Sea grain deal saying the agricultural agreement has only benefitted Ukraine so far.
Moscow maintains that the current agreement does not support Russian fertilizer exports while Ukrainian agricultural products travel through the humanitarian sea corridor freely.
Putin, speaking on state television, also said that he had not received a letter from U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on possible ways to salvage and renew the deal, according to a Reuters report.
— Amanda Macias
President Joe Biden said that he doesn’t believe that Russian President Vladimir Putin can continue his war in Ukraine “for years.”
“I don’t think the war can go on for years for two reasons. Number one, I don’t think that Russia could maintain the war forever, number one in terms of their resources and capacity,” Biden said during a press conference in Finland’s capital.
“Number two, I think that there is going to be a circumstance where eventually president Putin is gonna decide it’s not in the interest of Russia, economically, politically or otherwise, to continue this war, but I can’t predict exactly how that happens,” Biden added.
In the more than 500 days following the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the United States and its allies have issued several rounds of punishing economic measures that have vaulted Russia past North Korea and Iran as the world’s most sanctioned country.
“My hope is, and my expectation is, you’ll see that Ukraine makes significant progress on their offensive and that it generates a negotiated settlement,” Biden said, without providing additional details.
— Amanda Macias
President Joe Biden said his administration was continuing to seek the release of detained U.S. citizens during a press conference in Finland’s capital.
“I’m serious about a prisoner exchange, I’m serious about doing all we can to free Americans being illegally held in Russia or anywhere else for that matter,” Biden said when asked specifically about Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich.
“And that process is underway,” he added.
Gershkovich has been detained in a prison in Moscow for more than 100 days on espionage charges. The Biden administration and The Wall Street Journal deny allegations the Gershkovich was working on behalf of the U.S. government as a spy in Russia.
— Amanda Macias
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he has not yet received a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin on a plan to renew the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
“I’ve sent a letter to president Putin with some concrete proposals that I hope can allow us to find a positive way forward. But in this kind of matter, the less things are discussed in public, the best the chance to have a positive result,” Guterres told reporters during a press conference in Brussels.
Guterres said that the United Nations is “totally committed” to global food security.
The agricultural agreement, which was brokered last July, is set to expire in four days.
— Amanda Macias
On the heels of the NATO leaders summit in Lithuania, a new paper from Washington-based think tank Defense Priorities argues that the United States and NATO allies should continue to arm Ukraine but stop short of guaranteeing Kyiv’s security.
“What the United States can credibly offer Ukraine is armed neutrality, where the United States, ideally with European allies taking the lead, provides Ukraine with arms and training without security guarantees,” writes Defense Priorities policy director Benjamin Friedman.
“U.S. security guarantees will likely damage Ukraine’s security overall by antagonizing Russia, preserving a cause of the war and encouraging Ukraine to take risks in expectation of help that will not come,” he adds.
Friedman outlines several various proposals for how the United States and its allies can support Ukraine:
Read the full paper here and additional commentary on Politico.
— Amanda Macias
Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov on Thursday outlined some of the international security packages promised for Kyiv’s fight against Russia following a NATO leaders summit in Lithuania’s capital.
Reznikov said Ukraine is slated to receive more than €1.5 billion ($1.68 billion) in military aid from allies and partners.
— Amanda Macias
One ship left Ukraine’s port of Odesa under the U.N.-backed Black Sea Grain Initiative, according to the organization tracking export data for the agricultural agreement.
The ship, the first to leave Ukraine in the past five days, is destined for Iraq and is carrying 38,065 metric tons of corn.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative was brokered last July to ease Russia’s naval blockade and reopen three key Ukrainian ports. The agreement that has ushered in the establishment of a humanitarian sea corridor for agricultural products is set to expire on Monday.
— Amanda Macias
China’s top diplomat Wang Yi stressed the need for more coordination and communication between his country and Russia, further expressing confidence in the bilateral friendship while speaking with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Jakarta, Indonesia.
Wang Yi said that China aimed to work with Russia in supporting the Association for Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), being “vigilant against external forces,” and helping East Asian cooperation move in the “correct direction,” according to Reuters quoting the Chinese foreign ministry.
— Natasha Turak
A Russian general is believed to be heard saying in a voice recording to a Russian lawmaker that he was dismissed from his post for telling the truth to top military brass about the situation on the ground in Ukraine. Two Russian lawmakers have attributed the voice recording to Gen. Ivan Popov, who served as commander for the 58th Combined Arms Army.
“In your name and in the name of all of our fallen brothers in arms, I had no right to lie, therefore, I’ve outlined all the troubling issues that exist today in the army in terms of combat work and support,” Popov is heard saying in the voice note, according to an NBC translation.
“I called things by their proper name, focused on the most important thing — the tragedy of the modern war. This is the absence of counter-battery combat, reconnaissance, and the massive injuries of our brothers from enemy artillery,” he said.
The general went on to accuse Russia’s defense ministry of betrayal, saying, “We were hit from the rear by our senior commander, treacherously and villainously beheading the army in the most difficult and tense moment.”
CNBC could not independently verify the details of the recording and has contacted the Russian defense ministry for comment.
— Natasha Turak
Ukrainian women took part in the testing of samples of the new women’s field uniform of the social initiative ”Arm Women Now”.
It’s the first social initiative in Ukraine that raised the issue of gender support in the army and achieved the adoption at the level of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine of technical documentation for sewing underwear for military women based on own developments.
A press show and a testing of samples of the women’s field military uniform of the “Arm Women Now” social initiative, which is in the final stage of approval by the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and will be introduced for military women, took place near Kyiv. More than 4,500 military women received uniforms for free, organizers said.
— Getty Images
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is trying to extend the crucial Black Sea grain deal, under which Russian forces blockading Ukraine’s Black Sea ports allow vessels to safely export Ukrainian grain to the rest of the world.
The deal is four days away from expiring unless Russian President Vladimir Putin agrees to an extension. Guterres proposed that in exchange for an extension of the deal, a subsidiary of Russia’s agricultural bank could be reconnected to the SWIFT international payments system.
Reuters, citing unnamed sources, reported that the EU is considering the proposal. The European Commission did not immediately respond to a comment request from CNBC.
The EU severed Russia’s agricultural bank Rosselkhozbank from the SWIFT system in June 2022 over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia could potentially ditch the Black Sea grain deal as its demands to restart exports of its own produce and fertilizer have not been met. Wednesday marked the fourth consecutive day that no ships sailed under the deal.
— Natasha Turak
A Russian general who has not been seen publicly since the attempted mutiny by the Wagner Group is “resting” and “not available,” a defense official told local media.
Sergei Surovikin had been serving as commander-in-chief of Russia’s Aerospace Forces and was previously the country’s top commander in Ukraine.
Dubbed by some as “General Armageddon” for his brutal battlefield tactics, he was known to have close ties with Yevgeny Prigozhin, leader of Wagner, a Russian private mercenary force. There are unconfirmed reports that Surovikin knew in advance about the uprising attempt by Prigozhin and his forces against the Russian government.
The Wall Street Journal, citing unnamed sources familiar with the situation, reports that Surovikin, along with several other high-ranking military officers, were detained following the short-lived mutiny. NBC has not been able to independently confirm this.
When Russian media outlet “Shot” asked retired general Andrei Kartapolov, a member of the country’s lower house of parliament, if he had seen Surovikin, he replied, “No. He is resting now. Not available,” before quickly walking away from the camera. The exchange was posted by the outlet to Telegram.
— Natasha Turak
Ukrainian parliament member Oleksiy Goncharenko on Twitter thanked British Defense Minister Ben Wallace, a day after the U.K. politician urged Kyiv to show more gratitude to invite further donations from Western politicians.
“I want to say that we are really grateful to @BWallaceMP for everything he has done for Ukraine. The United Kingdom has always supported us, they are one of our most important allies. They helped us with weapons (a lot of weapons) and provided humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, such words were said yesterday. But Ben Wallace did a lot for our country,” Goncharenko said.
The U.K. has been a steadfast supporter and aid supplier for Kyiv since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine last year.
“Whether we like it or not, people want to see gratitude,” Reuters reported Wallace as saying on July 12, at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania. His comments came against the backdrop of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s criticism that the U.S.-led military alliance had yet to extend Kyiv a membership invitation.
— Ruxandra Iordache
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed what he called a “good result” from this week’s NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, pointing to security guarantees from the G7 countries and news weapons packages.
“For the first time since independence, we have formed a security foundation for Ukraine on its way to NATO,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter. “These are concrete security guarantees that are confirmed by the top 7 democracies in the world. Never before have we had such a security foundation, and this is the level of the G7. On this foundation, we will build a new, legally binding architecture of bilateral security treaties with the most powerful countries.”
The Ukrainian leader’s positive tone was a significant change from Tuesday, when he lashed out at NATO for not providing a timeline for Ukraine to join the alliance, calling it “absurd.” Leaders of NATO member states made clear that Ukraine has a future place in NATO, but that no action could be taken on this front while the country is still at war.
Zelenskyy on Wednesday accepted this, calling it “understandable” and expressing confidence that Ukraine would join the alliance when the war is over.
“Never before have the words “you are equal among equals” for Ukraine from other NATO members sounded truly meaningful,” his post read.
— Natasha Turak
Russia launched airstrikes against the Ukrainian capital Kyiv for the third consecutive night, Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said in Google-translated comments on Telegram. Roughly a dozen Russian targets were destroyed.
“Tonight, a massive attack by Iranian drones took place,” a post by Popko said.
The offensive led to falling debris in five districts. One person was found dead at one of the affected regions, Podilsky, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko said on Thursday on Telegram, according to a Google translation. Popko separately reported a 19-year-old girl and a 23-year-old man were injured.
Russian troops deployed 20 Iranian-made Shahed drones in attacks from the northeastern and southeastern directions of Ukraine, the Ukrainian air force said on Telegram, according to a Google translation.
“All 20 attack drones were destroyed, mainly in the Kyiv region,” it reported.
Moscow resumed attacks against Kyiv at the start of the week, coinciding with the beginning of the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, which focused on aid for Ukraine.
CNBC could not independently verify developments on the ground.
— Ruxandra Iordache
The Kremlin slammed developments from the NATO leader summit held in Lithuania’s capital saying the alliance has returned to “Cold War schemes.”
“Taking into account the identified challenges and threats to the security and interests of Russia, we will respond in a timely and appropriate manner using all means and methods at our disposal,” Russia’s Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement, according to a Google translation.
“In addition to the decisions already taken, we will continue to strengthen the military organization and the country’s defense system,” the statement added.
— Amanda Macias
President Joe Biden reaffirmed U.S. commitment to NATO and Ukraine following a two-day summit of the alliance’s leaders in Lithuania’s capital.
Biden, who faces re-election next year and has committed the lion’s share of security assistance for Ukraine, described support for Kyiv’s democracy as “the calling of our lifetime.”
The U.S. has secured a war chest worth more than $41 billion for Kyiv since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion last year.
“We did what we always do. The United States stepped up, NATO stepped up and our partners in the Indo-Pacific stepped up,” Biden said in an address in Vilnius. “We will not waver,” he said.
Read the full story here.
— Amanda Macias
G7 signs declaration of security guarantees for Ukraine; Kremlin warns West is making a ‘dangerous mistake’
