live blog
Status: 08/31/2022 01:20 a.m
Ukrainian President Zelenskyy has asked residents of the annexed Crimea peninsula to provide information about the Russian occupiers. Moscow is easing airspace restrictions in southern Russia. All developments in the live blog.
1:20 a.m
First grain freighter from Ukraine arrives in Djibouti
A first freighter with grain from Ukraine on behalf of the United Nations has reached the East African country of Djibouti. WFP Executive Director David Beasley wrote on Twitter that it was the first ship from the UN World Food Program with this destination since the start of the Russian war of aggression in February, adding: “Now let’s offload this wheat and then on to Ethiopia.” The cargo is destined for Ethiopia, where more than 20 million people are suffering from hunger, according to the WFP. The ship has loaded 23,000 tons of wheat.
At the end of July, the UN and Turkey mediated agreements that Ukraine could again export grain via its Black Sea ports, despite the Russian war of aggression. The United Nations fears food shortages and hunger in poor parts of the world if Ukraine fails as a major grain supplier.
12:50 a.m
Zelenskyj asks Crimean residents for information
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged residents of the annexed Crimea peninsula to stay away from Russian military installations. “Don’t stay near Russian bases and air bases,” he said in his video address in the evening. However, he asked that the Ukrainian secret service be provided with all possible information about the occupying forces. “In this way, the liberation of Crimea can proceed more quickly,” Zelenskyj said.
Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. In recent weeks, explosions have rocked a military airfield and other Russian facilities in Crimea. Ukraine is also apparently using drones to test Russian air defenses on the peninsula. However, no more incidents have been reported from the past few nights. Zelenskyi has promised his people a reconquest of Crimea, which Russia in turn regards as its very own territory.
12:45 a.m
Russian airlines are allowed to take shortcuts through closed airspace
Russian airlines are allowed to use limited airspace over southern Russia, which has been closed since the beginning of the war. The state airline announced in Moscow that flights to Sochi on the Black Sea, like Turkey, would be 20 to 30 minutes shorter.
When Russia attacked Ukraine on February 24, it closed most of its airspace to the neighboring country for civilian flights. Ten airports in the region such as Rostov-on-Don or Krasnodar and Simferopol on the annexed Crimean Peninsula have been closed. Only the Sochi hub remained open, to which the planes had to fly a long detour. For the shortcut flights, a ten-kilometer-wide corridor will be set up through the otherwise closed airspace, the agency Tass reported. In each direction, up to 15 civilian airplanes are allowed to pass by per hour.
12:33 a.m
Possible Zelenskyj trip to the UN general debate
Diplomats are preparing for a possible visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in mid-September to the general debate at the UN General Assembly in New York – it would be his first known trip abroad since the beginning of the war. “We are prepared for the visit of any representative, including the president,” spokesman for the Ukrainian mission to the United Nations, Anatoly Slenko, told the dpa news agency. Zelenskyj is listed as a speaker on the previous list of the largest UN event in mid-September – but Slenko emphasized that this could change. It is “still unclear” whether the trip will actually take place.