Updated September 10, 2023 at 2:53 p.m. EDT|Published September 10, 2023 at 3:26 a.m. EDT
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba greets his Japanese counterpart, Yoshimasa Hayashi, during a joint news conference Saturday in Kyiv. (Sergey Dolzhenko/Pool/Reuters)
correction
An earlier version of this report misstated the circumstances of Elon Musk’s involvement in a planned Ukrainian strike. According to a now-corrected biography excerpt about the tech chief executive, Musk declined to extend Starlink satellite internet access to Russian-controlled Crimea as requested by Ukrainian officials; he says he did not cut off existing access. This article has been corrected.
World leaders at the Group of 20 summit in New Delhi adopted a declaration that called on all member states to refrain from the use of force for territorial gain, but avoided directly criticizing Russia for its invasion of Ukraine. In language agreed upon by all members — including Russia and China — the group pledged to “refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state.”
Romania’s Foreign Ministry summoned the chargé d’affaires of Russia’s embassy in Bucharest for a meeting after officials found drone fragments similar to those used by Russian forces near Romania’s border with Ukraine.
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
The G-20 declaration noted that the Black Sea Grain Initiative was crucial for delivering grain to developing nations, especially those in Africa. The declaration called for the “full, timely and effective implementation” of the deal — which seeks safe passage for fertilizer and grain from three Ukrainian ports — though Moscow pulled out of the deal in July.
There is “no way” Russian President Vladimir Putin will be arrested if he attends the G-20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next year, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said. Lula said in a Saturday interview with the Firstpost news outlet that he expects Putin to attend next year’s summit despite the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant issued against the Russian leader for allegations of war crimes. Brazil is a signatory to the Rome statute that created the ICC, which relies on member nations to enforce warrants.
The G-20 is “not an appropriate forum” for discussing the war, Lula told Firstpost. “We do not want to participate in the war efforts. Brazil wants to participate in the peace effort,” Lula said. He has condemned Russia’s invasion but has refused to proe weapons to Ukraine and has argued that the robust military aid proed by Western countries has prolonged the conflict.
Romanian Foreign Ministry state secretary Iulian Fota protested the violation of his country’s airspace in his meeting with Russia’s chargé d’affaires, according to a statement shared with The Washington Post on Sunday. President Klaus Iohannis previously said in a statement that the incursion signified “an absolutely unacceptable violation of the sovereign airspace of Romania, a NATO ally.”
Two international volunteer aid workers were killed in Ukraine’s Donetsk region after Russian forces opened fire on their vehicle. Road to Relief, which helps evacuate civilians from the front line, said in an Instagram post that Canadian national Anthony “Tonko” Ihnat was killed in the attack, while Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez confirmed on Twitter the death of Spanish national Emma Igual, 32. The aid organization said “the vehicle flipped over and lit on fire” after it was hit directly near the city of Chasiv Yar, and that the attack severely injured two other volunteers.
In his nightly address on Sunday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky expressed his condolences for the deaths of the two aid workers who were killed in what he described as a Russian antitank missile attack. Zelensky added that the two other wounded volunteers — German citizen Ruben Mawick and Swedish citizen Johan Mathias — were taken to Dnipro for medical care.
Groups of Russian drones swarmed Kyiv from multiple directions overnight, injuring four people, regional governor Ruslan Kravchenko said Sunday on Telegram. Ukraine’s air force said it destroyed 26 of the 33 Iranian-made Shahed drones used in the attack. The Post could not immediately verify the report.
Russia said it destroyed eight drones over Crimea. The Russian Defense Ministry said air defenses stopped the apparent attack in the early hours on Sunday. Russia illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine in 2014.
Zelensky adviser Mykhailo Podolyak criticized SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk for not extending Starlink satellite internet services to aid an attack in Crimea last year. Ukrainian drones were targeting a Russian fleet there and had requested that the company allow internet access to complete the strike, according to a biography of the billionaire. On X, formerly known as Twitter, Musk defended his refusal to do so, saying he did not want SpaceX to be “explicitly complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.”
Ukraine has little more than a month before weather hinders its counteroffensive strategy, U.S. Gen. Mark A. Milley told the BBC on Sunday. Speaking to the BBC’s Laura Kuenssberg, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff said colder conditions would make it much harder for Ukraine to carry out its offensive, which he said had gone more slowly than expected.
Russia is enlisting local volunteers to defend an airfield in the northwestern Pskov region, Britain’s Defense Ministry said. Volunteers will patrol in groups of 50, acting as a deterrent against operators piloting drones in the immediate vicinity, the ministry said Sunday. Last month, a swarm of drones targeted the Russian site, reportedly destroying two cargo planes. “The use of volunteers highly likely indicates a shortage of trained security personnel within Russia,” the update said.
Zelensky said Japan and Ukraine agreed to begin drafting a bilateral agreement on security guarantees. “I am confident that our partnership — between Ukraine and Japan — will become a global example,” he said in his nightly address. Over the weekend, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi met with Zelensky and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Sunday that the Russian invasion of Ukraine could “shake” the very foundation of economic cooperation at the G-20. He added that it has already caused an “enormous” impact on the world economy through factors such as the protracted increase in food and energy prices.
In time of war, Russia turns up aggression on transgender citizens: As Putin wages war on Ukraine, he has taken aim at another group within his own country: transgender people.
Putin has framed the invasion of Ukraine as a war against “Satanists,” liberal Western values, and “parent number one and parent number two,” Robyn Dixon reports. And in July, he signed an astonishingly repressive law dissolving transgender people’s marriages, barring them from adopting children and preventing them from changing their gender in state documents.
His venom is echoed by many, from state television propagandists to politicians. And as the war has ground on, Russia has witnessed increasingly harsh measures against these groups.
