Ukraine updates: Kuleba heads to Africa to drum up support

Mali said Sunday it was cutting diplomatic relations with Ukraine "with immediate effect."

The move came after comments by a spokesperson for Ukraine's military intelligence agency (GUR) about fighting in the northern region of Mali that killed Malian soldiers and Wagner fighters in late July.

Mali's government had been shocked to learn of remarks by Andriy Yusov, the GUR spokesman, according to government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maiga.

Yusov had "admitted Ukraine's involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups" that had led to the deaths of Malian soldiers, Maiga's statement added.

Three days of intense fighting erupted near the Algerian border on July 25 at a military camp at Tinzaouaten.

Tuareg-led separatists said they had killed 84 fighters from Wagner and 47 Malian soldiers.

Mali's army has admitted it suffered a "large number" of deaths during the fighting but has not released figures.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said US-made F-16 fighter jets have arrived in the country.

He said Ukraine's air force pilots have started flying the warplanes for operations within Ukraine.

"F-16s are in Ukraine. We did it. I am proud of our guys who are mastering these jets and have already started using them for our country," Zelenskyy said.

Speaking to reporters at an undisclosed location while F-16 jets flew overhead, the Ukrainian leader didn't say how many jets had been delivered and declined to comment on their specific tasks.

He called for Kyiv's allies to expand training programs for both Ukrainian pilots and engineering teams.

Ukraine has lobbied hard for the F-16s since the first year of Russia's full-scale invasion because of their destructive power and availability.

Until now, Kyiv's forces have relied on an aging fleet of Soviet-era MiG-29 and Sukhoi warplanes that are outnumbered by Russia's fleet. Several European countries that were once tied to the Soviet Union sent more of these planes, which Ukrainian pilots can already fly and engineers can service, to Kyiv. But as the war grinds on replacement parts in particular have become an issue, given that new ones are produced in Russia.

"Anyone who lets Russians into the EU without checking is massively endangering Europe's security," conservative politician Manfred Weber said.

He was responding to Hungary's announcement last month that it would loosen entry rules for Russian and Belarusian citizens to work in the country, along with nationals of six other countries.

The move would allow Russians and Belarusians who move to Hungary to avail of the European Union's borderless Schengen scheme to enter other EU states for up to 90 days for tourism, without a visa.

"Putin's spies and murderers have already caused a lot of damage in the EU and Germany," Weber told Bild am Sonntag newspaper. He called for "consequences" for the Budapest government.

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said EU states must increase their curbs on visas for Russian nationals and not create "potential gateways" for them to enter the bloc via Hungary.

"The danger of Russian espionage and sabotage is high and has increased since the start of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, which violates international law," she told the paper.

Other German politicians have called for the EU to impose checks on the Hungarian borders with the rest of the bloc. Hungary shares a border with Austria but not Germany.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba was due to fly to Africa on Sunday to try to win support for Kyiv in its war with Russia.

Kuleba will visit three African countries — Malawi, Zambia and Mauritius — during the four-day trip, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said, his fourth diplomatic tour to the region over the past two years,

"All meetings will focus on the development of bilateral relations based on mutual respect and interests. Among the key topics will be the participation of African states in global efforts to restore a just peace for Ukraine and the world," the ministry said.

Most African countries have been reticent to isolate Russia as much as Kyiv and the West would like.

Since it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Moscow has grown its influence with several African countries, many of whom rely on Russia for energy and commodities.

However, several African countries did take part in a conference on Ukraine hosted by Switzerland in June.

Kuleba was also due to discuss the supply of Ukrainian grain to the region and how African companies can participate in the reconstruction of his country.

In the early stages of the Ukraine war, Russia seized Ukrainian ports, cutting the country's grain exports. 

A UN-brokered deal to resume the exports lasted a year until July 2023, before the Kremlin withdrew.

Former US President Donald Trump lauded Russian President Vladimir Putin on a major prisoner exchange between Russia, Belarus and the West. 

Thursday's swap deal saw Russia and Belarus release 16 people, jailed for their activities as journalists and activists, among others, while 10 people imprisoned in various Western countries were handed over to Moscow.

"I'd like to congratulate Vladimir Putin for having made yet another great deal," the Republican presidential candidate said at a campaign event in Atlanta, in the US state of Georgia. In turn, he implied it had been a bad deal from a US perspective. 

Two high-profile US citizens — Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and former US marine Paul Whelan — returned home from Russia under the deal, while Russian Vadim Krasikov, jailed for life in Germany for the 2021 shooting in Berlin of Georgian national of Chechen descent, was also freed.

"They released some of the greatest killers anywhere in the world," Trump said. "Some of the most evil killers they got. And we got our people back, but boy, we made some horrible, horrible deals. And it's nice to say we got them back, but does that set a bad precedent?"

Again, implying without evidence that money had exchanged hands as part of the deal, Trump pointed to his own record of bringing home US citizens held abroad, stressing: "I never paid anything."

Russian forces captured the village of Novoselivka Persha in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine on Sunday, the Defense Ministry in Moscow said.

After seizing the town of Avdiivka in February, Russia claimed to have taken a string of villages in Donetsk in recent weeks -- many consisting of just a few streets.

The latest apparent Russian victory prompted Kyiv to order the mandatory evacuation of children and their guardians from several areas in the Donetsk region.

The Donetsk governor said 744 children and their families had to be relocated to four regions of Ukraine.

"I have instructed that only armored vehicles be involved in the process of evacuating children, as the enemy is actively using first-person view drones in these communities," Governor Vadym Filashkin said.

Russia claimed to have annexed the Donetsk region — along with three others in eastern and southern Ukraine — in 2022, despite not fully controlling it.