Ukraine updates: Kyiv urges fast Taurus missiles delivery

The White House on Monday said North Korean leader Kim Jong Un expects to hold a "leader-level diplomatic engagement" with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said Washington has previously warned that arms talks between Russia and North Korea are "actively advancing."

In July, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said that North Korea's partnership is an "important one for Moscow" during a meeting with his counterpart in Pyongyang. 

The New York Times, citing US and allied sources, reported that Kim would travel from Pyongyang, probably by armored train, to Vladivostok, on the Pacific Coast of Russia.

A new photo purporting to show Russian General Sergei Surovikin, who has not been seen in public for months, has been published on social media.

"General Sergei Surovikin is out. Alive, healthy, at home, with his family, in Moscow. Photo taken today," Russian media personality Ksenia Sobchak wrote after posting the picture.

The image's authenticity could not be independently verified. It shows a man in sunglasses and a cap walking with a woman resembling Surovikin's wife, Anna.

Surovikin, a former top commander in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the Wagner mercenary group staged a mutiny in June, fueling rumors about his fate.

He reportedly had links to Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who died in a private jet crash last month.

Following the Wagner rebellion, Russian media reported that Surovikin was being investigated for possible complicity. State news agency RIA last month said the general had been dismissed from his post as commender of Russia's air force.

Surovikin was briefly in charge of Moscow's military offensive in Ukraine before General Valery Gerasimov took over the role in January. 

Russia has scrapped its Zapad military drills this year because of the war in Ukraine, according to Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu. 

"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 (West) drills with its ally Belarus in September 2021.

It said then that 200,000 troops were taking part.

Britain's Ministry of Defence said in an intelligence update last week that it believed Russia would not hold the exercises this year because it did not have enough troops and equipment available while fighting a war in Ukraine.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has expressed optimism that a solution can be found to revive the UN brokered Ukraine grain deal.

"We believe that the initiative should be continued by eliminating its shortcomings. In this context, we prepared a package containing new suggestions in consultation with the United Nations," he said alongside Putin after a meeting in Sochi.

"The alternative proposals brought to the agenda could not offer a sustainable, secure and permanent model based on cooperation between the parties like the Black Sea Initiative," Erdogan said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow was ready to revive the deal "as soon" as restrictions on its own exports were lifted.

"We will be ready to consider the possibility of reviving the grain deal... and we will do it as soon as all the agreements on lifting restrictions on Russian agricultural exports are fully implemented," Putin said alongside Erdogan.

Turkey has been looking to convince Russia to return to the agreement after Moscow withdrew in July, ending a year of protected exports from Ukrainian ports amid the war.

Russian President Vladimir Putin claims Ukraine's counter-offensive has been a "failure."

"As for the stalling counteroffensive, it is not that it is stalling. It is a failure," Putin said at a press conference 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."

The comments come after Ukraine reported to have made gains against Russian forces in the east and south of the country.

Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said Russian forces were suffering "significant losses."

Ukrainian forces have faced challenges against Russia's fortified defenses since launching a counteroffensive in June.

Oleksii Reznikov, Defense Minister of Ukraine, has formally submitted his letter of resignation to the chair of the country’s parliament. 

The move comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on Sunday that he had decided on replacing him. 

Writing on Facebook on Monday, Reznikov said: "It was an honor to serve the Ukrainian people and work for the #UAarmy for the last 22 months, the toughest period of Ukraine’s modern history."  

Reznikov was a key figure in negotiations with major Western weapons providers.

In his letter of resignation, Reznikov noted that deliveries of Stinger anti-aircraft missiles were denied when he took office but now the country was receiving fighter aircraft, modern tanks, anti-aircraft systems, long-range missiles amongst other military aid. 

Ukraine reported making gains against Russian forces in the east and south of the country.

"The enemy is on the defensive in the Zaporizhzhia and Kherson sectors," Ukrainian Deputy Defense Minister Ganna Malyar said.

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

Malyar highlighted Russian losses near the towns of Novodanylivka and Novoprokopivka, and said that Ukrainian forces had also captured three square kilometers of territory near Bakhmut.

Despite Ukraine's counter-offensive since June, bolstered by Western weapons, they've faced challenges against Russia's fortified defenses. 

A Russian drone attack on one of Ukraine's major grain exporting ports damaged warehouses and set buildings on fire hours before Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, were due to hold talks.

Ukraine's South Military Command said at least two civilians were injured in the early morning attack on what it called "civil infrastructure of the Danube."

"Seventeen drones were shot down by our air defense forces," regional governor Oleg Kiper wrote on the messaging app, Telegram,

The Danube river port of Izmail has become a main export route for Ukrainian products via Romania since Russia withdrew from a Turkish and UN-brokered Black Sea grain deal in July.

Putin and Erdogan will meet in Sochi on the Black Sea to discuss restoring the grain deal.

Russia said on Monday it had destroyed four Ukrainian military vessels carrying troops through the Black Sea.

Russia's Defense Ministry said the four US-made high-speed boats were "Willard Sea Force."

They carried landing groups of the armed forces of Ukraine, traveling in the direction of Cape Tarkhankut on the Crimean coast, the ministry added on the Telegram messaging platform.

The boats were destroyed in the northwestern part of the Black Sea, the ministry said.

Tensions have heightened in the Black Sea since Russia pulled out in July of a UN-brokered deal which allowed Ukraine to export grains via the sea amid the war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has announced a "very important agreement" which involves training Ukrainian pilots in France, a deal which was reached in conversation with French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday.

Speaking during his nightly video address, Zelenskyy did not give further details regarding the training, such as which jets would be used.

France does not have the F-16 fighter jets, which neighboring Denmark and the Netherlands have recently promised to provide. It does possess the French-made Rafale warplanes, as well as the previous-generation mirage 2000 jets.

"Our coalition of modern fighters is becoming stronger," Zelenskyy said.

The two presidents also discussed potential French support to the Ukrainian city and region of Odesa, which is critical to the export of grains, Zelenskyy said.

Ukraine has urged Berlin to supply it with Taurus missiles, with several Ukrainian officials stressing the importance of the weapons in the fight against Russia.

Presidential adviser Mychailo Podolyak told Germany's Bild newspaper that Berlin needed to make "decisions faster and more decisively." He stressed there is "no other way to destroy Russian logistics and rearguard, so Taurus is needed." 

Podolyak reassured that Kyiv's goal was not "to attack Russian territory," but "to destroy the resources of the occupiers."

Meanwhile, German Free Democratic Party (FDP) politician Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann has blamed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for the delay. Writing on X, the social media platform previously known as Twitter, she said Scholz "alone is blocking this decision within the coalition." 

"This is irresponsible," she wrote. 

Both Kyiv and Germany's Greens and FDP have been calling for the delivery of the cruise missiles, which have a long range and destructive power.

The chancellor's Social Democratic Party (SPD) is wary that the delivery of a weapon system with a range of over 500 kilometers (310 miles) might escalate the conflict, if the missiles are used to strike Russian territories.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of attacking a major exporting port overnight, ahead of scheduled talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan in the Russian resort town of Sochi on Monday.

Ukrainian officials said Russia attacked Izmail port, one of two major grain-exporting ports on the Danube River in the Odesa region. The Ukrainian air force called on the residents in the area to seek shelter.

Putin is hosting Erdogan, as the United Nations strives to revive a grain deal which Moscow withdrew from last July. The UN-facilitated deal, which was brokered with Turkey's help, allowed Kyiv to export grains via the Black Sea amid the war.

Russian air defense systems shot down two drones over the southern Kursk region, the Defense Ministry said early on Monday, adding that the drones were launched by Kyiv.

The ministry said in a statement on the messaging platform Telegram that the drones were destroyed over the Black Sea, near the Crimean peninsula.

The Kursk region borders Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has dismissed Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov.

"Oleksiy Reznikov has been through more than 550 days of full-scale war," Ukraine's president said in his nightly address.

"I believe that the ministry needs new approaches and other formats of interaction with both the military and society at large."

Zelenskyy nominated Rustern Umerov as Reznikov's replacement.

"Now Rustem Umerov should be the head of the (defense) ministry," Zelenskyy said. "I expect parliament to support this candidate."

Umerov, a Crimean Tatar, is currently the head of the Ukrainian government's privatization body, the State Property Fund. He also participated in negotiations on the Black Sea grain deal.

Reznikov was accused of corruption in January, leading to the resignation of his deputy, Vyacheslav Shapovalov.

rmt/sri (AFP, Reuters, AP, dpa)