Ukraine updates: Zelenskyy welcomes support from G7, EU

Ukraine said Russia fired a missile at a civilian ship entering a port in the Black Sea region of Odesa, injuring the ship's crew and killing a harbor pilot.

"The missile hit the structure of a civilian vessel flying the Liberian flag as it was entering the port," the Ukrainian army said on Telegram. "Three crew members, citizens of the Philippines, were injured, one of them was hospitalized. The pilot was killed and another port worker was injured."

Moscow has not commented on the report.

In July, Russia pulled out of the Black Sea grain deal, which had allowed the safe passage of grain exports from Ukrainian ports.

Nearly 33 million metric tons of Ukraine grain were exported under the deal. After it collapsed, Ukraine launched what it called a temporary export corridor to allow agricultural exports to continue. More than 700,000 metric tons of grain have left Ukrainian ports through the new route.

Russian military courts have sentenced two Ukrainian soldiers to 19 and 20 years in prison over the alleged shooting of civilians in Mariupol last year.

Russian investigators accused a member of Ukraine's naval infantry of killing a man in the southeastern Ukrainian city. He was convicted of "murder," trying to "violently seize power," the "use of prohibited means and methods of warfare" and committing a "terrorist act."

The defendant, Anton Cherednik, pleaded guilty to the murder, but rejected other charges against him. He was sentenced to 19 years, the first three in prison, and the rest in a Russian penal colony. His lawyer told Russian media he planned to appeal the sentence.

In a separate trial, a court in Russian-controlled Donetsk sentenced a serviceman to 20 years, accusing him of shooting at a car carrying three civilians who managed to escape.

Shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Russian forces launched an intense assault on the port city of Mariupol, destroying large swathes in weeks of attacks. After the city fell, Russia took thousands of Ukrainian soldiers captive.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has hailed his country's stronger military ties with China, telling a senior Chinese military official that cooperation on military satellites and other prospective defense technologies should be expanded.

Putin met General Zhang Youxia, China's second-ranking military official and vice chairman of the Central Military Commission, in Moscow on Wednesday.

"Our contacts in the military and military-technology spheres are becoming increasingly important," Putin told Zhang.

He emphasized in televised remarks that while "Russia and China aren't building any military alliances based on Cold War patterns," their cooperation is a "serious factor in stabilizing the international situation."

Russia has tried to strengthen its ties to China, especially after invading Ukraine in February 2022.

Slovakia's newly appointed government has rejected previous plans to donate rockets and ammunition to Ukraine, after incoming Prime Minister Robert Fico pledged to halt military aid to Kyiv.

The Cabinet rejected the aid package at a meeting on Wednesday, a government statement said.

The €40.3 million (approximately $43.02 million) aid package was based on a deal put forward by Slovakia's caretaker government before it handed over power last month.

Fico's leftist SMER-SSD party won elections in September, leading it to form a ruling coalition with the center-left and nationalist parties. In his campaign, the populist leader criticized Western military support for Ukraine and sanctions on Russia.

Ukraine's military spy agency has claimed responsibility for the death of a Russia-backed lawmaker in a car bomb attack in the occupied eastern Ukrainian city of Luhansk.

The Ukrainian agency said Mikhail Filiponenko, who had been active in Luhansk's pro-Russian separatist movement since 2014, was killed in a "special operation … carried out jointly with representatives of the resistance movement."

It accused him of organizing dungeons for civilians and prisoners of war in the Luhansk region.

"Filiponenko himself brutally tortured people," the agency said on the Telegram messaging platform, giving no further details.

Filiponenko was elected to the regional parliament in September, in a vote which drew widespread international condemnation. He had served among the top commanders in the army of the so-called Luhansk People's Republic.

"The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine states that all war criminals and collaborators will be justly punished!" the agency said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed the European Commission's recommendation to begin talks on Kyiv's EU accessionas a "strong and historic step."

"Ukrainians deserve this both for their protection of European values, and for the fact that even at times of a full-scale war, we keep our word by developing state institutions," he said on Telegram messenger.

Zelenskyy thanked EU Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen "for supporting Ukraine on our road to the EU."

The European Commission noted shortcomings in Ukraine's fight against corruption and a need to further limit oligarchs' influence. The Commission, the EU's executive branch, said talks should formally launch once Ukraine satisfies the remaining conditions regarding stepping up the fight against corruption.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has welcomed the G7 statement on Ukraine after the group's foreign ministers reiterated unwavering support for Kyiv.

Zelenskyy said he spoke to Japan's Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and that he thanked him for his country's "lead in supporting Ukraine during its G7 presidency."

"I am particularly grateful to Japan for its substantial energy aid, which includes powerful turbines and transformers, as well as the resumption of JICA office activities in Kyiv," Zelenskyy said.

The Ukrainian president added that he also discussed with Kishida expanding cooperation, including on security guarantees. They also discussed further macroeconomic financial support for Ukraine.

The G7 reiterated in a summit in Tokyo that its "steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine's fight for its independence, sovereignty, and territorial integrity will never waver."

Russia has placed another judge from the International Criminal Court (ICC) — which is seeking the arrest of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin — on its wanted list.

A notice in the Interior Ministry's database, referring to Costa Rican judge Sergio Gerardo Ugaldo Godinez, said he was "wanted in the framework of a criminal investigation."

The notice gave no details about the allegations against Godinez.

The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the war crime accusation of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. 

It also announced a warrant, on similar charges, against Maria Lvova-Belova, Moscow's presidential commissioner for children's rights.

Russia is not a member of the ICC, and the Kremlin insists the warrant against Putin is "void," although it has restricted the Russian leader's travels abroad, with ICC member countries expected to implement warrants issued by the court.

Putin avoided attending a BRICS summit of emerging economies in South Africa in August, saying he did not want to create "problems for our friends," and was also absent at the G20 summit in India in September.

Russia has previously issued arrest warrants for ICC prosecutor Karim Khan and several judges, as well as ICC President Piotr Hofmanski.

The ICC opened a field office in Ukraine in September as part of efforts to investigate war crimes in the wake of Russia's invasion of the country.

Local media in the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk report that a Moscow-backed politician there was killed in a car bombing.

"As a result of an explosive device that detonated in Mikhail Filiponenko's car, the People's Council deputy received injuries incompatible with life," his son told the Luhansk Information Centre, a news agency run by Russian-installed officials in the region.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says efforts by the United Nations to revive the Black Sea grain initiative have so far proved fruitless.

Russia withdrew from the deal, which had allowed Ukraine to safely export grain from its Black Sea ports, in July. 

Moscow's forces have frequently attacked Ukrainian ports and storage facilities since then, with Kyiv saying the assaults have destroyed hundreds of thousands of tons of grain.

Russia ended the deal, complaining that it still faces barriers to its exports of grain and fertilizer.

The secretary of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, has said the "destructive" policies of the United States and its allies have increased the risk that nuclear, chemical, or biological weapons will be used.

"The natural consequence of the United States' destructive policies is the deterioration in global security," state news agency TASS quoted Patrushev, who is a close ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, as saying.

"The risk that nuclear, chemical and biological weapons will be used is increasing," Patrushev said. "The international arms control regime has been undermined."

Meanwhile, Patrushev claimed that Ukraine had attempted to target three of Russia's nuclear power stations.

rc/sms (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)