The official, who was not authorized to speak publicly, said on Wednesday that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed expanding the deal with Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov at the Group of 20 summit in Bali, Indonesia this week and he considered the meeting “very positive.” The deal, which created a Black Sea shipping lane and an inspection process, was approved on July 22 through separate agreements with Russia and Ukraine. It is set to expire on Saturday. Guterres said the deal was critical to addressing a global food crisis following Russia’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine and warned of shortages and soaring prices if it is not extended. Russia’s UN ambassadors protested last month that more needed to be done to facilitate grain and fertilizer exports. Under separate agreements brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, the deal will be extended for another 120 days unless Moscow or Kyiv object. — By Edith M. Lederer
KEY DEVELOPMENTS: — Poland, NATO say missile attack was not Russian attack — NATO sees no threat from Russia amid investigation into Poland blast — Biden: ‘Unbelievable’ missile that hit Poland was fired from Russia — Biden is asking for more than $37 billion in emergency aid to Ukraine — “War not an excuse:” Ukraine’s railways boss keeps trains running — Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine: https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine
OTHER DEVELOPMENTS: KYIV, Ukraine — The governor of a province in western Ukraine says it will take up to a year to fully restore the power grid after Russia’s massive missile barrage on Tuesday. Lviv Province Governor Maksym Kozytskyy said on Wednesday that although power is back-up for about 95% of the province, only 30% of consumers can use electricity at the same time due to capacity limits. Kozytskyy said the province was better prepared for the latest Russian attack on the network. Engineers were able to work with the help of diesel generators and substations in the area were equipped with additional protective shields. Also, a large number of cars with loudspeakers were quickly deployed to inform locals of what was happening, he said.
GENEVA — The international Red Cross says it has deployed a team including medical personnel, water engineers and experts in demining and munitions handling to Kherson after Russian troops withdrew from the southern Ukrainian city. The International Committee of the Red Cross says it has delivered to two hospitals in Kherson sufficient medical supplies to treat 500 injured patients and 2,000 people in need of primary health care. The ICRC said on Wednesday that hygiene kits, a truckload of water and food parcels were also part of the aid delivered a day earlier. The Geneva-based aid group said the city’s residents face many needs, including improved telecommunications connectivity, access to electricity and heating and drinking water. When Ukraine recaptured Kherson last week, the city had almost no electricity, no water, and almost no cell phone coverage. Food and medicine were also in short supply. The departing Russians destroyed key infrastructure and left booby traps around the city.
LONDON — Britain says it will not rush to judge why a missile landed in rural Poland, near the border with Ukraine. Foreign Secretary James Cleverley said on Wednesday that the British government was waiting for events to unfold. He noted that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Tuesday’s incident was likely caused by a Ukrainian air defense missile fired against Russian airstrikes in Ukraine. He smartly told lawmakers that “Russia bears the ultimate responsibility” for the two deaths in the incident because “the only reason missiles are flying in European skies and exploding in European villages is because of Russia’s barbaric invasion of Ukraine.”
PRAGUE — The Czech Republic has agreed to train up to 4,000 Ukrainian soldiers on Czech soil. The defense ministry said on Wednesday that the training would involve five shifts with up to 800 soldiers in each. The first rotation is planned for this year, the rest for 2023. The defense ministry said the program is based on a bilateral agreement between the Czech Republic and Ukraine, but will later be integrated into a European Union military training mission the bloc approved last month. Several EU and NATO states are already training Ukraine’s armed forces on a bilateral basis.
BUDAPEST, Hungary — Hungary’s top diplomat says oil flow in a pipeline carrying Russian oil through Ukraine to central European countries has resumed after repairs. Hungarian Foreign Minister Petar Szijjártó said heavy Russian strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure on Tuesday had halted supplies to several Central European countries. Szijjarto said on Wednesday that repairs to the Druzhba, or “Friendship” pipeline, had allowed oil to start flowing again, albeit at low pressure. The pipeline is one of the largest in the world. It transports Russian oil to Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and other countries. Russia’s war in Ukraine has disrupted energy supplies to other countries in the region. Moldova also reported massive power outages on Tuesday after Russian strikes knocked out a key power line in the small nation.
PRZEWODOW, Poland — A resident of the Polish border village where a rocket landed says the two victims of the blast were men in their 60s. Kinga Kancir, from the village of Przewodow in eastern Poland, near Ukraine, said on Wednesday both men worked at the village’s grain drying facility. “One was a guard, guarding everything there, the other was the tractor driver” that carried all the grain, Kancir, 24, told The Associated Press. The men were killed by a rocket that fell on Tuesday in the village. NATO officials say the explosion appears to have been an accident, not an attack on Poland by Russia. “One of the victims was our neighbor who lived across the street from our apartment building,” Kancir said. “The other lived in the next village.” He said there was “fear, anxiety” in the village about what the future might hold.
WASHINGTON — US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin says the United States plans to continue the flow of arms and aid to Ukraine through the winter. Austin said at the Pentagon on Wednesday that the aid would help Kyiv maintain pressure on Russia after the Kremlin withdrew its forces from the southern city of Kherson, in a major battlefield setback for Moscow. “We will maintain our momentum throughout the winter so Ukraine can continue to consolidate gains and take the initiative on the battlefield,” Austin said. He was speaking ahead of the seventh meeting of the Ukraine Contact Group, where NATO and partner nations meet to coordinate security assistance for Kyiv. That meeting was also to discuss training for Ukrainian troops, Austin said. The US has so far provided $18.6 billion in weapons and equipment to Ukraine.
BERLIN — The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog says there will be more consultations this week and next on his calls for Ukraine and Russia to agree to a safety zone around Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant controlled by Russia. Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, has been calling for an agreement on such a zone for two months. Repeated bombing around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has helped disconnect it from the grid on several occasions and fueled fears of a potential disaster. Grossi said on Wednesday that the main issues under discussion are military equipment and the radius of the belt. He said in Vienna that the IAEA’s proposal was “very feasible”. Grossi added that “what we are proposing is very simple: don’t shoot at the factory, don’t shoot from the factory” and that there are “not many” points that are still in dispute. He said a deal would reflect a “very serious political commitment on both sides to stop doing something that’s still happening and I’m not paying anything.”
KYIV, Ukraine — Police in Kyiv say a 69-year-old woman was killed by rocket fragments while visiting her husband’s grave. The head of the Kyiv regional police force, Andriy Nebitov, said on Wednesday that the woman was fatally wounded while at the cemetery. Writing on Telegram, Nebytov attributed her death on Tuesday to Russian bombing. He said the woman was from a village about 40 kilometers (25 miles) southeast of Kiev.
BRUSSELS — NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg says a missile explosion in Poland that killed two people near the border with Ukraine was probably not an attack by Russia. He said Wednesday that it was likely a Ukrainian air defense missile that went astray. “The investigation into this incident is ongoing and we must await its outcome. But we have no indication that this was the result of a deliberate attack,” Stoltenberg told reporters after emergency talks between NATO envoys. Stoltenberg said NATO has “no indication that Russia is preparing action” against any member of the 30-nation military alliance. However, he said the incident happened because of Russia’s war against Ukraine. “It’s not Ukraine’s fault, Russia bears the ultimate responsibility,” he said.
BERLIN — Germany’s defense ministry says it will offer Poland support in patrolling its airspace. “The patrols will come from German air bases — we’ve already done it earlier this year until July, it’s tried and tested,” spokesman Christian Thiels said Wednesday. He added that the German defense minister would speak with her Polish counterpart later in the day about the offer.
