Ukraine-Russia war latest: Kyiv appoints new foreign minister in biggest shake-up since invasion

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will likely visit the US air base in western Germany today to request increased Western military support, according to German magazine Der Spiegel.

Ukraine’s allies face renewed calls from Mr Zelensky for additional air defences and loosened restrictions on how far into Russia Ukraine can fire American-provided munitions.

“Air defence systems and missiles are needed in Ukraine, not in a warehouse somewhere,” Mr Zelensky said this week. “Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now.”

Top US military leaders, including defence secretary Lloyd Austin, will be in Germany to discuss Ukraine’s wartime needs after Russia conducted one of its deadliest airstrikes in the conflict and Ukraine continued its offensive in Russia’s Kursk region.

The British government will send 650 lightweight multi-role missiles worth £162m to help protect the country from Russian drones and bombing.

The new supply of missiles was announced as British defence minister John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group, an ad-hoc coalition of some 50 nations, at a US air base in Germany.

“This new commitment will give an important boost to Ukraine’s air defences,” Mr Healey said.

The Ministry of Defence said the missiles made by Thales have a range of more than 6km and can be fired from a variety of platforms on land, sea and air.

In what appears to be the first incident of its kind, the Belarus Air Force has shot down two attack drones launched by its ally Russia – suggesting they had flown off course, a monitoring group claimed.

Belaruski Hajun, a monitoring group in Minsk, said multiple Belarusian fighter jets were scrambled to intercept the drones near the city of Gomel around 1.30am local time. Gomel lies within about 30km of the Ukraine-Belarus border.

This is the first reported incident involving Belarusian Air Force plane successfully downing Russian drones meant for Ukraine.

A third Russian attack drone was also downed around 2.30am in Belarusian air space, the group said but shared no additional information.

Russia launched another large-scale drone attack on Ukraine overnight, targeting multiple regions of the country, Ukraine’s Air Force said.

Ukrainian lawmakers voted on Thursday to appoint a new foreign minister and two new deputy prime ministers, as President Volodymyr Zelenskiy carries out his biggest government shakeup since Russia’s Feb. 2022 invasion.

Andrii Sybiha, 49, an experienced diplomat who does not have a prominent public profile, takes the reins of the foreign ministry, replacing Dmytro Kuleba, who has been one of the best known public faces of Ukraine in the West in recent years.

The new foreign ministry leadership is not expected to affect policy significantly; Zelenskiy and his office have taken the leading role in foreign affairs during the war with Russia.

The Ukrainian leader, who travels to the United States this month and hopes to present a “victory plan” to President Joe Biden, has said that Ukraine needs “new energy” and that this autumn will be important for Ukraine in the war.

Dmytro Razumkov, an opposition lawmaker, predicted the new appointments would change little, saying most decisions were made in Zelenskiy’s office, which was conferred considerable new emergency powers under wartime martial law.

Ukraine has achieved a lot in its Kursk offensive into Russia but it’s hard to say how the situation will develop next, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told reporters in Oslo on Thursday.

“Only the Ukrainians can make the difficult choices that are needed, such as where to deploy their forces and what type of warfare is appropriate in this situation,” Stoltenberg said.

Russian forces are advancing in the east of Ukraine while Ukrainian troops have made a bold incursion into Russia’s Kursk region, where it on 6 August launched the biggest foreign attack on Russia since World War Two.

Mr Stoltenberg said Ukraine has the right to self-defence, including with long-range missiles that can reach military targets on Russian territory.

Russia is now claiming that military instructors from different countries are working in Ukraine and taking part in military actions and the training of Ukrainian forces, Russian news agencies reported today.

The claims were made by the Kremlin spokesperson and Vladimir Putin’s close aide Dmitry Peskov who wrongfully claimed that the US and Europe have shown no interest in a diplomatic solution to the war.

Peskov said Russia does not see any prerequisites for peace talks with Ukraine at the moment and it would continue its military operation inside its smaller neighbour nation until it achieves all of its aims, reported RIA news agency.

He also said that the Russian authorities were not discussing a new mobilisation.