🔴 Live: Russian drones strike Ukraine’s Izmail port, says regional governor

Issued on: 13/09/2023 – 05:31

3 min

8:56am: Russia hikes inflation forecast, sees much weaker rouble 

Russia has significantly raised its inflation forecast for the next two years and expects a much weaker rouble rate against the US dollar, according to macroeconomic forecasts prepared by the economy ministry, as the costs of fighting the war in Ukraine mount.

President Vladimir Putin is girding the $2.1 trillion economy for a long war and though Western hopes of stoking a swift Russian economic crisis were proven misplaced, higher inflation and a weaker rouble could spur calls for higher rates and tougher currency controls to stem the outflow of capital.

Rising prices are also a concern for the Kremlin as it prepares for a closely controlled 2024 presidential election that Putin, Russia’s longest serving leader since Josef Stalin, is certain to win if he runs. 

The economy ministry raised its 2023 inflation forecast to 7.5% from the 5.3% forecast published in April, and also raised its 2024 forecast to 4.5% from 4.0%, according to economy ministry documents, which have been submitted to government as a draft forecast. 

7:51am: Putin meets Kim, says Russia will help North Korea build satellites

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Wednesday began talks at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East after touring space rocket assembly and launch facilities at the spaceport.

Russian state television images showed Putin saying he was “very glad” to see Kim as the two delegations met for talks in which Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov were also taking part.

5:00am: Russian drones strike Ukraine’s Izmail port, says governor

Russian drones damaged the Danube river port of Izmail in Ukraine, causing a fire and civilian injuries, the regional governor said Wednesday.

Russia “once again attacked the south of Odesa region”, Odesa regional governor Oleg Kiper said on Telegram.

“Several groups of strike drones were directed to the Izmail district,” he added.

“Damage to port and other civil infrastructure was recorded … rescuers are putting out the fire.”

He said six civilians were injured and taken to hospital, with three in a serious condition and three others in “moderate condition”.

2:55am: Ukraine launches missile attack on Sevastopol in Crimea, says Russia-installed governor

Ukraine carried out a missile attack on Sevastopol in Crimea in early hours on Wednesday, with Russia’s air defence systems engaging in repelling the assault, the Russia-installed governor of Sevastopol said on Wednesday.

Mikhail Razvozhayev, the Moscow-installed governor of the port city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said on the Telegram messaging app that the missile attack had caused a fire at a “non-civilian facility”.

The scale and other details of the attack were not immediately known. Reuters could not independently verify the report. There was no immediate comment from Kyiv.

12:00am: UN panel urged to declare US reporter’s Russian detention arbitrary

The Wall Street Journal’s parent company on Tuesday requested that a panel of experts declare its correspondent Evan Gershkovich, who is in Russian jail, as being “arbitrarily detained”.

Gershkovich, a US reporter, was detained in March during a reporting trip to the Urals and accused of spying – charges that he, the US government and his employer The Wall Street Journal vehemently deny.

His pre-trial custody had been due to expire on August 30, but several days prior a judge ruled it would be extended to November 30, a decision criticised by the WSJ and US State Department.

Key developments from Tuesday, September 12:

Ukraine may take legal action, including turning to the World Trade Organization to obtain compensation, after Poland extended a ban on importing its grain, Ukraine’s prime minister said Tuesday.

Russia’s Vladimir Putin earlier on Tuesday dismissed Kyiv’s claims that it will soon receive F-16 fighter jets from the West, saying deliveries of the aircraft to Ukraine will only prolong the war with Moscow.

Denmark will donate a package worth 5.8 billion Danish crowns ($833 million) to Ukraine, including tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, tank ammunition and anti-aircraft guns, the ministry of defence said in a statement on Tuesday.

Read yesterday’s blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)