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Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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Search for 7 missing people ongoing in Mykolaiv

Search and rescue teams are continuing to search through rubble for seven missing people following a missile strike on a five-storey residential building in Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commented on the attack Thursday, posting on Telegram that a child pulled from the rubble of the building earlier today had been trapped for six hours before being rescued.

“The search for seven more people is ongoing. All services are there and working,” the president said.

“Each of the Russian strikes, all manifestations of Russian terror against our people, our cities will not remain unpunished for the occupiers. A fair punishment awaits you. Know this,” he added.

Vitaly Kim, the head of the Mykolayiv Regional Military Administration, posted a video on Twitter earlier showing efforts to rescue the boy from the rubble.

— Holly Ellyatt

Satellite imagery shows damaged Crimea bridge being repaired

A satellite image by Maxar shows repairs being made to the Kerch Strait bridge that was damaged by an explosion on Oct. 8, 2022.

Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies

New satellite images have been released by Maxar showing repairs being made to the Kerch Strait, also known as the Crimea Bridge, that was damaged by a large explosion last Saturday.

The image above shows repairs in progress on both the rail line of the Crimea Bridge as well as on damaged sections of the road/vehicle bridge span.

Vehicles (primarily cars and small trucks) can be seen traveling along the bridge and nearby while a ferry transports trucks across the Kerch Strait. The image was taken on Oct.12.

On Wednesday, Russia’s security services said it had made eight arrests in connection to the attack, detaining five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia that it alleged were connected to the attack on the bridge that Russia uses to access Crimea, a peninsula it illegally annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and to resupply its troops in southern Ukraine.

Kyiv has not said whether it was responsible for the attack on the bridge and said it would not respond to the arrests.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine says it has only 10% of what it needs for air defenses

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy poses for a pictures with Ukrainian servicemen as he visits the town of Izium, recently liberated by Ukraine’s armed forces, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine on Sept. 14, 2022.

Gleb Garanich | Reuters

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the country only has about 10% of what it needs for its air defenses and ruled out diplomatic contacts with Russia, Reuters reported Thursday.

Participating in a question-and-answer session with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Zelenskyy said diplomacy was not possible with leaders who do not respect international law.

The comments come as Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet Turkey’s President Erdogan on Thursday.

It’s expected that Turkey could formally offer to host peace talks between Russia and the West in a bid to end the war in Ukraine. Kyiv has previously said it will not partake in any talks while Putin is president.

— Holly Ellyatt

More details on drone strikes on the Kyiv region

More details have emerged of drone strikes on the Kyiv region in the early hours of Thursday morning.

Oleksiy Kuleba, the head of the Kyiv Regional Military Administration, said on Telegram earlier that “kamikaze” drones were attacking the region, calling on residents to shelter.

In an update on the messaging platform, Kuleba said three attacks by kamikaze drones had targeted an “infrastructure object” causing a fire.

“There are no victims or injured. At 06:45, the fire was contained, there was no open fire. 43 people and 12 units of emergency services equipment were involved in extinguishing the fire,” he said, without specifying the object targeted.

Russia has repeatedly targeted Ukraine’s energy infrastructure this week, severely disrupting the country’s water and power supplies.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian forces likely looking to cement new front line in the south, UK says

A view of the grad rocket firing as counterattacks against Russian forces continue in the Kherson region, on October 07, 2022.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Having retreated around 20 kilometers (around 12 miles) in the north of the Kherson region earlier in October, Russian forces are likely now attempting to consolidate a new front line, according to Britain’s Ministry of Defense.

This new front line was likely to the west of the village of Mylove, which lies to the east of the city of Kherson, a Russian-occupied city in the Kherson region in southern Ukraine, where Ukrainian forces are continuing a counteroffensive to reclaim lost territory.

“Heavy fighting continues along this line, especially at the western end where Ukrainian advances mean Russia’s flank is no longer protected by the Inhulets River. Most of the Russia troops on this front line remain understrength VDV (airborne) units,” the ministry said in its latest intelligence update on Twitter.

The U.K. believes that, in recent days, the Russian occupation authorities have likely ordered preparation for the evacuation of some civilians from Kherson. “It is likely that they anticipate combat extending to the city of Kherson itself,” the ministry said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Putin and Erdogan could discuss peace talk options

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to meet Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday. It’s expected that Turkey could formally offer to host peace talks between Russia and the West in a bid to end the war in Ukraine.

There have been various reports suggesting Ankara — which has positioned itself as something of a broker between Russia and Ukraine during the conflict, helping to negotiate the restarting of grain shipments from Ukraine — could suggest that it host talks between Western governments and Russia about how to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.

Crucially, however, no mention of Ukraine attending the talks has been made. Ukraine’s President Zelenskyy has repeatedly said lately that he will not negotiate with his Russian counterpart and that Ukraine is only ready to talk when Russian troops retreat from its territory.

Yuri Ushakov, an aide to President Putin, told the Russian state-owned Interfax news agency that the Russian leader and Erdogan could be expected to discuss the matter when they meet in Astana Thursday, however. The leaders enjoy cordial relations despite Turkey’s NATO membership.

“Many say that the Turks are ready to come up with other initiatives in the context of the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict, there are various reports in the press that the Turkish side puts forward specific considerations on this matter. I do not exclude that Erdogan will actively touch upon this topic in during this Astana contact, so a very interesting and, I hope, useful discussion awaits us,” Ushakov said, Interfax reported Thursday.

Ushakov noted that several possible formats for talks were being reported on in the Turkish media, “including ‘Russia and the United States, the leading countries of Western Europe’, etc.”

Earlier this week, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday that Moscow had not received any specific proposals to hold talks with Washington, London, Paris and Berlin in Turkey.

Peskov said that “there is a need to figure out what the goal of such a meeting will be, what the result of the meeting could be and whom it could involve,” before speculating about the possibility of talks.

— Holly Ellyatt

Mykolaiv ‘massively shelled’ overnight, mayor says

Air raid warnings sounded out over the southern port city of Mykolaiv overnight with the city’s Mayor Oleksandr Senkevich saying it had been “massively shelled.”

“Mykolaiv was massively shelled. A five-story residential building was hit. The two upper floors were completely destroyed, the rest – under rubble. Rescuers are working on the spot,” the Ukrainian official posted on Telegram.

A 12-year-old boy (some reports suggest the boy is 11) was found under the rubble of a residential building and was handed over to medics.

“According to preliminary information, there may be seven more people under the rubble, with whom there is no contact. Search and rescue work continues,” he added.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine says critical infrastructure facilities in Kyiv hit by drones

Critical infrastructure facilities in the Kyiv region have been hit by drone strikes, Reuters reported, citing a statement from Ukraine’s presidential office.

“Another attack by kamikaze drones on critical infrastructure facilities,” the office’s deputy head Kyrylo Tymoshenko was quoted as saying on Telegram, the messaging app.

–Jihye Lee

Air defense systems crucial for Ukraine as Russian strikes continue, Zelenskyy says

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has spent much of the week calling on Ukraine’s international allies to provide it with more air defense assistance as Russian strikes on various regions continue.

In his nightly address Wednesday, he said “the more audacious and cruel Russian terror becomes, the more obvious it is to the world that helping Ukraine to protect the sky is one of the most important humanitarian tasks for Europe.”

NATO ministers gathering in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday have already pledged more comprehensive air defense assistance for Kyiv to protect against Russian strikes. The U.S., U.K., France and Germany all pledged, or have sent, such systems to Ukraine.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov (center) talks to his Turkish counterpart Hulusi Akar (left) before the start of the Ukrainian defense contact group meeting at NATO headquarters, on Oct. 12, 2022 in Brussels, Belgium.

Omar Havana | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The need for such systems has become pressing given Russia’s targeting of cities and critical infrastructure across the country this week. Power and water supplies are still damaged in a number of regions after Russia targeted energy facilities on Monday and Tuesday and, to a lesser extent, yesterday.

Zelenskyy said last night that the power supply had been fully restored to most parts of the country while work was ongoing to repair the electricity supply in four regions.

“Recovery continued across the country today [Wednesday] after a two-day Russian missile attack. At that time, energy facilities were damaged in 12 regions and in the capital. As of now, the technical capability of electricity supply has been fully restored in most regions. In four regions, work is ongoing, repairs should be completed in the near future.”

— Holly Ellyatt

U.N. General Assembly votes to condemn Russia’s annexation of Ukraine

A view of the 74th United Nations General Assembly on September 28, 2019 in New York City.

Kena Betancur | Getty Images News | Getty Images

The United Nations General Assembly voted to condemn Russia for its attempt to annex more areas of Ukraine.

The final vote was marked as 143 in favor of the resolution, five nations against it and 35 abstentions.

Ahead of the vote, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield called on the General Assembly to pass the resolution, saying, “Let us send a clear message today colleagues, the United Nations will not tolerate attempts at illegal annexation. We will never recognize it.”

“A U.N. member state, one with a permanent seat on the Security Council has attempted to annex territory from its neighbor by force. This U.N. member state has not only put its neighbor in its crosshairs but also put a bull’s eye in this institution’s core principle. One country cannot take the territory of another by force,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

Last month, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that “there are four new regions of Russia.” He referred to the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson.

Putin cited sham referendum votes held in Russian-occupied areas, saying voters wanted to become part of Russia. Western officials widely view those votes as rigged and illegitimate.

— Amanda Macias

A Russian nuclear strike would almost certainly draw ‘physical response,’ NATO official says

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends the plenary session of the 2022 Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia September 7, 2022.

Sergey Bobylev | Tass Host Photo Agency | via Reuters

A Russian nuclear strike would change the course of the conflict and almost certainly trigger a “physical response” from Ukraine’s allies and potentially from NATO, a senior NATO official said on Wednesday.

Any use of nuclear weapons by Moscow would have “unprecedented consequences” for Russia, the official warned. It would “almost certainly be drawing a physical response from many allies, and potentially from NATO itself,” he said.

The official added that Moscow was using its nuclear threats mainly to deter NATO and other countries from directly entering its war on Ukraine. 

— Reuters

Putin suggests U.S. stood to benefit from Nord Stream pipeline leaks

Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting with members of the Security Council via a video link in Saint Petersburg, Russia, October 10, 2022. 

Gavriil Grigorov | Sputnik | Reuters

Russian President Vladimir Putin suggested the U.S. had the most to gain from recent damage done to the Nord Stream 1 and 2 gas pipelines which caused major gas leaks into the Baltic Sea.

“Who is behind the subversion of the Nord Streams? Obviously, it’s the one who seeks to finally cut off the ties between Russia and the EU, seeks to finish off and undermine the political subjectness of Europe, weaken its industrial potential and control the market,” Putin said at the Russian Energy Week forum in Moscow on Wednesday, without naming the U.S.

It’s just over two weeks ago that a series of blasts on the Nord Stream pipelines connecting Russia to Germany provoked an international outcry and widespread suspicions in the West that the blasts were a deliberate act of sabotage. Suspicions fell on Moscow, which denied any involvement in the incidents and in turn insinuated that NATO could have carried out the damage, an accusation firmly rebuffed by the West.

Putin said Wednesday that gas exporters like the U.S. stood to gain from the damaged pipelines.

“Certain market participants who are guided exclusively by their own geopolitical ambitions … simply eliminate the infrastructure of their competitors. In this particular case, I’m talking obviously about the subversion of the Nord Stream pipelines Nord Stream 1 and 2. There’s no doubt it was an act of terrorism aiming to undermine the energy security of a whole continent,” he said.

“Russia built these [pipelines] with its own money but the U.S. can now supply energy sources at high prices,” he said, adding that he believed U.S. LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports were “unstable.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine won’t comment on Russia’s Crimea bridge arrests

Ukraine’s intelligence services said it will not respond to Russia’s arrests of eight individuals it alleges are connected to last Saturday’s Crimea bridge blast.

“All the activities of the FSB and the Investigative Committee are nonsense. These are fake structures that serve the Putin regime, so we will definitely not comment on their regular statements,” Andrey Yusov, a spokesperson for the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, said in a statement provided to CNBC on Wednesday.

Russia’s Federal Security Service said Wednesday that it arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia that it alleged were connected to the attack, which partially damaged the bridge that Russia uses to access the peninsula it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and to resupply its troops in southern Ukraine.

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the bridge attack and Yusov insinuated the arrests (and potentially, the attack) were staged.

“It is surprising that no business card has yet been found in the area of ​​​​the Crimean bridge,” he said.

That was a reference to an attack on a checkpoint near Sloviansk in Donetsk in eastern Ukraine in 2014 that Russia claimed was led by Ukrainian nationalist Dmytro Yarosh.

Ukraine claimed pro-Russian separatists (or Russian special forces) had initiated what it described as a “staged” attack and had planted Yarosh’s business card at the scene in order to blame it on Ukraine. The purported discovery of Yarosh’s business card was widely ridiculed by Ukrainians at the time.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia makes arrests in alleged connection to Crimea bridge attack

Russia’s security services said it has arrested eight people it alleges are connected to the explosion that damaged the Kerch Strait Bridge connecting Russia and Crimea last Saturday. 

Russia’s Federal Security Service said Wednesday that it has arrested five Russians and three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia that it alleged were connected to the attack, which partially damaged the bridge that Russia uses to access the peninsula, that it annexed from Ukraine in 2014, and to resupply its troops in southern Ukraine.

The FSB issued a statement alleging that the explosion was organized by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and its director, Kyrylo Budanov. 

“At the moment, five citizens of Russia, three citizens of Ukraine and Armenia, who participated in the preparation of the crime, have been detained as part of a criminal case,” the FSB said.

“The investigation into the attack continues. All its organizers and accomplices, including foreign citizens, will be held accountable in accordance with Russian law,” it added.

Black smoke billows from a fire on the Kerch bridge that links Crimea to Russia, after a truck exploded, near Kerch, on October 8, 2022.

– | Afp | Getty Images

Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the bridge attack and is yet to respond to the allegations. CNBC has approached the Ministry of Defense for comment.

The FSB detailed how it alleges the plot to blow up the bridge took place, claiming that “the explosive device was camouflaged in rolls with a construction polyethylene film on 22 pallets with a total weight of 22,770 kg.” The FSB claimed the device was shipped from Odesa to Bulgaria and then on to Georgia and Armenia before crossing over the border to Russia and then on its final journey to Crimea.

— Holly Ellyatt

Read CNBC’s previous live coverage here:

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Investors brace for possible rate cut amid Turkey’s 80% inflation

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An electronic board displays exchange rate information at a currency exchange bureau in Istanbul, Turkey, on Monday, Aug. 29, 2022.

Nicole Tung | Bloomberg | Getty Images

Investors are bracing for another potential interest rate cut – or simply a hold on the current rate – as Turkey refuses to follow economic orthodoxy in battling its soaring inflation, now at more than 80%.  

Or indeed, the investors that can still stomach Turkey’s market volatility.

The Eurasian hub of 84 million people – which many major banks in Europe and the Middle East still have sizable exposure to, and which is highly exposed to geopolitical tensions – witnessed major market turbulence in recent days, on top of the dramatic currency drops of the last few years. 

This week saw a major rout in Turkey’s stock market, the Borsa Istanbul, with Turkish banking stocks diving 35% over the week ending last Monday, after clocking a stratospheric 150% rally between mid-July and mid-September. It prompted regulators and brokers to hold an emergency meeting, though ultimately they decided not to intervene in the market.

The cause of the volatility? First, Turkey’s high inflation had pushed investors to pour their money into stocks to protect the value of their assets. But it was fear of higher U.S. inflation, and consequent rate hikes from the Federal Reserve, that likely triggered the sudden downward turn, analysts believe. 

The drop wiped out more than $12.1 billion in market value from the country’s publicly-listed banks. 

Russians tourists to Europe decreased dramatically over the summer, but rose in several other destinations, including Turkey (here).

Onur Dogman | Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

This is because higher interest rates set by the U.S. and a resulting stronger dollar spell trouble for emerging markets like Turkey that import their energy supplies in dollars and have large dollar-denominated debts, and thus will have to pay more for them. 

The market rout prompted margin calls, which is when brokerages require investors to add money into their positions to buffer the losses in stocks they bought on “margin,” or borrowed money. That caused the selling to spiral further, until Turkey’s main clearing house, Takasbank, announced on Tuesday an easing of requirements for the collateral payments on margin trading. 

Banking stocks and the Borsa as a whole rebounded slightly on the news, with the exchange up 2.43% since Monday’s close as of 2:00 p.m. in Istanbul. The Borsa Istanbul is still up 73.86% year-to-date.

Soaring inflation: what next from the central bank?  

But analysts say the exchange’s positive performance is not in line with Turkey’s economic reality, as they look ahead to the Turkish central bank’s interest rate decision on Thursday. 

Faced with inflation at just over 80%, Turkey shocked markets in August with an interest rate cut of 100 basis points to 13% – sticking to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s staunch belief that interest rates will only increase inflation, counter to widely held economic principles. This is all taking place at a time when much of the world is tightening monetary policy to combat soaring inflation. 

Country watchers are predicting another cut, or at most a hold, which likely means more trouble for the Turkish lira and for Turks’ cost of living. 

Economists at London-based Capital Economics predict a 100 basis-point rate cut. 

“It’s clear that the Turkish central bank is under political pressure to abide by Erdogan’s looser monetary policy, and it’s clear Erdogan is more focused on growth in Turkey, and not so focused on tackling inflation,” Liam Peach, a senior emerging markets economist at Capital Economics, told CNBC. 

“While the Turkish central bank is under such pressure, we think it will continue with this cycle of cutting interest rates for maybe one or two more months … the window of cutting rates is small.”

Timothy Ash, an emerging markets strategist at BlueBay Asset Management, also predicts a 100 basis point cut. Erdogan won’t need a justification for this, Ash said, citing future elections as the reason behind the move. 

Analysts at investment bank MUFG, meanwhile, predict a hold at the current rate of 13%. 

Economists predict continued high inflation and a further fall in the lira, which has already fallen 27% against the dollar year-to-date, and 53% in the last year. 

Erdogan, meanwhile, remains optimistic, predicting that inflation will fall by year-end. “Inflation is not an insurmountable economic threat. I am an economist,” the president said during an interview on Tuesday. Erdogan is not an economist by training. 

Regarding the effect of Erdogan’s decisions on the Turkish stock market, Ash said, “The risk of these unorthodox monetary policies is that it creates resource misallocation, bubbles, which eventually burst, causing big risks to macro financial stability.” 

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Turkish singer Gulsen arrested over religious schools comment | Religion News

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Turkish popstar Gulsen issued an apology on social media prior to her arrest, but a gov’t spokesman called her comments a ‘disgrace’.

The Turkish pop star Gulsen was arrested on Thursday after an Istanbul prosecutor opened an investigation into charges of “inciting people to hatred and hostility” after a remark she made on stage about religious schools, local media have reported.

Singer Gulsen Bayraktar Colakoglu – a 46-year-old woman known by her first name – was detained at home in Istanbul and taken to court.

A judge then remanded her in jail pending an investigation into remarks she made at a concert in April about Imam Hatip religious schools.

A clip of the comments went viral and created outrage among senior members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative AK Party this week.

Gulsen is a household name in Turkey and her case has turned into headline news in the highly polarised country.

The controversial comment saw Gulsen remark to an unknown person on stage, in apparent jest, that his “perversion” was caused by his upbringing in an Imam Hatip school.

“Targeting a fraction of society with the allegations of ‘perversion’ and trying to divide Turkey is a crime of hatred and disgrace of humanity,” AK Party spokesman Omer Celik said.

Gulsen issued an apology on social media prior to her arrest.

“A joke I shared with my colleagues with whom I have worked for many years … was featured and published by those who aim to polarise society,” she said.

“I am sorry that my words gave material to malicious people who aim to polarise our country.”

Gulsen’s lawyer Emek Emre promised to appeal the star’s arrest and seek her immediate release.

“Our client has not committed any crime,” he told reporters.

A clip of the comments went viral and created outrage among senior members of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s conservative AK Party this week [File: Burhan Ozbilici/AP]

Vote ahead

Erdogan and his ruling AK Party will need a strong turnout from their core of socially conservative voters to reverse a slide in the polls ahead of a general election next June.

The state-run Diyanet, or Religious Affairs Directorate, has seen its budget and public influence grow in recent years, prompting charges that Erdogan is using religion to boost his ratings ahead of tight elections set for next year.

Erdogan’s supporters say the moves are a reversal of anti-religious diktats issued by the AK Party’s fiercely secular predecessors in government.

Critics say Erdogan has bent the courts to his will to crack down on dissent and free expression, charges the government denies.

The Turkish opposition has seized upon Gulsen’s case to boost their support.

CHP party leader Kemal Kilicdaroglu called on Thursday for Turkey’s youth to come out and vote next year to save artists such as Gulsen from being jailed.

“I am calling out to the youth – these unjust rulings will come to an end,” Kilicdaroglu said in a social media post.

“They are trying to rule this country by provoking and dividing you.”

Late-night news of Gulsen’s arrest prompted some Fenerbahce football fans to start singing one of her songs at a Europa League match in Istanbul against Austria Vienna.

Social media posts showed a section of the packed stadium joining in the song in solidarity with the jailed star.

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Ukraine Presses U.N. Over ‘Nuclear Blackmail’ at Russian-Occupied Plant

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ODESSA, Ukraine—Ukrainian President

Volodymyr Zelensky

met with the leaders of Turkey and the United Nations on Thursday to discuss food shipments from Ukraine and the increasingly tense situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as Ukraine continued to hit Russian logistics with artillery strikes.

Following the meetings in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, Mr. Zelensky said he pressed U.N. Secretary-General

António Guterres

about the nuclear plant, which Russia has occupied since the early days of the war. Explosions around the plant in recent days have knocked one reactor off the power grid and sparked fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

“Particular attention was paid to the topic of Russia’s nuclear blackmail at the Zaporizhzhia NPP,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on social media. He said the two men also discussed allegations that Ukrainian citizens were being forcibly deported to Russia and the treatment of captured Ukrainian soldiers.

Russia has said Ukrainian forces threaten the nuclear plant’s security.

After meeting with Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdogan,

Mr. Zelensky said they had discussed ways to protect Ukrainian grain that is being exported, as well as other security issues. Ankara helped broker with the U.N. a deal to lift a Russian naval blockade on Ukrainian exports, which had led to food shortages throughout the Middle East and Africa.

“This is a strong message of support from such a powerful country as Turkey,” Mr. Zelensky wrote on Telegram.

The Turkish president has sought to position himself as a mediator in the war, with Turkey hosting two rounds of unsuccessful peace talks between Ukraine and Russia. Mr. Erdogan has said he hopes the U.N.-backed initiative that led to the resumption of Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports earlier this month could be a starting point for a broader peace between Russia and Ukraine.

At a news conference following the talks, he said he had “reiterated our support for the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine.” He added: “I have been preserving my belief that the war would come to an end at the negotiation table.”

Ukraine has exported 622,000 tons of grain and other food products from the three ports covered by the export agreement, the Turkish defense ministry said Thursday.

During the news conference, Mr. Guterres said “there is no solution to the global food crisis without insuring full global access to Ukraine’s food products and Russian food and fertilizer.” Global wheat prices, he said, have fallen up to 8% since the accord was signed.

Turkish military officers are helping to monitor implementation of the agreement alongside their Ukrainian and Russian counterparts and U.N. officials stationed at a control center that was set up in Istanbul in July. Four more ships loaded with agricultural products sailed from Ukrainian ports on Wednesday under the deal, according to Turkish officials.

Mr. Erdogan is increasingly posing as a friend to both sides in the Ukraine conflict. Turkey has delivered weapons to Ukraine, including armed drones that have been instrumental in Ukraine’s battle against the Russian invasion. In February, Turkey also invoked its rights under an international treaty to bar additional Russian warships from the Black Sea.

The leaders of the United Nations and Turkey met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in western Ukraine on Thursday. The group discussed food shipments and rising tensions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Photo: Handout/AFP/Getty Images

His visit to Ukraine comes less than two weeks after a visit to Russia where he held talks on the Ukraine war and the grain initiative with Russia’s President

Vladimir Putin.

“This will be another opportunity for Mr. Erdogan to be active in this mediation process,” said

Aydin Sezer,

a former diplomat who served in Turkey’s embassy in Moscow. “Erdogan is now the only person who is credited by the Kremlin when it comes to Ukrainian business.”

Turkish and Ukrainian officials also signed a memorandum of understanding calling for Turkey to participate in Ukraine’s postwar reconstruction. The first project being considered under the agreement is the reconstruction of a bridge connecting Kyiv with the towns of Irpin and Bucha, where Russian soldiers carried out mass killings in March, the Ukrainian presidency said.

“Turkey is our strategic ally. We are grateful to our Turkish partners for their willingness to cooperate in the recovery of the infrastructure destroyed by Russia,” said Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister

Oleksandr Kubrakov

according to the Ukrainian president’s office.

Earlier on Thursday, the Ukrainian military’s Southern Command said that it had struck an ammunition depot in the village of Bilohirka, near the front line of fighting in the Kherson region. The rocket strike is the latest in a series of attacks that have targeted logistics in the Russian-occupied south—part of a strategy to starve Russian troops in the region of supplies and force them to withdraw from the territory they are holding west of the Dnipro River.

Unidentified civilians exhumed from a mass grave after Russia’s occupation of Bucha, near Kyiv, were reburied Wednesday.



Photo:

Evgeniy Maloletka/Associated Press

Emergency workers preparing for a potential nuclear disaster in Zaporizhzhia took part in a presentation watched by Ukrainian officials.



Photo:

Justyna Mielnikiewicz/MAPS for The Wall Street Journal

A day earlier, the Ukrainian military posted video to social media that appeared to show the aftermath of a long-range rocket strike on Nova Kakhovka, also in the Kherson region. And on Tuesday, pro-Ukrainian saboteurs destroyed an ammunition depot in Crimea, which Russia seized in 2014. Video on social media Thursday also showed large explosions overnight in Russian-occupied Amvrosiivka, in the eastern Donetsk region; Ukrainian officials didn’t immediately comment on the cause.

As Ukrainian strikes inside Russian-held territory increase, Russian forces are attempting to crack down on pro-Ukrainian insurgents. A Ukrainian army veteran was arrested in the Kherson region on suspicion of sending locations of Russian troops and bases to Ukrainian forces, Russian state-run news agencies reported on Thursday. In addition, Russia’s FSB intelligence agency on Wednesday said it had detained six Russian citizens in Crimea who belonged to a cell that spread what it called terrorist ideology with the support of Ukrainian emissaries, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.

Russia has said it would give International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant—but only if they come via Russian-controlled territory and not through Kyiv, a plan that Ukraine opposes.

The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday said Ukraine was planning a false flag provocation for Friday at the plant to frame the occupying forces. Maj. Gen.

Igor Konashenkov,

a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, didn’t provide evidence to support the claim. The Russian-installed head of the occupied territories of Zaporizhzhia, meanwhile, said a plan was in place to evacuate residents in case of an attack on the plant. Kyiv didn’t immediately respond to the claim.


Russia’s Defense Ministry also said Thursday that Moscow would consider shutting down the plant if the situation surrounding the facility continues to deteriorate.

The Ukrainian government, international nuclear-power watchdogs and the plant’s staff have accused Russia of stealing Zaporizhzhia’s power by severing its connection to Ukraine’s remaining territory.

In Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine, a Russian missile hit a residential building in the Saltivka neighborhood on Wednesday night, killing seven people and injuring at least 17 more, according to the city’s mayor. More missiles launched from Russia hit the city early Thursday morning, killing two more people. Russia’s Defense Ministry said its forces were targeting foreign fighters.

Russia’s Defense Ministry said Thursday it has deployed three MiG-31 combat jets armed with hypersonic Kinzhal ballistic missiles to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, a chunk of Russia wedged between North Atlantic Treaty Organization members Lithuania and Poland, according to Russian state news agencies. Such missiles, when fired from jets, have farther reach than the ground-launched missiles already deployed in Kaliningrad.

—Nikita Nikolaienko contributed to this article.

Ukrainian fighters took part in a military drill on the country’s south coast.



Photo:

oleksandr gimanov/Agence France-Presse/Getty Images

Write to Ian Lovett at ian.lovett@wsj.com, Jared Malsin at jared.malsin@wsj.com and Evan Gershkovich at evan.gershkovich@wsj.com

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Ukraine’s Zelenskyy hosts talks with UN chief, Turkey leader

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LVIV, Ukraine (AP) — As a potential power broker, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will use his first visit to Ukraine since the war started nearly six months ago to seek ways to expand the export of grain from Europe’s breadbasket to the world’s needy. U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres will use his visit to focus on containing the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is hosting both men Thursday far away from the front lines, in the western city of Lviv, where diplomatic efforts to help end the war will also be on the agenda.

Meanwhile, the screams of incoming shells still overpowered the whispers of diplomacy. At least 11 people were killed and 40 wounded in a series of massive Russian missile strikes on Ukraine’s Kharkiv region on Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The late Wednesday attack on Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, killed at least seven people, wounded 20 others and damaged residential buildings and civilian infrastructure, authorities said.

At the same time, The Russian Defense Ministry on Thursday morning claimed it targeted “a temporary base of foreign mercenaries” in Kharkiv, killing 90 of them.

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the three leaders will also discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine — which is Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Moscow and Kyiv have accused each other of shelling the complex.

In his nightly video address Wednesday, Zelensky reaffirmed his demand for the Russian military to leave the plant, emphasizing that “only absolute transparency and control of the situation” by, among others, the U.N.’s International Atomic Energy Agency, could guarantee a return to nuclear safety.

Russia played up the threats the plant posed in wartime. Lt. Gen. Igor Kirillov, the commander of the Russian military’s radiological, chemical and biological protection forces, charged that the Ukrainian troops were planning to strike the plant again Friday while Guterres will still be visiting Ukraine in order to accuse Russia of nuclear terrorism. Ukraine has steadfastly denied that it’s targeting the plant.

Kirillov said an emergency at the plant could see “a discharge of radioactive substances into the atmosphere and spreading them to hundreds of kilometers away … An emergency of this kind will cause massive migration and will have more catastrophic consequences than the looming gas energy crisis in Europe.”

With such stakes, the role of a go-between like Erdogan could become ever more important.

Erdogan, whose nation is a member of NATO, which backs Ukraine in the war, also oversees a wobbly economy that has been increasingly reliant on Russia for trade. That backdrop turns Thursday’s meetings in Lviv into a walk on a diplomatic tightrope. Earlier this month, the Turkish leader met on the same issues with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Erdogan is set to have a one-hour meeting with Zelenskyy before both are joined by Guterres.

Last month, Turkey and the U.N. helped broker an agreement clearing the way for Ukraine to export 22 million tons of corn and other grain stuck in its Black Sea ports since Russia invaded on Feb. 24. A separate memorandum between Russia and the U.N. aimed to clear roadblocks to shipments of Russian food and fertilizer to world markets.

The war and the blocked exports have significantly exacerbated the global food crisis because Ukraine and Russia are major food suppliers.

Turkey is in a position to help speed up exports, which have been reduced to a trickle so far. Turkey’s Defense Ministry said more than 622,000 tons of grain have been shipped from Ukrainian ports since the start of the Black Sea deal.

Grain prices peaked after Russia’s invasion, and while some have since returned to prewar levels, they remain significantly higher than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Developing countries have been hit particularly hard by supply shortages and high prices. Even though ships are now leaving Russia and Ukraine, the food crisis hasn’t ended.

Before his meetings, Guterres visited Ivan Franko National University of Lviv, Ukraine’s oldest, and praised the role of academic institutions in building democratic institutions.

If grain transports and nuclear security are issues where some progress could be made, talks about an overall end to the conflict weren’t expected to yield anything substantive.

In March, Turkey hosted a round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian negotiators, who discussed a possible deal to end the hostilities. The talks fell apart after the meeting in Istanbul, with both sides blaming each other.

Erdogan has engaged in a delicate balancing act, maintaining good relations with both Russia and Ukraine. Turkey has provided Ukraine with drones, which played a significant role in deterring a Russian advance early in the conflict, but it has refrained from joining Western sanctions against Russia over the war.

Facing a major economic crisis with official inflation near 80%, Turkey increasingly relies on Russia for trade and tourism. Russian gas covers 45% of Turkish energy needs, and Russia’s atomic agency is building Turkey’s first nuclear power plant.

During their meeting in Sochi this month, Putin and Erdogan agreed to bolster energy, financial and other ties between their countries, raising concerns in the West that Ankara could help Moscow bypass the U.S. and European Union sanctions.

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Suzan Fraser reported from Ankara, Turkey.

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Follow the AP’s coverage of the war at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

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World

Latest news on Russia and the war in Ukraine

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Russia says it may shut down nuclear power plant, warns of effects of potential accident

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine August 4, 2022.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

Russia’s Ministry of Defense said on Thursday that it may shut down the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant if Ukrainian forces continue, as it claims, shelling the facility.

Ukraine denies shelling the facility and instead blames Russia for endangering the nuclear power plant, saying it is storing ammunition and military equipment there.

Ukraine and the international community have warned of the potential for a catastrophic accident at the plant. On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry conducted a nuclear catastrophe exercise in Zaporizhzhia in case of an accident.

Igor Kirillov, the head of Russia’s radioactive, chemical and biological defense forces, said Thursday the plant’s backup support systems had been damaged as a result of shelling, Reuters reported.

He also said that in the event of an accident at the plant, radioactive material would cover Germany, Poland and Slovakia.

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is visiting Ukraine today and the status and fate of the nuclear power plant are on the agenda.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense claimed separately on Telegram today that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the power plant during Guterres’ visit to Ukraine, “as a result of which the Russian Federation will be blamed for creating a man-made disaster at the power plant.”

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed that “in order to prepare for the provocation” it was deploying radiation observation posts near Zaporizhzhia and organizing training exercises for a number of military units in the region “on measures to be taken in conditions of radioactive contamination of the area.” 

Russia presented no evidence for its claim and has often been accused of “false flag” operations.

The possibility of an accident at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is a terrifying prospect for Ukraine, a country that still lives with the scars of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russians move planes, helicopters in Crimea following blasts, Ukraine says

Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense has said Russian forces are moving their planes and helicopters “deep” into Crimea, and back to Russia, following several attacks in recent weeks on Russian bases on the peninsula.

“The occupiers are carrying out measures to partially transfer aviation equipment from forward-based airfields in Crimea to reserve airfields and airfields permanently based on the territory of the Russian Federation,” the intelligence directorate within the defense ministry claimed Wednesday.

The ministry said that, among the aircraft being moved, were SU-34 fighter bombers and KA-27 helicopters like the one below.

A Russian Helix KA-27 helicopter flies near the guided-missile cruiser USS Vella Gulf while conducting operations in the Gulf of Aden, in this U.S. Navy picture taken Feb. 9, 2009.

US Navy | MC2 Jason R. Zalasky | Reuters

“Such activity was noted after a series of explosions at the military infrastructure facilities of the temporarily-occupied Crimean peninsula,” the ministry noted including blasts at the Saky airfield on Aug. 9 and Gvardiyske airfields on Tuesday.

CNBC was unable to immediately verify the report. On Tuesday, a fire caused a Russian ammo depot to explode in northern Crimea and damaged a nearby railway and electricity sub-station. Ukraine has not openly admitted or denied carrying out an attack on the base.

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine working to get IAEA mission into occupied nuclear power plant

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Aug. 4, 2022.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats, its nuclear scientists and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are “in constant touch” and working to get a team of inspectors into the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The plant has been occupied by Russian troops since the start of the war in Ukraine but there have been increasing fears that a nuclear catastrophe could take place as shelling has intensified around the plant, which Ukraine says has been used by Russia to store ammunition and military equipment.

Russia, for its part, has accused Ukraine of shelling the plant and has sought to cast Kyiv as an irresponsible actor in the nuclear energy sector.

On Telegram, Zelenskyy said last night that “only absolute transparency and [a[] controlled situation at and around the ZNPP can guarantee a gradual return to normal nuclear safety for the Ukrainian state, for the international community, and for the IAEA.”

Zelenskyy reiterated calls by Ukraine and the international community for the Russian army to withdraw from the territory of the nuclear power plant “and all neighboring areas, and take away its military equipment from the plant.”

“This must happen without any conditions and as soon as possible,” he added. “Ukraine is ready to ensure proper control of the IAEA, and the relevant mission can be sent to the Zaporizhzhia plant in a legal way, very fast and as efficiently as possible.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Now, Kyiv is fighting back

Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea, on Aug. 9, 2022.

Stringer | Reuters

When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 little was done to stop it or actively help Ukraine get its territory back, a salient point given Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor that begun earlier this year.

But now, Ukraine appears to be finally in a position to fight back on the peninsula with a spate of recent incidents in which Russian military positions and infrastructure in Crimea have been damaged.

These, it’s believed, are likely to be a part of Ukraine’s tentative counteroffensive in the south as it seeks to dislodge the occupying forces and eventually reclaim its territory, once and for all.

The latest incidents in Crimea took place on Tuesday when a fire caused multiple explosions in a Russian ammunition depot near Dzhankoi in the north of the peninsula. A nearby railway and electricity sub-station were also damaged as well as residential buildings, Russia’s defense ministry said.

Read more on the story here: Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Now, Kyiv is fighting back

Ukraine’s state energy company says it was hit with a Russian cyberattack

The Russian flag displayed on a laptop screen with binary code code overlaying.

Nurphoto | Getty Images

Ukraine’s state energy company said it was targeted by a Russian cyberattack, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging app translated by NBC News.

“The most powerful hacker attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation took place on the official website of EnergoAtom State Enterprise,” the company said, adding that the cyberattack came from within Russian territory.

“The mentioned attack did not significantly affect the work of the website of and remained invisible to users,” the company added.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry conduct nuclear catastrophe exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia

Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry conducts a nuclear catastrophe exercise in Zaporizhzhia in case of a potential accident at the city’s nuclear power plant.

Ukraine remains deeply scarred by the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear catastrophe when a Soviet-era reactor exploded and spewed radiation into the atmosphere in the country’s north.

Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant a few days after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. 

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. 

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. 

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

— Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

U.N. secretary-general will not meet with Russian officials during trip

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not expected to meet with any Russian officials following his visit to Ukraine.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres will take meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week. He added that Guterres has no plans to hold discussions with Russian officials.

Dujarric said that Guterres will also meet separately with Zelenskyy to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

— Amanda Macias

Russian military sites in Crimea keep exploding, hinting at growing Ukrainian ambitions and abilities

Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea August 9, 2022.

Stringer | Reuters

Crimea is now at the heart of what appears to be an audacious Ukrainian effort to target Russian supply lines and morale. 

A series of blasts hit a Russian military depot in the annexed peninsula Tuesday — rocking the relaxed summer holiday destination for the second time in a week and suggesting a growing Ukrainian ability to strike deep behind enemy lines.

It’s a significant development that could shift the dynamics of the war as it nears the six-month mark, and which defies warnings from Moscow against attacking a region that holds deep strategic and symbolic value for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read more here.

— NBC NEWS

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Business

Turkey shocks markets with rate cut despite inflation near 80%, lira tumbles

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Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan arrives for a NATO summit in Madrid, Spain June 29, 2022.

Nacho Doce | Reuters

Turkey’s central bank shocked markets Thursday with a cut to its benchmark policy rate, despite inflation in the country sitting near 80%.

Its main policy rate, which had been at 14% for the last seven months, was cut to 13% in a complete mismatch to what other central banks are doing around the world.

Turkey’s inflation for the month of July rose by an eye-watering 79.6% year on year, its highest in 24 years, as the country grapples with soaring food and energy costs and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-running unorthodox strategy on monetary policy.

In the markets, the main BIST index snapped session gains to trade lower by 0.8% after the decision, according to Reuters, while the Turkish lira declined sharply against the dollar.

This is a breaking news story, please check back later for more.

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World

Russia-Ukraine war updates for August 17, 2022

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Celebrity chef Jose Andres’ organization partners with local Ukrainian orphanage to feed children

The World Central Kitchen, a humanitarian organization dedicated to feeding people in conflict zones, said that it partners with a Ukrainian orphanage to provide meals to 1,000 children.

“1,000 orphans between the ages of 3 and 18 from all across Ukraine temporarily live at a hotel with their guardians near Warsaw, Poland,” the organization wrote on Twitter.

“The shelter offers services like education classes and a health clinic. Each day, WCK provides breakfast, lunch and dinner here,” the organization added.

Spanish celebrity chef and humanitarian Chef Jose Andres founded the organization and has been operating throughout Ukraine in the days following Russia’s full-scale invasion.

— Amanda Macias

Ukraine’s state energy company says it was hit with a Russian cyber attack

The Russian flag displayed on a laptop screen with binary code code overlaying.

Nurphoto | Getty Images

Ukraine’s state energy company said it was targeted by a Russian cyber attack, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging app translated by NBC News.

“The most powerful hacker attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation took place on the official website of EnergoAtom State Enterprise,” the company said, adding that the cyber attack came from within Russian territory.

“The mentioned attack did not significantly affect the work of the website of and remained invisible to users,” the company added.

— Amanda Macias

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry conduct nuclear catastrophe exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia

Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry conducts a nuclear catastrophe exercise in Zaporizhzhia in case of a potential accident at the city’s nuclear power plant.

Ukraine remains deeply scarred by the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear catastrophe when a Soviet-era reactor exploded and spewed radiation into the atmosphere in the country’s north.

Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant a few days after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. 

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. 

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city. 

Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

— Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images

Three more vessels carrying a total of 33,750 metric tons of agricultural products leave Ukraine

An aerial view of Barbados flagged “Fulmar S” named empty grain ship as Representatives of Russia, Ukraine, Turkiye and the United Nations (UN) of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) conduct inspection on vessel in Istanbul, Turkiye on August 05, 2022.

Islam Yakut | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The organization overseeing the export of agricultural products from Ukraine said that three ships carrying agricultural products left Ukrainian ports today.

Three vessels are carrying a total of 33,750 metric tons of grains and other staples through the humanitarian sea corridor under the Black Sea Grain Initiative. 

The vessel Petrel is carrying 18,500 metric tons of sunflower meal and is destined for Amsterdam. The ship named Sara is carrying 8,000 metric tons of corn and is headed to Istanbul. The vessel named Efe is also headed to Turkey and is loaded with 7,250 metric tons of sunflower oil.

— Amanda Macias

U.N. secretary-general will not meet with Russian officials during trip

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not expected to meet with any Russian officials following his visit to Ukraine.

U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres will take meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week. He added that Guterres has no plans to hold discussions with Russian officials.

Dujarric said that Guterres will also meet separately with Zelenskyy to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

— Amanda Macias

Security system at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been disconnected, Ukraine says

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 4, 2022.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

The head of Zaporizhzhia’s regional government said that the security system at the nuclear power plant has been disconnected from external control channels.

“The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is very complicated. A radiation background does not exceed the norms, but the behavior of the Russian occupiers is unpredictable,” Oleksandr Starukh said in a daily press conference, according to an NBC News translation.

“The regional authorities are trying to provide people with everything they need in case of an accident,” he said, adding that women and children are advised to leave the area.

“All forces and means are ready so that people can evacuate from the unoccupied territory,” he said.

— Amanda Macias

Russian military sites in Crimea keep exploding, hinting at growing Ukrainian ambitions and abilities

Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea August 9, 2022.

Stringer | Reuters

Crimea is now at the heart of what appears to be an audacious Ukrainian effort to target Russian supply lines and morale. 

A series of blasts hit a Russian military depot in the annexed peninsula Tuesday — rocking the relaxed summer holiday destination for the second time in a week and suggesting a growing Ukrainian ability to strike deep behind enemy lines.

It’s a significant development that could shift the dynamics of the war as it nears the six-month mark, and which defies warnings from Moscow against attacking a region that holds deep strategic and symbolic value for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read more here.

— NBC NEWS

About 50 damaged bridges have been replaced, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister says

Ukraine’s Minister of Infrastructure said that about 50 bridges have been replaced after they were destroyed by Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine.

“We have restored about 50 of the 300 destroyed by war transport crossings,” wrote Oleksandr Kubrakov on Twitter.

Kubrakov also thanked the Czech government for donating bridges adding that two of the bridges had already been installed.

— Amanda Macias

Nearly 11 million Ukrainians have fled across the border to neighboring countries, U.N. says

A Ukrainian boy walks past temporary beds at a refugee center in Warsaw on April 19.

Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images

Nearly 11 million Ukrainians have fled across the border to neighboring countries since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the UN Refugee Agency estimates.

More than 3.8 million of those refugees have registered for temporary resident status in another country, according to data collected by the UN Refugee Agency.

“Millions of refugees from Ukraine have crossed borders into neighboring countries,” the agency wrote.

“The escalation of conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance,” the agency added.

— Amanda Macias

U.N. secretary-general will visit Ukraine’s port of Odesa this week

U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres speaks to the media at the U.N. headquarters in New York, April 13, 2022. Guterres on Monday called for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine to secure humanitarian corridors for evacuation and delivering of aid and medical assistance.

Xie E | Xinhua News Agency | Getty Images

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Lviv to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The trio will discuss the ongoing Black Sea Initiative that oversees the export of grains and other agricultural products from Ukraine.

Later in the week, Guterres will visit the port of Odesa, one of the Ukrainian ports reopened through the Black Sea Initiative.

— Amanda Macias

USAID provides $68 million the the World Food Program

Ukraine is one of the world’s top agricultural producers and exporters.

Bulent Kilic | AFP | Getty Images

The U.S. Agency for International Development will provide more than $68 million in additional funding to the United Nations World Food Program, administration Samantha Power announced.

Power said the funds will allow for the purchase, movement and storage of up to 150,000 metric tons of Ukrainian wheat.

“It’s essential that we continue to build on the progress we’ve seen over the last few weeks so that millions of tons of food currently in storage within the country is allowed to move freely out of Ukrainian ports and into the hands of people across the world struggling to find their next meal,” Power wrote in a statement.

Power said that so far, the U.S. has provided nearly $7.6 billion in response to the global food crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine.

— Amanda Macias

Russian shakes up Black Sea fleet command after series of blows in Crimea

Russian President Vladimir Putin visits the destroyer Vice-Admiral Kulakov at the Naval Base of Black Sea Fleet on September 23, 2014 in Novorossiysk, Russia.

Sasha Mordovets | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Russia’s Black Sea fleet based in annexed Crimea has installed a new commander, RIA news agency cited sources as saying, after Russian military bases on the peninsula were rocked by explosions in the past nine days.

If confirmed, the removal of the previous commander Igor Osipov would mark the most prominent sacking of a military official in the nearly six months since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in which it has suffered heavy losses in men and equipment.

State-owned RIA cited the sources as saying the new chief, Viktor Sokolov, was introduced to members of the fleet’s military council in the port of Sevastopol.

One source said it was “normal” that the appointment was not publicly announced at a time when Russia was conducting what it calls its special military operation in Ukraine.

The Black Sea Fleet, which has a revered history in Russia, has suffered several highly public humiliations in the course of the war that President Vladimir Putin launched on Feb. 24.

— Reuters

Russia displays weaponry and equipment captured in war with Ukraine

Here is a selection of images from an exhibition in Moscow of weaponry and equipment that were captured during the military conflict in Ukraine, according to the Russian defense ministry.

An M777 howitzer is on display during the exhibition of weaponry and equipment that, according to the Russian defence ministry, were captured during the military conflict in Ukraine, at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Moscow region, Russia August 17, 2022. 

Reuters

NLAW and Javelin anti-tank weapons systems are on display during the exhibition of weaponry and equipment that, according to the Russian defence ministry, were captured during the military conflict in Ukraine, at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Moscow region, Russia August 17, 2022. 

Reuters

An Australian-built Bushmaster armoured vehicle is on display during the exhibition of weaponry and equipment that, according to the Russian defence ministry, were captured during the military conflict in Ukraine, at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Moscow region, Russia August 17, 2022. 

Reuters

Remains of the Tochka-U missile are on display during the exhibition of weaponry and equipment that, according to the Russian defence ministry, were captured during the military conflict in Ukraine, at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Moscow region, Russia August 17, 2022. 

Reuters

A view shows the installation with a British AT-105 Saxon armoured vehicle during the exhibition of weaponry and equipment that, according to the Russian defence ministry, were captured during the military conflict in Ukraine, at the international military-technical forum Army-2022 at Patriot Congress and Exhibition Centre in the Moscow region, Russia August 17, 2022. 

Reuters

Chinese military to take part in joint exercises with Russia

The flags of China and Russia

Mladen Antonov | AFP | Getty Images

Chinese troops will take part in a joint exercise with Russia, the Chinese defense ministry said on Wednesday.

China’s participation in the joint exercises, called the “Vostok-2022” (or “East-2022”) exercises and which will take place in Russia, is “unrelated to the current international and regional situation,” the ministry said in a statement.

A number of other countries will alos take part including India, Belarus, Tajikistan, and Mongolia.

“China’s participation in the exercise is aimed at deepening practical and friendly cooperation with the armies of the participating countries, enhancing the level of strategic cooperation among the participating parties, and strengthening their ability to deal with various security threats,” the ministry added, and are part of an ongoing annual cooperation agreement, it said.

— Holly Ellyatt

Pro-Russian breakaway region cozies up to North Korea

Denis Pushilin, head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic, has reportedly pledged to increase cooperation with North Korea.

Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters

The leader of one of the pro-Russian breakaway regions in eastern Ukraine has reportedly pledged to increase cooperation with North Korea, echoing a similar sentiment from Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this week.

North Korean state news agency KCNA reported Wednesday that the secretive country’s leader, Kim Jong Un, had received a congratulatory message from Denis Pushilin, head of the so-called “People’s Republic of Donetsk” on Aug. 15, in which Pushilin congratulated Kim on the country’s national “Liberation Day” and expressed a hope to extend cooperation between North Korea and the separatist region.

“The message expressed the conviction that an equally beneficial bilateral cooperation agreeing with the interests of the peoples of the two countries will be achieved between the People’s Republic of Donetsk and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” KCNA reported.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un held talks in 2019.

Alexander Zemlianichenko | Afp | Getty Images

The “People’s Republic of Donetsk” is not a country and, while backed by Russia, has little legitimacy on the global stage.

Russia recognized the “independence” of the DPR, and the neighboring breakaway “republic” in Luhansk on Feb. 21 just days before its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on Feb. 24. But only North Korea and Syria, an ally of Russia, and two other pro-Russian breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, both in Georgia, followed suit.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russians’ security situation in Crimea is deteriorating, UK ministry says

Smoke billows and explosions erupt from a Russian munitions depot in Dzhankoi on August 16, 2022.

Marie-laure Messana | AFP | Getty Images

Recent explosions at Russian military facilities in Crimea are evidence of a deteriorating security situation for the Kremlin in a critical region that Russia has controlled since 2014, according to a British assessment released Wednesday.

Russian and Ukrainian officials said on Tuesday that a Russian ammunition dump exploded in northern Crimea near Dzhankoi, and smoke was also reported rising from Russia-controlled Gvardeyskoye Airbase in Crimea.

The British Ministry of Defence acknowledged that the causes behind the Dzhankoi and Gvardeyskoye events are still undetermined, “but Russian commanders will highly likely be increasingly concerned with the apparent deterioration in security across Crimea, which functions as [a] rear base area for the occupation.”

The press office of the Russian Defence Ministry did not immediately respond to a CNBC request for comment.

Moscow has blamed previous base explosions on lax safety practices or denied them outright, inviting ridicule from Ukraine and its supporters.

Russia invaded Crimea, then part of Ukraine, in 2014 after Ukrainian protesters and widespread civilian unrest ousted a Moscow-friendly government from Kyiv.

—Ted Kemp

‘Intense but fully controlled’ front line in Ukraine, commander says

The head of Ukraine’s armed forces has said that Russian forces continue to advance along the entire front line, which he described as “intense but fully controlled,” adding that Russia launches 700 to 800 attacks on Ukraine’s positions every day.

“The enemy continues to advance along the entire front line. At the same time, the enemy carries out approximately 700-800 shelling of our positions every day, using from 40 to 60 thousand [pieces of] ammunition,” Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi said in comments published on his Telegram channel after he had spoken to his Canadian counterpart General Wayne Donald Eyre.

“The enemy’s main efforts are concentrated on pushing our troops back from the Donetsk oblast [province],” he added.

Ukrainian servicemen train with commercial drones in Kharkiv Oblast, Ukraine, on Aug. 13, 2022.

Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

The port of Mykolaiv in southern Ukraine, the northeastern city of Kharkiv, Marganets and Nikopol near Zaporizhzhia in the south and Bereznehuvate, near Mykolaiv, were the most affected settlements by “hostile shelling,” he added.

He also said the positioning of missile systems along the Belarus-Ukraine border, in particular at the Zyabrovka airfield, “triggers concern.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Zelenskyy warns Ukrainians to avoid Russian military installations due to reports of explosions

Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea August 9, 2022.

Stringer | Reuters

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy asked people in Crimea and other heavily occupied areas of Ukraine to not go near Russian military installations amid reports of explosions.

“Every day and every night we see new reports of explosions on territory that is temporarily taken by the occupiers. And I am asking now all our people in Crimea, in other regions in the south of Ukraine, in occupied areas of Donbas and Kharkiv region to be very careful,” Zelenskyy said on the Telegram messaging app during an evening address.

“Please, do not go near the military installations of the Russian army and all those places where they store ammunition and equipment, where they place their headquarters,” he added.

— Amanda Macias

IKEA to liquidate Russian unit as part of sanctions-led pullout

A view of IKEA store in Russia’s capital Moscow on March 04, 2022.

Pavel Pavlov | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

Swedish furniture giant IKEA has decided to liquidate its Russian unit, limited liability company IKEA Dom, further scaling back its operations after more than a decade-long presence in the country, a corporate record showed on Tuesday.

IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture brand, shut down its stores in March and said it would sell factories, close offices and reduce its 15,000-strong workforce in Russia.

Ingka Group, IKEA stores owner and one of the world’s leading shopping center owners, however, has kept its “Mega” shopping malls in Russia open.

According to the record at Interfax news agency’s Spark database of Russian companies on Tuesday, Ingka Holding Europe B.V. decided to liquidate IKEA Dom where it is the sole owner. IKEA Dom was established in July 2006.

In June, Ingka Group said it was open to returning to Russia one day but the conditions were not in place right now. read more Ingka Group did not immediately reply to a Reuters request for a comment on Tuesday. 

— Reuters

U.N. secretary-general will visit Ukraine and meet with Zelenskyy

Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres speaks to press about war in Ukraine at the Security Council Stakeout of UN headquarters in New York City, United States on March 14, 2022.

Tayfun Coskun | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will travel to Lviv this week to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. The trio is expected to discuss the ongoing Black Sea Initiative to export grains from Ukraine.

“It’s a chance for [the Secretary General] to see firsthand the results of an initiative that he first presented when he went to Moscow,” U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said during a daily press briefing.

“An initiative that is so critically important to hundreds of millions of people, that is part of a bigger package, which includes the export of Russian grain and add fertilizer to market,” he added.

The secretary-general will also meet with Zelenskyy to dsicuss the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. He is not expected to speak with any Russian officials while on the U.N. mission.

Later in the week, Guterres will visit the port of Odesa.

— Amanda Macias

Macron speaks to Zelenskyy as concerns over a nuclear accident at Zaporizhzhia mount

Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, will have a more difficult time in his second mandate after losing his parliament majority.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to a French presidential office readout of a phone call between the leaders.

Macron expressed his concern about the threat posed by the Russian military’s actions near Ukrainian nuclear installations and called for the immediate withdrawal of these forces.

“[Macron] expressed his support for the proposal of the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency to send a mission on site as soon as possible, and the two presidents discussed the terms of such a mission,” according to the readout.

 The two leaders also discussed the export of Ukrainian agricultural products through a U.N.-brokered sea corridor.

— Amanda Macias

A roundup of the Ukrainian agricultural exports on their way to global ports

The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni, carrying Ukrainian grain, is seen in the Black Sea off Kilyos, near Istanbul, Turkey August 3, 2022.

Mehmet Caliskan | Reuters

The 21 vessels that have left Ukrainian ports are taking hundreds of thousands of metric tons of corn, wheat and other agricultural products around the world, according to the organization overseeing their export.

The Joint Coordination Center, a humanitarian initiative of Ukraine, Russia, the United Nations and Turkey, said the breakdown of exports includes the following:

  • 451,481 metric tons of corn
  • 50,300 metric tons of sunflower meal
  • 41,622 metric tons of wheat
  • 11,000 metric tons of soybeans
  • 6,000 metric tons of sunflower oil
  • 2,914 metric tons of sunflower seed

The group also said that the preliminary destinations for Ukrainian food exports are Turkey, Iran, South Korea, China, Ireland, Italy, Djibouti and Romania.

— Amanda Macias

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World

Isolation complication? US finds it’s hard to shun Russia

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WASHINGTON (AP) — The Biden administration likes to say Russia has become isolated internationally because of its invasion of Ukraine. Yet Moscow’s top officials have hardly been cloistered in the Kremlin. And now, even the U.S. wants to talk.

President Vladimir Putin has been meeting with world leaders, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, whose country is a NATO member. Meanwhile, his top diplomat, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, is jetting around the world, smiling, shaking hands and posing for photos with foreign leaders — including some friends of the U.S.

And on Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he wants to end months of top-level U.S. diplomatic estrangement with Lavrov to discuss the release of American detainees as well as issues related to Ukraine. The call has not been scheduled but is expected in coming days.

The handshakes and phone calls cast doubt on a core part of the U.S. strategy aimed at ending the Ukraine war: that diplomatic and economic isolation, along with battlefield setbacks, would ultimately force Russia to send its troops home.

Even as he announced plans for the call, Blinken continued to insist Russia is indeed isolated. He argued the travel of its top officials is purely damage control and a reaction to international criticism Moscow is facing for the Ukraine war.

U.S. officials say Russia is trying to shore up the few alliances it has left has left — some of which are American adversaries like Iran. But countries that are ostensibly U.S. partners, like Egypt and Uganda, are also warmly welcoming top Russians.

And after making the case since February that there’s no point in talking to Russia because Russia is not serious about diplomacy and cannot be trusted, the U.S. has conceded it needs to engage with Moscow as well.

The public outreach to Lavrov combined with the announcement of a “substantial proposal” to Russia to win the release of detained Americans Paul Whelan and Brittney Griner took many by surprise.

A Blinken-Lavrov conversation would be the highest-level contact between the U.S. and Russia since Feb. 15, before the Russian invasion, and could set the stage for possible in-person discussions, although administration officials say there are no plans for that.

The Kremlin presumably reveled in the news that the U.S. is now seeking engagement and will likely delay the process of arranging a call to gain maximum advantage.

“They are going to drag this out and try to humiliate us as much as they can,” said Ian Kelly, a retired career diplomat who served as U.S. ambassador to Georgia in the Obama and Trump administrations. “I don’t think it goes along with (the administration’s) overall policy.”

Kelly said the request for a call is “counterproductive to our broader effort to isolate Russia.”

“Other countries will look at this and say, ’Why shouldn’t we deal with Lavrov or the Russians more broadly?’” he said.

Already, Western appeals to convince Asian, African and Middle Eastern nations to shun Russia appear to have been ignored as Lavrov travels around the world.

Still, Blinken played down the importance of Lavrov’s globetrotting. He said it was a response to the cold reception Russia has gotten to Ukraine-related wheat and grain shortages now plaguing large portions of the developing world, particularly as a United Nations-backed agreement to free up those supplies has yet to be implemented.

“What I see is a desperate game of defense to try somehow to justify to the world the actions that Russia has taken,” Blinken said. “Somehow trying to justify what’s unjustifiable.”

U.S. and European officials point out that Russia has come under heavy criticism for the Ukraine invasion and the food and energy security shortages that have resulted.

Biden administration officials, including Blinken, have noted with satisfaction that Lavrov chose to leave a recent meeting of G-20 foreign ministers in Indonesia after listening to a litany of complaints from counterparts about the global impact of the war.

Despite that, there is no sign Russia will be excluded from major international events such as the ASEAN Regional Forum next week, the United Nations General Assembly in September, or a trio of leaders’ summits in Asia to be held in November.

Russia continues to maintain close ties with China, India and numerous developing countries throughout Asia and Africa. Many depend on Russia for energy and other exports, though they also rely on Ukraine for grain.

India hasn’t shunned Russia despite its membership in the so-called “Quad” with the U.S., Australia and Japan. With a longstanding close relationship with Russia, India has boosted energy imports from Russia despite pressure from the U.S. and Europe, which is moving away from Russian gas and oil.

India, for example, has used nearly 60 million barrels of Russian oil in 2022 so far, compared with only 12 million barrels in all of 2021, according to commodity data firm Kpler.

On the other side of the coin, the Philippines, a U.S. treaty ally, this week scrapped a deal to purchase 16 Russian military transport helicopters due to fears of possible U.S. sanctions.

The Russian foreign ministry has gleefully countered the assertions of Russia’s isolation by tweeting photographs of Lavrov in various world capitals.

Among the photos: Lavrov at the the G-20 meeting in Bali with the Chinese, Indian and Indonesian foreign ministers; in Uganda with President Yoweri Museveni, a longtime U.S. partner; and in Egypt with President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi, also a U.S. partner, whose country every year receives billions in dollars in American aid.

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Ashok Sharma in New Delhi and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed.

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Business

Turkeys inflation soars to 73% as food and energy costs skyrocket

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A man sells slippers in Eminonu on May 5, 2022, in Istanbul, Turkey. The country has enjoyed rapid growth for years, but President Erdogan has for years refused to meaningfully raise rates to cool the resulting inflation. The result has been a plummeting Turkish lira and far less spending power for the average Turk.

Burak Kara | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Turkey’s inflation for the month of May rose by an eye-watering 73.5% year on year, its highest in 23 years, as the country grapples with soaring food and energy costs and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s long-running unorthodox strategy on monetary policy.

Food prices in the country of 84 million rose 91.6% year on year, the country’s statistics agency reported, bringing into sharp view the pain that regular consumers face as supply chain problems, rising energy costs and Russia’s war in Ukraine feed into global inflation.

Turkey has enjoyed rapid growth for years, but Erdogan has for years refused to meaningfully raise rates to cool the resulting inflation, describing himself as a sworn enemy of interest rates. The result has been a plummeting Turkish lira and far less spending power for the average Turk.

Erdogan instructed the country’s central bank — which analysts say has no independence from him — to repeatedly slash borrowing rates last year even as inflation continued to rise. Central bank chiefs who expressed opposition to this course of action were fired; by the spring of 2021, Turkey’s central bank had seen four different governors in two years.

Turkish lira and U.S. dollar

Resul Kaboglu | NurPhoto via Getty Images

The Turkish president vowed to deliver a new economic model that would bring about a boom in export wealth thanks to a cheaper lira, and then tackle inflation by getting rid of Turkey’s longtime trade deficit. That has not happened, and now sky-high costs for energy imports that need to be paid in dollars — a lot more dollars, thanks to the weakness of the lira — are putting intense pressure on the economy.

Economic analysts expect the trajectory for Turkey’s inflation will only get worse.

“The laser focus on heterodox measures over conventional monetary policy will unlikely solve the inflation challenge and we anticipate levels breaching 80% y/y in Q3-22,” Ehsan Khoman, director of emerging markets research for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at MUFG Bank, wrote on Twitter following the release of figures.

Speaking to CNBC, Khoman added that he expects Turkey’s inflation to “stay north of 70% y/y until November owing to a confluence of elevated commodity prices, rising domestic production costs and a precipitously depreciating lira.”

“Turkey back in the inflation age of the 1990s. Looks as if Erdogan has lost his last econ credibility,” Holger Zschapitz, finance editor at German daily Die Welt, wrote on Twitter. “Erdogan’s unorthodox strategy for managing the country’s $790bn econ continued to backfire,” he wrote in another tweet.

The 73.5% figure for Turkey’s consumer price index is up from 70% the month before.

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