Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said grain exports through the Black Sea safe-passage corridor would continue, as foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations prepared to meet in Germany to discuss Ukraine’s plight, including Russian attacks on water and power supplies.

A senior occupation official said Moscow’s troops will “most likely” pull out of the city of Kherson, which Russia captured early in its invasion, and move to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River. Russia and Ukraine conducted a prisoner swap, with each side handing over 107 POWs.

Key developments

• Turkey unlikely to sign off on Swedish Nato bid before year-end
• EU studies use of Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine
• Wheat extends slump as Russia resumes Ukraine grain-export deal
• How Ukrainians are protecting their centuries-old culture from Putin’s invasion

On the ground

The areas of Bakhmut and Avdiyivka in the Donetsk region remained the tensest on the front line, Serhiy Cherevatyi, spokesperson for the eastern operational command, said on TV. Constant position battles were taking place there and Ukrainian troops were holding the defence line, he said. Due to a lack of strategy and training, the losses of Russian troops had risen to 100 people killed and as many wounded per day.

A Russian drone damaged an energy facility in the city of Kryvyi Rih in central Ukraine late on Wednesday, leaving several districts without electricity and water, Mayor Oleksandr Vilkul said on Telegram. 

Zelensky says he won’t ‘participate’ in G20 if Putin attends

Ukraine’s president said he’s unlikely to participate in the G20 meeting in Bali, Indonesia, this month if Russian President Vladimir Putin attends.

Volodymyr Zelensky said he’d received a follow-up invitation to the gathering from Indonesia’s president when the pair spoke by phone on Thursday. Joko Widodo met separately with Zelensky and Putin in late June.

“My position and that of Ukraine is the same — if the leader of the Russian Federation participates, Ukraine will not participate,” Zelensky said in Kyiv. It’s unclear whether Putin will travel from Moscow to the 15-16 November meeting, or attend virtually.

EU studies use of Russian central bank assets to rebuild Ukraine  

The European Union is studying the feasibility of using billions of euros worth of Russian central bank assets already frozen by member states to help with Ukraine’s reconstruction efforts, according to people familiar with the matter.

Zelensky meets two US senators

Ukraine’s president met two US senators on Thursday, Democrat Chris Coons of Delaware and Republican Rob Portman of Ohio. Both are members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The meeting comes less than a week before the US midterm elections, where Republicans may capture both chambers of Congress, potentially complicating White House efforts to provide assistance to Ukraine at the same level.

No signs of ‘dirty bomb’ in Ukraine, says UN atomic agency

Agency inspectors have completed in-field verification at three locations in Ukraine at the request of the Ukrainian government, with no indications of undeclared nuclear activities found, the UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Ukraine requested the inspections after Russia made allegations this month about the possible production of “dirty bombs” at facilities in Kyiv, Zhovti Kody and Dnipro.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter that the inspections “helped counter Russian falsehoods”.

Finland ‘has no plan’ to host nuclear warheads

Finland has no plan to host nuclear warheads on its territory when it joins the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, and no such offer has been made to the Nordic nation, Defence Minister Antti Kaikkonen and Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto told reporters in Helsinki.

The ministers reiterated that while Finland intends to join the alliance with no opt-outs, it has very specific laws when it comes to nuclear substances, and the government isn’t currently proposing any changes.

Finland’s 1,340km border with Russia is the longest of any EU member.

Russia, Ukraine swap another 107 prisoners 

Another 107 Ukrainian prisoners were released from Russian captivity on Thursday in a swap, Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukraine’s president, said on Telegram.

The number includes 74 veterans of the siege of Mariupol, he said. One of the returning servicemen was wounded in an explosion in a POW camp in Olenivka in July. At least 50 Ukrainian prisoners were killed in the incident, which authorities in Kyiv and Moscow blame on each other.

Russia’s Defence Ministry said 107 of its servicemen were handed over on Thursday, without offering details. Those released would be flown to Moscow for medical treatment and rehabilitation, it said on Telegram.

Ukrainian Parliament approves 2023 Budget

The Budget was backed by 295 members of Parliament in its second and final reading, legislator Yaroslav Zheleznyak said on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Cabinet cut its 2023 economic growth forecast to 3.2% from 4.6%, according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal. Inflation is seen at 28%, and the nation’s Budget deficit will exceed 20% of the GDP. Ukraine seeks to attract $38-billion from international partners to help cover the Budget gap.

Ukrainian grid operator seeks financing for urgent repairs 

Ukrenergo, the Ukrainian grid operator, has asked the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development to provide financing for emergency repairs of equipment damaged by Russian air strikes over the past month, the lender said by email.

Ukraine needs to purchase transformers and equipment to restore its high-voltage transmission grid, some 40% of which has sustained damage from weeks of Kremlin missile and drone attacks.

Separately, Switzerland plans to provide 100 million francs ($99-million) in aid “in particular for projects financing the urgent rehabilitation of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”, including the purchase of spare parts. 

Russian forces ‘likely’ to leave Kherson, says occupation official 

Russian troops will “most likely” pull out of the annexed city of Kherson and move to the eastern bank of the Dnipro River, an occupation official said, as Ukrainian forces step up pressure in the area.

“Most likely, our units, our forces will move to the left bank part of the Kherson region and those people who haven’t already should get out of the city of Kherson as fast as possible,” Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian occupation administration, said in an online interview with state media.

Though he said Russia’s defensive line was holding, Kyiv’s forces have made steady gains there in recent weeks, cutting off bridges across the Dnipro River. The city of Kherson lies on the west, or right, bank, while the rest of the Kherson region is to the east. Kherson was captured by Kremlin troops in the early days of Russia’s invasion.

Russian central bank denies that its systems were hacked 

The Bank of Russia said it had found no evidence that its systems had been hacked, pushing back on a claim made on Telegram by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for digital transformation.

“We checked the archive published by the hackers. All these documents were on the internet in the public domain,” the central bank’s press service said in a statement. “No information systems of the Bank of Russia were  hacked.”

Fedorov said earlier that Ukrainian cyberwarfare volunteers hacked into the central bank’s internal networks and posted a link to what he said were 27,000 files obtained by the so-called IT Army of Ukraine.

About 120 ships still in queue for grain corridor

While the queue has shrunk, about 120 vessels are still waiting for inspections in order to transit the Ukrainian crop-export corridor, according to an update from the United Nations. Most are waiting to head inbound for loading in Ukraine.

The Black Sea crop export deal requires ships to be inspected in Istanbul before and after transiting Ukraine ports. A delegation from Russia rejoined the checks on Thursday, the UN said, the day after its government opted to resume participation in the pact.

Ukraine set for more EU funds in January 

Ukraine could receive the first payment of a new European Union financial package in January, according to a senior EU official. There is broad support among member states to move quickly and to accelerate the national procedures to approve the funds as much as possible, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions are private.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, is expected to present next week a mechanism to provide around €18-billion in liquidity support to Ukraine next year in a more predictable and stable manner. A total of €3-billion promised last May still needs to be approved by member states, although they could be released as part of the new package, the official added.

Microsoft pledges $100m in tech support

Microsoft will provide Ukraine with tech support worth $100-million next year, bringing the total to over $400-million since the Russian invasion, Vice-Chair and President Brad Smith said at the Web Summit in Lisbon.

Microsoft withdrew from Russia after the war started and has provided government agencies, critical infrastructure and other sectors in Ukraine access to its digital infrastructure and the Microsoft Cloud.

Russia steps up air raids amid logistics problems

Russia increased air raids from Crimea over Ukrainian territory as its artillery positioned on the right bank of the Dnipro river increasingly faces problems with supplies, military spokesman Oleksiy Hromov said in a video briefing.

Ukrainian air defences downed four Russian military jets and nine helicopters over the past seven days, he said. Ukraine also shot down two-thirds of missiles and 40% of alleged Iranian drones launched by Russia over the same period. Russian forces had fired 68 missiles and used 30 Shahed-136 drones against Ukraine since 27 October, according to Hromov. 

Eight ships due through grain corridor on Thursday, says UN

Eight ships were scheduled to transit through the Ukraine crop export corridor on Thursday, according to a United Nations spokesperson for the Black Sea Grain Initiative. That includes seven outbound ships, plus one inbound.

The moves come after Russia’s announcement on Wednesday that it would resume its participation in the Ukraine grain deal, abruptly reversing course after suspending it over the weekend. The disruption had spurred a temporary halt to vessel traffic through the channel. Ukraine exported 10 million tonnes of foodstuffs to 43 countries since the deal took effect, Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said.

Ukrainian electricity cutoffs continue

Ukraine’s power grid operator Ukrenergo continued electricity cutoffs in 10 out of the country’s 24 regions, excluding annexed Crimea, as the war-torn nation struggled to fix heavy damage inflicted by Russia’s air attacks since last month.

Emergency blackouts were extended to Thursday from the previous day in the Kirovohrad, Zaporizhzhia and Dnipropetrovsk regions, while scheduled power cutoffs lasting several hours persisted in another seven northern and central regions, and in the capital Kyiv. Ukraine says 40% of its energy infrastructure has been damaged by Russia’s missile attacks.

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant loses all external power again 

The last two high-voltage power lines that connected the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to the national grid were damaged by Russian shelling on Wednesday, Ukraine’s nuclear operator Energoatom said on Telegram. The plant is now supplied by diesel generators, with fuel inventories sufficient to cover their work in complete blackout mode for 15 days, according to the statement.

Energoatom reiterated its appeal to the international community for urgent measures to demilitarise the plant, saying that Ukraine’s capabilities of ensuring security there are limited. DM