LIVE. Mayor: Dead and several injured in nightly drone attacks on Kiev – Lavrov: “Delivery of F16s to Ukraine is a nuclear threat” | War Ukraine and Russia

At least one person died and four people were injured in new nighttime drone attacks on the Ukrainian capital Kiev. The authorities announced this on Thursday morning.

Emergency services responded to calls from several neighborhoods in Kiev that were hit by explosions, the city’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, said. Explosions were heard here and there, fires broke out and there was damage to buildings.

In the Podilski district, the body of a deceased person was found after a fire in a house. Elsewhere, people were injured by falling debris.

It is already the third consecutive night of attacks on the city. The attack began around 1:30 am local time. The anti-aircraft guns were active and explosions were heard in several places in the city. The army command in Kiev speaks of a “massive attack”, in which Iranian-made Shahed drones flew in from several directions at the same time.

It is unknown how many drones were used in the attack. About ten were shot from the sky. Debris fell in several places in the city. A residential building, among others, was hit by falling pieces, which injured at least two people, authorities said.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says his country views the supply of modern fighter jets like the F16 to Ukraine by the West as a nuclear threat. Lavrov makes his warning in an interview with the Russian website Lenta.ru.

Lavrov points out that F16s can be equipped with nuclear weapons. “The very fact that such systems appear in the Ukrainian armed forces will be seen as a nuclear threat by the West,” he says. “The US and its NATO allies are creating the risk of a direct military confrontation with Russia, which could have catastrophic consequences.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been asking for modern fighter jets, especially F16s, since the start of the war over a year ago. Such fighter jets can be delivered as part of the security guarantees agreed by a number of NATO member states this week at an alliance summit with Ukraine. In May, the United States, which produces the F16, already allowed Ukrainian pilots to be trained to use the F16.

Ukraine does not have nuclear weapons and has never asked its Western allies to do so. According to Russian nuclear doctrine, Russia may only use nuclear weapons in two cases: if there is a nuclear attack on Russia, or if there is a conventional attack that threatens the very existence of the country.

Volodymyr Zelensky again rejected the transfer of territory to Russia. “Even if it is just a village where only one grandfather lives,” the Ukrainian president said during the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius on Wednesday.

Zelensky is convinced that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and US President Joe Biden will not commit treason against Kiev in doing so.

The Ukrainian president called the results of the NATO summit “good”, but noted that they would be optimal if Kiev received an invitation to join the treaty body. NATO said on Tuesday that Ukraine will receive the invitation if allies agree and the conditions are met. Even before that communiqué was published, Zelensky had criticized on Twitter that no concrete timing was given.

“Putin thought NATO would break – he thought wrong,” US President Joe Biden declared at the end of the NATO summit in Vilnius. NATO is “stronger, more energetic and more united” than at any time in its history, said Joe Biden. The relationship between Europe and the United States is an “anchor for global stability” for the president.

According to Biden, “Putin probably gambled on NATO breaking when he invaded Ukraine last year.” He thought Democratic leaders would be weak. He thought wrong,” Biden said to loud applause from the audience.

The US president also emphasized the importance of Europe’s security to the US in his speech. “The idea that the United States could prosper without a secure Europe is not reasonable,” Biden said.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace was one of the few politicians who dared to criticize support for Ukraine during the NATO summit in Vilnius. “You know, we’re not Amazon,” he said, referring to the US parcel service that delivers items to order.

Wallace made the statement after a journalist asked him for a response to the frustration of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, who wants a quick timeline for NATO accession. Wallace also referred to a visit to Kiev last year in his reply: “Then I was on the road for eleven hours to get a list handed over.”

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak later qualified his defense minister’s statement. “I understand that Volodymyr wants to do everything he can to protect his people and end this war,” Sunak said. “We will continue to offer all the help he can use with that.”

The United Kingdom has positioned itself as one of Ukraine’s staunchest allies since the beginning of the Russian invasion. According to Sunak, Zelensky has also repeatedly expressed his gratitude to London for its continued support.

The Wagner mercenary army led by Yevgeny Prigozhin has handed over masses of heavy weapons, military equipment and ammunition to the Russian Ministry of Defense. This was reported by a spokesman for the ministry. This includes 2,500 tons of ammunition and 2,000 examples of military equipment, including heavy weapons such as tanks and missiles.

All military equipment will now be maintained and then “used for its intended purpose,” the spokesman said. According to the ministry, many of the weapons have never been used. It also published a video of soldiers inspecting tanks, armored personnel carriers, boxes of ammunition, Kalashnikovs and mines.

The transfer follows the short-lived uprising of the Wagner group at the end of June. It ended with a deal for the mercenaries brokered by Belarusian president Aleksandr Lukashenko. The mercenaries could choose to join the regular forces, go to Belarus or go home.

NATO has shown itself “more united than ever” in supporting Ukraine. That is one of the conclusions made by Prime Minister Alexander De Croo after the NATO summit in Vilnius.

“The top is historic for two reasons,” De Croo told Belga. For example, Finland was present for the first time as the 31st member of the treaty organization and Turkey has decided to drop its opposition to Swedish membership. “Those were two countries (…) that it was assumed would never join NATO.”

The second reason is the “very clear message of support for Ukraine”. According to De Croo, the allies gave Kiev the “implicit message” that Ukraine will join NATO. “Once there is peace, you can get the ultimate guarantee of peace and that is being a member of NATO,” he said.

According to the prime minister, the support of the Allies for Ukraine shows that “we realize that it could be quite a long road”. Several countries offered security guarantees to Kiev, he said. In addition, the G7 came up with a new framework to help Ukraine “liberate itself step by step”.

At the summit, Belgium made no new announcements of support. Our country is currently implementing what was previously decided, the prime minister explained.

The Turkish parliament will ratify Sweden’s accession to NATO as soon as possible, but at best not before October. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said this on Wednesday after the NATO summit in Vilnius.

“There is a two-month parliamentary leave,” said the Turkish president. “There are many international agreements to study, many bills to be discussed in order of importance,” he stressed. “We intend to complete that as early as possible,” he assured.

On Monday evening, ahead of the summit in the Lithuanian capital, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg announced that Erdogan had agreed to submit Sweden’s accession protocols to parliament for ratification as soon as possible. With that, Erdogan abandoned his resistance after more than a year.