​A senior NATO official has apologized a day after publicly saying Ukraine could cede territory to Russia in exchange for joining NATO and ending the war. “My statement on this matter was part of a larger discussion about possible future scenarios in Ukraine, and I should not have said that. It was a mistake,” said the chief of staff of NATO Secretary General Stian Jenssen.

Highlights of the war in Ukraine, day 540, LIVETEXT:

08:02 Ukraine will not be able to operate American F-16 fighter jets in the fall and winter, Ukrainian Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ignat said on Ukrainian television, Reuters reports.

“It is already obvious that we will not be able to protect Ukraine with F-16 fighters in the fall and winter. We had high hopes for this aircraft, that it would become a part of air defense capable of protecting us from missiles and drones of Russian terrorists,” said Ignat.

What else can Russia do to preserve the ruble?

07:48 A senior NATO official apologized and clarified his remarks a day after he publicly said Ukraine could cede territory to Russia in exchange for NATO membership and an end to the war.

Stian Jenssen, chief of staff to NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, told a Norwegian newspaper that he should not have been so simplistic after his initial remarks drew an angry reaction from Kyiv.

07:13 What else can Russia do to save the ruble? From currency interventions to “creative taxes”

01:10 The Ukrainian army said on Wednesday that it had pushed Russian troops out of the village of Urozhayne in eastern Donetsk region, but at the same time acknowledged that the situation was worsening in the northeastern part of the front, where the Russian army is conducting counterattacks. .

00:46 Wagner’s mercenaries say they are waiting for only one thing: “an order to storm Kyiv”

00:23 VIDEO Russia exhibited in Moscow Western armored vehicles, “trophies” captured during the war in Ukraine

A brief summary of recent events:

• The armed forces of Ukraine officially announced on Wednesday the liberation of the village of Urozhayne, one of the redoubts fortified by the Russians to defend the road to Mariupol. New footage of Russian soldiers shot down on the run appeared on social networks.
• The container ship broke through the Russian blockade of the Odesa port: the ship had been there since February 2022.
• Germany’s government has dropped plans to make a legal commitment to meet NATO member states’ target of spending the equivalent of 2 percent of gross domestic product on military spending, a government source told Reuters on Wednesday.
• The Embassy of Ukraine in Romania appeals to the population to stop filming and posting on social networks images of Russian drone attacks on Ukrainian ports on the Danube, “so as not to increase the threat to the lives of people who work and live in the cities of the region.” Russia again attacked Ukrainian ports on the Danube with drones. Governor: Grain silos were damaged.
• “Sea Baby”, the new Ukrainian naval drone / SBU showed footage of the attack on the Kerch Bridge.
• Romania’s Defense Ministry said on Wednesday that it “did not detect any threats of a military nature to the national territory”, MApN’s response came after a new attack by Russian army drones on Ukrainian ports on the Danube.
• In the first 7 months of the year, more than 8 million tons of Ukrainian grain passed through the port of Constanta / Shipments slowed down sharply in July.
• Russian bombardment of Ukraine’s port infrastructure is an attack on “world food security,” Volodymyr Zelenskyi said on Wednesday evening.
• Moscow Mayor Serhiy Sobyanin said on Wednesday that nearly 45,000 Muscovites are now fighting in Ukraine, giving a rare assessment of some of the forces Russia has deployed on Ukrainian soil.
• The raid of the Russian fleet in the Black Sea on the cargo ship “Shukru Okan”, which happened near the Turkish coast, is testing the patience of President Recep Erdogan.
• The Russian private company of mercenaries (PVK “Wagner”) was registered in Belarus as an educational organization, according to the Unified State Register.
• Carlsberg is “shocked” by the seizure of its Russian business last month and the brewer has no idea what will happen next, its chief executive said on Wednesday.
• Three Russian journalists, known for their stance against the authorities in Moscow, were allegedly poisoned in Germany, the Czech Republic and Georgia, according to an investigation by the Russian opposition media The Insider.

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• Wednesday’s events related to Russian aggression were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro