Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president, expressed his confidence that UK policy toward Ukraine won’t change anytime soon in response to Boris Johnson’s announcement that he would step down as prime minister.

The price of natural gas in Europe has continued to rise due to the threat of a Russian disruption. With speculation growing that it won’t resume full service, Germany, the biggest economy in Europe, prepared as the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, the main route into the continent, was set to shut down next week for annual maintenance.

Foreign ministers from the Group of 20 countries started to arrive for the two-day meeting in Bali, which is expected to be dominated by Russia’s war. Following the release of a Russian ship by Turkish authorities that Kyiv claimed was transporting grain seized from an occupied port, Turkey’s ambassador was summoned by Ukraine, which cited a “unacceptable situation.”

Important Events

• Demand from Germany’s Habeck to Canada: Stop Putin’s Gas Excuses
• Ukraine War Interruptions Europe’s Aspirations for Clean Energy
• US and Allies Talk About Capping Russian Oil at $40-$60 a Barrel
• Scholz Charges Putin With Using Natural Gas Shipments As Weaponry War-Weary Russian Tech Talent Floods Into Neighboring Countries Georgia
• Russia avoids the worst recession fears as oil eases the effects of sanctions on the country’s economy

On Thursday, a Russian missile struck the Donetsk city of Kramatorsk; the mayor of the city reported casualties. According to local authorities, Russia launched a missile attack on the Odesa region overnight, destroying two agricultural facilities and hitting Snake Island, a strategic outpost off the Black Sea coast that Moscow’s forces abandoned a week ago. Early on Thursday, Ukrainian forces hoisted the flag of their country over the island. The Moldovan-flagged tanker “Millennial Spirit,” which has been at sea for four months after being shelled at the beginning of the conflict, was also hit. According to Ukraine’s General Staff, Russian forces made an effort to fully control Luhansk in the east.

Like all of Ukraine, Zmiinyi Island (also known as Snake Island) is a place of freedom.

The valiant Ukrainian soldiers liberate our lands piece by piece until all of the tranquil cities and villages can see “?” in the sky.

@Andriy Yermak

StandWithUkraine️

via the Android app for Twitter.

Johnson of CNN UK is a “true friend of Ukraine,” according to Zelenskiy (3 p.m.)

While describing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson as “a true friend of Ukraine,” President Voldymyr Zelenskiy told CNN that he is confident that the UK’s policy toward the troubled country won’t change.

According to Zelensky, Ukraine benefited greatly from its relationship with Johnson, chief among them being military assistance. He made this statement in an interview with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer on Thursday.

President of Ukraine Meets With Blumenthal and Graham (2:20 p.m.)

Senators Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, a Democrat, and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, a Republican, met with Zelenskiy on Thursday in Kyiv.

The head of Ukraine assured the two that he relies on Congress’s backing to keep supplying cutting-edge air defense systems. A day earlier, he had stated that Western artillery has “finally” “started working very powerfully” for Ukraine.

According to Zelenskiy, he wants to “permit women with children to return home by September 1” when the new academic year in Ukraine begins.

EU Parliament Approves Loan to Ukraine of 1 Billion Euros (2:04 p.m.)

According to a statement on the website of the EU parliament, the loan will help with Ukraine’s “acute funding gap made worse by war.”

“Ukraine’s external financing needs have skyrocketed as a result of the Russian invasion: in addition to the country losing access to the global financial markets, the invasion has caused enormous damage to roads, bridges, factories, homes, hospitals, and other physical infrastructure.” The loan has been approved and is the first installment of Kyiv’s planned 9 billion euro macrofinancial assistance.

To aid in moving Ukraine’s grain, Poland may construct a terminal (1:36 p.m.)

According to the agriculture ministry, Poland is thinking about constructing a sizable grain terminal to aid in transporting Ukrainian grain to the Baltic port of Gdansk for export. Poland sees an opportunity to use 15 trains equipped with special adapters in order to avoid having to switch between different track gauges between nations. Another suggestion is to simplify veterinary procedures.

Polish tour operator’s flights are launched by a Ukrainian airline (1:05 p.m.)

According to an email from the company, Ukrainian International Airlines began charter flights this month for Polish tour operator Itaka. At Katowice Airport in southern Poland, a Ukrainian Boeing 737-900 will be based and maintained by four Ukrainian crews.

Flights from Katowice to locations near the Mediterranean, Red Sea, and the Canary Islands will be operated by Ukrainian International.

Regarding the released Russian vessel, Ukraine summons the Turkish ambassador (11:02 a.m.)

Following the release by Turkish authorities of a Russian-flagged vessel that Kyiv claimed was transporting grain seized from the Ukrainian port of Berdyansk, Ukraine summoned the Turkish ambassador, citing a “unacceptable situation.”

The Foreign Ministry issued a statement on Thursday stating that “the Ukrainian side has received this information with deep disappointment” and requesting an investigation and “a comprehensive answer” to the incidents.

The office of the chief prosecutor in Ukraine requested last week that Ankara hold the Zhibek Zholy and seize its approximately 7,000 tons of grain.

Canada is urged by Germany’s Habeck to release the turbine (10:31 a.m.)

Robert Habeck, the vice chancellor of Germany, publicly pleaded with Canada to free a turbine that is essential for gas flows but is being held hostage by Russian sanctions. In order to remove Putin’s justification for keeping the conduit closed, he asserted that the equipment for the Nord Stream 1 pipeline needs to be returned before maintenance work starts on Monday.

I’ll be the first to advocate for more robust EU sanctions, but robust sanctions must hurt and harm Putin and Russia more than they help our economy, according to Habeck, who spoke to Bloomberg. “Therefore, I ask for your understanding that we must deny Putin the use of this turbine justification.”

Romania reopens a rail line from the Soviet era to help Ukraine’s grain sales (9:53 a.m.)

In order to boost crucial grain exports from its neighbor, Romania reopened a Soviet-era rail link connecting its Danube River port of Galati to Ukraine a month earlier than anticipated. Ukraine grain exports, which were prevented from leaving important Black Sea ports, have been limited to road, river, and rail routes to European nations, with shipments occurring at a pace significantly slower than usual.

Western Weaponry Having an Impact, According to Zelenskiy (9 a.m.)

The president of Ukraine declared that Western artillery has “started working very powerfully” to support Kyiv’s troops as they resist Russian aggression.

“Its accuracy is just what is required. On depots and other key locations for the occupiers’ logistics, our defenders inflict very noticeable damage. In his daily video address to the nation on Wednesday, Volodymyr Zelenskiy said that this “significantly reduces the offensive potential of the Russian army.”

Zelenskey claimed that a Russian missile strike destroyed significant portions of Kharkiv’s National Pedagogical University on Wednesday. He declared, “When it comes to what barbarism is, this strike fits the bill the most.”

European Gas Continues Rally as Market Supply Shocks (8:55 a.m.)

The longest streak of daily gains for natural gas in Europe in more than nine months was about to begin as persistent concerns about further supply cuts by Moscow spread throughout the market.

Benchmark futures increased by as much as 4.7 percent for a seventh straight day, more than doubling in value over the previous month. Because of Russia’s tightening control over energy supplies, the crisis has also caused power prices to reach all-time highs, raising the possibility that Europe won’t be able to keep the lights and heat on this winter.

Europe’s Clean Energy Plan Is Shortcircuited by the Ukraine War (6:12 a.m.)

The European Union’s “Fit for 55” plan for decarbonization has been scaled back by a number of nations as a result of Putin’s invasion of Ukraine in order to make up for reductions in Russian fuel supplies. Since February, the number of tons of coal burned in Europe has increased. Additionally, new LNG terminals and gas pipeline extensions have been planned.

The European Commission’s climate plan, which was unveiled in July, called for tightening the country’s cap-and-trade system for carbon emission permits, increasing the use of renewable energy, and eventually phase-out internal combustion engine vehicles in order to reduce emissions by 55 percent from 1990 levels by 2030. The extent to which those goals were dependent on gas delivered from Russia has been made clear by the conflict in Ukraine.

Putin is charged by Scholz with using gas deliveries as a weapon (8:30 p.m.)

The remarks from the German chancellor come as his nation prepares for the possibility of further reductions in gas flows, with the main gas pipeline to Europe, the Nord Stream pipeline, scheduled to close for maintenance the following week. There are growing worries that the pipeline won’t be fully operational again after the work.

At a meeting of the BEE renewable energy business association in Berlin, Scholz said, “Germany has relied on energy deliveries from Russia for too long and in an unfair manner. “We must acknowledge that Russia uses energy as a weapon today. Nobody actually thinks that Russia is cutting back on its gas supplies for purely technical reasons, Scholz continued.

US and Allies Talk About Setting a $40-$60 Floor on Russian Oil Prices (5:40 p.m.)

The US and its allies have been looking into strategies to reduce Russian oil exports while having the least amount of an impact on their own economies. The range starts at what is thought to be Russia’s marginal cost of production and ends with the cost of its oil prior to the invasion on February 24.

When a cap is agreed upon, the market conditions would determine a more precise threshold, and those conditions could change significantly. The intention is to reduce Moscow’s income from its war in Ukraine, but there is a chance that poorly carried out measures could cause an increase in oil prices.