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The war in Ukraine, which broke out in February 2022 with Moscow's invasion of its neighbor, shows no sign of ending as both sides intensify attacks to gain control of contested regions.
Read our latest updates here. For all our coverage, visit our Ukraine war page .
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Note: Nikkei Asia decided in March 2022 to suspend its reporting from Russia until further information becomes available regarding the scope of the revised criminal code. Entries include material from wire services and other sources.
Here are the latest developments:
Sunday, Aug. 20 (Tokyo time)
10:12 p.m. The Netherlands and Denmark have committed to giving F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine once conditions for the transfer are met, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte says as Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits the country. Rutte says the Netherlands has 42 F-16s available, but it is too early to say whether all of them will be donated.
Zelenskyy calls the pledge -- the first real promise of F-16s for Ukraine's armed forces -- a "breakthrough agreement."
7:10 p.m. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy arrived in the Netherlands on Sunday in an ongoing push to boost Ukraine's air defenses, days after the United States approved the possible delivery of F-16 fighter jets by the Netherlands and Denmark. The Netherlands, together with Denmark, has in recent months led international efforts to train Ukrainian pilots for F-16s and to ultimately deliver the jets to help counter the air superiority of Russia, whose forces invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
"The main issue is F-16 for Ukraine to protect our people from Russian terror. We are getting stronger," Zelenskyy said in a post on Telegram.
6:00 a.m. Training has begun for Ukrainians to operate U.S. F-16 fighter jets, but it will take at least six months, or possibly longer, to complete, Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov says, two days after a U.S. official said the fighter jets would be transferred to Ukraine once its pilots were trained.
Reznikov says six months of training is considered the minimum for pilots, but it was not yet known how long it would take to train engineers and mechanics. Ukraine wants the sophisticated U.S.-made warplanes so it can counter the air superiority of Russia. "Therefore, to build reasonable expectations, set a minimum of six months in your mind, but do not be disappointed if it is longer," he says in a TV interview.
Saturday, Aug. 19
8:30 p.m. Seven people, including a 6-year-old child, are killed and more than 120 wounded by a Russian missile attack in the northern city of Chernihiv, according to the Ukrainian interior ministry.
"A Russian missile hit right in the center of the city, in our Chernihiv. A square, the polytechnic university, a theatre," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who is on a working visit to Sweden, posts on Telegram.
7:15 p.m. A Ukrainian drone targeted a military airfield in Russia's Novgorod region, causing a fire and damaging one warplane, Russia's Defense Ministry says. According to the ministry, nobody had been hurt and the fire was quickly extinguished.
5:30 p.m. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Sweden, saying he is there to meet with Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, the royal family and other officials to thank them for supporting Ukraine amid Russia's invasion.
Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting with members of the Security Council via video link at the Kremlin in Moscow on Aug. 11. (Sputnik via Reuters) 1:30 p.m. President Vladimir Putin visited the commander of Russia's operation in Ukraine and other top military brass, the Kremlin says, a meeting that came after Ukraine claimed counteroffensive gains on the southeastern front. "Vladimir Putin held a meeting at the headquarters of the special military operation group in Rostov-on-Don," the Kremlin said in a statement. Russia, which launched its invasion in Ukraine in February 2022, calls its actions a special military operation. The Kremlin added that Putin, Russia's supreme commander-in-chief, listened to reports from Valery Gerasimov, the chief of the General Staff of the Army in charge of Moscow's operations in Ukraine, and other top military commanders and officers.
Friday, Aug. 18
4:30 p.m. Russian air defenses shot down a Ukrainian drone over central Moscow early Friday and some fragments fell on an exposition center, officials says. The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the drone was shot down at about 4 a.m. and there were no injuries or fire caused by the fragments. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said some of the fragments fell on the grounds of the Expocentre, an exhibition complex adjacent to the Moscow City commercial and office complex that was hit twice by drones in the past month. The area is about 4 km (2.5 miles) west of the Kremlin.
Police officers at the 'Moscow City' business district, where a drone was shot down in the early hours of Aug. 18. © AP 4:00 p.m. The U.S. has approved sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands to defend against Russian invaders as soon as pilot training is completed, a U.S. official says. Ukraine has actively sought the U.S.-made F-16 fighter jets to help it counter Russian air superiority. Washington gave Denmark and the Netherlands official assurances that America would expedite approval of transfer requests for F-16s to go to Ukraine when the pilots were trained, the official said. "We welcome Washington's decision to pave the way for sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine," Dutch Foreign Minister Wopke Hoekstra said on messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.
Dutch Air Force F-16 fighter jets fly during a media day on July 4, 2023. © Reuters 5:28 a.m. Ukraine has received two IRIS-T air defense systems from Germany, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an address, reports Reuters.
Thursday, Aug. 17
4:18 p.m. Ukraine in the first half of August exported 820,000 tonnes of grain via its ports on the Danube River, which is currently its main export route, reports Reuters, citing the APK-Inform consultancy. Ukraine traditionally exports most of its grain using its deep-water Black Sea ports of Odesa and Mykolaiv, but it was forced to switch to the Danube after Russia pulled out of a U.N.-brokered Black Sea grain deal in mid-July.
A granary destroyed in a Russian drone attack at a Danube River port near Odesa, Ukraine on Aug. 16. (Odesa Regional Administration Press Office via AP) 5:00 a.m. Russian drones pounded grain storage facilities and ports along the Danube River that Ukraine has increasingly relied on as an alternative transport route to Europe after Moscow broke off a key wartime shipping agreement using the Black Sea. At the same time, a loaded container ship stranded at the Black Sea port of Odesa since Russia's full-scale invasion more than 17 months ago set sail along a temporary corridor established by Ukraine for merchant shipping.
3:47 a.m. Sweden's government says it had instructed the National Board of Trade to explore whether a rise in exports to countries bordering Russia was triggered by attempts to circumvent sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, reports Reuters.
Wednesday, Aug. 16
4:00 p.m. Russia's exit from the Black Sea grain deal nearly a month ago is a shock for 345 million people who were already facing severe food insecurity, the executive director of the World Food Programme says in an interview.
Cindy McCain, who spoke with Nikkei Asia during a visit to Fiji and Australia, accuses Moscow of "using food as a weapon of war." Read more .
A marine station building destroyed during a Russian drone strike in Izmail, Ukraine, on Aug. 2. © Reuters 9:30 a.m. Ukraine's air force says a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube River and headed toward the Izmail port across the river from Romania. Social media groups reported hearing air defense systems firing in the area near two Danube ports -- Izmail and Reni. Ukraine's Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia pulled out of a U.N.-backed deal to provide safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea.
Tuesday, Aug. 15
6:05 p.m. Russian airstrikes hit two western regions of Ukraine bordering NATO member Poland and other areas, killing three people and wounding more than a dozen, Ukrainian officials said. Local media said the attacks were the largest air assault on the Lviv region since the Russian invasion in February 2022. The fatalities were reported in the northwestern region of Volyn. Officials said an industrial enterprise in the regional capital Lutsk was struck in the overnight attack. Several people were also hospitalized, Gov. Yuriy Pohulyaiko said.
5:51 p.m. Russia on Tuesday fined social media site Reddit for the first time for not deleting "banned content" that it said contained "fake" information about Russia's military campaign in Ukraine, RIA reported, citing a Moscow court. Reddit joins a list of sites under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, including Wikimedia, streaming service Twitch and Google. RIA said the court had fined Reddit 2 million rubles ($20,365). Reddit did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
Russia's rouble plummeted below the threshold of 100 to the U.S. dollar on Aug.14. © Reuters 4:36 p.m. Russia's central bank raised its key interest rate by 350 basis points (3.50 percentage points) to 12%, an emergency move to try to halt the ruble's recent slide after a public call from the Kremlin for tighter monetary policy. The extraordinary rate meeting came after the ruble plummeted below the threshold of 100 to the U.S. dollar on Monday, dragged down by the impact of Western sanctions on Russia's balance of trade and as military spending soars.
Monday, Aug. 14
11:56 p.m. The U.S. will send Ukraine new security assistance valued at $200 million, including air defense munitions, artillery rounds, anti-armor capabilities and additional mine-clearing equipment, Secretary of State Antony Blinken says in a statement.
11:20 p.m. The Bank of Russia will hold an emergency meeting after the Russian currency touched a nearly 17-month low of more than 101 rubles to the dollar. The meeting "will be held to consider the issue of the key rate level," the central bank says.
Russia's current-account surplus is shrinking on a combination of falling crude oil prices and the impact of Western sanctions. A weakening ruble is putting upward pressure on Russian consumer prices.
Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu attends a meeting in Moscow on April 16. (Sputnik via Reuters) 4:00 p.m. Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu will visit Russia and Belarus from Aug. 14 to 19, the ministry says. While in Russia, Li will attend an international security meeting and make a speech there, according to the ministry. He will also meet with leaders from Russia's national defense department. During his visit to Belarus, Li will meet with the country's head of state and military. China and Russia have strengthened military ties, conducting joint patrols and military exercises. He met with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow in April, vowing to strengthen military cooperation. In July, Li met with the head of Russia's navy in Beijing.
Firefighters work to put out a fire in a supermarket, during a Russian drone and missile strike in Odesa, Ukraine, in this photo released on Aug. 14. (Defense Forces Southern Ukraine via Reuters) 1:30 p.m. At least three people were wounded in two waves of Russian drone and missile attacks overnight on the port city of Odesa, an official and the military in the Ukrainian region on the Black Sea says. "As a result of the enemy attack in Odesa, several fires broke out from falling rocket fragments," the governor, Oleh Kiper, said on the Telegram messaging app. "Windows in buildings were blown out by the blast wave." Ukraine's armed forces command in the south said that its air defense forces destroyed all 15 drones and eight Kalibr-type sea-based missiles that Russia launched at the port.
5:00 a.m. A Russian warship on Sunday fired warning shots at a cargo ship in the southwestern Black Sea as it made its way north, the first time Russia has fired on merchant shipping beyond Ukraine since exiting a landmark U.N.-brokered grain deal last month. In July, Russia halted participation in the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine to export agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Moscow said it deemed all ships heading to Ukrainian waters to be potentially carrying weapons. On Sunday, Russia said in a statement that its Vasily Bykov patrol ship had fired automatic weapons on the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after the ship's captain failed to respond to a request to halt for an inspection.
The Palau-flagged vessel Sukru Okan transits the Bosphorus Strait through Istanbul on its way to the Black Sea on Aug. 13 in this screen grab from a video. © Reuters For earlier updates, click here .