LATEST HEADLINES

• The U.S. said it would supply Ukraine with widely banned cluster munitions against Russian forces, as part of an $800 million military package, that has been questioned by rights groups and the UN secretary-general. READ MORE BELOW

• Russian Ambassador to the U.S., Anatoly Antonov, criticized the transfer of cluster weapons to Ukraine. "The cruelty and cynicism with which Washington has approached the issue of transferring lethal weapons to Kyiv is striking," Antonov said. "Now, by the fault of the U.S., there will be a risk for many years that innocent civilians will be blown up by submunitions that have failed."

• Türkiye's President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Saturday that he was pressing Russia to extend a Black Sea grain deal by at least three months and announced a visit by President Vladimir Putin in August.

• Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Erdogan discussed prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia. "I hope we will get a result from this soon," Erdogan said.

• NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg has reaffirmed his view that Ukraine would become a member of the organization. "Our summit will send a clear message: NATO stands united, and Russia's aggression will not pay," Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels.

• Ukraine says it has taken back some villages in southern regions since its counteroffensive began in early June, but that it lacks the firepower and air cover to make faster progress. "It's too early to judge how the counteroffensive is going one way or the other because we're at the beginning of the middle," Colin Kahl, the U.S. under secretary of defense for policy said.

• Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has inspected troops and overseen training of newly formed units made up of contracted servicemen, his ministry said on Saturday. The ministry released video footage showing Shoigu in khaki military fatigues inspecting soldiers at a shooting range.

• As Wagner mercenaries advanced on Moscow in an attempted mutiny in late June, authorities in Syria and Russian military commanders there took a series of swift measures against local Wagner operatives, including blocking phone lines, to prevent the uprising spreading, according to six sources.

IN DEPTH

Biden defends decision to send prohibited weapons to Kyiv

U.S. President Joe Biden said his decision to provide Ukraine with cluster munitions was a tough one, but that he believes Kyiv needs the weapons so Russia cannot halt the Ukrainian counteroffensive.

The United States will send cluster munitions - prohibited by more than 100 countries - as part of an $800 million security package, a move Ukraine said would have an "extraordinary psycho-emotional impact" on Russian forces.

"They're trying to get through those trenches, and stop those tanks from rolling," Biden said in an interview with CNN. "It was not an easy decision."

Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden's national security adviser, sought to make the case for providing these arms to Ukraine shortly before the Pentagon formally announced the aid. Cluster munitions could boost Ukraine's counteroffensive to reclaim territory seized since Russia invaded in February 2022.

"We recognize that cluster munitions create a risk of civilian harm from unexploded ordnance," Sullivan told reporters. "This is why we've deferred the decision for as long as we could."

"But there is also a massive risk of civilian harm if Russian troops and tanks roll over Ukrainian positions and take more Ukrainian territory and subjugate more Ukrainian civilians because Ukraine does not have enough artillery," Sullivan said.

Asked why he was providing the cluster munitions now, Biden told reporters that it was because the effort to defend against Russia had "run out of ammunition."

Cluster munitions typically release large numbers of smaller bomblets that can kill indiscriminately over a wide area. Those that fail to explode pose a danger for decades after a conflict ends. Ukraine has asked for these weapons to fire against Russian positions with dug-in troops.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is against the continued use of cluster munitions, a U.N. spokesperson said.

Erdogan to push Russia on Black Sea gran deal extension

Türkiye's President Tayyip Erdogan said that he was pressing Russia to extend a Black Sea grain deal by at least three months and announced a visit by President Vladimir Putin in August.

He was speaking at a joint news conference with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after the two parties met to discuss the fate of an arrangement, brokered last year by Turkey and the United Nations, to allow for the safe export of grain from Ukrainian ports via the Black Sea despite the war.

Zelenskyy's visit followed stops in Bulgaria, Czechia and Slovakia, part of a tour of various NATO capitals aimed at encouraging them to take concrete steps at a summit next week towards granting Kyiv membership of the alliance, which Erdogan said Ukraine deserved.

Erdogan said work was underway on extending the Black Sea grain deal beyond its expiration date of July 17 and for longer periods beyond that. The deal would be one of the most important issues on the agenda for his meeting with Putin in Türkiye next month, he said.

"Our hope is that it will be extended at least once every three months, not every two months. We will make an effort in this regard and try to increase the duration of it to two years," he said at the news conference with Zelenskyy.

Both men said they had also discussed another key question for Erdogan's talks with Putin - the question of prisoner exchanges, which Zelenskyy said had been the first thing on their agenda. "I hope we will get a result from this soon," Erdogan said.

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