TOP HEADLINES

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in comments made public early on Thursday, said the NATO summit had provided Ukraine with a security foundation never before achieved and put it on the road to membership in the Alliance. READ MORE BELOW

• Sacked Russian general, Major General Ivan Popov, said he had been dismissed as a commander after telling the military leadership about the dire situation at the front in Ukraine, where he said Russian soldiers had been stabbed in the back by the failings of the top military brass.

• Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Thursday that he had not heard of any new proposals on the Black Sea grain deal which expires next week but was working with Türkiye on ways to ensure Russian grain exports regardless of any deal.

• Russian foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin said on Wednesday that he and CIA counterpart William Burns had discussed "what to do with Ukraine" in a phone call late last month, Russia's TASS news agency said.

• Ukraine would benefit from the U.S. provision of ATACM long-range missiles, President Joe Biden's nominee to become the Army's chief of staff, General Randy George, told a Senate committee on Wednesday.

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IN DEPTH

Zelenskyy hails 'concrete' NATO security agreement

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, in comments made public early on Thursday, said the NATO summit had provided Ukraine with a security foundation never before achieved and put it on the road to membership in the Alliance. 

"This is very important. For the first time since our independence, we have established a foundation of security for Ukraine on its path to NATO," Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address. 

"These are concrete security guarantees confirmed by the world's top seven democracies. Never before have we had such a security base and it is at the level of the G7." 

Zelenskyy reaffirmed statements he made at the summit in Lithuania that "we have removed any doubts or ambiguity about whether Ukraine will be in NATO. It will be."

On the summit's sidelines, Group of Seven countries unveiled an international framework to boost Ukraine's long-term security against Russia. A slew of other military packages were announced at bilateral meetings between Zelenskyy and NATO leaders.

In response, Russia's Foreign Ministry released a statement on Wednesday accusing NATO of doing everything in its power to prolong the conflict.

"The results of the Vilnius Summit will be carefully analysed. Taking into account the challenges and threats to Russia's security and interests that have been identified, we will respond in a timely and appropriate manner, using all means and methods at our disposal."

The summit showed NATO's "inability to adapt to the new geopolitical situation in the world," the ministry said.

It said NATO was continually lowering the threshold for the use of force, escalating political and military tensions.

"Taking the course of escalation, they issued a new batch of promises to supply the Kyiv regime with more and more modern and long-range weapons in order to prolong the conflict as long as possible - to exhaustion," the ministry said.

"In addition to the decisions already taken, we will continue to strengthen the country's military organization and defense system."

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