TOP HEADLINES

• Ukraine's military will liberate all territory occupied by Russian forces regardless of how long it takes, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, adding this was the Ukrainian people's wish. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's FSB security service said it had "eliminated" a group of four Ukrainian fighters who tried to cross into Russia's western Bryansk region from northern Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported. 

• Ukraine will need a steady supply of Western arms and ammunition until its military has routed Russian forces from all occupied Ukrainian territory, said Kuleba.

• Russia's defense ministry said its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian drone attack on Russian territory, the RIA news agency reported. Interfax said a drone had been downed over Russia's southern Belgorod region, citing the defense ministry.

• Ukraine announced the recapture of the village of Urozhaine from Russian troops in the southeast, but warned the situation on the northeastern front was deteriorating amid Russian counter attacks. Urozhaine, on the edge of Donetsk region, is the first village Kyiv says it has retaken since July 27, a sign of the challenge Ukraine faces advancing through heavily mined Russian defensive lines without powerful air support. 

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the departure of the first cargo ship to use a new Black Sea lane, after Moscow exited a deal protecting Ukrainian grain exports from its southern ports. "Ukraine has just made an important step toward restoring the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. The first civilian vessel has passed through Ukraine's new humanitarian corridor, departing from the port of Odesa," despite warnings from Moscow that its navy could target vessels, Zelensky said. 

• President Zelenskyy denounced Russian strikes on his country's ports as a threat to global food security, after another night of attacks. Russia targeted "infrastructure guaranteeing not only our own, but also common global food security", Zelenskyy said in his daily address, adding that "every Russian attack on them is a blow to world food prices, it is a blow to social and political stability in Africa and Asia.”

• The U.S. said that Russia's drone strikes on Ukraine's Danube infrastructure showed that President Vladimir Putin did not care about food supply for the developing world. "It is unacceptable. Putin simply does not care about global food security," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

• Russia fined Alphabet's Google 3 million rubles ($31,845) for not deleting what it said was fake information about what Moscow calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, the TASS news agency reported.

• The EU transferred €135 million ($147 million) initially allocated for programs with Russia and Belarus towards strengthening the cooperation with Ukraine and Moldova, it said in a statement. 

IN DETAIL

Ukraine FM: 'Our goal is victory'

Ukraine's military will liberate all territory occupied by Russian forces regardless of how long it takes, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said, adding this was the Ukrainian people's wish.

"Our goal is victory, victory in the form of the liberation of our territories within (Ukraine's) borders of 1991. And we don't care how long it takes," he said during an interview in Kyiv.

"As long as the Ukrainian people share this goal, the Ukrainian government will move hand in hand with its own people."

Kyiv launched its long-anticipated counteroffensive in June but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.

But Ukraine is not under pressure from its Western allies, which have provided far-reaching contributions to the military, to make faster gains, Kuleba said. 

"We're not feeling this," he said, acknowledging "an increase in the voices of commentators and experts in the public space" discussing the pace of Ukraine's gains on frontlines in the east and south of the country.

He encouraged critics of Ukraine's offensive to "go and join the foreign legion" to aid Ukraine's efforts.

"It's easy to say that you want everything to be faster when you are not there."

He said, however, that Ukraine will still need a steady supply of Western arms and ammunition until its military has routed Russian forces from all occupied Ukrainian territory.

"The truth is that until we have won, we need more, we need to move forward, because war is a reality, and in this reality, we need to win. There is no other way," he said.

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