New developments:
- Black Sea grain deal inspections resume in Turkey
- Hungary adds honey, wine, bread, sugar to temporary ban on imports from Ukraine
- Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says like-minded countries should oppose “illegal unilateral pressure of the West”
Ukraine’s defense minister said Wednesday that Patriot air defense systems had arrived in the country.
Ukrainian officials long lobbied allies to provide the advanced weapons that are capable of shooting down enemy missiles and Ukrainian forces spent several months training in the United States and Europe to use the systems.
"Today, our beautiful Ukrainian sky becomes more secure because Patriot air defense systems have arrived in Ukraine," Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov tweeted. "Our air defenders have mastered them as fast as they could. And our partners have kept their word."
Earlier Wednesday, Ukrainian officials reported overnight drone attacks by Russian forces in the Odesa region of southern Ukraine.
Yuri Kruk, the head of Ukraine’s military command in the Odesa region, said the drones caused a fire at an infrastructure facility, but that there were no casualties.
Russia has made widespread use of drones to carry out attacks in Ukraine, including against infrastructure targets.
Sweden NATO
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin voiced support Wednesday for Sweden’s bid to join the NATO alliance.
Speaking during a visit to Sweden’s Musko Naval Base, Austin said the United States looks forward to “continuing to advocate for your swift admission to NATO and we'll work hard to get that done before the summit.”
Austin said Swedish forces will “add a lot of value to NATO, our overall effort, you have a very, a highly professional military and you've invested a lot in modernization over the last several years.”
Sweden applied for NATO membership along with Finland in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine last year.
Finland formally joined the military alliance in early April. Sweden’s bid has been held up by objections from Hungary and Turkey, which says Sweden has not done enough to crack down on groups that Turkey considers terror organizations.
Some material in this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
