LIVE UPDATES: NATO Focused on Arming Ukraine, Not on Its Accession to Alliance, Stoltenberg Says

Germany has already decreased the reliance on Russian gas but it is unlikely to reduce the dependence to 10 percent to 2024, the Moody's rating agency said.

"Germany's reliance on Russian gas imports has already been halved to around30% of imports now from around 60% in 2020 and further diversification of sources is underway, for instance through increased purchases of liquefied natural gas (LNG). However, the government's goal of reducing its reliance on Russian gas to 10% by 2024 appears ambitious," the agency said in a report.

According to Moody's, Italy is better prepared for the energy crisis due to the existing pipelines to North Africa and liquefied gas terminals (LNG). The agency added that the country could fully replace the Russian gas supplies by 2025.

Volodymyr Zelensky said that the Ukrainian delegation had reported on the progress in the Russia-Ukraine-Turkey-UN negotiations in Istanbul on the "grain issue" and thanked the UN for its efforts.

"We are indeed making significant efforts to resume food supplies to the global market. And I am grateful to the United Nations and Turkey for their respective efforts. The Ukrainian delegation reported to me that there was some progress. In the coming days, we will agree on the details with the UN Secretary General," Zelensky said in a video address.

The DPR Supreme Court in June sentenced to death two United Kingdom citizens captured in Ukraine, Shaun Pinner and Aiden Aslin, as well as Moroccan citizen Saadoun Brahim, for serving as mercenaries.

BRUSSELS (Sputnik) - NATO is focused on helping Ukraine with weapons, and not on its accession to the alliance, Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said at a joint meeting of the defense and foreign policy committees of the European Parliament.

"The main focus now on Ukraine is to provide support to help Ukraine to prevail as independent and sovereign nation, and that's the main focus. The focus is not on membership now," he said.

According to Stoltenberg, the conflict in Ukraine is likely to be protracted and may not end even by the summer of 2023.

"It is a possibility that this [conflict in Ukraine] will last, it’s not over necessarily by the summer. Wars are hard to predict, they take time," Stoltenberg added.

UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - North Korea is ready to support Russia's position regarding the Donetsk and Lugansk People's republics, the country's Ambassador to the United Nations Kim Song said on Wednesday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) - Finland and Sweden’s accession to NATO is "vital" amid the "biggest security crisis in decades," NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday

“Welcoming Finland and Sweden into the alliance will make them safer, NATO stronger and all of us more secure. This is vital as we face the biggest security crisis in decades,” Stoltenberg said during a press conference.

In mid-May, three months after the onset of the Ukraine crisis, Finland and Sweden submitted their NATO membership applications, abandoning decades of neutrality. Turkey, which had initially blocked their applications citing security concerns, dropped its objections in late June following rounds of consultations.

On July 5, the permanent representatives of NATO member states signed accession protocols for Finland and Sweden at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels. All members of the bloc have to ratify the protocols according to their national legislation.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) - The US State Department will work with the Congress to allocate additional $4.5 billion in direct budget support for Ukraine over the next five months, Deputy Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Molly Montgomery told reporters on Wednesday.

The head of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's office believes that Europe "most likely" would not have enough gas for the fall-winter period.