LIVE UPDATES: Corrupt Ukrainian Officials Supply Black Market With Western Weapons - Nebenzia

The Russian Ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia said on Thursday that Ukrainian corrupt authorities supply Western weapons to the black market.

"Ukrainian corrupt officials have already established links or channels in order to supply the black market with Western-made weapons," Nebenzia said during the UNSC briefing on Ukraine and weapon supplies.

Ukraine is exerting psychological pressure on the staff of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP), Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"The Kiev regime is exerting psychological pressure on the staff of the Zaporozhye NPP," Zakharova told a briefing.

According to the spokeswoman, on Tuesday, a draft law was submitted to the Ukrainian parliament, which gives an employer the right to dismiss employees of enterprises of strategic importance for the economy and security of Ukraine on suspicion of collaboration.

On July 22, Ukraine and Russia signed a deal that lifted restrictions on supplies of Russian products for export and provided for Moscow's assistance in exporting Ukrainian grain, food and fertilizer from the ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhne through the Black Sea.

President Joe Biden will hold a phone call with US allies this morning to discuss ongoing support for Ukraine, the White House said in a statement on Thursday.

"President Biden is holding a call this morning with allies and partners to underscore our continued support for Ukraine as it defends itself from Russian aggression," the White House said.

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's public itinerary said the call hosted by Biden would take place at 10:30 a.m. ET (14:30 GMT).

The Russian National Guard said on Thursday that it had seized a Starlink internet terminal, supplied as part of military assistance to Ukraine from the United States, and arrested three Ukrainian collaborators in the Lugansk People's Republic (LPR).

"In a settlement in the Luhansk People's Republic, in one of the households, the Russian guards found a Starlink satellite internet dish of the SpaceX company... The Russian guards also arrested three accomplices of the Ukrainian armed forces," the security agency said.

In addition, the national guard seized three grenade launchers, including two foreign-made ones, 123 rounds for them, 165 artillery shells, 70 hand grenades, and more than 50,000 small arms ammunition, the statement noted.

On February 26, Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov asked the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, Elon Musk, to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and access to satellite internet. The next day, Musk announced that Starlink was now operating in the country.

In March, US media reported that the Ukrainian army was using the Starlink systems in attacks on Russian troops in the absence of alternative communication channels.

The administration of US President Joe Biden has approved a new military aid package worth more than $2 billion for Ukraine and other European states, the Associated Press reported on Thursday, citing the US State Department.

Earlier in the day, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kiev on an unannounced visit to notify Ukrainian leadership about the new military aid package, according to the report.

The new aid package is yet to be approved by the Congress, the report said. It entails the allocation of $1 billion to Ukraine and the rest to 18 other European countries that border Russia or are "most potentially at risk for future Russian aggression," according to the US State Department, as cited by the news outlet. The money will go toward what the State Department calls military integration with NATO through the purchase of US-made weapons.

The new $1 billion aid package comes in addition to the $675 million military aid package for Ukraine that Pentagon chief Lloyd Austin announced earlier in the day in Germany. That aid package included Stinger anti-aircraft systems, armored personnel carriers, grenade launchers, Mi-17 helicopters, body armor, and millions of rounds of small-arms ammunition.

Norway announced on Thursday the decision to send about 160 Hellfire missiles and night-vision equipment to Ukraine.

"Norway will donate Hellfire missiles to Ukraine. The donation includes approximately 160 missiles, launching pads and guidance units. Ukraine will also receive night-vision equipment drawn from Armed Forces inventories," the government said in a statement.

Russian gas has not been delivered to Germany for a week already, and the prices remain high, but without showing explosive growth, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck said on Thursday.

"There is no gas from Russia for a week, the storage facilities continue being filled up; prices remain high and very high after a short rise on the stock exchange, but not explosive. It is a week since we are independent from Russian gas thanks to the consistent and prudent ability to act of this government," Habeck said, addressing the Bundestag.

The minister stated that the paramount task of the government is to ensure that energy prices are not manipulated, because the state cannot support the population amid the rising cost of living in the long term. Habeck proposed "changing the design of the energy market" in such a way that the final price for the consumer would be profitable, and high prices would be evened out through market mechanisms.

"Until we manage to lower prices, which will take a little more time, we will provide support to the companies. We will establish a large-scale support program so that, first of all, small businesses would get included into it... We will make sure it encompasses all industries, adhering, of course, to the criteria... We will protect German enterprises and the middle class," Habeck said.

G7 finance ministers confirmed on September 2 their intention to impose price caps on Russian oil as part of expanded sanctions campaign against the country. The price cap will take effect on December 5 for crude oil and on February 5, 2023, for refined products coming from Russia. Moscow, in turn, pledged to stop exporting Russian oil to the states that would apply the limits. Despite this, the EU also intends to consider a similar price cap on Russian gas deliveries.

Ukrainian troops attempted to capture the city of Balakliya, encircling it, but were driven back, the city remains under the control of the Russian military, the head of the administration of the Kharkov region, Vitaly Ganchev, said on Thursday.

"In the area of ​​Balakliya, the armed forces of Ukraine attempted to capture the city, encircling it, but they managed to bend the defense line a little over part of the territory, then they were thrown back again," Ganchev said on the air of the Rossiya 24 broadcaster. "Everything is in order in the city, the city lives, but is under constant shelling, as well as other settlements that are nearby. The city is under our control."

Moscow has declared and employee of the Romanian Embassy to Russia persona non grata as a retaliatory measure, the Russian foreign ministry said on Thursday.

"On September 8, Charge d'Affaires of Romania in Russia Constantin Cosmin was invited to the Russian Foreign Ministry, where he was handed a note from the ministry declaring an employee of the Romanian Embassy in Moscow persona non grata," the ministry said in a statement, adding that the measure was in response to a similar move by Bucharest.

The idea of imposing a price cap on Russian oil will only work if Moscow agrees to it, which is hardly possible, Indonesian Ambassador to Russia Jose Tavares told Sputnik.

"We hear about the price cap. Of course, the price cap is for the buyers who determine it. I do not know ... whether [Russia will] ... accept it, this price cap. Of course, if we are interested in Russian oil or gas, we will negotiate it with Russia. The price cap can only work if it is the supplier ... agrees to the price cap, otherwise it does not work," Tavares said on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF).

The 7th EEF is held from September 5-8 in Vladivostok, on the Far Eastern Federal University campus. The Sputnik news agency is an information partner of the forum.

US President Joe Biden will hold talks with the allies, including the leaders of G7, NATO and EU countries, to discuss the provision of further aid to Ukraine, US media reported on Thursday.

The talks will take place via a videolink "late Thursday morning Washington time," Bloomberg said, citing sources.

The exact list of the participants of the meeting has not been disclosed, the report said.

US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Wednesday that Washington will provide more Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) ammo to be used with HIMARS already sent to Ukraine.

The Pentagon will announce on Thursday the transfer of $675 million worth of weapons to Ukraine, including ammunition for High Mobility Artillery Rocket Systems (HIMARS), The Washington Post newspaper reported, citing a US official.

In addition to ammunition, the US will deliver to Ukraine vehicles and other equipment for the military, the news outlet added.

US Under Secretary of Defense for Policy Colin Kahl said on Wednesday that the United States will certainly provide more Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System (GMLRS) ammo to be used with HIMARS already sent to Ukraine.