Ukraine updates: Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visits China

The Ukrainian military said it had "significantly damaged" a Russian ferry used for military purposes in an attack on the port of Kavkaz on the Sea of Azov in Russia's Krasnodar region.

The General Staff said on social media that the ferry "Slavianin" was the last rail ferry Russia had in the region.

"The occupiers used this ferry to transport railway cars, vehicles and containers for military purposes," it said.

Meanwhile, Krasnodar regional governor Veniamin Kondratyev said Tuesday on the Telegram messaging app that a Ukrainian drone strike damaged a ferry and killed one person in Port Kavkaz.

Port Kavkaz is located on a spit of land opposite the Crimean Peninsula. Ferries based there help connect the Russian mainland with Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.

Hungary will block European Union refunds for member states that gave munitions to Ukraine until Kyiv allows the transit of oil from Russia's Lukoil through a pipeline over its territory, the Hungarian foreign minister said.

Slovakia and Hungary said earlier this month that they had stopped receiving oil from Lukoil through the Druzhba pipeline after Ukraine imposed a ban on the transit of Lukoil resources.

Kyiv says it has blocked oil from Lukoil but overall flows through the pipeline, which also serves other suppliers, have not been reduced.

"As long as this issue is not resolved by Ukraine, everyone should forget about the payment of the €6.5 billion from the European Peace Facility (EPF) compensation for arms transfers," Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto was quoted as saying by broadcaster ATV.

Since Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, member states that supplied arms to Ukraine can claim compensation from this fund. But Hungary has been blocking the disbursement of the next tranche of EPF money for more than a year, citing various issues.

Ukraine's presidential chief of staff has discussed the battlefield situation and Russian strikes with the national security adviser to US Vice President and front-runner for the Democratic nomination, Kamala Harris.

The Ukrainian presidency said in a statement that Andriy Yermak had a telephone conversation with Phil Gordon. 

They discussed further US support and the strengthening of Ukraine's air defenses, as well as the results of the first peace summit, the statement said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock reiterated the importance of European unity a day after the EU's top diplomat, Josep Borell, announced a boycott of a planned meeting of foreign ministers in Budapest, Hungary, next month.

Baerbock warned that "times are too serious for little games" during a meeting with her Dutch counterpart, Caspar Veldkamp, in Berlin. 

She said the EU should remain "united and resolute" rather than get bogged down in the details of the boycotted meeting. 

The boycott was in response to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's self-proclaimed "peace mission" to Moscow to end the war in Ukraine.

Moscow residents who sign up to fight in Ukraine will receive a down payment of 1.9 million rubles (€20,000 or $21,800) from the city. That will bring their annual pay in their first year of service to 5.2 million rubles (€55,000 or $59,600), the mayor's office said.

The increase means that the annual salary of Moscow's contract soldiers will exceed the average nominal Russian wage by more than five times, based on statistical data for the first quarter of 2024.

Generous payments to volunteers have helped Russia avoid a new nationwide mobilization after a troubled campaign in 2022 led to a mass exodus of people to neighboring countries.

Russian officials say about 190,000 people have so far have volunteered to fight in Ukraine so far this year, in what Moscow calls a "special military operation." That, they say, compared with 490,000 contracts signed in 2023.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who is in China for talks with Foreign Minister Wang Yi, said he would hold "extensive, detailed, substantive negotiations" with his Chinese counterpart, but did not say when the talks would take place. 

"We must avoid competition between peace plans. It is very important that Kyiv and Beijing conduct direct dialogue," he said in a statement on Instagram.

Ukraine is pushing to hold a second international summit later this year to advance its vision for peace after an initial gathering in Switzerland in June drew dozens of delegations from around the world but not from Russia or China.

China and Brazil published a joint six-point peace proposal in May, saying they supported the holding of an international peace conference recognized by both sides in the war.

Ukraine has said it wants the second summit to be hosted by a country from the "Global South" and that Russia could attend. Kyiv has also said it would like to see China play a more active role in ending the war.

Following Prime Minister Kaja Kallas's resignation to take an EU job, Estonia has sworn in her successor Kristen Michal.

Michal belongs to the same center-right Reform party as Kallas, and is a similarly hawkish critic of Russia.

In an op-ed for Estonian public news outlet ERR, Michal wrote that countering "Russia's aggression against free Ukraine and the entire West" was a top priority.

Estonia was annexed and occupied by the Soviet Union from 1940 to 1991. Successive independent Estonian governments have highlighted their security concerns over sharing a large land border with Russia.

This post incorrectly stated that Estonia was annexed by the Soviet Union in 1994. We have corrected this and apologize for the error.

At least one person was killed and five others were injured after a Ukrainian drone attack in southern Russia, local authorities said on Tuesday.

"Drones attacked a ferry vessel in the port of Kavkaz," Krasnador governor Veniamin Kondratyev said on Telegram. 

"Unfortunately there are injured and dead among the crew and port staff," he added.

The incident came as Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks overnight.

Ukraine's air force said that a Russian attack damaged critical infrastructure in the Sumy region. No casualties were reported.

Russia's Defense Ministry meanwhile reported several other air attacks in the regions bordering Ukraine, as well as over the occupied Crimean peninsula.

"Over the past night... air defense systems on duty intercepted and destroyed two UAVs over Bryansk region and two over Belgorod region, as well as 21 UAVs over the territory of the Republic of Crimea and the waters of the Black Sea," the ministry said on social media.

EU foreign and defense ministers have decided to hold a key meeting in Brussels instead of Budapest in protest of Hungary's rogue diplomacy regarding Ukraine.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban recently visited Moscow and Beijing for what he described as a "peace mission." Hungary currently holds the rotating EU presidency and Orban is seen as having the warmest relationship with Russia in the EU.

"We have to send a signal, even if it is a symbolic signal," EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said late on Monday.

Borrell said that all EU member states "overwhelmingly" criticized Orban. Only Slovakia backed Hungary's position.

Hungary was quick to condemn the change of venue.

"What a fantastic response they have come up with," Hungary's Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said.

"I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but it feels like being in a kindergarten."

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba arrived in China on Tuesday for talks on how to end the war with Russia.

China, which has strengthened its "no limits" relationship with Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine, presents itself as a neutral party to the conflict.

But Western governments have accused China providing support to Russia during the war.

"The main topic of discussion will be the search for ways to stop Russia's aggression and China's possible role in achieving a stable and just peace," the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The trip is Kuleba's first visit to China since the invasion in 2022. Beijing said the visit would last until Friday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov acknowledged the news.

"For us, our relations with China are the main thing," he said. "We intend to continue following the path of developing Russian-Chinese relations in all areas."

zc/rm (Reuters, AFP, AP, dpa)