Zelenskyy to host Erdogan and Guterres

Here are the key events from Thursday, August 18:

Fighting

• Ukrainian forces killed 29 “occupiers” in the south of the country and destroyed artillery, armoured vehicles and a military supply depot, the south district of the Operational Command of the Ukrainian armed forces said.

Diplomacy

• Chinese troops will travel to Russia to take part in joint military exercises that will start at the end of August, Beijing’s defence ministry has said.

Economy

• Russia forecasts its average export gas price will more than double this year to $730 per 1,000 cubic metres before gradually falling until the end of 2025 as pipeline gas exports decrease, an economy ministry forecast seen by Reuters showed.
  

  Russia says ‘no heavy weapons’ deployed at Ukraine nuclear plant

  Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces did not have heavy weapons deployed at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, accusing Kyiv of preparing a “provocation” at the station.

  “Russian troops have no heavy weapons either on the territory of the station or in areas around it. There are only guard units,” the ministry said in a statement.

  Pointing to accusations that Russian forces have been shelling Ukrainian positions from territory of the nuclear power station, the ministry said Kyiv was planning a “provocation” during a visit to Ukraine by UN chief Antonio Guterres that would see Moscow “accused of creating a man-made disaster at the plant”.

  It said Ukraine was deploying forces in the area and planned to launch artillery raids on the plant from the city of Nikopol on Friday, when Guterres is due to visit Odesa.

  UN chief to meet Zelenskyy and Erdogan in Lviv

  UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet Ukraine’s Zelenskyy and Turkish President Erdogan in Ukrainian city of Lviv, with grain exports and concerns about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to top the agenda.

  The trilateral meeting marks Erdogan’s first in-person discussion with Zelenskyy since Russia began its war on February 24, although the Turkish leader has met Russian President Vladimir Putin twice in recent months.

  A spokesman for Guterres said that the UN chief, Zelenskyy and Erdogan will discuss the grain deal, as well as “the need for a political solution to this conflict”.

  The three leaders will hold a joint news conference after their meetings in Lviv, an important transit point for Ukrainian refugees heading west to Europe.

  Guterres, who arrived in Lviv on Wednesday afternoon, plans on Friday to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa, where grain exports have resumed under a UN-brokered deal aimed at easing a worsening global food crisis.