Ukraine live briefing: Odessa grain buildings hit; Poland holds large military parade

NATO member Poland touted its state-of-the-art fighter jets and other weaponry at its largest military parade since the Cold War — a display of strength as fighting continues next door between Russia and Ukraine. “The defense of our eastern border, the border of the European Union and of NATO, is today a key element of Poland’s state interest,” Polish President Andrzej Duda said at the event.

Here’s the latest on the war and its impact across the globe.

The main target of the overnight strikes was “port and grain infrastructure,” said Odessa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper. The attacks took place south of the Ukrainian port city of Odessa. Meanwhile, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said Wednesday that a container ship sailing under the Hong Kong flag that is carrying food, among other items, successfully left the Odessa port using what he described as a new “temporary” shipping corridor in the Black Sea.

Duda announced a record defense budget and said Poland “will not be provoked.” He made the comment Tuesday during his speech at the military parade as foreign-made warplanes and tanks were displayed before a crowd of thousands. The Polish military has grown by about 78,000 troops over the past eight years, he said. The parade was meant to commemorate the 103rd anniversary of the 1920 Battle of Warsaw, when Polish troops repelled Bolshevik forces that were trying to advance on Europe.

A former high-ranking FBI official accused of secretly working on behalf of a Russian oligarch pleaded guilty in federal court Tuesday. The former official, Charles McGonigal, is accused of conspiring to violate U.S. sanctions and of laundering money while working for the benefit of Russian billionaire Oleg Deripaska, whom he was tasked with investigating.

The United States, Sweden and Germany pledged additional aid to Ukraine this week. During a visit to Kyiv, Germany’s finance minister said his country plans to pledge about $5.4 billion in military aid each year until 2027. Sweden offered a support package worth $314 million, and the Biden administration pledged an additional $200 million in assistance.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to strengthen bonds with Moscow in a letter he wrote to Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to the state-run Korean Central News Agency. In the letter, Kim said the two countries would continue to “smash the imperialists’ arbitrary practices and hegemony,” KCNA reported.

The European Union will redirect 135 million euros ($147 million) from programs planned for Russia and Belarus toward projects aimed at boosting ties between Ukraine and Moldova. The funding was part of Interreg, a program that focuses on fostering interregional cooperation to tackle cross-border issues. According to a European Commission statement Wednesday, “The decision to cancel the originally envisaged cooperation with Russia and Belarus … is the result of the brutal war of Russia against Ukraine.” The funding will support activities, including the development of cross-border transport links, health services, education and research projects.

The American rock band the Killers apologized after lead singer Brandon Flowers invited a Russian fan onto the stage as a drummer during a concert on the Black Sea coast of Georgia and called the audience “brothers and sisters,” prompting some audience members to boo and walk out of the show. Many in the crowd were furious at Flowers’s implication that Russians are brothers to Georgia, a nation that Moscow invaded in 2008. The Killers’ apology, which said it was “never our intention to offend anyone,” also prompted criticism over its failure to mention the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The concert venue in the coastal town of Shekvetili also apologized in a Facebook post and said it did not share the band’s position, calling Russia “the occupier.”

Russia has fined social network Reddit for not deleting what it deemed “banned content” and “fake” information on the site about the war in Ukraine, Reuters reported, citing Russian media and court documents. The fine amounted to 2 million rubles, or more than $20,000. Reddit told The Washington Post on Wednesday it had no comment on the fine.

Ukraine will spend about $32 million strengthening defensive lines in its northeast, Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said Tuesday. Most of that money will be directed to the Kharkiv region, but some of it will also go to the region of Chernihiv, he said. Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said on Telegram the country’s road to victory will be “long and difficult,” adding that “we prepare for a marathon, not a sprint.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited front-line teams in Zaporizhzhia on Tuesday, filming his nightly address from a moving train. He visited Donetsk, in eastern Ukraine, the day before.

Russian attacks on the northwestern Ukrainian city of Lutsk killed at least three people this week, the region’s mayor said, while a barrage of cruise missiles that damaged dozens of homes in the Lviv region left 19 injured, including a 10-year-old child.

Gruesome and frequent mine injuries are haunting doctors in Ukraine: Confronted with bodies ripped to pieces and limbs mangled beyond recognition, Ukrainian doctors working in the Zaporizhzhia region are left with no choice but to live through the mental anguish of amputation after amputation, Eve Sampson reports.

Heavily mined Russian defenses have slowed Ukraine’s attack to a bloody, painstaking crawl, and hard-won gains come at the cost of mine blast injuries. “The mines are just everywhere,” Ukrainian military surgeon Dmytro Mialkovskyi told The Washington Post from a hospital in Zaporizhzhia.

Robyn Dixon and Beatriz Ríos contributed to this report.