President of Burkina Faso Ibrahim Traore is the first African leader to arrive in St. Petersburg to take part in the second Russia-Africa summit and economic forum, a TASS correspondent reported.

Russian forces repelled eight Ukrainian attacks in the Donetsk area, eliminating over 280 enemy troops in the past day during the special military operation in Ukraine, Defense Ministry Spokesman Lieutenant-General Igor Konashenkov reported.

Almost all current major terrorist groups have been created, supplied and financed by special services that implement the decisions of Western countries, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said at a BRICS meeting in South Africa.

According to Nikolay Patrushev, Moscow regards joint counterterrorism efforts as one of the priority areas of cooperation within BRICS.

The delegation from Tanzania led by Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa arrived in Russia’s second largest city of St. Petersburg to participate in the Russia-Africa summit, a TASS correspondent reported.

A plane carrying the high-ranking Tanzanian delegation landed in St. Petersburg’s Pulkovo airport on Tuesday evening.

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s participation in the BRICS Summit in August will be fully-fledged and substantive, although he will talk to his counterparts via video conference, Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov told reporters.

The United States will provide Ukraine with another package of military assistance worth $400 million, including air defense munitions, armored vehicles and anti-tank weapons, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

The US Department of State confirmed that former US marine Trevor Reed, released during an exchange of captives with Russia, was injured in hostilities in Ukraine.

Threats to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant’s nuclear safety stemming from the Kiev regime’s actions are abnormal and require nonstandard measures of protection, including from possible seizure attempts, Renat Karchaa, an adviser to the director general of Russia’s Rosenergoatom nuclear power engineering company, said.

Tanzania is interested in military-technical cooperation with Russia, and Moscow is ready to positively review corresponding applications, Russian Ambassador to Tanzania Andrey Avetisyan said on the sidelines of the Russian-African conference of the Valdai discussion club.

The United Kingdom, which holds the rotating presidency in the UN Security Council this month, is trying to prevent speakers invited by Russia from giving their testimony during Wednesday’s session on Ukraine’s persecution of the canonic Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a senior Russian diplomat said.

Umaro Sissoco Embalo, the president of Guinea-Bissau and the chairman of the Economic Community of West African States, arrived in St. Petersburg on Wednesday to participate in the upcoming Russia-Africa summit.

Russia has the right to take measures to protect the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant depending on its own estimate of the scope of threats to the facility, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative to the Vienna-based international organizations Roman Ustinov told TASS.

The number of orbital objects exceeding 1 centimeter in diameter will grow by 1.5 times within the next six or seven years, creating a threat to guaranteed access to space, the press-service of Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos has told TASS.

The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution on promoting interreligious dialogue, which, among other things, strongly deplores any acts aimed against holy books and recognizes such incidents to be a violation of the international law, a spokesperson for the assembly’s president has said.

The Russian peacekeeping mission has every opportunity to help resolve Nagorno-Karabakh’s humanitarian issues, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said during talks with his Armenian counterpart Ararat Mirzoyan.

The US administration keeps sponsoring the Kiev government’s terrorist plans, sending military aid that will cause only more deaths and suffering, Russian Ambassador to the United States Anatoly Antonov said.

The Ukrainian armed forces shelled a number of settlements on the left bank of the Dnieper River during the day, killing two civilians and wounding another, the Kherson region emergency services told reporters.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent a welcoming address to participants and guests of the Russia-Africa Economic and Humanitarian Forum and noted the role of Africa as one of poles of the evolving multipolar world.

Russia reserves the right to respond harshly to Ukraine's terrorist attacks on Crimea and Moscow, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.

"The Russian Investigative Committee is thoroughly investigating all these crimes. The perpetrators will definitely be identified and punished. We reserve the right to take tough retaliatory measures," the spokeswoman stressed.

The termination of the Black Sea grain deal will not lead to global food shortages, nor does it give rise to the risk of famine, Russian Grain Union President Arkady Zlochevsky told TASS.