developments include:

Following a slowdown in ship inspections, U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres urges parties to the Black Sea Grain Initiative to "accelerate operations."
According to the British defense ministry, Russia has made "significant effort" in recent weeks to construct defensive lines, particularly on the roads leading to the occupied Crimea by Russia.
Three drones were shot down by Russia's air defenses in the Moscow region, according to the defense ministry on Wednesday.

Russia claimed that the drones were a part of an attack by Ukraine and that two of them were stopped as they got close to military warehouses.

Ukraine rarely discusses Russian attacks.

Over the Khmelnytskyi region in western Ukraine, the Ukrainian military claimed to have shot down six Shahed drones made by Iran.

Since its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Russia has utilized frequent drone attacks as part of its aerial assault on targets there.

Tuesday's Russian attack, Ukraine claimed, resulted in the downing of 32 of 35 drones.

NATO expansion Sweden is expressing optimism that it will be able to join the alliance in the three weeks leading up to the summit of NATO leaders in Vilnius, Lithuania.

On Wednesday, Swedish Foreign Minister Tobias Billstrom told Reuters that Turkey's parliament should begin ratifying Sweden's application to join NATO.

In response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Sweden and Finland applied for membership. Sweden's accession has been stalled due to Turkey's objections to what it claimed was Sweden's lack of action against groups Turkey considers terrorists. Finland joined officially in April.

As part of an agreement to address security concerns that was reached with Turkey last year, Sweden has implemented a number of reforms, one of which is a new anti-terror law.

On the sidelines of a meeting in parliament, Billstrom told Reuters, "Our judgment is that we have done what was expected of us, now it is time for the Turkish parliament to start the ratification process."