Facts about Ukraine crisis: Ukraine, U.S. start talks on security guarantees

MOSCOW/KIEV, Aug. 4 (Xinhua) -- The following are the latest developments related to the Ukraine crisis:

Ukraine on Thursday launched talks with the United States on a bilateral agreement on security guarantees, Ukraine's public broadcaster Suspilne reported Friday, citing the Ukrainian President's Office.

Andriy Yermak, head of the office leading the Ukrainian delegation to the talks, said that the United States became the first country to start negotiations on security commitments with Ukraine.

According to Ukrainian authorities, the security guarantees will reinforce Ukraine's progress towards future membership in the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

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Russian President Vladimir Putin and leaders of seven African countries involved in a peace mission on Ukraine agreed to continue their dialogue, a Russian official said on Thursday.

"Indeed, the dialogue will continue," Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov told Russia's TASS news agency. "There are no exact dates yet."

South African authorities released on Thursday a joint statement by Putin and the African peace mission following their meeting on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit held in St. Petersburg in late July.

The statement said that the leaders agreed to continue the dialogue, supported lifting sanctions on Russian grain and fertilizer exports and acknowledged the progress made on humanitarian aspects of the initiative.

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The Russian Defense Ministry said Friday that two Ukrainian unmanned boats attempted to attack the Russian naval base in Novorossiysk, a major Black Sea port, but were destroyed by Russian ships.

"Tonight, the Ukrainian armed forces attempted to attack the Novorossiysk naval base with two unmanned sea boats. During the repulsion of the attack, the unmanned boats were visually detected and destroyed by fire from the standard weapons of the Russian ships," the ministry said.

The Caspian Pipeline Consortium, which loads oil onto tankers in Novorossiysk, said its infrastructure was not damaged by the attack and the oil loading is going on as usual.