These are the main developments as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its 534th day.
Here is the situation as of Friday, August 11, 2023.
Fight
- Ukrainian authorities have ordered the evacuation of nearly 12,000 civilians from 37 towns and villages near the northeastern frontline in the Kupiansk region as Russia steps up efforts to retake territory in the area. they seized and lost earlier in the conflict.
- The Russian army reported an improved deployment of assault troops around Kupiansk, where Kyiv reported an increase in Russian attacks. Ukrainian military officials say they are facing heavy fighting on the front lines near Kupiansk.
- Ukraine’s foreign minister played up the possibility that his country’s slow-moving counter-offensive against Russian forces could slow Western military support and force Kyiv to negotiate with Russia.
- At least one person has been killed and nine injured in a Russian missile attack on the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia.
- Ukrainian shelling killed one person and wounded at least two in the Russian border region of Bryansk. A civilian was also killed in a Ukrainian attack on the held town of Nova Kakhovka in southern Ukraine, Russian-appointed authorities said on Telegram.
- Ukraine’s Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant lost connection to its last remaining main external power supply overnight and switched to a reserve line, the state power company said. Energoatom.
- A Russian airstrike destroyed a fuel depot in Ukraine’s western Rivne region.
- Russia says it has downed 13 drones in Ukraine that intended to attack the largest city in Russian-held Crimea, and the Russian capital Moscow.
Military assistance
- US President Joe Biden said he would send to Congress a request for about $40bn in additional spending, including $24bn for the war in Ukraine and other international war-related needs. against Russia.
- German Chancellor Olaf Scholz pledged to continue military support for Kyiv but noted that his government would act “responsibly” to avoid a confrontation between NATO and Russia.
PEACE
- Last week’s Saudi-hosted talks to end Russia’s war in Ukraine were a “breakthrough” moment for Kyiv on the world stage, Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said. Officials from more than 40 countries – including China, India, Brazil, the United States, and European countries, but not Russia – participated in the talks, which were seen as an attempt by Kyiv to build a a wider coalition of powers to support his vision of peace.
politics
- Russia’s prosecutor has declared the Conflict Intelligence Team (CIT) an “undesirable” organization, criminalizing its work in documenting and investigating armed conflicts involving Russian forces.
Trade
- Ukraine’s navy said a new temporary Black Sea “humanitarian corridor” had begun work and that the first ships were expected to use it within days. Oleh Chalyk, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Navy, said that the corridor is for commercial ships blocked at Black Sea ports in Ukraine and for grain and agricultural products.
- Russia said it plans to deliver a small amount of grain to African countries in the “near future” free of charge. “We are talking about six countries and supply volumes from 25,000 to 50,000 tons, it is being worked on now,” Russian Agriculture Minister Dmitry Patrushev told reporters. Patrushev said that Russia exported 60 million tons of grain last year and is expected to export about 55 million tons this year.
Regional security:
- Poland plans to move up to 10,000 additional troops to the border with Belarus to support the country’s border guards, amid the arrival of thousands of Russia’s war-strength mercenary Wagner forces in the neighboring country in recent weeks.
