Aug 30: E-Stories
Day 552: Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson Dnipropetrovsk Robotyne Verbove Kupyansk GoCrimea RUmil RUelex Sandu Saldo Prigo Pope Atacms diamonds A&P UKDef Amanpour Kenyon Shoshiashvili Weiss TimesRadio Davis
Catching up…
EA Worldview’s Ukraine Up-date- hop over to Scott’s amazing hourly Ukraine up-date page. I’ll fill in with some bits and bobs.
Stories we’re following…
Governor: Death toll of Russian attack against Poltava Oblast rises to 3. Rescuers have found another person's body under the rubble of an industrial facility in Poltava Oblast, the regional governor Dmytro Lunin reported on Aug. 28. This brings the total death toll of Russia's overnight missile strike to three. Russian shelling in Sumy, Donetsk, Kherson and Dnipropetrovsk Oblasts injures 11 people and kills 2 people, reports the prosecutors’s offices of the oblasts.
Kupiansk direction: Russians create mine obstacles along border in Belgorod region, reports Ukrainian Defense Deputy Minister Hanna Malyar on Telegram.
Aug 28: 26 combat engagements took place between the Defense Forces of Ukraine and Russian troops.
The Russians continue offensive attempts in the Kupiansk, Lyman, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marinka directions. Fierce battles are raging there.
Ukrainian defenders have de-occupied 44 square kilometers in the south of the Bakhmut direction.
"Ukrainian troops are having success in the direction of Verbove on the southern front," Spokesman of the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Andriy Kovalev, said.
UKR General Staff: 30 combat clashes have taken place between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the Russians over the past 24 hours. The Russian forces launched airstrikes and artillery attacks.
"Russian forces launched five missile strikes and 47 air strikes over the past day and carried out 48 attacks from multiple-launch rocket systems on positions of Ukrainian troops and settlements. Over thirty combat clashes have occurred over the past day."
The Ukrainian Armed Forces raised the first Ukrainian flag on the left bank of the Kherson region.
Noel Reports: AFU soldier with call sign "Osmán" from the 24th Aidar Batallion with a rather big update:
AFU is developing successful offensive operations towards Volodyne (south of Staromaiors'ke);
In Zaporizhzia there is progress with the release of 1 settlement (this could be additional confirmation of Robotyne);
AFU is advancing southeast of Pavlivka.
The information about Pavlivka could be a small mistake/typo from his side. There is preliminary info about the AFU being more active near Shevchenko which is southwest of Pavlivka, not southeast. But we will see.
"The Russian Federation has withdrawn all ground troops from Belarus, throwing them into the reserve of the group that is advancing in the direction of Kupyansk and Lyman", - Head of the Joint Operational Headquarters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Naev.
Mikhaylo Podolyak: “We can destroy anything that is Russian in Crimea,” advisor to the head of the presidential office. “Partner countries gave Ukraine the go-ahead for strikes on the peninsula, there is an absolute consensus on this issue,” he added.
Reaction of Dmitri Medvedev to allied green-lighting attacks on Crimea:
“The consent of the West to Ukraine’s strikes on Crimea is a casus belli and gives the Russian Federation the opportunity to act ‘against everyone’ in NATO.”
“We need to grit our teeth and keep working," said the soldiers of the 47th separate mechanized brigade, who set up a blue-yellow flag in the village of Robotyne.
The Special Operations Forces of the UAF with the Defense Forces hit the location of the coast guard of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation in the temporarily occupied Crimea. As noted, several combat UAVs were used during the attack, causing damage to the location of the enemy unit in Perevalne in Crimea. As a result of the strikes, the enemy suffered losses in killed and wounded.
"SOF of Ukraine, together with other units of the Defense Forces, hit the objects of the 126th Coast Guard Brigade of the Black Sea Fleet of the Russian Federation," the Special Operations Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine posted on Telegram.
Various Russian Telegram channels report explosions at Pskov, Russia, at the military airfield during the night on Aug 29. Several pillars of smoke were seen at the site. Pskov is located roughly 20km from the Estonian border. The Pskov airfield was allegedly attacked by about 15 Ukrainian drones, which destroyed 4 II-76 military aircraft, local emergency services report. Secondary detonations also at a fuel storage facility.
Explosions were also reported in Bryansk, Tula and Moscow. More on the details in the next post. In Tula, it was most likely the work of Ukrainian drones which were very active over lots of regions in Russia during the night.
The airspace was closed over the Tula region, as well as over part of the Moscow region (in particular, Serpukhov and Kolomna fall into the regime zone in the Moscow region), in Ryazan and over part of the Kaluga region (Kaluga and Obninsk).
AFP: Russian air defences downed Ukrainian drones over the Tula and Belgorod regions, Moscow’s defence ministry said on Tuesday, without indicating if there had been damage or casualties. Two drones “were destroyed” by air defences over the Tula region south of Moscow, Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement on Telegram. Another drone was “destroyed by air defence forces” over the Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine, at about 11 pm Moscow time (2000 GMT) on Monday, the ministry said in a separate statement.
An FSB security services helicopter crashed Tuesday in central Russia, leaving three people dead, regional officials said. The MI-8 helicopter went down near the village of Krasnoe Pole in the Chelyabinsk region, the governor said without indicating a cause for the incident, AFP reports.
Times Radio: Putin's defences might now be in doubt after Ukraine seized the town of Robotyne says analyst Michael Bociurkiw.
Military intelligence: Russia has at least 585 missiles with range over 500 km. Russia's arsenal currently includes at least 585 missiles with a range of over 500 kilometers, not counting older Kh-22 missiles, spokesperson of Ukraine's military intelligence (HUR) Vadym Skibitskyi told RBC-Ukraine on Aug. 28.
The State Security Service of Latvia: Russian intelligence operatives attempting to recruit Ukrainian refugees for clandestine cooperation amid the border crossing routine on Russian territory, reports Delfi. Employees of the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia, often posing as border guards, conduct long detailed interviews, and in fact interrogations, of refugees, inquiring aobut their biography, contacts in the Ukrainian security forces, and the latest developments in combat zones.
Behind the LInes: Persistent wartime attacks on schools in Ukraine mean that only about a third of school-age children there are attending classes fully in person and many are falling behind, Unicef said on Tuesday. Reuters reports:
Beyond Ukraine, more than half of the children whose families have fled the conflict to seven countries are not enrolled in national education systems, Unicef said, citing language barriers and overstretched education systems.
Some schools have suffered direct hits and others have closed down as a precaution since Russia’s invasion 18 months ago, which has involved missile and artillery attacks on residential areas across the country.
“Not only has this left Ukraine’s children struggling to progress in their education, but they are also struggling to retain what they learned when their schools were fully functioning,” said Regina De Dominicis, Unicef regional director for Europe and Central Asia.
SBU detains Kherson resident suspected of working for Russian special services. Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) reported on Aug. 28 that it had detained a local woman accused of providing Russia with locations of Ukrainian positions in Kherson.
Bloomberg: Putin to visit China in first trip abroad since his arrest warrant in October.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed to visit China as his first international trip since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against him over war crimes in Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on Aug. 29, citing three undisclosed sources.
The Kremlin's leader has reportedly accepted the invitation of Chinese President Xi Jinping to attend the Belt and Road Forum in October, the outlet said.
Putin has no plans to attend the funeral of Yevgeny Prigozhin, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday. He told reporters the Kremlin did not know about the planned funeral arrangements, saying this was a matter for the family, according to Reuters. The Kremlin denies ordering the murder of Prigozhin and all others that were on the crashed aircraft.
Julia Davis: “If you believed Putin's lie that Russia wasn't planning to occupy any of the Ukrainian territories, listen to gov't official on state TV admit the opposite. Discussing Ukraine's vast mineral & energy resources Russia wants to pocket, state TV host says she is overcome with pride.”
Metal detectors spotted at St. Petersburg’s Serafimovskoye Cemetery, have led to speculation that this might be the site of Yevgeny Prigozhin’s still-unannounced funeral. Putin’s parents are also buried there. St. Petersburg police sources told journalists that Prigozhin’s son and security team aren’t cooperating with the local authorities, and “chaos” surrounds funeral preparations.
A new investigation from Novaya Gazeta Europe found that the number of nonprofit organizations working to support Russian soldiers and draftees has increased significantly since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The uptick began in late 2022, after Moscow announced its mobilization drive. By journalists’ calculations, in the first half of 2023, 505 nonprofits whose names suggest they are engaged in military-related or “military-patriotic” activities (such as fundraising for soldiers or veterans) have been registered in Russia. That’s about 34 percent more than in each of the previous two years.
Sviatoslav, the head of Ukraine’s Greek Catholic Church, the dominant church in parts of western Ukraine, says the Pope’s statement has caused pain and distress, and expects explanations. Perhaps the first such criticism of the Vatican in centuries.
A Russian Telegram channel has spread a video of American actress Priscilla Presley, addressing a man called Volodymyr and urging him to undergo addiction treatment at a rehabilitation center. Russian propagandists claim that, in this video, “Elvis Presley’s widow advises Zelensky to undergo drug addiction treatment”. This is fake news. In fact, Russian propagandists used the video-sharing platform Cameo, where anyone can order a video from a star for money. Earlier, Russian media outlets spread a video with Elijah Wood, who had also allegedly addressed Zelensky, and it was proven to be fake by VoxUkraine.
A United Russia candidate in the Saratov region was booted out of the party and off the September ballot after she called Putin a former “nobody” and “bum” in trying to argue during a debate that the president couldn’t have been responsible for Russia’s contentious post-Soviet privatizations
Forbes Russia updated its list of Russia’s richest women. Wildberries founder Tatyana Bakalchuk reigns again, while most of the top 20 women are the daughters or partners of oligarchs.
In 2022, due to sanctions pressure on Russia and business, Russian billionaires began to reduce their shares in assets and transfer them to relatives or hired managers. For example, Vladimir Litvinenko, rector of the St. Petersburg Mining University and shareholder of the mineral fertilizer producer PhosAgro, reduced his stake in the company to 0.39%, transferring a 20.6% stake to his wife Tatyana Litvinenko (2nd place in the rating, net worth $2 .8 billion)
In early 2023, the founder of the Novatek gas company, Leonid Mikhelson, transferred his share in Optima to his daughter Victoria (7th place, fortune $1.2 billion).
Following investigative help from the FBI, a Swedish prosecutor has filed charges against a 60-year-old man accused of transferring technology and equipment to Russia on behalf of its military intelligence.
The Economist reports that Ukrainian drone attacks inside Russian territory rely on intelligence about radars, electronic warfare, and air-defense assets that is “often from Western partners”.
Amanpour and PM Maia Sandu: “If Ukraine is not helped then Russia will not stop in Ukraine or Moldova” Moldovan President Maia Sandu says “Ukraine needs to get more support… The security of the continent and… the international rules-based system” is at stake.
Olga Stefanishyna, Ukraine's deputy prime minister for European and Euro-Atlantic integration had a “productive exchange” with Romanian foreign minister Luminita Odobescu on Monday where the pair discussed a European-Ukrainian “integration calendar”.
Zelenskyy held a meeting with government and military officials where implementing a plan “to protect critical and energy infrastructure”, preparations for the winter and the “development of a program for the transition to future aircraft types” were discussed.
Ukraine to announce mandatory evacuation of children from parts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast. Ukraine will announce later on Aug. 28 the mandatory evacuation of children from two front-line districts of Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk said on television.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced the detention of Robert Shonov, a former employee of the U.S. Consulate General in Vladivostok, on charges of collecting information on mobilization, the progress of the “special military operation,” and protest activity in the run-up to the presidential election. Shonov, the FSB said in a statement quoted by Interfax, allegedly collected information at the behest of “Jeffrey Sillin and David Bernstein, employees of the political department of the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.”
Judo: The Russian esports federation said on Monday that the International Esport Federation (IESF) had decided to reinstate its competitors and allow them to use the national flag and anthem. "The Russian national computer sports team will once again be able to take part in competitions under its own flag and name," the Russian statement said.
How Russian authorities are recruiting soldiers—Ukrinform
A captured Russian solider recounted how Russian military enlistment offices "encourage" people to go to war with threats and about the low level of training of military instructors in Russia. Colonel General Oleksandr Syrsky, Commander of the Land Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, posted a video of the interrogation of the Russian military on Telegram, Ukrinform reported.
The military enlistment office threatened the man: either he would serve or go to prison because they would plant drugs on him. According to the prisoner, this is a common phenomenon in Russia.
The capturer signed the contract on July 13. He was promised that his criminal record would be expunged and he would be paid 200 thousand rubles, but he was paid only 37.5 thousand.
The soldier did not attend classes at the training ground and went home without permission. He was promised to be promoted to officer because he had a university degree.
There was no water at the prisoner's position, so they were looking for food in the remains of dry rations. They were tasked with performing diversionary maneuvers and drawing fire on themselves.
During the assault, the prisoner's group was attacked with grenades. He sustained concussion and wounds and was abandoned by his retreating comrades. The man almost bled to death. He was captured by Ukrainian defenders, where his life was saved.
As reported, according to the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, about 20% of Russian prisoners surrender voluntarily.
How More Sanctions on Russian Diamonds Could Affect the Global Market—NYT
The Group of 7 and the European Union are expected to issue new rules in an effort to slow the flow of revenue into the Kremlin’s war chest.
Nineteen months have passed since Russia invaded Ukraine, sending shock waves around the world — and through the global diamond market.
Russia is the world’s biggest diamond exporter by volume, with a state-owned company, Alrosa, mining almost one third of all diamonds produced in 2021.
To prevent funds from flowing into the Kremlin war chest, the United States — the world’s largest market for finished diamonds — took action last spring when President Biden banned the import of rough diamonds from Russia and the U.S. Treasury Department placed sanctions on Alrosa.
Other countries imposed sanctions of their own, including Britain, which early this year announced an outright ban on Russian diamonds.
Last year the European Union had tried several times to enforce sanctions on Russian diamonds, but was prevented by Belgium because of protests from Antwerp, the Belgian port city that is a leading trade hub for precious stones. Its representatives have expressed concerns that, aside from the difficulty that comes with tracking a diamond’s true origin, sanctions could hand Antwerp’s rivals, like Dubai and India, a competitive advantage on the Russian diamond trade. Not everyone agreed.
“There are people for whom the diamonds sold in Antwerp are more important than the battle we are waging,” President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine said last year.
Now, the diamond industry is readying itself for the unveiling of sanctions from the Group of 7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — and the European bloc that would prohibit the import of gemstones mined in Russia, including those cut and polished in other countries.
“The current U.S. sanctions only covered rough Russian diamonds or those cut and polished inside Russia,” said Paul Zimnisky, a diamond industry analyst based in the New York City area. “Given 90 percent of diamonds are cut and polished in India, and can therefore be classed as Indian gems, the current regulations aren’t as strict as you might think.”[continue]