Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 08-08-2024

The new app is designed to streamline military life, using electronic forms for submitting reports, recording plans, training, logistic services and even medical evacuation was officially launched.

Ukraine has officially introduced the “Armiya (Army)+” app in a bid to eliminate routine paperwork for military personnel allowing them to send reports to their commanders and access various other services electronically.

President Volodymyr Zelensky publicly announced the launch on Aug. 8 at a session attended by Kyiv Post’s reporter.

Over the past few days, Russian troops have made significant advances near Toretsk in the Donetsk region, threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces.

The Ukrainian military's ongoing offensive in Russia's Kursk region is part of a strategic effort to divert Russian forces from gaining further ground in eastern Ukraine, according to the Financial Times (FT).

Over the past few days, Russian troops have made significant advances near Toretsk in the Donetsk region, threatening a key supply route for Ukrainian forces.

Russia has given only scarce updates as it seeks to strike a balance between denouncing the escalation and avoiding panic.

Ukraine's incursion into Russia, which entered a third day Thursday, appears to be an unprecedented assault which experts say could aim to draw Russian resources away from other areas or to undermine morale.

Ukraine has maintained an unusual silence, with noone officially acknowledging that an operation was even taking place. Top officials have declined to comment, even on condition of anonymity.

Russia’s state-owned gas corporation said the transit volume of the only remaining route for Russian gas supplies to Europe through Ukraine decreased but hadn’t stop amidst the ongoing combat.

Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom said the transit volume through Kursk’s Sudzha gas metering station, the only remaining route for Russian gas transit to Europe through Ukraine had decreased on Thursday amidst Ukraine’s ongoing advance into the region.  

“Gazprom is supplying Russian gas for transit through the territory of Ukraine in the volume confirmed by the Ukrainian side through the Sudzha gas metering station – 37.3 million cubic meters(1.3 billion cubic feet) as of Aug. 8,” said Gazprom representative Sergei Kupriyanov, according to Interfax Russia.

An adviser to the Ukrainian President’s office said that the ongoing turmoil in Russia's Kursk and Belgorod regions was a result of Russia's own aggression.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian President’s office, made Ukraine's first official comment on the situation in Russia’s Kursk region on Thursday, Aug. 8. His remarks come as Ukrainian forces continue their offensive in the area, marking a significant escalation in the war.

Podolyak did not directly mention the military operations but emphasized that the ongoing turmoil in Russia's Kursk and Belgorod regions is a consequence of Russia's own aggression.

Social media posted a document on Thursday which purported to be a proclamation by the Sumy district council calling for currently occupied districts within Kursk to be included in Ukraine.

A document headed “Decisions of the Eighth Convocation of the Twenty-Ninth Session of the Sumy District Council dated Aug. 8” lays claim to part of Russia’s Kursk region. This is included in areas currently occupied by units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Sumy proposes to offer inclusion of the city of Sudzha and the Sudzha district into the Sumy district of the Sumy region of Ukraine.

The document that was posted on Ukraine’s Real War Telegram channel among others looked genuine, although it seems it wasn’t. The “tongue-in-cheek” tone in which it was written probably gave it away long before Sumy’s District Council confirmed that the declaration was not genuine, saying that it had not met on Thursday, that no such decision was taken and, in any case, it would not be within its competence to take.

In 2023, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on allegations of war crimes over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia following Moscow’s invasion in 2022.

The Ukrainian embassy in Mexico on Wednesday asked the Mexican government to arrest Russian leader Vladimir Putin if he attends the inauguration that he was invited to of president-elect Claudia Sheinbaum.

Kyiv's delegation, which called Putin a "war criminal," also thanked Mexico for extending an invitation to Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky for the ceremony on October 1.

Kyiv Post asked Andreas Umland, a leading analyst on Europe and Russia, about the latest dramatic development in the Russia-Ukraine war.

How do you evaluate the attack?

This is clearly a new development. Previous such attacks on Russian territory were carried out by the semi-regular Free Russia Legion of Russian fighters within the Ukrainian armed forces. The recent foray, in contrast, appears to be a deployment of regular Ukrainian troops on Russian territory. This makes the further conduct of the war more complicated for Russia, as the attack means that Russia will have to keep more troops on its own territory in the future to prevent such Ukrainian counterattacks.

Footage from Aug. 6 and 7 shows Ukrainian armored vehicles along the 38K-030 route, about 10 kilometers into Russian territory, in an operation that appears to be more than a mere cross-border raid.

Ukrainian forces have advanced up to 10 kilometers into Russia’s Kursk region, as part of their ongoing offensive operations, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Footage from Aug. 6 and 7 shows Ukrainian armored vehicles along the 38K-030 route, about 10 kilometers from the international border.

A UN official in charge of the human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine described Russian torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) as “the worst [she has] seen” in her 20-year career.

The head of the UN human rights monitoring mission in Ukraine, Danielle Bell, said Russian torture of Ukrainian prisoners of war (POWs) is a systematic issue, and access to Russian POWs held by Ukraine has been far easier than that of Ukrainian POWs held by Russia.

Bell described in an interview with Dutch TV channel NOS that the level of Russian torture towards Ukrainian POWs is “the worst that [she has] seen in [her] career of 20 years in the UN visiting places of detention.”

The sight of so many Americans attending a Democratic political event was more common during the Barack Obama era, when a charismatic young Black candidate broke barriers to become president.

Some 14,000 ecstatic voters packed a Philadelphia arena Tuesday to see their favorite candidate. The next day in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, a line of thousands bound for a political rally there stretched more than half a mile.

Such impressive numbers have been common at Donald Trump campaign events. But these boisterous, jumbo crowds were not for him; they had come to see US Vice President Kamala Harris, his White House rival who has skyrocketed towards Democratic flagbearer status.

The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.

A Thai court has ordered the dissolution of the reformist party which won the most seats and votes in last year’s election - but was blocked from forming a government. The ruling also banned Move Forward's charismatic, young former leader Pita Limjaroenrat and 10 other senior figures from politics for 10 years. The verdict from the Constitutional Court was expected, after its ruling in January that Move Forward’s campaign promise to change royal defamation laws was unconstitutional. The court had said changes to the notoriously harsh lese majeste law was tantamount to calling for the destruction of the constitutional monarchy. Wednesday's verdict again serves as a stark reminder of how far unelected institutions are willing to go to preserve the power and status of the monarchy. - BBC

Vice President Kamala Harris and her new running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, held two high-energy rallies in Wisconsin and Michigan that showed the euphoria inside a once-despairing Democratic Party for its two new candidates. The Democratic nominee borrowed a trick from Trump’s playbook, performing a dramatic arrival scene aboard Air Force Two in Michigan that mirrored his past use of the bigger presidential jet before a packed airport rally. For the second day in a row, Harris appeared before thousands of excited supporters who spelled out a collective warning sign for Trump — who is known to obsess over crowd sizes. She appeared to be quickly settling into her novel role as her party’s official candidate, displaying flashes of charisma and increasing confidence as her political honeymoon showed no signs of ending. - CNN

Ukrainian troops, tanks and armoured vehicles stormed into Russia's Kursk region on Tuesday, forcing Moscow to rush in reserves and deploy drones, aviation and artillery to counter the attack.

Several influential Russian military bloggers on Wednesday blasted the country's army leaders for failing to thwart a major Ukrainian cross-border raid.

Ukrainian troops, tanks and armoured vehicles stormed into Russia's southwestern Kursk region on Tuesday, forcing Moscow to rush in reserves and deploy drones, aviation and artillery to counter the attack.

Thousands of civilians on both sides of the border have been evacuated after Ukraine launched the cross-border incursion into Russia's Kursk region, now in its second day.

The White House said Wednesday it was contacting key US ally Ukraine to learn more about the "objectives" of Kyiv's most serious cross-border incursion into Russian territory in months.

"We're going to reach out to the Ukrainian military to learn more about their objectives," White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters when asked about the operation.

The 29-year-old won four bouts to clinch gold in the French capital, including a points victory over Cuba's two-time gold medallist Arlen Lopez in the semi-finals.

Ukraine won their third gold of the Paris Games on Wednesday when Oleksandr Khyzhniak blitzed to victory in the men's 80kg boxing final at Roland Garros for the second Olympic medal of his career.

Khyzhniak claimed a split points decision victory over Kazakhstan's Nurbek Oralbay to go one better than the silver he claimed at the Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

The second of two new multirole corvettes ordered by Ukraine in 2020 was launched in Turkey on Aug. 1, 2024, both ships will only be commissioned by 2027.

The contract for the construction of two ADA-class corvettes for the Ukrainian Navy between Ukraine's Defense Ministry and Turkish shipbuilders was concluded in December 2020. The construction of the first, named Hetman Ivan Mazepa, started in September 2021 and was launched on Oct. 2, 2022. The construction of the second, Hetman Ivan Vyhovsky, began in 2023 and it was launched on Aug. 1, 2024.

According to the captain of the first vessel, Volodymyr Uhlinsky, it is already undergoing navigational tests. He expects all works on both ships to be completed sooner than scheduled.

The NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) awarded a contract to Raytheon to replenish German stocks of GEM-T missiles after it donated the missiles to Ukraine.

The Luxembourg-based NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA) awarded the Raytheon weapons manufacturer a $478 million contract to supply Germany with Patriot Guidance Enhanced Missiles (GEM-Ts) to replenish its stocks.

GEM-T is one of the Patriot missile variants designed to engage tactical ballistic missiles, cruise missiles or aircraft, according to a Raytheon brochure. Each unit is estimated to cost $6 million for European purchasers.

Total losses from Russian attacks amount to $56.5 billion, including $16.1 billion in direct damages and $40.4 billion in unearned revenues, repairs, and debris removal.

Of the total damage caused to Ukraine’s energy sector following Russia’s full-scale invasion, the greatest has been to electricity generation, main electricity transmission lines, as well as oil and gas infrastructure. The findings are according to a report by the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE).

Analysts Ihor Piddubny and Dmytro Goriunov for the KSE calculated the total bill for restoring the energy sector to be $50.5 billion, which includes the complete reconstruction of destroyed facilities using up-to-date technologies (Build Back Better policy).

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian forces have made confirmed advances up to 10 kilometers into Russia's Kursk Oblast amid continued mechanized offensive operations on Russian territory on August 7.
• The Kremlin's response to Ukrainian offensive activities in Kursk Oblast has so far been contradictory, as Russian officials are attempting to balance presenting the effort as a notable Ukrainian escalation with avoiding overstating its potential implications and risking domestic discontent.
• Select Russian milbloggers heavily criticized the Russian military command for not detecting preparations for or preventing Ukrainian offensive operations into Kursk Oblast.
• Ukrainian forces reportedly used a first-person view (FPV) drone to down a Russian Mi-28 helicopter over Kursk Oblast, indicating that Ukrainian forces continue to successfully adapt their drone capabilities.
• Ukraine's Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Head Kyrylo Budanov assessed on August 7 that Russian offensive potential will culminate within one and a half to two months, generally consistent with ISW's assessment on current Russia's offensive capabilities.
• Head of the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), Danielle Bell, stated that Russia has tortured 95 percent of Ukrainian prisoners-of-war (POWs) in Russian detention.
• The Moldovan Central Electoral Commission (CEC) announced on August 7 that it would not register the pro-Kremlin Victory electoral bloc in the October 2024 Moldovan presidential election and referendum.
• A Russian court sentenced Andrey Kurshin, administrator of the "Moscow Calling" Russian ultranationalist milblogger Telegram channel, to six and a half years in prison on August 7 for publishing "fake" information about the Russian military.
• Ukrainian forces recently regained positions south of Chasiv Yar, and Russian forces advanced northeast of Siversk, southwest of Donetsk City, and in the Donetsk-Zaporizhia Oblast border area.
• Russian Army Combat Reserve (BARS) units continue recruitment efforts.