Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 08-09-2024

Kyiv's troops have been driving into Russia's Kursk region since Tuesday in a surprise offensive that appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since Moscow invaded in February 2022.

Russia on Friday said it was deploying more troops and munitions to a frontier region where Ukraine has mounted a major ground offensive, while Russia struck a supermarket in east Ukraine, killing at least 10 people.

Kyiv's troops have been driving into Russia's western Kursk region since Tuesday in a surprise offensive that appears to be the most significant attack on Russian soil since Moscow invaded in February 2022.

In this episode of Talking Substance, host Alina Hrytsenko talks to Alina Frolova, ex-deputy defence minister and expert in strategic communications.

Kyiv is asking the US to authorize the use of ATACMS for strikes in Russia during the offensive in Kursk. This would help Ukraine hold territory and influence negotiations with Moscow.

The Ukrainian leadership has approached the US for permission to use ATACMS to target Russian territory after the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) conducted an incursion into Russia’s Kursk Oblast. This could allow Kyiv to hold the territory they have pushed into, according to The Washington Post, citing an anonymous advisor to President Volodymyr Zelensky.

The long-range missiles are planned to be used to strike Russian military airfields from which Russian aircraft conduct bombing raids on Ukrainian positions. According to the source, such a political decision would help the AFU maintain control over parts of the Kursk Oblast.

During Belarus’s 2020 presidential election, a Soviet rock song about changes blasted through stereos along Minsk’s major boulevards. Four years later, that change has yet to arrive.

On this day four years ago, car horns interlaced with a rock song by the Soviet band Kino called “Peremen,” Russian for changes, blared from car stereos rang out across the capital of Belarus. The tune became synonymous with the 2020 protests, along with the lost hopes and dreams of the Belarusian opposition that lived on for decades after the song’s release.

This is a new series in which Kyiv Post’s Chief Editor will share his thoughts of the day with our readers.

It’s been a while since my last Thinking Out Loud on these pages.  But with so much going on, and regardless of how busy we all are at Kyiv Post, I think that as the Chief Editor it’s time I began sharing my thoughts, observations and views with you again.

What I propose is to add a regular Thoughts of the Day column in which I will flag briefly some of the noteworthy news or relevant events in the form of a personal comment from me.

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

Russia's military has said it is "continuing to repel" a Ukrainian cross-border incursion into the western Kursk region - a surprise attack now in its fourth day. The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine lost more than 280 military personnel in the past 24 hours - a claim that has not been independently verified. Reports suggest that Ukrainian troops are operating more than 10km (six miles) inside Russia - the deepest cross-border advance by Kyiv since Moscow launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022. Ukraine has not openly admitted the incursion, but President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Thursday that Moscow must "feel" the consequences for its invasion. Separately, Ukraine's military said it hit overnight a military airfield deep inside Russia, destroying warehouses with guided bombs. In a statement, the Ukrainian military reported a huge blaze and multiple detonations at the Lipetsk airfield, more than 350km (217 miles) from Ukraine's border, after the overnight strike. Lipetsk’s regional authorities said a state of emergency was now in place in the area, confirming the detonations at an "energy infrastructure facility". Residents of four nearby villages were being evacuated. - BBC

Some Russian bloggers criticised the state of border defences in the Kursk region, saying it had been far too easy for Ukrainian forces to slice through them. “The enemy passed through our line of defence quite easily," said Yuri Podolyaka, a popular Ukrainian-born, pro-Russian military blogger, adding that no complete defensive work had been prepared in the Kursk region despite the ongoing conflict. - Reuters

Russian milbloggers have accused their commanders of criminal incompetence after the strike near the village of Oktyabrskoye in the Kursk region.

Video posted on several pro-Kremlin Telegram channels overnight on Aug. 8/9 showed a column of Russian military vehicles fiercely burning at the side of the road near the village of Oktyabrskoye in the Rylsky district of the Kursk region.

The SBU drone has destroyed a Russian helicopter in the Kursk region. This is the second successful operation, highlighting the effectiveness of drone strikes, sources tell Kyiv Post.

Kyiv Post's sources in the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) reported that SBU has taken down another Russian helicopter in Russia’s Kursk region using an FPV drone. 

"The video shows the drone from the SBU's Special Operations Center 'A' hitting the helicopter mid-flight," said our anonymous source.

Emergency services, including police, rescuers, and medics, are on the scene to assess the full extent of the damage.

A Russian strike on a supermarket in the eastern Ukrainian town of Kostyantynivka on Friday killed at least 10 people and injured 35, Ukraine's interior minister said.

"10 were killed and 35 others were wounded," Interior Minister Igor Klymenko said in a post on Telegram.

According to Bloomberg, despite the intelligence reports, which detailed the buildup of Ukrainian forces near the border, the General Staff did not tell Vladimir Putin what was going on.

Russian intelligence had warned of a potential Ukrainian offensive in the Kursk region two weeks before it occurred, but the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, led by General Valery Gerasimov, chose to ignore these warnings, according to a Bloomberg report citing Kremlin sources.

Pro-Kyiv forces stormed into Russia's southwestern Kursk region on Tuesday morning, deploying around 1,000 troops and more than two dozen armored vehicles and tanks, according to Russian military sources.

Stealthy and agile, they could soon become an invaluable ally on the front line for a Ukrainian army that is short on manpower to repel the Russian invasion, its makers said.

Ukraine could soon unleash robot dogs on its front lines, replacing soldiers for perilous missions like spying on Russian trenches or detecting mines.

At a demonstration in an undisclosed part of Ukraine, the metallic dog known as model "BAD One" stood up, crouched, ran and jumped according to commands transmitted by its operator.

In a wide-ranging interview, Gen. David Petraeus, one of America’s most distinguished living soldiers, offers Kyiv Post his unique insight into Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

Gen. David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.) is the former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; former Director of the CIA; and co-author of the New York Times bestselling book Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Ukraine. He was sanctioned by Vladimir Putin over two years ago.

US aid: too little too late?

Russian prosecutors say an amateur ballet dancer holding dual US and Russian citizenship is guilty of treason for donating just over $50 to the Ukraine’s armed forces in 2022.

The prosecution has requested 15 years in prison for Ksenia Karelina, a US and Russian citizen, for “treason” for providing funds to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In 2022, she transferred $51.80 to a Ukrainian foundation, according to the First Department human rights group.

Kyiv Post's sources confirmed that the AFU, in coordination with the Security Service of Ukraine and the Special Operations Forces, launched a drone strike on the Russian military airfield Lipetsk-2.

Kyiv Post's sources in the  Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) confirmed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine, in coordination with SBU and the Special Operations Forces (SSO), launched a drone strike on the Russian military airfield Lipetsk-2 early morning on Friday, August 9.

The attack targeted several dozen fighter jets, helicopters, and ammunition depots containing over 700 guided aerial bombs.

The cross-border incursion appears to be Ukraine's most serious since Russia's invasion began in February 2022, and may involve up to 1,000 troops, according to Moscow's estimates.

As Ukraine's major assault on the Russian border region of Kursk entered a third day, residents in the capital Kyiv praised the offensive as "bringing victory closer".

The cross-border incursion appears to be Ukraine's most serious since Russia's invasion began in February 2022, and may involve up to 1,000 troops, according to Moscow's estimates.

Pro-Kyiv forces stormed into Russia's southwestern Kursk region on Tuesday morning, deploying around 1,000 troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks, according to the Russian army.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday that Russia needed to "feel" the consequences of its war as a major Ukrainian incursion across the Russian border stretched into a third day.

Pro-Kyiv forces stormed into Russia's southwestern Kursk region on Tuesday morning, deploying around 1,000 troops and more than two dozen armoured vehicles and tanks, according to the Russian army.

The Verkhovna Rada will soon consider a draft law on the completion of the construction of two power units at the Khmelnytskyi NPP.

Currently, Ukrainian nuclear power plants provide up to 60 percent of electricity supplied to all residential, commercial, industrial, and other consumers, Ukraine’s Minister of Energy Herman Galushchenko said.

What percentage of electricity generation is provided by Ukrainian nuclear power plants?

The audacity of Ukraine’s Kursk offensive has perplexed many analysts. But the brazen attack on Russian soil may forestall any third-party attempt to press Kyiv into concessions.

History is replete with examples of all kinds of empires falling in the face of seemingly weaker opponents. From the biblical battle between David and Goliath and the American War of Independence against the Great British Empire, to the fall of the Soviet Empire. The victory of the “weak Davids” has always seemed unexpected, and the fall of the “strong Goliaths” has always been deafening.

We are on the threshold of similar events, and the Kursk operation in Russia is their manifestation. In fact, it takes into account the experience of Prigozhin’s march on Moscow in 2023, which showed Russia’s internal weakness and fragility. At that time, 5,000 fighters were able to capture Rostov-on-Don with a population of more than 1.1 million people and march without resistance almost all the way to Moscow.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian cross-border mechanized offensive operations into Kursk Oblast that began on August 6 are continuing as part of a Ukrainian operational effort within Russian territory. ISW will not offer assessments about the intent of this Ukrainian operation in order to avoid compromising Ukrainian operational security.
• Geolocated footage and Russian claims indicate that Ukrainian forces continued rapid advances further into Kursk Oblast on August 8, and Ukrainian forces are reportedly present in areas as far as 35 kilometers from the international border with Sumy Oblast. Ukrainian forces most certainly do not control all of the territory within the maximalist extent of Russian claims about Ukrainian advances in Kursk Oblast, however.
• The Kremlin will almost certainly endeavor to retake Russian territory in Kursk Oblast that Ukrainian forces have seized and stop Ukrainian activity further into Russia, as substantial Ukrainian advances within Russia would be a strategic blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin's decades-long effort to cement a legacy of Russian stability, security, and geopolitical resurgence.
• COA (Course of Action) 1: The Russian military command may decide to use existing conscripts, Federal Security Service (FSB) border guards, Rosgvardia, and other irregular forces already deployed to the international border area to push Ukrainian forces back and defend against the Ukrainian operation in Kursk Oblast.
• COA 2: The Russian military command may decide to use the existing Northern Grouping of Forces deployed along the Russian-Ukrainian border to respond to the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk Oblast.
• COA 3: The Russian military command may choose to redeploy operational reserves that it accumulated for its planned Summer 2024 offensive effort and/or relatively better provisioned and more combat effective frontline units to Kursk Oblast from elsewhere in the theater.
• COA 4: The Russian military command may seek to maintain the forces it currently has committed to Kursk Oblast but could redeploy significant aviation and strike elements to the area in an effort to improve Russia's ability to retake territory.
• The lack of a coherent Russian response to the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast and the reported rate of Ukrainian advance indicates that Ukrainian forces were able to achieve operational surprise along the border with Russia.
• Ukrainian officials have yet to comment directly on Ukraine's ongoing operation into Kursk Oblast.
• US officials noted that Ukraine's ongoing operation into Kursk Oblast is not a violation of US restrictions on Ukraine's ability to strike military targets within Russia's border areas.