Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 08-17-2024

According to the Washington Post, Moscow has pulled out of indirect negotiations brokered by Qatar that were to be held in Doha later this month in response to Kyiv's cross-border action.

The Washington Post reported on Saturday, Aug. 17, citing unnamed diplomatic sources, that indirect talks between Kyiv and Moscow set up by Qatar have been put on hold following Ukraine’s shock Aug. 6 incursion into Russia’s Kursk region.

There had been forewarning of the proposed talks with both sides keeping the plans close to their chests. They would not have involved face-to-face negotiations between the two sides, but it was hoped that by being on neutral ground and working through intermediaries both Moscow and Kyiv had signaled an intention to make progress.

Broe explains what internal pressures Russia is now facing that could well lead the world's largest country to a brutal defeat.

A senior Hamas official rejects US President Joe Biden's claims that a Gaza truce is nearer after the two-day negotiations concluded in Doha, Qatar.

A senior Hamas official on Saturday dismissed optimistic talk by US President Joe Biden that a Gaza truce is nearer after negotiations in the Gulf emirate of Qatar.

"To say that we are getting close to a deal is an illusion," Hamas political bureau member Sami Abu Zuhri told AFP. "We are not facing a deal or real negotiations, but rather the imposing of American diktats."

With London still a haven for Russian money, the UK has to decide: Should it revoke Golden Visa citizenships to protect national security and remove political influence amid tensions with Russia?

It is no secret that the UK and especially London, is a haven for many Russian oligarchs and politicians. Many have acquired property, obtained citizenship and sent their children to British schools and universities.

Even after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, this trend continues, although some have been placed on the sanctions list – their family members can enjoy ill-gotten wealth in the clubs of the British capital. However, the UK may have already set a precedent for the expulsion of such individuals from its territory.

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

Ukraine has destroyed a strategically important bridge over the river Seym, as it continues its incursion into Russia's Kursk region. Russian officials have been quoted as saying the operation near the town of Glushkovo has cut off part of the local district. The bridge was used by the Kremlin to supply its troops and its destruction could hamper their efforts. President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian troops were strengthening their positions in Kursk, and called the captured territories an exchange fund, implying they could be swapped for Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow.

Russian troops are closing in on the strategic eastern Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, according to open-source battlefield maps, casting doubts on Ukraine’s hopes that its new offensive into western Russia will prompt Moscow to scale back its attacks elsewhere on the battlefield. After capturing several villages in the area and pushing along a railway line, Russian forces are now about eight miles from Pokrovsk, one of Ukraine’s main defensive strongholds in the Donetsk region, according to the maps, which are based on combat footage and satellite images. The capture of the city would bring Russia a step closer to its long-held goal of seizing the entire Donetsk region, much of which it already controls. Pokrovsk, a city with a prewar population of about 60,000, sits on a key road linking several cities that form a defensive arc protecting the part of Donetsk that is still held by Ukraine. The situation is so dire that the city’s military administration has urged residents to leave, although it has not issued a formal order. “The enemy is rapidly approaching the outskirts of Pokrovsk,” Serhii Dobriak, the head of the military administration, said on Thursday. “Evacuation is underway in the community. Don’t delay!”- NYT

Russian intelligence services appear to be using Yandex, the country’s largest search engine, to publish fake anti-Kremlin pages calling for volunteers to register with counterfeit links to Telegram.

Fake websites of Russian anti-Putin units fighting for Ukraine have appeared on Russia’s biggest search engine to entrap sympathizers and potential recruits, according to an IT specialist.

Independent Russian news outlet The Insider reported on Thursday, Aug. 15, the discovery by a Russian opposition activist and IT specialist Artem Tamoian that the Russian Yandex search engine had begun displaying what looked like the official web pages of several units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), the Freedom of Russia Legion (LSR) and the “Russian Volunteer Corps (RDK).”

Iryna Horobtsova, an IT worker, became active in supporting her community during the Russian occupation of Kherson.

A Russian court has sentenced a Ukrainian citizen who was arrested in Kherson during the city’s occupation by Russian forces to 10.5 years in a penal colony, accusing her of espionage on behalf of Ukraine.

Iryna Horobtsova, an IT worker, became active in supporting her community during the Russian occupation of Kherson, delivering food and medicine to residents while publicly expressing her support for the Ukrainian armed forces online.

The Israeli strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon came after ceasefire talks in Qatar on Israel's war in Gaza concluded a day prior without reaching a conclusive consensus.

Lebanon's health ministry said an Israeli air strike on Saturday in southern Lebanon killed 10 Syrians, as the Israeli military reported hitting weapons stores of the Iran-backed Hezbollah movement.

The toll from the strike in the Nabatieh area is one of the largest in southern Lebanon since Hezbollah and Israeli forces began exchanging near-daily fire over their border after the war in the Gaza Strip began in October.

Russia has vast playbook full of “dirty tricks” by which it can deceive public opinion and distort perception of reality. History show that false flag operations have always been a viable option.

Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Kursk and Belgorod, the first foreign invasion of Russia since World War II, has put the Kremlin’s mouthpieces into a tizzy as they simultaneously argue that the “provocation” is intended to “sow internal chaos,” but that, fear not, “order will be restored.”

Some speculate that if Russia is not able to quickly get its act together, it may turn to its old playbook of dirty tricks, hoping that a false flag operation could remedy the embarrassing problem of having gone from being “the occupiers of Ukraine,” to being “occupied by Ukraine.”

The purpose of Ukraine’s incursion into Russia is not to expand its borders by conquering additional territory, but rather to reduce the destruction of its own territory.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine have made a daring advance into Russia’s Kursk region in August 2024, as part of Ukraine’s overall self-defense strategy.

Ukraine’s successful military incursion into Russia has not only amazed the West, but also stunned the Kremlin by exposing its actual vulnerability, both to NATO and Russia’s oligarchic elite, particularly when the West is not protecting Russia’s territory by preventing Ukraine from neutralizing Russian attacks from their point of origin on Russia’s soil.

Russia and Ukraine should negotiate an end to their conflict to avoid the war spilling over into Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko.

Russia and Ukraine should negotiate an end to their conflict to avoid the war spilling over into Belarus, President Alexander Lukashenko, a key ally of Vladimir Putin, said in an interview with Russian state television.

Lukashenko was speaking against the backdrop of a Ukrainian incursion into Russia that began on 6 August when thousands of Kyiv’s troops smashed through Russia’s western border in a major embarrassment for Putin’s top military brass.

Russia's influence in the Caucasus has waned in recent years, with Armenia seeking closer ties with the West and Azerbaijan becoming a key player in the European energy market.

Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Azerbaijan on Sunday for a two-day trip focused on building ties and discussing international and regional affairs, the Kremlin said.

The visit would be Putin's first to the Caucasus country since 2018, and comes as Russia seeks to re-assert itself as a peacemaker between Azerbaijan and arch-foe Armenia.

Initial reports described burning cars, broken windows and known injuries following a Russian missile attack on the northeastern regional capital on Saturday morning.

A Russian missile attack on Sumy, the regional capital of the Sumy region bordering Russia’s Kursk region, injured at least two on Saturday morning.

Oleksiy Drozdenko, head of the Sumy City Military Administration, said on Telegram at 6:51 a.m. that the attack struck Svobody Avenue, with numerous broken windows and burning cars in the surrounding residential buildings.

Moscow-ally Lukashenko crushed mass pro-democracy protests after an election on Aug. 9, 2020, in which the government was widely condemned for having allegedly falsified results.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko on Friday pardoned 30 prisoners convicted over protests, the presidential website said.

Lukashenko "signed a decree pardoning 30 people convicted for crimes related to protests," the statement said, without giving names.

Ukraine’s commander-in-chief said troops have advanced one to three kilometers in Russia’s Kursk region and it is expected to capture “many prisoners” from an ongoing battle.

Oleksandr Syrsky, Ukraine’s commander-in-chief, said Friday that Ukraine’s ongoing incursion into Russia’s Kursk region had advanced further.

“The troops of the offensive group continue to fight and have advanced in some areas from one to three kilometers towards the enemy,” Syrsky told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video posted on social media, as reported by AFP.

Kyiv Post spoke to a few Kyiv locals to get their opinions on Ukraine’s surprise incursion into Russia.

As Ukraine continues its offensive in the Kursk region – the largest incursion into Russia since WWII – many Ukrainians are voicing delight.

On Thursday, Aug. 15, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced the capture of the Kursk region town of Sudzha.

Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• Ukrainian forces continued to marginally advance southeast of Sudzha on August 16 amid continued Ukrainian operations in Kursk Oblast.
• Ukrainian strikes reportedly destroyed two bridges in Glushkovo Raion, Kursk Oblast.
• Ukrainian forces reportedly advanced further into western Belgorod Oblast during recent cross-border assaults than previously reported, but available open-source reporting and evidence indicate that Ukrainian forces no longer maintain positions within Belgorod Oblast as of August 16.
• Ukrainian officials reported that Ukrainian forces continued to advance in Kursk Oblast and suggested that the incursion has forced Russia to more readily consider prisoner-of-war (POW) exchanges.
• The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Office (UN OHCHR) requested that Russian authorities allow UN representatives to visit Bryansk, Kursk, and Belgorod oblasts as part of a human rights monitoring mission.
• US officials reiterated that US policy on Ukraine's ability to use US-provided weapons to conduct long-range strikes against Russian military targets has not changed amid the ongoing Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast.
• The Kremlin reportedly fired former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s advisor on information policy Andrei Ilnitsky possibly as part of an ongoing effort to shift control of Russia's wartime information policy from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) to the Russian Presidential Administration.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Chasiv Yar, Toretsk, and Pokrovsk.
• Russian milbloggers claimed on August 16 that Russian drone operators are limiting their use of Mavic drones amid claims that Russian commanders are forcing operators to either personally pay to replace drones lost outside of combat or risk being sent to an infantry assault unit as punishment for losing a drone.