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Stay on top of Russia-Ukraine war 08-19-2024 developments on the ground with KyivPost fact-based news, exclusive video footage, photos and updated war maps.
Berlin affirms Germany will remain Ukraine's “strongest” supporter in Europe.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz insisted Monday that Germany would maintain support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia’s invasion, despite plans to halve the budget for helping Kyiv in 2025.
“Germany is and remains the strongest supporter of Ukraine in Europe,” Scholz said in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Ukraine’s drone forces have shared first-person view (FPV) camera footage of UAV air-to-air kills against Russian military rotor-wing aircraft.
During Ukraine’s surprise offensive into the Kursk region, one striking feature was videos of first-person view (FPV) drones bringing down Russian military helicopters mid-flight.
In the 30-month war that followed Russia’s full-scale invasion, attack and surveillance drones are everywhere targeting vehicles, troops and defensive positions. It is no surprise therefore that Ukraine’s Aug. 6 cross-border incursion into the Kursk region was supported by swarms of drones. The difference this time was some of the drones’ targets.
Ukraine’s energy transmission operator said structures to help protect against Russian drone strikes have been completed at numerous substations with foreign financial aid.
Ukrenergo, Ukraine’s energy transmission operator, announced on Monday, that concrete structures to help protect substations from drone strikes have been partially constructed at 41 facilities.
“NEC [National Energy Company] Ukrenergo is finalizing the construction of the first phase of anti-drone protection of high-voltage equipment at 41 company facilities,” read the company’s press release, adding that the State Agency for Reconstruction and Development of Infrastructure of Ukraine is completing the construction of the first stage of protection at another 22 Ukrenergo facilities.
Special Operations Forces (SSO) releases video of their activities in Kursk region, where they are spotting and eliminating enemy forces, including through ambushes and assaults, in enemy territory.
The Ukrainian Special Operations Forces (SSO) published footage showing their ambush and assault operations in Russia’s Kursk region, wherein they spot and then eliminate enemy forces on their own soil.
According to the SSO, in the video released on Monday, Aug 19, Russian troops are trying to hide in industrial zones, fortified positions, and civilian buildings.
The all-weather span across the Seym River was the last road route out of a growing Kyiv-controlled salient in the Kursk region, but it’s not clear how many Russian troops are now trapped.
Ukrainian forces on Sunday took down a logistically critical road bridge in Russia’s Kursk region, leaving Russian troops and civilians inside a strip of territory about the size of Luxembourg effectively cut off from escape or reinforcements.
Russian milbloggers and Ukrainian media agreed the span within the village of Karyzh was now unusable and Russian authorities in the region warned civilians that travel south across the river had become impossible. It was not clear what was used to disable the bridge.
According to the Kremlin, there have been no direct or indirect negotiations between Kyiv and Moscow on the safety of civilian critical infrastructure facilities.
Russia on Sunday (18 August) denied a report that Ukraine’s attack on the Kursk region had derailed indirect talks with Kyiv on halting strikes on energy and power targets, and launched another series of air attacks, including on Kyiv.
The Washington Post reported on Saturday that Ukraine and Russia were set to send delegations to Qatar this month to negotiate a landmark agreement halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure on both warring sides.
As events in the Kursk region rapidly advance it’s time to consider how some Russian personalities may start to spin the story to try to salvage some semblance of credibility for the Putin regime.
Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region is about to enter its third week, about the time you’d expect some diplomatic moves from the Kremlin and its supporters to give their assessment of events.
I can just imagine Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arriving at the United Nations, standing behind some podium demanding, with a straight face, that a “declaration of condemnation be issued for Ukraine’s outrageous violation of international law with their cross-border invasion of sacred Russian territory….” It would require someone with a face as stony as Lavrov’s to deliver hypocrisy on this scale, but he has had a lot of practice.
Latest from the British Defence Intelligence.
Moscow’s 2022 invasion started with a 100,000-strong invasion force, and it is currently losing more than a thousand troops on the front daily amidst hostilities on multiple fronts.
Russia’s personnel losses during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, according to Ukrainian estimations, have broken the 600,000 mark.
According to an update on Monday by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU), Russia lost 600,470 military personnel between Feb. 24, 2022, and Aug. 19, 2024, and 1,120 alone over the past day.
Chechen militants looted cell phones from a village store in the Kursk region, smashing display cases and taking equipment, ahead of Ukraine’s advancing forces.
A video circulating online showed several Chechen militants raiding the “MegaFon” cell phone store in the village of Glushkovo after it was evacuated a few days ahead of the Ukrainian advance in the Kursk region of Russia.
In the video posted on the “Typical Kursk” Telegram channel, bearded men in Russian military uniforms are seen breaking the store's windows and removing items from the store.
The change came after President Volodymyr Zelensky ordered an audit into connection stability during blackouts, while those unable to meet the income threshold can reserve half their employees.
Internet providers and mobile operators can reserve 100 percent of their employees to ensure connection stability if the companies meet a set income threshold and are deemed to be of national significance.
“Thanks to the changes in the decree, mobile operators and large Internet providers that meet the requirements of the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Electronic Communication Networks of Ukraine (NCU) regarding the provision of Internet access during power outages will be able to book 100 percent of employees,” read a Ministry of Digital Transformation press release on Friday.
Kyiv Post's Chief Editor Bohdan Nahaylo discusses the current political landscape in Ukraine with Poland's TVP World.
Extract from TVP World Main News on Aug. 17 in which presenter Sally Jastrzębska asks Kyiv Post's Chief Editor Bohdan Nahaylo about the current political situation in Ukraine.
Ukraine’s First Lady interviewed exclusively by the UK’s Lord Ashcroft for The Mail On Sunday.
Living in a country at war is a constant psychological burden – but my husband and I are emotionally closer than ever before.
The tragic events of the past two-and-a-half years would have tested any marriage: an unprecedented war, a potentially life-or-death decision on whether to flee the fighting and a close-knit family forced to live apart.
The world in focus, as seen by a Canadian leading global affairs analyst, writer and speaker, in his review of international media.
Doctors in India have held a national strike, escalating the protest against the rape and murder of a female colleague in the West Bengal city of Kolkata. More than a million were expected to join the strikes, as hospitals and clinics across the country turned away non-emergency patients. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) described last week's killing as a "crime of barbaric scale due to the lack of safe spaces for women" and asked for the country's support in its "struggle for justice". Protests against the attack and calling for the better protection of women have intensified in recent days after a mob vandalised the hospital where it happened. In a statement, the IMA said emergency and casualty services would continue to run. The strike ended at 06:00 local time on Sunday (00:30 GMT). The association's president, R. V. Asokan, told the BBC doctors have been suffering and protesting against violence for years, but that this incident was "qualitatively different". If such a crime can happen in a medical college in a major city, it shows "everywhere doctors are unsafe", he said. Doctors at some government hospitals announced earlier this week that they were indefinitely halting elective procedures. - BBC
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is under fresh pressure to lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of Storm Shadow missiles after Volodymyr Zelensky said British support was “slowing down”. The Ukrainian president complained that British aid to Kyiv had begun to wane as his forces continued their unprecedented incursion into Russian territory in the Kursk region. “Unfortunately, the situation has slowed down recently,” Mr Zelensky said, referring to UK military assistance. Sir Keir has upheld a Conservative ban on using UK-made Storm Shadows to strike targets deep inside Russia, amid concerns it could lead to escalation with nuclear-armed Moscow. “We will discuss how to fix this because long-range capabilities are vital for us. The whole world sees how effective Ukrainians are – how our entire nation defends its independence,” said Mr Zelensky. It came as four former Conservative defence secretaries called on No 10 to do more to support Ukraine, with some demanding Kyiv be allowed to use Storm Shadows in the Russian offensive. Mr Zelensky said that it was “crucial” for Britain, France and the US to “remove barriers that hinder us from weakening Russian positions”. Any use of long-range Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia by Ukraine would require the consent of both Britain and France, which jointly developed them, as well as the United States. The White House denied reports that the US was blocking a request by the UK for Ukraine to use the missiles - Daily Telegraph
On the eve of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Ukraine, the world’s most populous nation’s interactions with Ukraine and Russia deserve an in-depth look.
This week, Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India is schedule to visit Poland (on Aug. 21) and Ukraine (on Aug. 23). It will be the first time an Indian prime minister has visited Ukraine. With India in a position to influence Russia, Modi could, in theory, help bring about a resolution to the conflict. India could also be instrumental in Ukraine’s post-war recovery. Kyiv Post spoke to Anastasia Piliavsky, Reader in Social Anthropology and Politics at the India Institute of King’s College London, about the state of India-Ukraine relations. Piliavsky lives between Odesa and the UK.
Kyiv Post: We know little about India, except that its population (1.6 billion) has now exceeded China’s (1.4 billion) and that it is a large country with growing importance for the balance of power, not only in Asia but also increasingly in the wider world, including Europe, what must we take into account to understand India’s global position and its role in Russia’s war against Ukraine?
Li's visit comes as China and Russia ramp up economic cooperation and diplomatic contacts.
Chinese Premier Li Qiang will visit Russia and Belarus this week, Beijing's foreign ministry said Monday.
"From August 20 to 23, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council will travel to Russia to chair the 29th regular meeting between Chinese and Russian heads of government and visit Russia and Belarus," the ministry said in a statement.
This marked yet another wave of attacks from Russian troops, coming from both the Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk directions, targeting multiple regions across Ukraine.
Russian forces launched an early morning Shahed drone attack on Monday, August 19, striking from the Kursk and Primorsko-Akhtarsk directions, according to Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mykola Oleschuk in a Telegram post.
Due to the coordinated efforts of Ukraine’s Defense Forces, including mobile fire units, anti-aircraft missile units, aviation, and electronic warfare, all 11 Russian drones were shot down.
The announcement comes just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Modi for embracing Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent visit to Moscow.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is set to visit Ukraine, according to an announcement from India's foreign ministry on Monday, as per Reuter’s report.
The visit will be Modi’s first to Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion began. The announcement comes just weeks after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned Modi for embracing Russian President Vladimir Putin during a recent visit to Moscow.
Lukashenko also expressed confidence that Putin’s army would defeat the Ukrainian forces on Russian territory, threatening that further escalation could spell disaster for Ukraine.
Polish mercenaries fought arm-in-arm with Ukrainian forces in the Kursk offensive, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told Russian state television, misquoting Polish Interior Minister Tomasz Siemoniak.
Ukrainian troops crossed the Russian border on 6 August and launched an attack on the Kursk region. According to Lukashenko, Kyiv’s forces included Polish volunteers.
Earlier, the Kremlin said that Putin and his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev would discuss "the question of settling the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia".
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Azerbaijan's capital Baku on Sunday for a two-day state visit, Russian news agencies reported.
Russian television broadcasted images of the Russian president's plane as it arrived in Baku in the evening.
Latest from the Institute for the Study of War.
Key Takeaways from the ISW:
AFU knocks out critical Russian resupply bridge; Ahead of Dem’s convention, leaders of both US parties say Kursk is a game-changer for arms supply; UK says weapons it gave to Ukraine in use in Russia.
According to Air Force Commander Mykola Oleshchuk, the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) on Sunday destroyed a second bridge in the Kursk region that was critical to the Kremlin’s resupply routes in the area.
“Minus one more bridge,” Oleshchuk posted on Telegram, showing a video of the destruction near the Russian town of Zvannoye. “The aviation of the Air Force continues to deprive the enemy of logistical capabilities with accurate air strikes, which significantly affects the course of hostilities!” he wrote.
