Ukraine Breaking News Today Live on 08-31-2024

According to Mediazona's breakdown, the region with the largest absolute number of deaths – 2,578 – is the southern republic of Bashkortostan, which has a large Muslim population.

Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona said Saturday according to its estimates more than 66,000 Russian military personnel have died during the war in Ukraine.

Mediazona has been drawing up a list of known soldier deaths in conjunction with the BBC Russian Service using open-source data.

A sense of hopelessness, no means of evacuation and instilled myths about conditions if captured by Ukraine, are pushing Russian soldiers to pull the trigger on their own lives.

Among Russian servicemen, the practice of committing suicide on the battlefield is becoming increasingly common. When Russian soldiers are wounded or find themselves in desperate situations, evidence suggests they quickly realize that they will not receive evacuation or help from their commanders, leading to a sense of despair, hopelessness and the perception that suicide is the only viable option.

The situation is exacerbated by Russian propaganda, whichactively spreads myths that soldiers captured as prisoners of war by the Armed Forces of Ukraine are subject to torture and abuse, thus making capture appear a worse alternative to death.

Western allies' divergent policies on weapons use complicate logistics for Ukrainian forces.

European Union (EU) member state officials continue to express divergent views about Ukraine's ability to use European-provided weapons to strike military targets in Russia.

EU High Commissioner Josep Borrell stated on August 30 that the decision to lift such restrictions is up to each EU member state individually, as not all EU states have provided Ukraine with long-range weapons.

Ukraine intensified its push for Western approval to strike military targets deep inside Russia.

Ukraine on Thursday (29 August) intensified its push for Western approval to strike military targets deep inside Russia, urging allies to lift restrictions on the use of their donated long-range weapons.

“We expect the permission, and we expect the delivery of missiles which can be used for that purpose,” Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said before meeting European counterparts in Brussels on Thursday (29 August).

The Lockheed Martin and Raytheon “Javelin Joint Venture (JJV)” announced the contract on Aug. 28 to produce the man-portable, anti-armor weapons (ATGW), including 4,000 missiles for Ukraine.

The US Army has awarded a $1.3 billion follow-on production contract to the Lockheed Martin and Raytheon Javelin Joint Venture (JJV) to produce FGM-148 Javelin Advanced Anti-Tank Weapon System-Medium (AAWS-M) missiles and related equipment and services. This includes around 4,000 missiles for Ukraine to replenish stockspreviously supplied.

This single year agreement is part of a larger contract awarded last year for the JJV to provide an “indefinite quantity” of the missiles between 2023 and 2026 with a likely total value of more than $7 billion. The Maryland-based defense contractor has been ramping up Javelin production and says it has plans to extend its annual manufacturing capability to around 4,000 missiles.

Though the Russian economy is expected to shrink even under a baseline scenario, interest rates under these conditions will not exceed 17 percent, keeping inflation in single digits.

Russia’s central bank has published monetary policy guidelines for 2025-2025 setting out four scenarios for the country in the coming years:

• Baseline scenario – no new shocks

Many positive developments are emerging in favor of Ukraine reaching a turning point in the Russo-Ukrainian War.

On Saturday, Aug. 24, Ukraine celebrated 33 years of independence from Moscow. Kyiv hasn’t staged military parades since the 2022 Russian invasion, but there certainly was cause for celebration this year.

Ukrainian troops invaded and occupied a chunk of Russia in the Kursk Oblast. The fallout from this audacious military conquest – plus the siege of Crimea and a significant drone attack on Moscow – has rattled the enemy, cratered the Ruble, undermined Vladimir Putin, and triggered geopolitical repositioning. Putin loses support at home and status abroad because his military, his red lines, and his Armageddon bluffs no longer work.

Some US officials reportedly deemed the plan too risky, while a spokesman for the US National Security Council said they were considering the proposal “but have made no decisions.”

Washington reportedly discussed sending US civilian contractors to help maintain American equipment in Ukraine, including the F-16 multirole fighters, but officials said the plan was ultimately scrapped due to security concerns.

The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), citing unnamed US officials, reported Friday that the US National Security Council considered sending US civilian contractors to maintain the F-16s in Ukraine, but that “the intelligence community and others deemed it too risky for now” and that Washington expected its European allies to take on the role.

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

A Brazilian Supreme Court justice has ordered the suspension of Elon Musk's X platform in Brazil. Supreme Court judge Alexandre de Moraes made the order after the site's billionaire owner failed to name a legal representative in Brazil. The threat of a suspension has angered the billionaire, prompting a string of vitriolic language. But could it be the start of the crumbling of Musks’s social media empire? Already US banks are complaining that they are on the hook for loans extended to Musk for the purchase of Twitter/X

Italian deputy minister and Northern League leader Matteo Salvinimi is reportedly stopped from issuing a statement criticizing Ukraine’s cross border incursion into Russia by PM Georgia Meloni and her foreign minister, Antonio Tajani. However the latter still firmly opposes the use of Italian weapons inside Russia

Kolesnikova led massive street protests against President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020, refused to be forcibly deported and was then sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2021.

Allies of imprisoned Belarusian opposition politician Maria Kolesnikova sounded the alarm on Friday over reports her health has seriously deteriorated behind bars, saying she was being subjected to "slow murder."

Kolesnikova led massive street protests against Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko in 2020, refused to be forcibly deported and was then sentenced to 11 years in prison in 2021. 

The 12 medals – including three gold –won at the Olympics and strong Ukrainian participation in the Paralympics send "a powerful message to the world" that Russia cannot crush Ukraine.

Ukraine's sporting infrastructure has been dealt a "devastating blow" since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, but the government is determined to rebuild its sports infrastructure, Sports Minister Matviy Bidnyi told AFP.

By the end of the Paris Olympics earlier this month, nearly 500 athletes and coaches had lost their lives among the thousands of casualties.

A 14-year-old girl died at the playground at the time of the strike, and official figures as of Saturday morning listed 97 injured, 22 of them being minors.

Casualties from Russia’s Friday air strike on Kharkiv have risen to seven dead and 97 injured, 22 of which were minors, according to a local official.

Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, lies around 40 km (25 miles) from the Russian border and has been bombed persistently by Russian forces since they launched their invasion in February 2022.

Borrell promises second tranche of aid to Ukraine by March at expense of Russian assets and to visit Kyiv to open an EU Defense Innovation Office.

The European Union will soon open a defense innovation office in Kyiv, High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell said, announcing a visit to Ukraine in September-October.

Borrell said at a press conference on Friday, Aug. 30, following an informal meeting of EU defense ministers in Brussels that they should integrate Ukrainian defense into their industrial base.

Authorities were still investigating the incident that cost Ukraine’s most prized Western fighters, with some officials alleging a friendly-fire incident involving the Patriot air defense system.

President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Air Force Chief Mykola Oleshchuk Friday evening after Ukraine lost a Western F-16 fighter during Russia’s Monday missile and drone barrage. 

Zelenksy’s office published the decree on Friday, and he mentioned Oleshchuk’s dismissal in his evening address without naming the reason for dismissal. At present, Oleshchuk’s role in Monday’s F-16 incident remains unclear. 

Russia’s War against Ukraine has caused an outflow of highly skilled female workers, particularly in the IT sector, who are now filling gaps in Britain’s work force.

Every war has its iconic hero; think Rosie the Riveter during WWII, an icon still relevant enough to be bizarrely referenced in a recent Katy Perry video. Ukraine’s fight against Russian aggression is no exception, only that industrial tools have been replaced with laptops.

Ukraine’s army of IT workers could hold a similarly vaunted role as Rosie once did. Granted, it’s unlikely that anyone will be getting tattoos of remote workers anytime soon but the role they’ve played in keeping the Ukrainian economy afloat can’t be overstated. They have also helped the economies of the countries that have welcomed them as refugees, providing valuable technical skills and expertise.

The regime has turned its back on other Western allies such as France and the United States to turn toward Russia and Iran.

The German army on Friday vacated an airbase in junta-run Niger in West Africa and flew its final troops home, completing a withdrawal from the restive Sahel nation.

At the end of May, Germany and Niger reached an interim agreement allowing the German military to continue operating its airbase in the capital Niamey until the end of August.

War in Ukraine - Latest update, key takeaways and map from the Institute for the Study of War on August 30, 2024

Key Takeaways from the ISW:

• European Union (EU) member state officials continue to express divergent views about Ukraine's ability to use European-provided weapons to strike military targets in Russia.
• Russian sources claimed that Ukrainian and Russian forces made marginal gains in Kursk Oblast on August 30.
• Russian state-owned polling agencies are recognizing limited upticks in Russian domestic discontent towards Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian authorities amid the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk Oblast.
• Venezuela extradited Colombian citizens who fought as members of the Ukrainian military to Russia, demonstrating growing Russian-Venezuelan cooperation and Venezuelan support for Russia's war.
• Hungary and Russia continue to deepen their bilateral cooperation.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky dismissed Lieutenant General Mykola Oleshchuk as Ukrainian Air Force Commander on August 30.
• Russian forces recently advanced near Svatove, Pokrovsk, and Donetsk City.
• French outlet Le Monde reported on August 30 that about 100 mercenaries from the Russian "Bear Brigade" private military company departed Burkina Faso to join Russian forces fighting in Kursk Oblast.