06.08.2023

Reuters: Ukraine struck and damaged the Chonhar road bridge linking mainland Ukraine to Crimea and a smaller bridge linking the town of Henichesk with the peninsula's northeast coast on Sunday, Moscow-appointed officials and Ukraine's armed forces said.

POLITICO: Representatives of some 40 countries that took part in Saudi-hosted Ukraine peace talks this weekend agreed that any kind of peace treaty aimed to end Russia’s war against Ukraine must be based on respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine and the U.N. Charter, the Ukrainian government said on Sunday.

Meduza: The Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov admitted to NYT that the presidential elections in Russia are “not really democracy”. Furthermore, he noted that in 2024 Putin would be re-elected “with more than 90 percent of the vote”.

RFE/RL: The number of Russians vacationing in Crimea, the Ukrainian Black Sea peninsula occupied by Moscow, has fallen by nearly half in recent weeks following attacks carried out by Kyiv.

AP News: Ukraine has replaced the Soviet emblem that once adorned one of the nation’s most recognizable landmarks with the country’s coat of arms.

AP News: Poland’s oil pipeline operator said Sunday repairs are underway to a pipeline carrying oil from Russia to Germany that was temporarily shut down after a leak was discovered. The operator, PERN, said the pipeline is expected to resume normal operations on Tuesday.

AP News: Moscow unleashed a massive missile and drone barrage on western Ukraine Sunday, following through on its promise to retaliate for a Ukrainian attack on a Russian tanker.

The Guardian: The Swedish authorities have accused Russia of trying to influence how Qur’an burnings are viewed around the world through disinformation campaigns written in Arabic. It is believed to be part of an attempt to disrupt Sweden’s Nato membership process, which is still waiting for approval by Turkey and Hungary.

Novaya-Europe: Airspace over Moscow’s Vnukovo airport has been temporarily closed due to drone threat.

ISW: Ukrainian forces are continuing to set conditions for future decisive operations via an interdiction campaign as they did before and during counteroffensive operations in Kharkiv and Kherson oblasts in 2022, now striking much deeper into Russian rear areas and incorporating maritime targets.

05.08.2023

BBC News: A Russian "guided bomb" has hit a blood transfusion centre in north-eastern Ukraine, killing two people and injuring four, Ukrainian officials say. Volodymyr Zelensky posted an image of the building on fire as a result of Saturday night's attack around Kupiansk, in the Kharkiv region.

AFP: Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky said a Russian strike that included hypersonic Kinzhal missiles had targeted Motor Sich, a maker of plane and helicopter engines and other components, in the western region of Khmelnytskyi.

The Guardian: A small part of the UK Treasury is charged with regulating the spending of sanctioned individuals – but faces a mountain of paperwork and criticism that it is being too lenient.

For many Russians, going to war is the only way to escape poverty. Novaya-Europe delves into how the Kremlin put a price on Russian lives.

Meduza: Ukraine has declared the waters of six Russian Black Sea ports to be zones of military threat. This warning applies to the ports of Anapa, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Tuapse, Sochi, and Taman.

AFP: At least three civilians from the same family were killed when Russian warplanes struck the outskirts of the northwest Syrian city of Idlib on Saturday, a war monitor said.

CNN: One of Russia’s biggest oil tankers was struck by a maritime drone, the latest salvo in a Ukrainian military campaign employing unmanned vehicles to attack far-away Russian targets by air and by sea.

AP News: Niger’s new military junta has asked for help from the Russian mercenary group Wagner, an analyst says as the deadline nears for it to release the country’s ousted president or face possible military intervention by the West African regional bloc.

Reuters: China's embassy in Russia criticised the treatment of five Chinese citizens who were refused entry into Russia, calling the treatment inconsistent with the overall friendly relations between the two countries.

AP News: Europe’s largest land war in decades — and the biggest one since the dawn of the digital age — is taking place in a superheated information space. And modern communications technology, theoretically a force for improving public knowledge, tends to multiply the confusion because deceptions and falsehoods reach audiences instantly.

04.08.2023

POLITICO: The first group of Ukrainian pilots that will take part in F-16 training have been identified, moving Kyiv one step closer to fielding an advanced warplane that could ward off further Russian invasions.

Newsweek Exclusive: A second strike by Ukraine last month on the strategically vital Kerch Strait Bridge damaged its crucial railway, contrary to Russian claims that the attack affected only the roadway on spans of the structure, satellite photos obtained by Newsweek reveal.

AFP: Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny on Friday urged Russians to keep resisting the Kremlin after a Russian court sentenced him to 19 years in prison in a new trial.

AP News: Ukraine said its sea drones struck a major Russian port Friday and damaged a warship in an attack that underlined Kyiv’s growing naval capabilities as the Black Sea becomes an increasingly important battleground in the war.

The Insider Exclusive: Leaked communications between Vladimir Sergienko, a naturalized German citizen, and “Alexei,” a suspected FSB operative, show the extent of Russia’s infiltration of the Alternative for Germany party. Their “active measures” included a plan to stop or slow delivery of German main battle tanks to Ukraine using frivolous litigation against the German government.

The Moscow Times: Putin on Friday signed a law allowing Russian banks and other financial institutions to block the assets of sanctioned foreign organizations and individuals. The law allows Moscow to freeze the funds and property of legal entities controlled by foreign citizens and organizations against whom Russia has imposed what it calls “special economic measures.”

Bloomberg: Lithuania will revoke the residence permits of more than 1,000 Belarusian and Russian citizens that the Baltic nation’s authorities deem a security threat.

Reuters: Chinese Special Envoy for Eurasian Affairs Li Hui will visit Jeddah for international talks on the peaceful settlement of the Ukraine crisis, China's foreign ministry said on Friday.

Reuters: Poland has detained another suspected member of a Russian spy network, bringing the total number of people detained as part of an investigation to 16, Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on Friday.

Reuters Exclusive: Russia has doubled its 2023 defence spending target to more than $100 billion - a third of all public expenditure - a government document reviewed by Reuters showed, as the costs of the war in Ukraine spiral and place growing strain on Moscow's finances.

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