25.08.2024

Reuters: Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a Russian strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, the news agency said on Sunday.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine has apparently captured at least 247 Russian soldiers since its incursion into Russia's Kursk Oblast began on Aug. 6, according to the Washington Post analysis of visual evidence.

POLITICO: H.R. McMaster, former national security adviser to former President Donald Trump, on Sunday said that Trump needs “a competent team around him” because he is susceptible to being manipulated.

AFP: Ukraine accused its Moscow-allied neighbour Belarus Sunday of "concentrating" troops on the countries' shared border and warned Minsk against "unfriendly actions", in a statement by Kyiv's foreign ministry.

Reuters: Russia launched attacks on northern, eastern and southern Ukraine, killing at least four people and injuring 37, Ukrainian military and local authorities said on Sunday.

AFP: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Sunday said Kyiv forces had made small advances into Russia's Kursk region, more than two weeks after launching their surprise incursion, and taken two more settlements under their control.

Reuters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said negotiations were ongoing with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey and Switzerland regarding the second summit on peace in a conversation with Indian journalists shared on his social media on Sunday.

AP News: China on Sunday expressed its opposition to the latest U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies over their alleged ties to Russia’s war in Ukraine, saying it will adopt necessary measures to safeguard the rights and interests of the country’s businesses.

RFE/RL: In late July, a shortage of pilots led to the cancellation of 68 Aeroflot flights out of Sheremetyevo, according to Aviatorshchina. Several other flights were postponed. RFE/RL confirmed these accounts of unprecedented shortages of pilots and crews with three Russian airline-industry sources.

Reuters: Pavel Durov, the Russian-born billionaire founder and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris shortly after landing on a private jet late on Saturday and placed in custody.

24.08.2024

The Kyiv Independent: Lithuanian Prime Minister Ingrida Simonyte announced on Aug. 24 a new aid package for Ukraine, which includes drones, air defense missiles, and funds to purchase military equipment.

Reuters: Hungary's foreign minister said on Saturday the European Commission's decision not to mediate in a dispute over a blockage of oil supplies from Russia via Ukraine into his country suggested that Brussels was behind the stoppage.

The Kyiv Independent: Hackers of Ukraine's military intelligence agency carried out on Aug. 24 a mass cyberattack on the servers of Russian Internet providers and blocked "dozens" of online platforms of industrial facilities in Russia.

Reuters: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy touted a newly developed Ukrainian "drone missile" on Saturday that he said would take the war back to Russia and scornfully derided Putin as a "sick old man from Red Square".

AFP: Five people were killed and five others wounded on Saturday in a Russian bombardment of the eastern Ukrainian city of Kostyantynivka.

Reuters: Russia and Ukraine exchanged 115 prisoners of war from each side on Saturday after the United Arab Emirates acted as an intermediary.

The Insider: Despite international sanctions, Russia continues to import unique microchips essential for missile and drone navigation, internet content filtering, and facial recognition.

CNN: President Volodymyr Zelensky signed into law a bill banning religious groups with ties to Russia Saturday, Ukraine’s Independence Day. The bill’s main target is the Ukrainian Orthodox Church which has historically been linked to the Russian Orthodox Church, also known as the Moscow Patriarchate.

The Kyiv Independent: Latvia has pledged 112 million euros in military support to Ukraine this year and will help expand the Drone Coalition initiative, Defense Minister Rustem Umerov said.

Reuters: The EU's diplomatic service has called on member states to better adapt a military training mission for Ukraine to Kyiv's needs but stopped short of recommending the bloc send military instructors to the war-torn country.

23.08.2024

The Kyiv Independent: Some officials in Washington have told Kyiv the U.S. is keeping its restrictions on Ukraine using U.S.-made long-range weapons against Russian territory in order to not upend any future reset with Moscow, Politico reported.

Meduza: Parents of non-mobilized Russian conscripts who have disappeared in the Kursk region or been captured by Ukraine say the Russian authorities have not offered any help — and pro-Kremlin activists have pressured them to stay quiet.

The Kyiv Independent: The Norwegian government will provide Kyiv with its defense technology and finance the production of 155-millimeter artillery shells developed by the Nammo (Nordic Ammunition Company) in Ukraine, according to its Aug. 23 statement.

FT: The US is warning countries trading with Russia that they risk secondary sanctions if they allow Russian banks to set up local branches to finance the supply of goods for Putin’s war machine (archive).

The Kyiv Independent: European Commission has examined the situation with Russian Lukoil's oil supplies to Hungary and Slovakia and found "no reason for concern," Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty reported on Aug. 23.

France 24: The United States unveiled sweeping sanctions Friday against almost 400 individuals and companies tied to Russia's war in Ukraine, expanding existing measures to curb Moscow over the invasion of its neighbor.

The Kyiv Independent: Ukraine and India have approved four cooperation agreements, President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Aug. 23 during a visit to Kyiv by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Reuters: Russia's security services shot dead four inmates on Friday who had taken hostages at a penal colony, fatally stabbed four of its staff and posted online videos describing themselves as Islamic State militants, officials said.

The Moscow Times: Russians spent a record 19.3 billion rubles ($211 million) on contraceptives in the first half of 2024, the Vedomosti business daily reported Friday. Major pharmacy chains in Russia, as surveyed by Vedomosti, confirmed that their contraception sales rose by as much as 25% in the first half of 2024.

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