Liveblog: ++ Ukraine reports recapture in Bakhmut area ++

According to Ukraine, it was able to recapture a small area around Bakhmut. According to the Ukrainian air force, the Odessa region has again been attacked with kamikaze drones. The developments in the live blog.

According to the authorities, at least two people were killed by Russian rocket attacks on major Ukrainian cities on Monday night. This is reported by the dpa news agency. Rescue workers found the dead in the rubble of two residential buildings in Zaporizhia, the Interior Ministry in Kiev said. Three people were saved.

The Russian currency continues its descent of the past few weeks. Today, the ruble stood at 100.7 against the dollar and 110.2 against the euro — the currency’s lowest level since March 2022 shortly after the start of the aggressive war in Ukraine, data on the Moscow stock exchange showed. The ruble has been weak for months and has lost value again due to the brief uprising of the Wagner mercenary group at the end of June.

The weak Russian currency is fueling fears among many Russians of further rising prices and restrictions in everyday life. Western sanctions and the cost of military action are now weighing heavily on the Russian economy. Most recently, inflation had risen again to 4.3 percent, prompting the country’s central bank to raise interest rates to 8.5 percent in July.

Ukraine has reiterated the urgency of its request for the delivery of German Taurus cruise missiles. “In the current phase, it is of crucial importance to smash the extensive rear support system of the Russian occupying forces,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podoliak told the “Bild” newspaper. He was reacting to reluctant statements by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) about a delivery.

In particular, Ukraine must attack supply reserves, the rear logistics infrastructure, ammunition depots and bases that Russia has set up in the Ukrainian territories it occupies, said Ukrainian Presidential Advisor Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “But all this is at a distance of 100, 200, 300 kilometers from the front line.” Only long-range missiles like “Taurus” could reach such distances.

The presidential adviser again assured that Ukraine would not use the German cruise missiles against targets on Russian territory, but “only on the territory of Ukraine within the internationally recognized borders of 1991”.

According to information from Kiev, the Ukrainian armed forces recaptured a small area around the war-ravaged town of Bakhmut in the east of the country last week. In the Bakhmut area, three square kilometers were “liberated” by Russian troops, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maljar said on television. A total of 40 square kilometers on the southern flank of the Bachmut sector have been reclaimed so far.

Two Russians have been arrested in Poland for allegedly recruiting Russian Wagner mercenaries. “The secret service has identified and arrested two Russians who were distributing propaganda materials from the Wagner group in Kraków and Warsaw,” Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski said on the short message service X (formerly Twitter). “Both were charged with, among other things, espionage and arrested.”

Chinese Defense Minister Li Shangfu is traveling to Russia and Belarus this week. The visit will last from August 14 to 19, the Defense Ministry said in Beijing. During his stay in Russia, Li will attend an international security meeting and give a speech there. A meeting with leading representatives of the Russian Ministry of Defense is also planned. In Belarus, Li will meet with the head of state and military, Alexander Lukashenko, and visit military facilities.

According to British estimates, Ukrainian attacks against Russian troops on the lower reaches of the Dnipro have recently increased. “Russian commanders are faced with the dilemma of whether to reinforce this area or to station their troops in the areas of Ukraine’s main counter-offensive operations, further east,” the British Ministry of Defense said, citing intelligence information.

In the past week there has been an increase in small-scale hostilities along the river, it said in London. Ukrainian forces would have ambushed Russian positions on the other bank or would try to establish more small bridgeheads. This is in addition to the expansion of the existing bridgehead near the destroyed Antonivskyi Bridge near Cherson. Fighting continues over control of smaller islands in the Dnipro estuary. “Some of these operations probably took advantage of a local Russian troop rotation.”

Federal Finance Minister Christian Lindner arrived in Kiev in the morning for political talks. The FDP leader is in Ukraine for the first time since the Russian war of aggression began. Lindner arrived in Kiev by train. Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and several ministers were in Kiev before him. Among other things, Lindner will meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Serhiy Marchenko.

According to the largest Russian shipbuilder, Russia is equipping its new nuclear submarines with “Zircon” hypersonic missiles. “The multipurpose nuclear submarines of the Yasen-M project will be … equipped with the ‘Zircon’ missile system as standard,” said Alexey Rakhmanov, chairman of the board of the United Shipbuilding Corporation (USC), in an interview with the state news agency RIA. “Work in this direction is already underway.”

The sea-based “Zircon” hypersonic missiles have a range of 900 kilometers and can travel at several times the speed of sound.

At least three people were injured in the overnight Russian attack on the port city of Odessa, according to Ukrainian sources. “As a result of the enemy attack on Odessa, several fires broke out from falling fragments of rockets,” Ukrainian Black Sea Governor Oleh Kiper told Telegram. “Windows of buildings were ripped out by the blast.”

According to the Ukrainian air force, Russia again attacked the southern Ukrainian region of Odessa on the Black Sea on Monday night with kamikaze drones. The air defense in the region and over the port city of the same name had been activated, the news portal “Ukrajinska Pravda” reported early Monday morning, citing the air force and the regional military administration. Several explosions were heard in Odessa. Ukraine has been defending itself against a brutal Russian war of aggression for more than 17 months.

After Russia announced the end of the agreement on shipping Ukrainian grain in July, the Ukrainian Black Sea ports around Odessa have been targeted. The port facilities and the city itself have been shot at several times since then.

A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has described the warning shots fired at a cargo ship in the Black Sea off the Ukrainian coast as “a clear violation of international maritime law, an act of piracy and a crime against a third-country civilian ship in the waters of another country”.

Ukraine will “draw all the necessary conclusions and choose the best possible response,” writes adviser Mykhailo Podoliak on short message platform X, formerly Twitter.

Russia has again attacked Ukrainian territory near the Russian border, according to the Sumy regional military administration. On Sunday alone, the enemy fired at the region in north-eastern Ukraine 21 times with mortars and artillery, the military administration said on Facebook on Monday night.

A total of 144 explosions were registered. At least two residential buildings were damaged in the attacks. The information could not be independently verified. Ukraine has been repelling a Russian invasion for over 17 months.

According to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov, the Russian defense lines are so densely mined that in some parts of the front there are up to five mines per square meter.

In a conversation with the British “Guardian” he spoke of millions of explosive devices along the front. There are minefields stretching over hundreds of kilometers. This represents a serious obstacle to the counter-offensive of the Ukrainian troops.

According to the Guardian, Reznikov was convinced that the huge minefields could be conquered by Ukrainian troops. However, he stressed that it was vitally important that allies expand and accelerate the training already offered by some nations to Ukraine’s deminers.