DAccording to an official deployed by Moscow, the Russian Navy repelled drone attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in the Bay of Sevastopol. Various air defense systems “fended off drone attacks for several hours,” said Moscow’s governor of the city on the annexed Crimean peninsula, Mikhail Rasvozhayev, on Saturday morning in the online service Telegram. “All (…) UAVs were shot down,” he added. No facilities were made in the city, the situation is under control.
Rasvozhayev had already reported a drone attack on the Balaklava thermal power plant on the Crimean peninsula on Thursday. There were no casualties and only “minimal damage,” the governor said on Telegram on Thursday.
At the end of July, five people were injured in a drone attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet’s general staff in Sevastopol, according to Russian sources. Accordingly, a drone landed in the courtyard of the fleet headquarters. At the time, Russia accused Ukraine of being behind the attack. Ukraine denied the allegations, calling the allegations a “provocation”.
Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and launched an offensive in Ukraine in February 2022. The Ukrainian army, meanwhile, is currently launching a counter-offensive in the south of the country.
All developments in the live ticker:
10:20 am – Russia: US lowers threshold for use of nuclear weapons
Russia accuses the US of lowering the threshold for using nuclear weapons. Russia cannot ignore plans to modernize US nuclear weapons stationed in Europe, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the state news agency RIA. “The United States is modernizing them, increasing their accuracy and reducing the effectiveness of nuclear explosive devices, turning them into weapons of war and thereby lowering the threshold,” Grushko said. Russia will take this into account in its military planning.
Politico magazine had reported that the modernized version of the B61 bomb – the B61-12 – was due to arrive in Europe as early as December, several months earlier than originally planned. The USA announced this at a NATO meeting. The United States has around 200 operational so-called tactical nuclear weapons. About half of them are stationed in Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium and the Netherlands. Russia has around 2000 of these weapons.
10:14 am – Ukraine: Russia despite partial mobilization without success
According to Ukraine, Russia has made no progress in the war against each other even after partial mobilization. Despite a preponderance of weapons and other soldiers – including conscripted reservists – the enemy is unsuccessful, Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Valeryi Zalushnyi said in Kyiv. The Russian Defense Ministry had previously announced that the partial mobilization of 300,000 reservists had been completed.
Ukraine is still concentrating on liberating occupied territories and preventing the Russian occupiers from taking over new regions, Salushnyj said in a talk with US Chief of Staff Mark Milley. In addition, the air defense is active to protect important infrastructure from missile attacks.
09:13 – Russia: Consider modernized nuclear weapons in Europe in planning
Russia will take into account the modernization of US nuclear weapons in Europe in its military planning, Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Grushko told the RIA news agency. Politico reported this week, citing insiders and a US cable, that the US was modernizing its nuclear weapons at NATO bases in Europe.
08:55 – Russia: Foiled drone strike in Crimea
The Russian Navy has thwarted a drone attack in the bay, according to the governor of Sevastopol. “Nothing was hit in the city. We stay calm. The situation is under control,” Sevastopol Governor Mikhail Rasvozhayev, appointed by Russia, told Telegram. Sevastopol is the largest city on the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014, and home port of the Russian Black Sea Fleet.
05:00 – “We are preparing for it” – Zelenskyy expects more Russian soldiers
After the end of partial mobilization for the war in Ukraine, announced by Russia, Volodymyr Zelenskyy expects further waves of conscription from Moscow in Kyiv. “We are preparing for it,” said Zelenskyj in a video message distributed in Kyiv. Moscow will need even more reservists, he said in view of the resistance in Ukraine and the loss in the ranks of Russian soldiers.
The head of state was reacting to the end of the call-up of 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine announced by Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu in Moscow. Partial mobilization is controversial in Russian society – also because it means that the war is becoming tangible in most families for the first time. Many conscripts have since been transferred back to Russia in coffins.
03:33 – Commander of NATO troops in Lithuania promises protection of the Baltic States
To better protect the Baltic States and to strengthen NATO’s eastern flank, the Bundeswehr has been running a NATO battle group in Lithuania for five years. In view of the security needs of the eastern NATO partners, the presence of the troops under German command is an “extremely important and necessary signal” that the NATO countries are taking their alliance commitment seriously, said Lieutenant Colonel Marco Maulbecker of the German Press Agency in Pabrade. Lithuania borders the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad and Russia’s ally Belarus, whose territory served as a staging area for Russian troops in the war against Ukraine.
Commander Maulbecker names credible deterrence and reassurance as the mission of the multinational NATO unit. “We stand together in solidarity and deter any aggression together. If that is not enough, then of course we are ready to defend Lithuania,” said the 41-year-old officer. Maulbecker is the commander of Panzer Battalion 203 in Augustdorf. He took over the leadership of the battle group in the EU and NATO country in August. The mission is considered a flagship mission of the Bundeswehr.
2:39 am – Guterres urges “all parties” to extend grain deals
UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for efforts by all parties for an early renewal of the grain agreement between Ukraine and Russia. “We urge all parties to make every effort” to renew and fully implement the agreements, said his spokesman Stéphane Dujarric. This includes expediting the removal of all obstacles to the export of Russian grain and fertilizers.
Mediated by Turkey and the UN, Russia and Ukraine agreed in July to resume grain deliveries to Ukraine. Another agreement from July allows Russian food and fertilizer to be exported despite Western sanctions. Russia complains that, despite the agreement, it cannot sell its products due to financial and logistics sanctions.
1:15 a.m. – EU Commissioner: 17 billion euros in Russian assets frozen
According to Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders, the European Union has frozen more than 17 billion euros in Russian assets as part of the sanctions package against Russia. “So far, the assets of 90 people have been frozen, over 17 billion euros in 7 member states, including 2.2 billion euros in Germany,” the Belgian told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
Since the start of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine eight months ago, the EU has adopted eight sanctions packages. “We are investigating what more can be done,” Reynders said. Ukrainian politicians in particular have repeatedly demanded that the frozen assets be used to rebuild the country after the war. Reynders said: “If it is criminal money that the EU confiscates, it is possible to channel it to a compensation fund for Ukraine. However, the sum is far from enough to finance the reconstruction.”
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