An the face of the advance of Russian troops in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian army has moved reserves to the Kupyansk sector. “Positions were strengthened, certain methodological recommendations were made and reserves were moved,” said the spokesman for Army Group East, Serhiy Cherevatyy, on Ukrainian news television with regard to troop reinforcements near Kupyansk. This prevents further advances by the enemy.
According to Ukrainian and Russian military observers, the Russian army has advanced to within about seven kilometers of the city of Kupyansk. The local authorities have also already ordered an evacuation of civilians around the city. Kupyansk was only liberated from Russian occupation last year as part of a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive.
All developments in the live ticker:
12:08 pm – Secret service releases video of explosive boats
For the first time, Ukraine has published official videos of explosive boats used against Russian targets. “The sea drones are a unique development of the SBU. No private companies were involved in this development,” the head of the Ukrainian secret service SBU Vasyl Malyuk said in a statement.
These drones were used against the bridge to the Crimean peninsula, the Russian landing ship “Olenogorski Gornyak” in the Bay of Novorossiysk and the tanker “SIG” off Crimea. The boats that attacked the Crimean bridge in July were named “Seebaby” and were said to have 850 kilograms of explosives on board. Since the attack, part of the road bridge has been closed for repairs. The SBU published videos of the attack and also made them available to the US television channel CNN.
10:17 a.m. – Freighter of German shipping company drives from Odessa to Istanbul
A container ship managed by the German company Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) left the port of Odessa for Istanbul. The “Josef Schulte” has been stuck in the Ukrainian port city since February 23, 2022 – the beginning of the Russian invasion – and belongs to a Chinese bank and the Hamburg company Bernhard Schulte, BSM said. The ship will pass through the sovereign waters of Ukraine, Romania and Turkey. BSM is grateful to the various parties involved for enabling the ship’s safe passage. The Ukrainian Navy last week designated a sea corridor that merchant ships can use at their own risk.
08:15 a.m. – Russian drones entered the area of the Danube estuary
The ports of Ukraine at the mouth of the Danube, which are important for grain exports, were attacked by the Russian army with combat drones on Wednesday night. As reported by the administration of the Odessa region, warehouses and grain silos were damaged in a port. The place was not named. The fires were extinguished by the fire department, Governor Oleh Kniper wrote on Telegram. There were no dead or injured.
The Ukrainian Air Force announced that 13 Iranian-made combat drones were shot down overnight over the Odessa and Mykolaiv regions. Russia has been blocking Ukrainian grain exports across the Black Sea since mid-July. The ports on the Danube, which are an important alternative route, were also attacked from the air several times. These attacks often take place just a few hundred meters from NATO territory because Romania is on the other bank of the Danube.
Since Russia suspended the Grain Agreement that allowed safe export of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, transportation from the two port cities across the Danube has become the main export route for Ukrainian grain. From Izmail and Reni, the Ukrainian grain is shipped by barge to the Romanian port of Constanta and transported on from there.
07:59 – London: Russia is building its own attack drones
According to British intelligence services, Russia is now using self-made attack drones in the war against Ukraine. The UAVs are based on Iranian Shahed Kamikaze drones, which Russia has been importing for months, the British Ministry of Defense said. “Domestic manufacturing will likely allow Russia to build a more reliable supply of kamikaze drones.” However, the weapon’s performance has varied and Ukraine has held off the majority.
Moscow’s goal is probably self-sufficiency in the coming months, it said in London. “However, for the time being, Russia is still dependent on components and entire weapons from Iran, which are mainly shipped via the Caspian Sea.”
07:18 – Ukraine reports land gains in the east
Ukraine reports gaining ground on the front in the east of the country. “Uroschaine is freed,” Deputy Secretary of Defense Hanna Maliar wrote on Telegram. “Our soldiers have entrenched themselves in the outskirts.” The settlement in the Donetsk region had previously been recaptured.
5:30 a.m. – Russia: Three Ukrainian drones destroyed over Kaluga region
Russian air defense systems destroyed three Ukrainian drones over the Kaluga region. This was announced by the Russian Defense Ministry. The attempted attack, which took place around 5 a.m. Moscow time, left no one injured and no damage. The Kaluga region borders on the Moscow region in the north.
01:21 – Finland: Russian troop transfer to the border has not yet taken place
According to Finnish information, Russia has not yet implemented the announced transfer of troops to the border with Finland. The Finnish foreign minister told the AFP news agency that Russia had already announced the creation of new units in north-western Russia in December last year in response to a NATO expansion. “These efforts don’t seem to be progressing very quickly,” she said, adding, referring to the war in Ukraine, “Russian resources appear to be tied up elsewhere at the moment.”
10:33 pm – Latvia strengthens border protection with Belarus
After Poland and Lithuania, Latvia is now stepping up protection of its border with neighboring Belarus. According to the border guards of the Baltic EU and NATO countries, additional officers will be deployed in the future. The reason for this is a “rapidly increasing hybrid threat,” said the authority in Riga on Tuesday. Within 24 hours, 96 people tried to illegally cross the border from Belarus to Latvia. The authorities of the authoritarian neighboring country are also increasingly involved in organizing irregular border crossings by migrants, according to a statement.
18:00 – Russia and North Korea want to work more closely together
Russia and North Korea would like to expand their cooperation and cooperate more closely, among other things, in the field of defense. “I am sure that we will continue to expand bilateral cooperation in all areas for the benefit of our peoples, in the interest of strengthening stability and security on the Korean peninsula and in the entire Northeast Asian region,” Vladimir Putin said in a congratulatory message distributed by the Kremlin to North Korean leader Kim Jong-un. The occasion was the day Korea was liberated from Japanese colonial rule in 1945. Kim also spoke out in favor of it.
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