The United Nations has condemned a deadly Russian missile attack on a hotel used by its officials; Russia has launched its first lunar spacecraft in almost half a century in the face of aerospace sanctions and after being ostracised by nearly all Western space programmes.
Friday 11 August 2023 21:20, UK
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Russia’s ministry of defence claims its forces have killed nearly 600 Ukrainian servicemen across the country today.
The claims, which are unverified, say that up to 575 Ukrainian troops died as a result of engagements with Russian servicemen – here is the breakdown:
Ukraine recorded no losses in its daily report – although those updates rarely include a comprehensive breakdown of casualties.
Soldiers from 128th Mountain assault Transcarpathian Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing for another night on the front line in Zaporizhzhia.
We can bring you some photos from shelters there, where the troops are preparing to hole up for the evening.
Yevgeny Prigozhin will either be dead or leading another coup against Moscow within six months, according to an investigative journalist.
Christo Grozev, lead Russia investigator with Bellingcat, suggests that Vladimir Putin will keep to history and “deal” with Prigozhin, who he branded a traitor in the wake of his short-lived coup.
“Everyone knows what they [Russians connected to the Putin regime] do with ‘traitors’ and Putin hasn’t done that. He wants to see him dead. He can’t do that yet,” Mr Grozev told the Financial Times.
Mr Grozev had previously said back in January of this year that Prigozhin would betray Vladimir Putin within six months – a prediction that would turn to reality in late June, when Prigozhin led a “march to freedom” towards Moscow.
“In six months Prigozhin will either be dead or there will be a second coup… you can hold me to it,” Mr Grozev said.
A 71-year-old woman was hospitalised after Russian shelling in the Dnipropetrovsk region today, the area’s military administrator has said.
Sharing images on his Telegram channel, Serhiy Lysak said 15 private houses, six farm buildings, and five power lines were damaged, as well as a number of cars.
“Today, Nikopol shuddered from enemy shells. The Russian army covered the city with heavy artillery,” he said.
A busy day for Ukraine’s security services, who announced they have made further arrests today.
We brought you news earlier they had arrested an alleged “Russian spy” in Odesa (see 5.18pm post), but they also detained a number of individuals involved in a scheme that allows people who should be serving in the military under martial law an escape route to neighbouring countries.
The Security Service said it blocked three separate “channels of illegal departure from Ukraine of citizens of military age”.
The criminal groups included members officials from medical institutions and local government bodies, it said.
“Criminals offered help to evaders in illegal migration to neighbouring European countries on the basis of forged documents or through the so-called ‘green card’.”
The gangs charged between $2,500-$5,000 to smuggle people out.
An expert has said he is “tired” of hearing opinions on why Ukraine’s counteroffensive is going slowly.
“Bottom line, the West didn’t deliver what they promised and more importantly didn’t deliver even a fraction of what is needed in Ukraine,” said John Spencer, chair of urban warfare studies at the Modern War Institute.
No other military has had to breach “such extensive mined defensive lines” since the Second World War, he wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
He also claimed no Western military would attempt such a move without 1,000 times more equipment than Ukraine has.
Mr Spencer said there had been complaints about the amount promised to Ukraine, such as the $40bn pledged by the US – when in comparison, America was spending $1bn a day to field less than 260,000 soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
“Ukraine has had to mobilize more troops (over 700K, likely 1 million) than the entire U.S. military has and we spends over $800 billion a year to be ready to defend the U.S. and our national interest,” he said.
The director of a company whose warehouse exploded in Sergiev Posad on Wednesday has been arrested, according to Russian state media.
The explosion left more than 60 injured, and one person dead.
TASS had reported yesterday that Sergei Chankaev, technical director of Piro-Ross, had been detained while investigators conducted searches of company premises, seized documents and questioned employees.
They now confirm that Mr Chankaev has been formally arrested and placed under the care of the Sergiev Posad City Court of the Moscow Region.
No further details have been shared as to the charges, or if Mr Chankaev was involved in any capacity in the explosion.
Two young musicians killed in strikes in Zaporizhzhia earlier this week have been named.
A missile attack on the region on Wednesday killed two women and one man, before a separate strike last night claimed another life.
“Our talented girls, Svitlana Siemieikina and Kristina Spitsyna, were killed as a result of a missile attack by Russian terrorists in Zaporizhzhia,” the Matviyivka Village Centre for Culture and Leisure said in a statement.
“Yesterday they were singing and playing together for people, and today none of them are there. A Russian missile mercilessly took their voice [and] their lives.”
A woman has been arrested by the Ukrainian security services after being accused of passing information to the Russian FSB which helped to coordinate missile strikes and record their effects.
The security service shared an image of the woman, who they said was operating in Odesa.
“After enemy air attacks on the city, she went around the affected streets and recorded the consequences of the strikes,” a statement said.
“The Russian agent turned out to be a local resident who had pro-Russian views and wanted to make extra money by cooperating with the enemy special services.”
Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has brought forward a new piece of legislation that allows students to gain access to free education should they take part in the war in Ukraine.
“Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin has signed a decree approving the mechanism of transferring students who participated in a special military operation [in Ukraine] to a free form of education,” Russian state news agency TASS reported.
No further detail was shared on the potential ages of the students, or in what form the free education would take.
Mr Mishustin has also signed a decree simplifying the receipt of insurance payments by relatives of Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine – with all payments now needing to be settled within 30 days of death.
This appears to be the latest in a series of moves by Vladimir Putin’s regime to pass legislation to allow more Russian citizens to fight in Ukraine.
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