08/17/2023
Ukraine war in the live ticker
+++ 07:32 Russia should force countries to break with the Wagner group +++
The Russian Defense Ministry is said to use the Army-2023 Forum in Moscow to persuade countries to refuse to cooperate with the Wagner Group. The disgraced mercenary group is to be replaced by private military companies (PMCs) controlled by the Department of Defense. The reported the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) citing sources close to Wagner. The Russian Defense Ministry is also reportedly threatening to end military-technical assistance and support at the United Nations if the countries continue to exploit ties with Wagner. The Wagner sources claim that the Russian Defense Ministry has issued an ultimatum to Burkina Faso, threatening to end Russian support if the country continues to rely on the Wagner mercenaries. The ISW writes that these claims are unconfirmed but consistent with previous assessments.
+++ 06:55 ISW: Military bloggers criticize the lack of training for middle officers +++
According to a US institute, Russian ultra-nationalists are increasingly criticizing the Russian military leadership for failing to recruit and train middle-level military officers to lead the Russian armed forces in Ukraine. Recently, military bloggers have expressed anger at middle-level officers, writes the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its most recent management report to Ukraine. Some Russian military bloggers, however, argue that anger should be directed at those higher officials who have appointed bad commanders. According to ISW, some military bloggers note that top military leadership supports a system that fails to recruit and train a new generation of mid-level officers, instead bringing old and ineffective commanders to the front lines. Accordingly, loyal rather than competent officers would be preferred.
+++ 06:25 Ukraine reports successes on the southern front +++
Ukrainian troops report successes in the Tavria sector on the southern front. Loud Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, they destroy 15 units of Russian military equipment and defeat 265 fighters – 95 of them were killed, 159 wounded, and there are 11 prisoners. According to the brigadier general on Wednesday, nearly 1,400 shooting missions were carried out in Russian-held territory during the day. Destroyed military equipment includes three tanks, four artillery systems and six vehicles.
+++ 05:12 Ukraine excludes talks with Russia on gas transit +++
The government in Kiev does not want to take part in talks with Russia on the transit of Russian gas through Ukrainian territory. “We will definitely not participate in talks with the Russians, that’s absolutely clear,” Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko told the Ukraine service of the US government-funded broadcaster Voice of America (VOA). “The next year will show whether Europe can do without Russian gas.” In his view, the prerequisites for this are in place. Russia had promised to extend the Ukraine gas transit contract beyond 2024 if the European Union (EU) continued to need Russian gas. The EU has pledged to stop using Russian gas by 2027 as part of sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.
+++ 03:49 Russian ambassador comments on detained US citizens +++
The Russian ambassador to the US has referred to official channels in relation to two US citizens detained on espionage charges. “The issue of prisoner exchanges will be resolved by authorized bodies agreed upon by the presidents in 2021,” Anatoly Antonov writes on Telegram. The channels have proven effective, he says, referring to last year’s prisoner swap of Russian arms dealer Viktor Bout and Russian pilot Konstantin Yaroshenko for US basketball star Brittney Griner and former US soldier Trevor Reed. However, Russian security services are often reluctant to release people they believe are spies. To this day, Russia refuses to replace former Marine Paul Whelan, who was arrested on espionage charges in 2018 and sentenced to 16 years in prison in 2020. US journalist Evan Gershkovich remains in custody. The US State Department has described the allegations against the two men as unfounded.
+++ 02:34 Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Melnyk praises Scholz for arms deliveries – and calls for more +++
The Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Andriy Melnyk praises Chancellor Scholz for the German arms deliveries to Ukraine, but at the same time demands missiles and fighter jets from the Bundeswehr. “I’m glad that Chancellor Olaf Scholz can proudly announce today: ‘Germany is the second largest military supporter of Ukraine after the USA.’ You can see the satisfaction in Scholz, he seems to enjoy this leading role – and I think that’s a good thing,” Melnyk told the newspapers of the Funke media group. According to Melnyk, it would be of enormous benefit to Kiev if Ukrainian pilots were given not only the Taurus guided missiles but also Tornado fighter jets as carriers of these high-precision systems from the Bundeswehr. “The Tornados will be gradually phased out over the next few years and replaced by American F-35 jets. They will be scrapped and could easily be handed over to Ukraine.”
+++ 01:01 Ukraine is giving up hope of using the F-16 this year +++
According to Ukraine, it will not be able to use US-made F-16 fighter jets this year. “It is already clear that we cannot defend Ukraine with F-16 fighter jets this fall and winter,” Air Force spokesman Yuri Ihnat said on Ukrainian television at a fundraising gala. “We had high hopes for this plane to become part of our air defenses and protect us from Russian missiles and drone terrorism.” Ukraine has repeatedly asked its western allies for F-16 fighter jets. US President Joe Biden backed training programs for Ukrainian pilots on F-16 aircraft in May, but has not yet given a timeline for delivery. The West has repeatedly stressed that it does not want to provoke a direct confrontation between NATO and Russia.
+++ 00:18 Mayor: 45,000 residents of Moscow are fighting in Ukraine +++
According to the mayor of Moscow, 45,000 residents of the capital are fighting in the Russian offensive in Ukraine. They made up a “considerable proportion of the fighters there,” says Mayor Sergei Sobyanin, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. At least 5,000 of the deployed Muscovites are professional soldiers. Russian and Ukrainian authorities rarely provide information on the number of fighters involved or the casualties suffered. At the beginning of August, former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Security Council, Dmitry Medvedev, said Russia had recruited more than 230,000 additional soldiers since the beginning of the year.
+++ 22:19 Selenskyj: Ukraine increases drone production “significantly” +++
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy emphasizes the importance of drones in defending his country against Russian war of aggression. “Drones are the ‘eyes’ and protection at the front. (…) Drones are a guarantee that people will not have to pay with their lives in cases where drones can be used,” says Zelenskyj in his evening video address . Ukraine is in the process of “significantly” increasing the production of unmanned objects. “In each brigade, the first thing the fighters ask about is drones, electronic warfare and military air defense,” says the Ukrainian head of state.
+++ 21:31 USA criticize attacks on Ukrainian Danube ports +++
The US condemns the Russian attacks on Ukrainian ports at the mouth of the Danube, which are important for grain exports. Kremlin boss Putin does not care about global food security, says a spokesman for the US State Department. The attacks further escalated the global food crisis and kept food prices high. That was “unacceptable” and an escalation. It affects those who are particularly dependent on grain and Ukrainian farmers.
+++ 20:54 ex-commander of Russia’s invasion forces is dead +++
Russian Colonel-General Gennady Valeryevich Schidko has died at the age of 57 “after a long illness”. This is reported by the governor of the Khabarovsk region, Mikhail Degtarev, on Telegram. Shidko commanded the Russian invasion forces in Ukraine for several months in 2022. Last October he was replaced by General Sergei Surovikin, known as “General Armageddon”.
Here you can read more about it.
+++ 20:34 German ship crosses Ukrainian waters +++
Several hours after leaving the southern Ukrainian port of Odessa, the German cargo ship “Joseph Schulte” successfully crosses the Ukrainian part of the Black Sea. “I can confirm that the ship left Ukrainian waters,” said a spokeswoman for Bernhard Schulte Shipmanagement (BSM) in Hamburg. According to the ship information service Marine Traffic, the freighter is currently sailing in Romanian waters. The ship flying the Hong Kong flag had previously been stuck in Odessa for a year and a half because of the Russian war of aggression.
+++ 20:16 clergyman reports: This is how Moscow puts the Orthodox Church under pressure +++
Cyril I is a former KGB agent, Moscow’s patriarch and Putin’s confidant. He instructed his priests last year to pray for “victory” over Ukraine. Those who don’t comply will experience repression – like Ioann Koval, who is now preaching in Antalya.
You can read more about the events of the previous day here.