2023-08-16 06:19:49
In view of the advance of Russian troops in the eastern Ukrainian region of Kharkiv, the Ukrainian army has moved reserves to the Kupiansk sector. “Positions were strengthened, certain methodological recommendations were made and reserves were moved,” said the spokesman for Army Group East, Serhiy Cherevatyy, on Ukrainian television on Tuesday with a view 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 Kupiansk. The local authorities have also already ordered an evacuation of civilians around the city. Kupiansk was only liberated from Russian occupation last year as part of a successful Ukrainian counter-offensive.
Attacks on grain ports
According to the Ukrainian Air Force, several Russian drones entered the area of the Danube estuary during the night. A larger group moved towards the Danube river ports of Izmail and Reni. Air defense systems were deployed.
The two port cities near the Romanian border are used for Ukrainian grain exports. Since Russia suspended the grain deal that allowed safe exports across the Black Sea, transport from the two port cities across the Danube has become the main export route for Ukrainian grain. From Izmail and Reni it is shipped by barge to the Romanian port city of Constanta and transported on from there.
Selenskyj to visit the front in the southeast
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj, who only traveled to the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine at the beginning of the week, has now also visited positions close to the front in the south-eastern region of Zaporizhia. “Thank you for the service, thank you for defending Ukraine on this important southern stretch,” he said at a field hospital.
In his evening video speech, Zelenskyy said that he had been informed by the commanders, among other things, about the use of weapons and equipment that international partners had supplied to Ukraine.
Attempted border crossings from Belarus to Latvia
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 country, additional officers will be deployed in the future because there is a “rapidly increasing hybrid threat”.
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.
About 10,000 civilians confirmed killed
In the almost 18 months of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has registered the deaths of almost 10,000 civilians. A new report Tuesday gave a figure of 9,444 confirmed civilian deaths. 16,940 people were injured.
Published/Updated: Recommendations: 278 Friedrich Schmidt Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 24 Gerhard Gnauck, Warsaw Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 31
The census cannot be complete because information is missing from many regions, the High Commissioner (OHCHR) commented on the numbers. This applies above all to cities such as Mariupol, Lysychansk and Sievjerodonetsk, which were occupied by Russian troops after long periods of shelling and heavy fighting. In Kiev it is feared that thousands or even tens of thousands more Ukrainians have actually been killed.
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