Four Ukrainian soldiers killed in Russia by spy agency (2024)

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Ukraine is deploying reserve forces equipped with British tanks in a bid to break a stalemate on the southern front, according to Russian sources.

Several pro-Kremlin military bloggers have posted images of Challenger 2 tanks in Zaporizhzhia, equipped with screens to protect against attacks from “kamikaze” drones.

A US intelligence leak in April revealed that the tanks were assigned to the 82nd Air Assault Brigade, which analysts believe is meant to advance rapidly and exploit holes in Russian defences.

The new Nato-equipped unit also boasts German Marder tracked fighting vehicles and American Strykers armoured personnel carriers.

The Telegram channel Rybar said: “The published picture… indirectly confirms that the Ukrainian command is preparing to use earlier reserve formations for a strike in the Orikhiv direction.”

The Killers have apologised for bringing a Russian fan on stage during a show in Georgia, a move that prompted boos from the audience and provoked national outrage, Nataliya Vasilyeva writes.

The American alternative-rock band were performing in the Black Sea resort city of Batumi on Tuesday evening when they called for a member of the audience to join them on stage as a guest drummer.

As he scanned the crowd for a participant, Brandon Flowers, the band’s frontman, pointed to a young man with a giant poster reading: “If destiny is kind, I’ll be your drummer.”

Flowers then asked the fan if he was a local. When the man replied that he was from Russia, the frontman asked the crowd: “We don’t know the attitude of this land but this guy is Russian. Are you OK with a Russian round here? I’m OK with that.”

Read the full story here.

Ukraine forces have recaptured the area of Urozhaine, but the battle for the Donetsk village was hard-fought as it struggled to break through Russian defences.

Even after gaining a foothold in the northern part of the settlement, it apparently took several days before Kyiv could announce its victory this morning.

Russian security services shot dead four Ukrainian “saboteurs” who crossed its border, it has been reported.

According to Russian media, the men had attempted to make their way into the Bryansk region but were stopped and searched by border guards.

The Ukrainians then apparently opened fire with machine guns, with four killed and others wounded in the returning fire.

Ukraine has captured a key strategic village in the southeast after Russian troops were seen fleeing cluster bombs.

Hanna Maliar, a Ukrainian defence minister, said Urozhaine in Donetsk had been “released” in a statement this morning.

She added: “Our defenders are entrenched at the borders. The offensive continues.”

Footage released by the defence ministry shows columns of Russian soldiers being hit by US-supplied cluster munitions, which spray “bomblets” over a wide area.

Seizing Urozhaine allows Kyiv to push forward on its southern counteroffensive. Forces are now expected to target Staromlynivka, a village roughly three miles south, as they head towards the Azov coast.

Ukraine is putting “constant pressure” on the southern village of Robotyne as it throws armoured vehicles at Russian defences, it has been claimed.

WarGonzo, a pro-Russian military blogger, said: “Roll after roll, Ukrainian units are trying to penetrate our defences using armoured vehicles and small infantry groups.

“In some places, the enemy’s success is temporary and he is quickly knocked out of his positions, and in some he manages to go a couple of hundred metres and gain a foothold.

“Ukrainians... put constant pressure on our troops in those places where there are no mined areas left.”

Footage has emerged of the moment Ukraine’s experimental “Sea Baby” drone crashed into the Kerch Bridge linking Crimea to mainland Russia last month.

A thermal imaging camera mounted on the unmanned vehicle, which held 850kg of explosives, shows it heading along the Kerch Strait towards a support column before the feed cuts out.

Another video captures the moment of the blast as a fireball tears into the early morning sky.

A third camera seemingly mounted on the bridge shakes violently from the explosion, its grainy footage replaced by a blinding white light.

Read the full story here.

Some 4,000 Wagner mercenaries have moved to Belarus since their coup against Russia’s military leadership collapsed in June, it has been claimed.

Belarusian Hajun, a military monitoring group, said: “According to our estimates, there may be 4,000-4,500 Wagner PMC mercenaries in Belarus.

“The main location of the mercenaries is a camp in the village of Tsel, Osipovichi district.”

The commander of Russia’s forces in Ukraine who disappeared following the Wagner Group’s coup is under house arrest, Politico reports.

General Sergei Surovikin, an ally of mercenary boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, is apparently unable to leave the apartment where he is being held but has been allowed visitors.

The VChK-OGPU blog, which has links to Russia’s security services, said the man nicknamed “General Armageddon” is “under a kind of house arrest”.

It added: “There is no official investigation, but Surovikin spent a long time in limbo answering uncomfortable questions.”

Ukrainian grain exports going through Romania more than halved after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea deal and began targeting Danube ports.

Data from Costanta Port shows it received a monthly average of 1.25 million tonnes of grain between January and June, but just 0.6 million tonnes in July.

It casts doubt on a US-backed plan for Romania to import four million tonnes a month by October.

Russian drones attacked Reni, just 200 metres from the Romanian border last night, damaging two grain warehouses in the process.

The Lithuanian government has said it will close two of the country’s six border crossing points with Belarus due to “geopolitical circ*mstances”.

Tensions appear to be rising between Belarus and its neighbours since it began hosting Wagner fighters after the abortive coup against Russia’s military leadership in June.

Its leader, Alexander Lukashenko, has previously suggested he was struggling to restrain the mercenaries from attacking cities in Poland.

Ukraine’s security service has taken credit for maritime drone strikes against Crimea’s Kerch Bridge and Russian ships for the first time.

Kyiv has previously avoided admitting to the attacks beyond anonymous briefings, with some playfully suggesting Russia had been targeted by “Unidentified Floating Objects”.

Vasyl Maliuk, head of the SBU, told CNN they had “recently conducted successful hits” on the Kerch Bridge along with the Olenegorsk Gornyak landing ship and Sig oil tanker.

He added: “Sea surface drones are a unique invention of the security service of ukraine. None of the private companies are involved.”

Ukraine’s security services claim to have arrested a Russian spy who attempted to infiltrate a paratrooper unit, it has claimed.

The SBU said: “[We] detained a collaborator in the Kyiv region who tried to join the Airborne Assault Troops unit of the Armed forces of Ukraine to gather intelligence for the benefit of the Russian Federation.

“He had to find out about the locations of training centres of Ukrainian paratroopers and the estimated number of personnel undergoing training.”

The man, who allegedly collaborated with Russian forces during their occupation of Kherson, apparently also planned to reveal the positions and movement of paratrooper units on the front line.

A man who was being treated for a stroke was among the seven people injured in attacks on Kherson, the regional governor had said.

Oleksandr Produkin said Russian forces had shelled the “territory of a hospital”, where the 55-year-old was a patient, along with an “educational institution”.

Elsewhere, a 45-year-old suffered a leg injury while working in a field, while a couple in their sixties were sent to hospital after their home was damaged.

Russia hit two warehouses in an attack on the Danube port of Reni near the Romanian border, according to Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff.

Andiry Yermak said: “As a result of a Russian [drone] hitting two metal warehouses of the hangar type, two tractors caught fire.

“There were no fatalities or injuries.”

It comes after Romania announced plans to import millions of tonnes of Ukrainian grain per month via the Danube, following Moscow’s withdrawal from the Black Sea export deal.

Three members of a suspected Russian spy ring who were arrested by counter-terror police lived in a flat one mile from an RAF base used by ministers and the Royal family, The Telegraph can reveal.

Bulgarian nationals Orlin Roussev, 45, Bizer Dzhambazov, 41, and his 31-year-old girlfriend, Katrin Ivanova, were detained during a series of intelligence-led raids across London and Norfolk.

For around a decade, all three had links to a flat in west London, a short distance from the RAF Northolt military base. Members of the Royal family regularly use the base to fly abroad, and it is also used frequently by ministers and foreign heads of state.

Read the full story here.

Russia’s defence ministry claims to have shot down a Ukrainian drone over Crimea amid a number of what it claims are “terrorist attacks”.

It comes after it claimed to have destroyed a three drones in the Kaluga region southwest of Moscow early this morning.

Hundreds of towns and villages across Ukraine have been attacked by Russia in the last day, it has been claimed.

Ukraine’s defence ministry said in a statement: “Russian troops shelled the territory of 10 regions of Ukriane during the past 24 hours.

“From various types of weapons - grenade launchers, mortars, barrel and rocket artillery, air defence systems, attack UAVs, tactical aircraft - 139 settlements and 125 infrastructure objects were attacked.

“There are dead and wounded among civilians, the number of victims is being specified.”

Kyiv’s counteroffensive still has a long way to go despite the capture of Urozhaine, a Ukrainian colonel has said, drawing attention to the depth of Russian defences.

Vladyslav Seleznyov told RBC-Ukraine: “After Urozhaine, there are still several lines of defence that need to be overcome. It is not worth talking about the fact that the situation will fundamentally change.

“When they say about 5 mines per square meter, one can only imagine how long it will take to demine.”

He added that Ukraine should now attempt to weaken Russian forces by destroying its rear logistics and enemy warehouses.

The US has lent its backing to a scheme for Ukraine to export four million tonnes of grain per month via the Danube River, the Wall Street Journal reports.

Romania has previously said it wanted to double the two million tonnes of grain that passes through its ports. The plan is to reach this milestone by October.

It comes after Russia withdrew its backing from a corridor along the Black Sea that allowed Kyiv to ship grain from its ports.

Russia has created an inflatable church adorned with Orthodox icons and camouflage for priests visiting troops on the Ukrainian front lines, Nataliya Vasilyeva writes.

Clerics with massive crosses hanging from their necks were an unusual sight at Russia’s annual weapons expo outside of Moscow on Monday, where Russian defence companies present their newest prototypes.

Father Boris Grishin showed visitors around the mobile church, which consists of a caravan equipped with two cots, a shower and a toilet, with an inflatable 13ft by 13ft tent serving as a prayer room.

The mobile church is ideal for priests travelling to the war zone or military training in the field, Father Grishin said.

Read the full story here.

Fires broke out in a Kharkiv village as Russian forces launched an assault on Ukrainian positions south of Bakhmut, it has been claimed.

Oleh Synyehubov, the region’s governor, said: “Over the past day, the enemy has massively shelled populated areas of Kharkiv, Chuguyiv, Izyum and Kupyan districts of the region.

“In the village Petropavlivka, Kupyan district, as a result of shelling, three houses were damaged, fires broke out.”

Ukraine’s general staff has previously reported that Russia launched an assault east of the settlement, which was repelled.

Russian shelling has killed four people and wounded seven across Donetsk, the regional governor has said.

Pavlo Kyrylenko added that several houses had been damaged, along with power lines, gasworks and an administrative building.

A US think tank has confirmed reports that Ukraine managed to breach Russian defences at Robotyne in its southern counteroffensive push.

The Institute for the Study of War said: “Geolocated footage posted on August 14 indicates that Ukrainian forces advanced into Robotyne.

“Further Russian and Ukrainian reporting published on August 15 suggests that Ukrainian forces have committed additional counteroffensive brigades to the western Zaporizhia oblast area.”

Citing a Ukrainian colonel, it said Kyiv’s forces were making slow progress in the south because of “three-echeloned” Russian defences made up of mines, artillery and personnel, and rear positions.

Ukrainian forces are now “entrenched” in the northern part of Robotyne as they battle for control of the Zaporizhzhia village, a pro-Russian blogger has said.

Rybar, a Telegram channel with more than a million subscribers said: “In the Zaporizhzhia direction, the fighting near Robotyne has intensified again.

“The Ukrainian troops entrenched on the north-eastern outskirts of the village are suffering heavy losses, but continue to storm the village.”

It comes after unconfirmed reports yesterday that Ukraine had managed to breach the town’s northern defences under the cover of cluster munitions.

Russia’s defence ministry claims to have shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow amid a surge in aerial attacks on its territory.

Kyiv launched the attack at 5am (3am BST) using “three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region”, it said on Telegram.

The drones were apparently brought down over the Kaluga region, a few hundred kilometres southwest of Moscow. There is not believed to have been any casualties or damage.

A Russian air strike has damaged grain terminals and warehouses at one of Ukraine’s Danube River ports, according to the governor of Odesa.

Oleh Kipher said: “Russian terrorists attacked Odesa region twice last night with attack drones. The main target is port and grain infrastructure in the south of the region.”

It is unclear which river port had been targeted, but Reni - some 200 metres from the border with Romania - and Izmail have previously been attacked.

Ukraine’s Air Force said that it had destroyed 13 Russia-launched drones over the Odesa and Mykolaiv regions in the south. It was not immediately clear how many drones Russia launched.

A container ship has left the Ukrainian port of Odesa despite Moscow’s withdrawal from the Black Sea export deal.

The Joseph Schulte, a Hong Kong-flagged vessel which has been trapped since the war began in February last year, has departed along a “humanitarian corridor” in the Black Sea.

It was carrying more than 30,000 metric tons of cargo in thousands of containers, according to deputy prime minister Oleksandr Kubrakov.

Ukraine announced the shipping corridor last week, but Moscow has not indicated it would support it. Shipping and insurance sources have expressed concerns about its safety.

Russia has unsuccessfully tried to break through Ukrainian defences to the north of the eastern city of Bakhmut, it has been claimed.

A spokesman for the general staff said: “On the Kupyansk direction, the Defence Forces repelled attacks in the area southeast of Vilshan and east of Petropavlivka.”

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