The White House responds to Ukraine on the arrival of long-range weapons: ‘No decisions have yet been made on the possible dispatch of long-range ATACMS missiles to Kiev but that possibility remains’.
NATO has stated that its position on the issue of Kiev joining the alliance remains the same: the military bloc will continue to support Ukraine ‘for the sake of lasting peace’, writes the Guardian newspaper, quoting a representative of the alliance.
Switzerland joined the EU’s 11th sanctions package against Russia on 16 August. Holders of ordinary Russian passports and diplomatic passports from the new Russian regions, as well as Abkhazia and South Ossetia, will no longer receive Swiss Schengen visas, the Federal Council of the Swiss Confederation said.
According to Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev: “The West is not interested in negotiations on a peaceful solution in Ukraine,” he told reporters. “Their talk that it’s time to sit at the table and start negotiations on a peaceful issue, it’s all a clever position. They don’t want that. They want to keep spinning the military flywheel to earn money for their budgets,’ Medvedev quipped.
Kiev is working to make it to the G20 summit, where Ukraine has not been invited, according to the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar confirmed that Ukraine will not be there and will not be invited.
The Ukrainian Air Force will not receive F-16 fighter jets either in the autumn or winter of 2023 said Yuriy Ignat, spokesman for the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Volodymyr Zelensky signed the laws on the extension of martial law and mobilisation in Ukraine for 90 days, until 15 November, reports Verkhovna Rada deputy Yaroslav Zheleznyak.
Not only that, Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had instructed the foreign and defence ministries to convey to the West exactly what Ukraine wants to receive in defence aid packages. The commander of the Ukrainian ground forces, Syrsky, acknowledged the complication of the situation in the direction of Kupyansk, where the Russian army has been advancing in recent weeks.
He said that most of the day he worked in units “leading the defence on the outskirts of the city”. Syrsky also expressed concern about a possible ‘blockade, and later the capture of Kupyansk’ by Russian troops.
And now a look at the front: posted statistics on the military operations of the 6th Army of the Russian Armed Forces in the direction of Kupyansk.
According to statements of the press service of the troop group “West” from 1 to 14 August, the 6th Army: repelled 38 attacks of the 14th Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces; killed 580 militants; captured 33 strongholds and 38 observation posts of the 14th Brigade; the Army Air Force inflicted 47 hits on the positions of the 14th Brigade; two militants were captured.
In the meantime, the transfusion hospital in Chernihiv has requested large quantities of blood of all blood types. As far as is known via social media, they are brought to the military hospitals from the Kupyansk-Bachmut direction every day. According to local residents, all medical institutions, both cities and regions, are full of wounded and there is practically no medical care for civilians. All planned operations have been cancelled.
At 1 p.m. on 17 August 2023, it was recorded that both Rabotino and the nearby positions of the Russian Armed Forces continue to be attacked by Ukrainian formations. The main attacking force consists of paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Brigade and the 46th Marine Brigade. Initially, the Ukrainian armed forces considered 116, 117 and 118 ombr 10 AKs to break through the first line of defence, but losses and failures forced adjustments.
Detachments of the 82nd Airborne Brigade, reinforced by the 46th and 118th Brigades, attempted to advance towards Rabotino, but the situation on the north-eastern periphery remains the same: this part of the country is in the grey zone. Furthermore, the Ukrainians unsuccessfully attacked the strongholds of the RF Forces between Rabotino and Verbov. But the attack was repulsed and two assault companies of the 82nd odshbr with a total of 116 persons were sent for recovery.
Reinforcements from the 116th and 15th National Guard brigades, as well as the Bukovel electronic warfare complex, were transferred to Malaya Tokmachka to reinforce the group.
The Ukrainian Buk anti-aircraft missile system, approaching the front line, hit a Russian Ka-52 attack helicopter west of Novoprokopovka. The pilot survived and was evacuated, but the navigator died.
Graziella Giangiulio
