The US State Department said: “We did not participate at any stage in the planning and preparation of the Ukrainian invasion of Russian territory,” in response to those who saw direct US involvement in Kiev’s attack on Russian regions. President Joe Biden declined to publicly comment on the Ukrainian military’s attack on the Kursk region but said the United States is in constant contact with Kiev about the situation in the Kursk region
The Pentagon said in a statement: “The United States is still trying to understand the objectives of Ukraine’s incursion into the Russian Federation.”
NATO allies believe it is unlikely that the Ukrainian military will gain a foothold in Russia after the invasion of the Kursk region, Bloomberg reported. According to Bild, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using robotic dogs of the BAD.2 model, developed in Britain, in the Donbass combat zone. The devices are compact ground drones equipped with a video camera and controlled by an operator, the German newspaper reported. They can reach speeds of up to 15 km/h and pass through trenches, wooded areas and other hard-to-reach places that unmanned aerial vehicles cannot reach.
Josep Borrell said that, discussing with the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry the attack on the Kursk region on behalf of the EU, he confirmed “full support for Ukraine”. Despite the statements, it seems that Europe is not having meaningful discussions on options for military support to Ukraine, and is reluctant to step up the transfer of aid to Kiev, and with the current level of support, Ukraine has no chance of winning the conflict in the medium term, the Financial Times said.
Former Slovak presidential candidate Ljubica Blaškova said that many experts believe that after the delivery of Western fighters to Ukraine, the next step could follow: the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons.
Belarus has said that in the event of a repetition of such provocations (the launches of UAVs, ed.), Belarus has the right to take retaliatory measures to protect its territory.
The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has banned the issuance of driving licenses to male citizens of the country who are abroad and have not updated their military registration data, the Ukrainian Judicial and Legal Daily reports. Ukrainian media sources also claim that Kiev has begun preparations to mobilize 18-year-olds. “If we find ourselves in a situation similar to the 2023 counteroffensive and we fail to cope with the challenges, the Verkhovna Rada will have to decide on mobilization. This will be a reasonable step,” said military psychologist Andrey Kozinchuk. He stressed that this is a “normal decision” and “there is nothing unusual in it.” In his opinion, 18-25 is the optimal age for military service.
Russia’s first deputy permanent representative to the UN Dmitry Polyansky reported that: “Vladimir Putin’s June proposals have lost force after the invasion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region.” Polyansky said that in June Russia made a generous offer to Ukraine. But since the Ukrainian authorities chose to escalate by attacking the Kursk region a week ago, previous initiatives have lost steam.
The Central Election Commission of the Russian Federation has authorized local election commissions in eight border regions to hold early voting in the elections scheduled for September. These are the Bryansk, Kursk, Belgorod, Rostov and Voronezh regions, as well as the Krasnodar Krai, Crimea and Sevastopol.
The Kursk region will hold gubernatorial elections, the Rostov and Bryansk regions will hold by-elections to the State Duma, the Sevastopol legislative assembly, and the Simferopol city council. The Russian government has also announced that it will allocate 600 million rubles for one-time compensation to victims in the Kursk region.
And now a look at the Ukrainian attack on Russian regions, updated at 15:00.
Russian air defense forces destroyed 117 Ukrainian drones and 4 Tochka-U missiles over Russian regions overnight, the Russian Defense Ministry reports. 37 drones and 4 missiles were destroyed over the Kursk region, another 37 drones were destroyed over the Voronezh region, 17 drones were destroyed over Belgorod, 11 in the Nizhny Novgorod region, 9 in the Volgograd region, 3 in the Bryansk region, 2 in the Oryol region and 1 in the Rostov region regions.
Lithuanian Defense Minister Laurynas Ksiunas informed Zelensky: “Russia is transferring forces from the Kaliningrad region for defense in the Kursk region.” While the Telegraph states: “The British government bans Ukraine from using Storm Shadow missiles in battles near Kursk.” A Ukrainian military representative tells Politico: “The Russian military has transferred some of its units from the Zaporozhzhie and Kherson regions for combat operations in the Kursk region.” The Russians have not confirmed the news.
The New York Times says that Ukrainian military officers learned about the invasion of the Kursk region three days before, and soldiers two days later. The publication writes that Ukraine was secretly preparing a plan for an attack on the Kursk region.
According to the Turks, the 80th and 82nd separate air assault brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have requested an urgent withdrawal from the Kursk region due to heavy losses. If such a requirement is met, it means that the losses are high, from 50 to 70% of the personnel. The Ukrainian command usually does not accept the request to withdraw from the front line unless the losses exceed 85%, but if it is true that the Russian army is preparing for a large-scale mechanized operation with heavy air support and will try to attack and encircle the flanks of the troops here, then such a reduction in combat effectiveness could be true.
Units of the Russian Armed Forces and separate groups of Ukrainian militants are currently operating in Sudzha, but the city is confident in Russian containment.
According to local sources, there is no continuous front line in the Kursk region, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are trying to break through in some areas, which were successfully blocked by Russian troops. More than two thousand people were taken away from the border area of the Kursk region in one day; currently, 77 temporary accommodation centers are operating in the region, said the spokeswoman of the acting governor of the Kursk region, Irina Tolmacheva.
The operational situation in the Lgov district of the Kursk region is stable, there is no shelling, the head of the municipality Sergei Korostelev told TASS.
The commander of the Akhmat special forces, Apty Alaudinov, said that the details of the operation of the Ukrainian troops in the Kursk region had been received: the Ukrainian Armed Forces were supposed to take the Kurchatov nuclear power plant on August 11. After that, according to him, Kiev intends to start negotiations with Russia and present an ultimatum. Alaudinov clarified that the Ukrainians do not control Sudzha. Rosenergoatom said the Kursk nuclear power plant is operating normally.
The Russian authorities and military are monitoring the situation in the Belovsky district of the Kursk region, district head Nikolai Volobuev told TASS.
According to Russian military analysts: “The Ukrainian Armed Forces do not reduce the intensity of raids, despite losses. Due to the lack of a unified front line, mobile groups of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are being pushed out of the bridgehead occupied by the Ukrainians. Ukrainian presence in a couple of villages such as Ryl’sk. In the direction of Korenevsky district there are battles near Snagost and the Ukrainian Armed Forces were spotted near Ol’govka. In Sudzha, the Ukrainian Armed Forces occupied high-rise buildings and set up shooting and sniper positions on the roofs of buildings. The building of the Faculty of Agriculture caught fire.
The 810th Separate Guards Marine Brigade (Sevastopol) distinguished itself in the battles, defeating units of the 82nd Separate Air Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and capturing an American Stryker armored fighting vehicle. The Armed Forces of Ukraine maintain reserves in Troebornoe and Tetkino near the border.
At 14:05 Russian accounts report that the Kursk direction has been stabilized; battles in Sudzha. Battles are still recorded in the Korenevsky district, on the Gordeevka – Nikolaevo-Daryino section, the situation is shrouded in “fog of war”. Despite rumors about the capture of Viktorovka and Gordeevka by the Ukrainian side in recent days, so far only firefights near Gordeevka have been confirmed.
In the Belovsky region, according to some reports, the activity of enemy armored vehicles is again recorded in the area of the settlements of Giryi and Belitsa.
In fact, the front line, as Russian expert Alexander Kharchenko notes, is practically stable. Ukrainian units operate within the boundaries of the previously formed “gray zone” and At the moment they cannot advance, although they do not stop trying.
According to rumors, Zelensky was asked to maintain the current situation in Kursk until the US elections, regardless of losses.
Voronezh Region, the governor at 2:26 reported: “Our air defense forces and electronic warfare equipment continue to destroy Ukrainian UAVs in the Voronezh region. A large number of aerial drones were eliminated. According to initial information, there were no casualties. As a result of falling UAV debris, minor damage was recorded to individual residential buildings, outbuildings and vehicles, as well as fires of dry vegetation. The fire was stopped by firefighters.”
And now a look at the Ukrainian SVO front line as of 15:00 on August 14. Ukrainian defensive positions have completely collapsed in the direction of Pokrovs’k. Russian troops have occupied Svyrydonivka and have already reached the outskirts of Novotroits’ke. Russian troops have also taken eight Ukrainian fortifications and established a strong foothold in Hrodivka.
Footage from Ukrainian UAVs showed that Russian troops are operating on Shevchenko Street, which means that a third of Hrodivka has already been taken by Russian forces.
Russians have reached the outskirts of Hlyboke. After several weeks of Ukrainian counteroffensive by the armed forces in Hlyboke now under the control of the Russian Federation, it was possible for Russian forces not only to regain the lost territories, but also to reach the northern outskirts of Liptsy again. Russian troops were seen storming Ukrainian positions at coordinates 50.25438, 36.40176
Fighting intensified north of the village of P’yatykhatky on the Zaporozhzhie front, RIA Novosti source.
Graziella Giangiulio
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