Nothing has happened regarding the Ukrainian use of long-range weapons against Russian territory. EU defense ministers failed to reach an agreement yesterday on lifting restrictions on attacks against Russia. EU countries have left the decision on restrictions to the discretion of the EU countries. However, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell confirmed that EU countries have exhausted their military reserves due to supplies to Ukraine.
According to the Financial Times, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is under pressure from his own people for the poor results of the raid on Kursk that began on August 4.
“President Zelenskiy has faced a barrage of criticism from soldiers, lawmakers and military analysts in recent days over the rapid advances made by the Russian military in eastern Ukraine since Kiev launched its bold incursion into Russia’s Kursk region,” the Financial Times wrote on August 30.
Zelenskiy is struggling with rapidly growing criticism from his own military personnel, lawmakers.
“In the past three weeks, Russian troops have rapidly captured more than two dozen towns and villages with minimal resistance, including the long-held city of New York,” the FT continued
The FT also says that the front runs just 8 kilometers from the town of Pokrovsk in the Ukrainian-controlled part of Donbass, Ukrainian analysts and Ukrainian military officers report “chaos” and “a complete failure of defense (…) Everything is falling apart so quickly. Pokrovsk will fall much faster than Bakhmut.”
The US newspaper says that if the offensive in Kursk was aimed at easing the front in Donbass, it would have been a failure: the Russians have brought fresh troops to Kursk without moving a single man from Donbass.
While the Ukrainians have “sent reserves to Kursk, leaving fewer options to fill gaps elsewhere. Some of the most experienced brigades have been replaced by new, less experienced units”.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Mongolia next week, despite the country being a member of the International Criminal Court which has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader.
The Kremlin said the official visit will take place on September 3. Putin, he said, was expected to “attend ceremonial events dedicated to the 85th anniversary of the joint victory of Soviet and Mongolian forces over Japanese militarists on the Khalkhin Gol River.”
The Kremlin added that the visit would take place at the invitation of Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh. Putin has not visited an ICC member state since the warrant was issued. The Kremlin, which stresses that it does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction, has not commented on the prospect of Putin’s arrest in Mongolia.
And the Russian president also awarded Alexander Lukashenko, who turned 70 on August 30, Russia’s highest honor, the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called. It was a clear sign of the political closeness between Minsk and Moscow.
Within the EU, Hungary has been isolated and furious over the Union’s decision to move meetings of its rotating presidency from Hungary to Brussels in retribution for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent trips to Moscow and Beijing.
Hungarian diplomat Peter Szijjarto criticized EU Foreign Minister Josep Borrell for holding an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels, rather than in the country that holds the EU presidency. Szijjarto also said he met with Gazprom’s chief to secure gas supplies to Hungary. “Budapest is satisfied with energy cooperation with Moscow, which is one of the guarantees of Hungary’s energy security,” the Hungarian minister said.
On the energy issue, Ukraine’s electricity transmission system operator Ukrenergo said a “catastrophe” in the coming months was unlikely, but warned people to prepare for a very difficult winter after Russia destroyed half of the country’s heating and power generation capacity, Ukrainska Pravda reported on August 30.
The story of the loss of Ukraine’s first F16, and the subsequent death of its pilot, remains confusing. Kiev has denied it was shot down by Russian air defenses; The fighter was initially said to have crashed, according to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry.
“A Ukrainian F-16 fighter was destroyed in a plane crash on Monday, a U.S. official said, just weeks after the first US-made aircraft arrived in Ukraine, The Wall Street Journal reported.
However, Ukrainian lawmaker Maryana Bezuglaya claimed that the jet had been shot down by friendly fire; Ukrainian air defenses had mistakenly fired a NATO-supplied Patriot missile at the plane. Contradicting this, initial reports said the plane had not been shot down.
Bezuglaya criticized the Ukrainian Air Force for falsely describing the incident as “an accident,” claiming that it shot down the plane by mistake during operations against the massive Russian missile barrage on August 26: “According to my information, the F-16 of Ukrainian pilot Alexey ‘Moonfish’ Mes was shot down by the Patriot anti-aircraft missile system due to a lack of coordination between units,” Bezuglaya wrote on Telegram. The mystery has not yet been solved, also because it is known that there is a lack of pilots capable of piloting the Western jets supplied to Kiev.
And now a look at the Russian-Ukrainian fronts updated to 16:30 on August 30 .
The Russians, during the night, carried out attacks with Geranium, in the regions of Krivoy Rog, Sumy, Poltava and Vinnitsa
The governor of the Bryansk region reported the destruction of 11 Ukrainian UAVs in the region. In addition, four drones were destroyed by air defense on the outskirts of Kaluga.
In the Kupyansk direction, Ukrainians admit Russian advances to a depth of 700 meters in the central part of Sinkovka, where Russian forces have planted a flag. Fighting for the settlement has been going on for several months.
There are also reports of advances in the area of Peschanoye and Tabayevka. The capture of Stelmakhovka by the Russian side was confirmed by Kiev.
In the Toretsk-Dzerzhinsk agglomeration, the village of Druzhba has almost been taken and fighting is taking place on the outskirts of Toretsk. East of Panteleymonovka, Russian troops have advanced along the forests to a depth of 500 meters.
In the Pokrovsk direction, Russian forces are consolidating. The collapse of the Ukrainian defense in Karlovka and Grodovka is reported. The Russian offensive has also developed in the Ukrainsk area. The Russian advanced units are reportedly near Mirnograd. In Karlovka and the eponymous reservoir, the Ukrainians stopped the Russian offensive, pulling out reserves. But the collapse of the front in the north forced Kiev forces to retreat to Galitsinovka.
In the Belgorod region, the Belgorod, Borisovsky, Krasnoyaruzhsky, Volokonovsky districts were under attack.
In the DPR, Ukrainian shelling of Gorlovka.
In the Kursk region, Ukrainian formations are increasing their reserves and continue attacks in several areas. At the same time, the concentration of Kiev forces remains high even taking into account the presence of the Russian Aerospace Forces aviation.
Fighting is reported in the north of the Sudzhansky district. Ukrainians attacked Russian positions near the settlements of Kamyshevka and Kireyevka. In the south of Sudzhansky district, Moscow aviation struck Ukrainian positions near the villages of Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Plekhovo and Borki. In the direction of Korenevo, the Kiev army is reorganizing. Several enemy assault groups were destroyed near Borki and Martynovka. Heavy fighting is reported.
The situation in Glushkovsky district remains difficult. Ukrainian formations conduct reconnaissance and attack Russian forces at crossings.
In Korenevski district, fighting continues in the vicinity of the administrative center, the Ukrainians will not stop trying to advance with both infantry and armored groups; in the south, there are battles in the Korenevo-Krasnooktyabrskoye-Snagost triangle.
Clashes also continue in Sudzhansky district. In the Kamyshevka-Kireevka section, Russian troops repelled the attack of an armored group of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Another small infantry group was dispersed by artillery fire as it advanced from Nechaevo, where the Ukrainians had established a foothold in the forest southwest of the village. The village itself had previously been reoccupied by Russian forces.
To the south, in the areas of the settlements of Borki, Plekhovo and Cherkasskaya Konopelka, Russian forces are in “Search and Destroy” mode.
Follow our updates on Geopolitical Gleanings – Spigolature geopolitiche: https://t.me/agc_NW and on our blog The Gleanings of AGCNEWS – Le Spigolature di AGCNEWS: https://spigolatureagcnews.blogspot.com/
Graziella Giangiulio
