TheVoiceOfJoyce There is Ukrainian progress in Bakhmut and Zaporizhizhia, the other entrenched Russian areas are heavily mined. It may be a strategy to let Russia occupy the heavily mined areas and leave them there entrenched, till the minefields are removed. Concentrate on other areas where there are gains to be made. Attacking their vessels is a counteroffensive start.
3 years ago
www.theguardian.com/world/live/2023/aug/05/russia-ukraine-war-live-russian-tanker-hit-by-drones-saudi-arabia-talks-will-be-difficult-says-kyiv-envoy
It says its troops have recently retaken the village of Staromaiorske in the Donetsk region. The BBC has verified video which supports that claim.
Around Bakhmut, in the east, where there has been intense fighting, Ukraine has also regained some small areas that it lost earlier in the summer. And it has also made small gains in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south – a key area where Ukraine really needs to make a decisive difference.
Ukrainian maritime authorities have warned that Russian Black Sea ports and the approaches towards them are to be considered “war risk areas” from 23 August, according to the Wall Street Journal’s chief foreign affairs correspondent.
Yaroslav Trofimov
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Ukraine’s maritime authority issues a notice to mariners that all Russian Black Sea ports and approaches to them will be considered a “war risk area” as of August 23. Gives more than two weeks for all commercial vessels trading with Russia to leave the Black Sea.
Yaroslav Trofimov
@yarotrof
Ukrainian naval drones strike a U.S.-sanctioned empty Russian oil tanker off Crimea a day after damaging a Russian warship in Novorossiysk. Russia thought it could destroy Ukrainian ports with impunity, but a large part of its own oil exports is vulnerable to Ukrainian attacks.
6:30 AM · Aug 5, 2023
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The Ukrainian presidential adviser has also struck a hawkish tone, saying only further escalation in the conflict with Russia could bring peace.
Михайло Подоляк
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The latest events in the Black Sea indicate explicitly that only one path will bring us towards peace… The liberation of the occupied Ukrainian territories, the destruction of Russian military bases and strategic warehouses in #Crimea, forcing #Russia to comply with the… Show more
6:33 AM · Aug 5, 2023
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Moving away from the tanker attack for now, talks have started in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Ukraine and its allies hope this weekend’s meeting of national security advisers and other senior officials from about 40 countries – but not Russia – will reach agreement on principles of how to end the conflict.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian president’s office and his main envoy for the talks in Jeddah, said late on Friday night in a television interview published on his Telegram account: “I expect that the conversation will be difficult, but behind us is truth, behind us goodness.”
The forum excludes Russia, but the Kremlin said it would “keep an eye” on the meeting. China said it would send its special envoy for Eurasian affairs, Li Hui, to the talks.
Li said: “We have many disagreements and we have heard different positions, but it is important that our principles are shared.”
Ukrainian, Russian and international officials have said there is no prospect of direct peace talks between Ukraine and Russia at the moment, as the war continues to rage and Kyiv seeks to reclaim territory through a counteroffensive.
Talks begin in Saudi Arabia on how to end Russia-Ukraine war
Footage, which the Guardian has not immediately been able to verify, appears to show the moment that a Ukrainian sea drone strikes the Russian tanker.
OSINTtechnical
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Footage from the Ukrainian USV that targeted the Russian tanker Sig off the Kerch Strait, with a hit on the waterline near the engine room.
1:16 AM · Aug 5, 2023
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A Ukrainian security service source has told the BBC that the operation targeting a Russian tanker was conducted jointly with the the country’s navy. They said 450kg of dynamite was used and that it had caused “fireworks” which were visible from some distance away.
The Financial Times reported that the attack was “the latest in a series of bold strikes that signal Kyiv’s use of unmanned vehicles is becoming more aggressive and effective”.
The Russian defence ministry said on Friday that it had shot down 13 drones over the Crimea peninsula, according to AFP.
The head of Ukraine’s security service, Vasyl Malyuk, did not publicly confirm that Ukraine was responsible for the drone strike on a Russian tanker when he spoke about the attack earlier on Saturday, in line with the country’s strategy for such incidents.
The anonymous security service source quoted in the previous post spoke to Agence-France Presse some time afterwards.
Malyuk said only that “such special operations are conducted in the territorial waters of Ukraine and are completely legal”. Any such explosions, he said, were “an absolutely logical and effective step with regard to the enemy”.
The attack briefly halted ferry and transport and traffic on the 12-mile Kerch Bridge, which links the annexed Crimea peninsula with Russia.
Tugboats were deployed to assist the tanker, which is under US sanctions for helping provide jet fuel to Russian forces fighting in Syria, according to Russia’s Tass news agency.
“The Sig tanker … received a hole in the engine room near the waterline on the starboard side, presumably as a result of a sea drone attack,” the report said, claiming no fuel had been spilled.
The attacked marked the first time a commercial Russian port has been targeted during the conflict, making it a significant escalation, AP reports.
Ukraine unofficially claims responsibility for attack on Russian tanker near Crimea – report
Ukraine has unofficially taken responsibility for the drone strike on a Russian tanker in the Kerch Strait.
An anonymous security service source told Agence France-Presse: “Overnight the [Ukrainian security service] SBU blew up the Sig, a large oil tanker of the Russian Federation that was transporting fuel for Russian troops.
It said the operation, which involved a naval drone and explosives, was carried out jointly with the Ukrainian navy in the country’s territorial waters.
The source described the targeted vessel as “one of the most powerful oil tankers of the Russian Federation”. “It was well-loaded with fuel, so the ‘fireworks’ could be seen from afar,” they said.
Russian authorities said the Sig had been hit late last night local time south of the Kerch Strait. The oil and chemical tanker is under US sanctions for supplying jet fuel to Russian forces in Syria supporting the country’s president, Bashar al-Assad.
Russia’s state RIA Novosti news agency said there had been no casualties in the attack, citing the Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre of Novorossiysk.
The US ambassador to Ukraine, Bridget Brink, met the chair of the country’s high council of justice, Hryhoriy Usyk, on Friday, when she was briefed on plans to “strengthen trust” in the Ukrainian judiciary.
Ambassador Bridget A. Brink
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Important discussion on justice sector reforms yesterday with @HCJNews Chairman Usyk and @EUDelegationUA. We heard HCJ’s plans to appoint thousands of judges to fill vacancies and to re-start the disciplinary process. We underscored the importance of ensuring the highest… Show more
3:52 AM · Aug 5, 2023
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