Russian drones pounded grain storage facilities and ports along the Danube River as a loaded container ship set sail along a temporary shipping corridor established by Ukraine. Earlier, Kyiv said its forces had entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the eastern Donetsk region from Russian forces. Read our blog to see how the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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10:24pm: ‘Very contrasted situation in Donetsk region’ for Ukraine
Ukraine may have recaptured the southeastern village of Urozhaine, but the counteroffensive still faces many challenges, FRANCE 24’s correspondent Emmanuelle Chaze reported from Kyiv Wednesday, pointing to the fact that Russian troops are regrouping near Kupiansk to attack the Ukrainians “relentlessly” by air.
“It’s a very contrasted situation in the Donetsk region,” she said.
To watch the full report, click on the player below.
8:09pm: Zelensky says first cargo ship in Black Sea an ‘important step’
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed Wednesday the departure of the first cargo ship to use a new Black Sea lane, after Moscow exited a deal protecting Ukrainian grain exports from its southern ports.
“Ukraine has just made an important step toward restoring the freedom of navigation in the Black Sea. The first civilian vessel has passed through Ukraine’s new humanitarian corridor, departing from the port of Odesa” despite warnings from Moscow that its navy could target vessels, he said on social media.
7:53pm: Russian jailed for 10 years for setting fire to enlistment office
A Russian court sentenced a young man to 10 years in jail for attempting to set a military registration office on fire, independent rights group OVD-Info said Wednesday.
Andrey Petrauskas, born in 1998, was convicted of committing a “terrorist act” for launching two Molotov cocktails at a commissariat in the Siberian region of Krasnoyarsk in October 2022, OVD-Info said.
Since the beginning of August, Russia’s Prosecutor’s Office considers all incidents damaging military-related facilities as “terrorism” or “sabotage”.
Russian authorities accused Ukraine of inciting Russians to set fire to military recruitment offices, following a recent uptick in the number of arson attacks. They said the increase was due to a campaign by phone from Ukraine usually targeting “elderly” Russians.
While there are some instances of scammed pensioners, other arsonists have said they acted to condemn the offensive in Ukraine and the partial mobilisation.
7:26pm: US says Danube attacks show Putin ‘does not care’ on food security
The United States said Wednesday that Russia’s drone strikes on Ukraine’s Danube infrastructure showed that President Vladimir Putin does not care about food supply for the developing world.
The governor of Ukraine’s Odesa region said that Russian attack drones had damaged grain facilities at a port on the Danube, which has emerged as a key way to export grain from the breadbasket nation after Russia backed out of a UN-led agreement on safe passage in the Black Sea.
The United States called on Russia to return to the Black Sea initiative, negotiated in part by Turkey, “immediately”.
“The contrast here is quite sharp. Our Ukrainian partners are inspiring the world, while Russia starves it by weaponising food,” State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said.
6:39pm: Around 45,000 Muscovites are fighting in Ukraine, mayor says
Some 45,000 Muscovites are taking part in combat operations in Ukraine, the Russian capital’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Wednesday, giving a rare estimate of the forces deployed.
The mayor added they represented a “considerable part” of the fighters there, and that among them, “at least 5,000 people are professional soldiers”.
Beginning August, Deputy Security Council Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said Russia had enlisted over 230,000 additional personnel into the army since the start of the year.
2:58pm: Russia says it has ‘eliminated’ four Ukrainian ‘saboteurs’ at border
Russia’s FSB security service said Wednesday it had “eliminated” a group of four Ukrainian “saboteurs” who tried to cross into Russia from northern Ukraine, Russian news agencies reported.
“The FSB of the Russian Federation and forces of the defence ministry in the border Starodubsky district in the Bryansk region prevented an attempt to infiltrate the territory of the Russian Federation,” agencies carried the FSB’s statement as saying. “Four saboteurs were eliminated.”
1:35pm: Lithuania to close two checkpoints with Belarus amid border tensions
Lithuania has decided to temporarily close two of its six checkpoints with Belarus later this week amid growing tensions with its eastern neighbor, an ally of Russia.
The Lithuanian government said that the crossings at Tverecius and Sumskas will be closed, and traffic will be diverted to the Medininkai border checkpoint, which is the largest of Lithuania’s six checkpoints.
The decision comes as Lithuanians grow increasingly worried about the presence of Russia-linked Wagner Group mercenaries in Belarus.
1:20pm: Czech Republic signs defence treaty with US
The Czech Republic has completed the ratification of a defence treaty with the United States that deepens military cooperation and makes it easier to deploy US troops in Czech territory.
Czech Prime Minister Petr Fiala's signature was the final step in the ratification process of the Defence Cooperation Agreement, which had been endorsed by both houses of Parliament in July and by President Petr Pavel on Aug 1.
The document sets a legal framework for possible deployment of US troops in the country at a time of Russian aggression against Ukraine.
11:30am: Romania 'strongly condemns' Russian Danube attacks
NATO-member Romania has said it "strongly condemns" the repeated Russian attacks on Ukraine's Danube infrastructure following the latest drone strikes in the southern Odesa region.
"I strongly condemn the continued RU attacks on innocent people, civilian infrastructure, including grain silos in (Ukraine's) ports of Reni & Ismail," Foreign Minister Luminita Odobescu posted on social media, shortly after Russian attacks targeted Ukrainian ports close to the border with Romania.
"By these flagrant violations of int'l law RU continues to jeopardize (global) food security & the safety of navigation in the Black Sea," she added.
9:40am: Container ship leaves Odesa port blockaded by Russia
Ukraine says a container ship has left the Black Sea port of Odesa, using what it has described as a new temporary corridor for merchant ships to and from its ports, which are blockaded by Russia.
Kyiv last week announced a "humanitarian corridor" in the Black Sea to release cargo ships that have been trapped in its ports since the start of Russia's invasion.
Moscow has not indicated whether it would respect the shipping corridor, and shipping and insurance sources have expressed concerns about safety.
Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov identified the container ship as the Hong-Kong-flagged "Joseph Schulte", saying it had been in the port since February 23, 2022, the day before the invasion.
9:10am: Warehouses, grain silos damaged in Russian attacks on Danube port
Russian air strikes on southern Ukraine overnight damaged grain silos and warehouses at one of the Danube river ports, a key facility for grains shipments, the governor of the Odesa region has said.
"Russian terrorists attacked Odesa region twice last night with attack drones," Governor Oleh Kiper said on the Telegram messaging app. "The main target is port and grain infrastructure in the south of the region."
The presidential office said in a separate statement that there were no casualties.
Photos released by the governor show the destroyed metal walls of the storage facilities and piles of scattered grain and sunflowers.
7:55am: UK says Russia aiming for self-sufficiency in drone production
Russia is likely aiming for self-sufficiency in Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles (OWA-UAVs) in the coming months, the British military has said in its daily intelligence briefing on the war in Ukraine.
Russia has almost certainly started to deploy domestically produced one way attack OWA-UAVs based on Iranian Shahed designs, the defence ministry said in its briefing.
"Indigenous manufacturing will likely allow Russia to establish a more reliable supply of OWA-UAVs," it said, adding, "the performance of these weapons has been variable and Ukraine has proved effective in neutralising the majority of incoming OWA-UAVs."
7:40am: Ukraine claims recapture of village in Donetsk region
Ukraine's forces have entrenched themselves on the outskirts of Urozhaine after recapturing the settlement in the Donetsk region from Russian forces, Ukraine's Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar has said in a social media post.
"Urozhaine liberated," Maliar said on the Telegram messaging app. "Our defenders are entrenched on the outskirts."
The claim could not be immediately verified and there was no comment from Russia.
In recent days, fierce battles have been taken place in and around Urozhaine and Staromaiorske, around 60 miles southwest of Russian-held Donetsk.
6:35am: Russia says it shot down three drones southwest of Moscow
Russia's defence ministry says it shot down three Ukrainian drones southwest of Moscow, in the latest aerial attacks near the capital.
Ukraine launched the attack at 5am local time (02:00 GMT) using "three unmanned aerial vehicles on objects in the Kaluga region", the ministry said on Telegram.
"All UAVs were detected and destroyed in a timely manner by Russian air defence systems," the ministry added.
Kaluga's governor said the drones were shot down in the south of the region, a few hundred kilometres southwest of Moscow, adding that there were "no consequences for people and infrastructure".
The air attack is at least the fifth this month over the Kaluga region that Russia says it has thwarted.
5:50am: US asks Iran to stop selling drones to Russia
The US is pushing Iran to stop selling armed drones to Russia as part of discussions on a broader "unwritten understanding" between Washington and Tehran, the Financial Times has reported citing people briefed on the matter.
The Biden administration has raised the issue with Iranian officials at indirect talks in Qatar and Oman this year, the paper said, citing people briefed on the matter.
"The discussions have been taking place alongside negotiations on a prisoner exchange deal that led to Tehran transferring four Iranian-US citizens from prison to house arrest last week," the British daily added.
2:55am: Ukraine says Russian drones threatened Danube port
Ukraine's air force said a large group of Russian army drones entered the mouth of the Danube river overnight and headed towards the Izmail river port near the border with Romania.
The governor of southern Odesa region, Oleh Kiper, asked residents of Izmail district to take shelter at around 1:30am local time (22:30 GMT) and cancelled the air raid alert one hour later.
Ukraine's Danube ports accounted for around a quarter of grain exports before Russia pulled out of a UN-backed deal to provide safe passage for the export of Ukrainian grain via the Black Sea. They have since become the main route out, with grain sent on barges to Romania's Black Sea port of Constanta for shipment onwards.
A Russian attack on the Izmail port sent global food prices spiralling in early August.
Key developments from Tuesday, August 15:
Three people were killed in western Ukraine's Volyn after overnight air strikes, the region's governor said, adding that the strikes targeted an industrial area in the city of Lutsk.
The attacks came a day after President Volodymyr Zelensky announced he had visited Ukrainian troops clawing back territory from Russian forces along the country's eastern front line.
Also on Tuesday, Russia’s central bank made a large interest rate hike of 3.5 percent, a move designed to fight inflation and strengthen the ruble after the country's currency reached its lowest value since early in the war with Ukraine.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
