The time is coming up to 7.50pm in Ukraine. That’s it from me, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog, which is closing now. Thanks for following along.
Local officials in Kherson have declared Monday an official day of mourning after a Russian attack killed seven people, including a 23-day-old baby girl and her 12-year-old brother, earlier today.
“Today the Kherson region shuddered from terrible news,” Governor Oleksandr Prokudin wrote on Telegram.
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Summary of the day so far
A Russian warship fired warning shots at a Palau-flagged cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea today. This marks the first time Russia has fired on a merchant ship beyond Ukraine since exiting a UN-brokered grain deal last month.
Seven people – including an entire family of four – were killed in Russian attacks on Kherson oblast this morning. Artillery shelling in Shiroka Balka killed a husband, wife and their 23-day-old baby daughter. Their 12-year-old son was rushed to a hospital for treatment, but later succumbed to his injuries. Another person in the village was also killed. Two men were killed in Stanislavov.
Three civilians were injured in the Kursk region from shells coming over the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said. Roman Starovoit said Ukraine was behind the shelling, Ukraine has not claimed responsibility and it is unclear from whom the shelling originated.
Parts of Ukraine was on high alert today, after a Russian ballistic missiles threat was declared for eight regions across eastern Ukraine. The Ukrainian air force is warning the eastern and southern regions of the country of a ballistic missile threat. As well, Yuriy Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, warned residents of the threat of Russian ballistic missiles in the city of Zaporizhzhia as well as through the region.
Germany will deliver a Luna New Generation drone system to Ukraine, Bild am Sonntag is reporting. The equipment will include a ground control station with several drones, a launch catapult and military trucks.
Authorities briefly halted traffic on the Russian-built Kerch bridge connecting occupied Crimea with Russia – but did not provide a reason why. This comes one day after Russian air defence thwarted three Ukrainian missile attacks.
Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country on Earth, after a year and a half of Russian troops laying them down in an effort to thwart Ukraine’s counteroffensive. Soldiers have been unearthing five mines for every square metre in some places, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, told the Guardian.
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A Russian ballistic missiles threat has been declared for eight regions across eastern Ukraine.
Russian ballistic missiles threat declared for 8 regions of Ukraine now. pic.twitter.com/JfFdlYafPp
— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) August 13, 2023
Traffic has resumed on the Crimean bridge, Reuters is reporting.
Russian authorities did not state why they halted traffic briefly one day after air defence thwarted three Ukrainian missiles from damaging the bridge.
Ukraine is now the most heavily mined country on Earth, after a year and a half of Russian troops laying them down in an effort to thwart Ukraine’s counteroffensive.
Soldiers have been unearthing five mines for every square metre in some places, Oleksii Reznikov, Ukraine’s defence minister, told the Guardian.
Read more here:
Traffic stopped on Crimean bridge
Reuters is reporting that one day after Russian air defence thwarted three Ukrainian missile attacks on the Russian-built Kerch bridge that connects occupied Crimea with Russia, authorities have halted traffic on the roadway.
Authorities did not provide a reason for halting traffic, but said yesterday that there was no damage done in the attacks on the bridge.
The bridge is both a symbolic and strategic target for Ukrainian forces, who see it as a bridge built by occupiers for the purpose of occupying. Russian forces use both the bridge and the railway to access supplies – should the bridge be taken out, Russian troops in southern Kherson and southern Zaporizhzhia regions will face major logistical issues.
An explosion destroyed part of the bridge in October. The roadway portion was reopened fully in February, and the railway in May.
Three civilians were injured in the Kursk region from shells coming over the Ukrainian border, the regional governor said.
Regional governor Roman Starovoit said 10 shells came from Ukraine into the Glushkovsky district, with one striking a residential building in Volfino, a village right on the border with Ukraine.
Though Starovoit said Ukraine was behind the shelling, Ukraine has not claimed responsibility and it is unclear from whom the shelling originated.
Locals are reporting explosions in the Russian-occupied Melitopol.
Explosions reported in the occupied Melitopol right now.#counteroffensive 🇺🇦
— Ukraine Front Lines (@EuromaidanPR) August 13, 2023
Following yesterday’s thwarted attacks on the Kerch bridge, Anton Gerashchenko, adviser to Ukraine’s internal affairs minister, explained why taking down the bridge connecting Russian-occupied Crimea with Russia is more than just symbolic.
“The Kerch Bridge is a vital link between the southwestern part of Russia and occupied Crimea,” he wrote on Twitter. “It is a legitimate military target for Ukraine, as it is used to supply the Russian army. The bridge and its railway line are extremely important for the logistics of the Russian army, so it is repaired quickly and heavily protected.
“Also, the Russian army uses the ports of temporarily occupied Ukrainian cities of Berdiansk and Mariupol for supplies. But these volumes are smaller compared to the railway capacities.
“Therefore, regarding the strikes on the Kerch bridge, the question is whether the railway track is damaged. If it is damaged, then the enemy’s southern grouping will be left without supplies.
“If the Kerch bridge can be blocked, then, considering recent attacks on bridges in Armiansk, Chonhar and Henichesk in the last two weeks, most of the Russian military supplies to southern Kherson and southern Zaporizhzhia regions will face serious logistical problems.”
Why are there so many strikes on the Kerch Bridge? Not just because of its symbolism.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 13, 2023
The Kerch Bridge is a vital link between the southwestern part of Russia and occupied Crimea. It is a legitimate military target for Ukraine, as it is used to supply the Russian army.
The… pic.twitter.com/pW2GhieuX2
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Germany will deliver a Luna New Generation drone system to Ukraine, Bild am Sonntag is reporting.
The equipment will include a ground control station with several drones, a launch catapult and military trucks.
⚡️Media: Germany's Rheinmetall to deliver Luna drone system to Ukraine.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 13, 2023
Rheinmetall, Germany's automotive and arms manufacturer, will deliver a Luna New Generation drone system to Ukraine by the end of 2023, Bild am Sonntag reported on Aug. 12, citing company sources.
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Russian warship fires warning shots at a Black Sea cargo ship
A Russian warship fired warning shots at a Palau-flagged cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea today.
This marks the first time Russia has fired on a merchant ship beyond Ukraine since exiting a UN-brokered grain deal last month.
“The captain of the dry-cargo ship did not respond to the request to stop for inspection for the carriage of prohibited goods,” the Russian ministry of defence wrote on Telegram. “To force the ship to stop, a warning fire from automatic small arms was opened from a Russian warship.”
According to the Russian ministry of defence, the ship then stalled and allowed an inspection team to board. The ship, Sukra Okan, was operating under the flag of Palau.
Last month, Russia dropped out of the Black Sea grain deal that allowed Ukraine – the agricultural bread basket of Europe – to continue exporting agricultural produce via the Black Sea. Moscow said all ships heading to Ukrainian waters could potentially be carrying weapons.
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The Ukrainian air force is warning the eastern and southern regions of the country of a ballistic missile threat.
The air force also issued a warning about missile danger in Mykolaiv oblast and an air alert in the Zaporizhzhia oblast for tactical aviation activity to the east and south-east directions.
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Here are some of the latest images of the Russian-occupied city of Donetsk coming in from the agencies:
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Yuriy Malashko, head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, has warned residents of the threat of Russian ballistic missiles in the city of Zaporizhzhia as well as through the region.
He also warned of the threat of aviation weapons around the edge of the Zaporizhzhia region.
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Summary of the day so far
Seven people – including an entire family of four – were killed in Russian attacks on Kherson oblast this morning. Artillery shelling in Shiroka Balka killed a husband, wife and their 23-day-old baby daughter. Their 12-year-old son was rushed to a hospital for treatment, but later succumbed to his injuries. Another person in the village was also killed. Two men were killed in Stanislavov.
Three people were injured on Saturday after Russian troops fired 13 shells at the city 0f Kherson. The regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin, said: “The Russian military targeted the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region; territories and premises of factories in Kherson; mobile communication towers in Beryslav.”
Ukrainian troops destroyed two Russian ammunition storage points early this morning in the occupied town of Oleshky in Kherson oblast.
Russian air defence systems shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Kursk oblast this morning, according to the Russian ministry of defence. There were no injuries or damage reported. This comes after Russian air defence shot down three Ukrainian missiles near the Kerch bridge in Crimea, hours after shooting down 20 Ukrainian drones targeting the Crimean peninsula.
Russia’s defence ministry says its air defence systems destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod border region, which has been repeatedly hit by unclaimed attacks since the start of the conflict.
Britain’s defence ministry said on Sunday there was a realistic possibility that Russia no longer funded the activities of the mercenary Wagner group. The defence ministry said in a daily bulletin that the Russian state had acted against some other business interests of the Wagner owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, after he led a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass in June.
Russia lost 560 personnel on Saturday, bringing the total to 253,850 since the start of the invasion in February 2022, according to the latest numbers from the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces.
Russian troops launched seven missiles, and conducted 47 airstrikes and 43 multiple-launch rocket system attacks on Saturday across 120 settlements around the country, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in the morning briefing.
The number of Russian desertions in Ukraine is increasing, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said. Russian military patrols and military personnel have been going door-to-door searching for deserting servicemen in the Russian-occupied settlement of Hornostaivka in Kherson oblast.
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Some areas of the city of Kherson are without electricity following a series of Russian attacks throughout the region, said Roman Mrochko, the head of the Kherson city military administration.
“Over the past day, the enemy shelled the Kherson territorial community 17 times and used 91 shells,” Mrochko said. “Damage was recorded in Kherson, Naddnipryansk, Sadovo and Antonivka. At night, the enemy carried out an artillery bombardment of Naddnipryanskyi.”
The shelling of Kherson city damaged a high-voltage power line. Mrochko asked that residents reduce their use of electronics as crews work to fix the damage.
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The 12-year-old boy who was critically injured in the Russian artillery shelling in Shiroka Balka in the Kherson oblast – a shelling that killed his father, mother and 23-day-old baby sister – has died.
Ihor Klymenko, Ukraine’s minister of internal affairs, updated a recent post from the ministry after the boy succumbed to his injuries at a hospital: “The whole family died in Shiroka Balka,” he wrote.
That brings the total of people killed this morning in the Kherson oblast to seven: another local resident was killed alongside the family in Shiroka Balka, and two men were killed in Stanislavov.
Russian air defence systems shot down a Ukrainian drone over the Kursk oblast this morning, according to the Russian ministry of defence.
There were no injuries or damage reported.
Yesterday, Russian air defence shot down three Ukrainian missiles near the Kerch bridge in Crimea – just hours after shooting down 20 Ukrainian drones targeting the Crimean peninsula. This came amid a new campaign of drone strikes targeting Moscow in recent days as Kyiv works to keep the Kremlin’s war in the hearts and minds of the Russian elites and others seeking to ignore the invasion.
Six – including 23-day-old girl – killed in Kherson oblast
Six people – including a 23-day-old baby girl – were killed in Russian attacks on the Kherson oblast this morning, the Ukraine ministry of internal affairs said.
Artillery shelling in Shiroka Balka killed a local resident and a family – a husband, wife and their baby. The family’s 12-year-old son has been hospitalised in serious condition.
In Stanislavov, two men were killed and another woman injured.
“Terrorists will never stop killing civilians voluntarily,” the ministry of internal affairs wrote on Telegram. “Terrorists must be stopped. By force They do not understand anything else.”
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What is Ukraine’s goal and what does it consider victory? Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, addressed these questions today.
“Ukraine’s strategic goal, in addition to the unconditional return of territories, is to create conditions that make it impossible for aggression to be repeated in the future,” he posted on Twitter.
“Conversely, any ‘war freezing scenario’ with Russia’s territorial annexations fixed, as some Western observers are considering, and without Ukraine’s NATO membership (because the war is not over) will only encourage Moscow to increase its appetite and return to war after a short break.”
“That is why there is no alternative to Ukraine’s Peace Formula: strengthening the army, accelerating the supply of weapons, de-occupation of the territory, regime change in Russia, compensation from the new government, and mandatory punishment of war criminals.”
We often hear the question: what is Ukraine's goal and what does it consider victory? Here’s the answer. Ukraine's strategic goal, in addition to the unconditional return of territories, is to create conditions that make it impossible for aggression to be repeated in the future.…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 13, 2023
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Ukrainian troops destroyed two Russian ammunition storage points early this morning in occupied Olesky in the Kherson oblast, said Vladyslav Nazarov, a spokesperson for southern command.
⚡️Two Russian ammunition storage points were destroyed on the night of August 13 in occupied Oleshky, #Kherson Region, Vladyslav Nazarov, spokesperson for Southern Command, said. pic.twitter.com/DufAVjVMIA
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) August 13, 2023
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Three injured from Russian shelling of Kherson city
Three people were injured yesterday after Russia fired 13 shells at the city 0f Kherson, regional governor Oleksandr Prokudin said.
“The Russian military targeted the residential quarters of the populated areas of the region; territories and premises of factories in Kherson; mobile communication towers in Beryslav,” Prokudin said.
Here’s video of Ukrainian border guards placing a new sign on Snake Island.
“The next border sign will be installed in our Ukrainian Crimea after its liberation by the defence forces of Ukraine,” a uniformed man said, standing before a post painted blue and yellow like the country’s flag, in a video shared on Facebook by the head of the border service, Serhiy Deineko.
🛡Момент встановлення прикордонного знаку на острові Зміїний
— МВС України (@MVS_UA) August 13, 2023
Все буде 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/3W0yMNiPbH
As Russian troops continue conducting airstrikes on the Kharkiv oblast, 111 people – including 36 children and four individuals with disabilities – were evacuated yesterday from the Kupyan district, said Oleg Sinegubov, the head of the Kharkiv regional state administration.
A total of 204 people have been evacuated since 9 August, including 71 children, Sinegubov said.
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The general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces is estimating that Russia lost 560 personnel yesterday – bringing the total of Russian personnel lost to 253,850 since the start of the invasion in February 2022.
Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02.22 по 13.08.23 орієнтовно склали / The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02.22 to 13.08.23 were approximately pic.twitter.com/ZFv6VZzYAi
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) August 13, 2023
Here’s more video of the aftermath of the Ukrainian attack on the Crimean bridge yesterday.
Ukrainian forces fired three missiles yesterday at the bridge, which connects occupied Crimea with Russia.
The bridge – built after Russia illegally annexed Crimea in 2014 – had only fully reopened in May after explosions in October damaged both the road portion of it as well as the rail portion.
Though the missiles were seemingly shot down by Russian air defence, Russia’s foreign ministry condemned the incident as a terrorist attack and warned that it would not go unanswered.
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The number of Russian desertions in Ukraine is increasing, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said.
Russian military patrols and military personnel have been going door-to-door searching for deserting servicemen in the Russian-occupied settlement of Hornostaivka in the Kherson oblast.
“The occupants are leaving their places of service and trying to hide in abandoned buildings,” the general staff said in its morning update.
Russian troops launched seven missiles, and conducted 47 airstrikes and 43 multiple-launch rocket system attacks yesterday across 120 settlements around the country, the general staff of Ukraine’s armed forces said in its morning briefing.
There were 39 combat engagements, the general staff said.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian air force conducted 10 airstrikes yesterday on concentrations of Russian troops, weapons and military equipment. A Ukrainian missile and artillery troops hit one Russian anti-aircraft missile system, one ammunition depot, one electronic warfare station and three artillery systems.
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Here are some of the latest images coming in from the agencies:
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Britain’s defence ministry said on Sunday there was a realistic possibility that Russia no longer funds the activities of the mercenary Wagner group.
The defence ministry said in a daily bulletin the Russian state had acted against some other business interests of the Wagner owner, Yevgeny Prigozhin, after he led a failed mutiny against the Russian army’s top brass in June.
“If the Russian state no longer pays Wagner, the second most plausible paymasters are the Belarusian authorities,” it said, adding that this would be a drain on Belarus’s resources.
The ministry said the Wagner Group was moving towards downsizing and reconfiguring to save on staff salary expenses at a time of financial pressure.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 13 August 2023.
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 13, 2023
Find out more about Defence Intelligence's use of language: https://t.co/kqqs8BQtnU
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/SWEsdzEGl2
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More on how Ukraine’s counteroffensive is faring.
Ukrainian forces reportedly made tactically significant advances while continuing operations on at least two sectors of the front on Saturday, along the administrative border between Zaporizhia and Donetsk oblasts, according to the US thinktank the Institute for the Study of War’s regular update.
Geolocated footage published on August 11 indicates that Ukrainian forces made marginal gains near Urozhaine (9km south of Velyka Novosilka) in the Zaporizhia-Donetsk Oblast border area … Russian milbloggers claimed late on August 12 that Russian forces abandoned their positions in Urozhaine after days of intense fighting, although ISW has not yet observed visual confirmation of these claims.
The thinktank also reported that a Russian milblogger claimed that Ukrainian forces were using electronic warfare systems to disrupt Russian communications in western Zaporizhia Oblast and retain large artillery and precision munitions stocks to support interdiction efforts against Russian forces there.
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Opening summary
Hello, I’m Christine Kearney and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
Russia’s defence ministry says its air defence systems destroyed a Ukrainian drone over the Belgorod border region, which has been plagued by unclaimed attacks since the start of the conflict.
“There are no casualties and no damage,” the ministry said on the Telegram messaging app, according to Reuters, which could not independently verify the report.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military officials said on Saturday that Kyiv’s forces had made progress in the south, capturing unspecified territories and claiming partial success near the key village of Robotyne on the front line in the southern Zaporizhzhia region.
In other key developments:
Ukrainian forces fired three missiles at the bridge connecting occupied Crimea to Russia, forcing Russian authorities to cover the structure in white smoke to deter further attacks and prompting a furious threat of retaliation.
The Russian-appointed head of Crimea said Russian air defence was able to shoot down two missiles in the first attack, and then another one, and that there was no damage. Footage and photos show smoke billowing up from the bridge, which Russian officials said was a smokescreen for workers. An explosion in October shut down both the road bridge and rail bridge for months.
The Russian foreign ministry decried Ukraine’s attacks on the Crimean Bridge as “terrorist attacks” on “civilian infrastructure” – even though Russian forces have repeatedly targeted civilian infrastructure since the beginning of the invasion, conducting air strikes on power grids, dams, parks, schools, private homes, churches and hotels.
The attacks on the Crimean Bridge took place hours after Russian forces said they had downed 20 Ukrainian drones targeting Crimea. This comes amid a new campaign of drone strikes targeting Moscow in recent days as Kyiv works to keep the Kremlin’s war in the hearts and minds of Russian elites and others who would prefer to ignore the invasion.
A civilian was killed and six people were wounded, including a 12-year-old girl, following intense Ukrainian shelling in Donetsk, including cluster munitions, a Russian-installed official in the eastern Ukrainian region said on Saturday.
Two people were injured by Russian forces today in the Kherson oblast, where “the shelling has not stopped since morning”, said the regional governor, Oleksandr Prokudin. A 70-year-old man suffered multiple injuries after a projectile hit a residential building in Poniativka, while a 72-year-old man was seriously injured from explosives dropped from a drone in Odradokamyanka, Prokudin said.
A Su-30 fighter jet crashed during a training flight in Russia’s Kaliningrad region, killing the two pilots onboard, according to the RIA news agency.
Two people were killed in Russian attacks in the Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv oblasts. A police officer was killed and 12 people were injured in a guided Russian aerial bomb attack on Orikhov, while an elderly woman was killed early on Saturday morning due to shelling by Russian troops on Kupiansk-Vuzlovyi village in Kupiansk district.
In the village of Lazurne in the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson oblast, residents will not be able to receive medicines like insulin or humanitarian aid if they do not apply for a Russian passport.
Odesa, a Black Sea city famed for its beautiful shoreline, has opened several beaches for the first time since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Throughout the past year, suspicious objects and mines were routinely washing up along the coast, creating a hazard for beachgoers.
Ukrainian border guards placed a new sign on Snake Island this weekend, recalling the early hours of Russia’s invasion when a comrade on the strategic Black Sea outcrop used a choice phrase to refuse to surrender to a warship. “The next border sign will be installed in our Ukrainian Crimea after its liberation by the defence forces of Ukraine,” a uniformed man said, standing before a post painted blue and yellow like the country’s flag, in a video shared on Facebook by the head of the border service, Serhiy Deineko.
Russia sentenced activist Alexander Bakhtin to six years in jail for his criticism of Moscow’s military intervention in Ukraine, a rights group and his allies said.
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