Ukraine: Kiev, ‘Crimea easier to recapture than Donbass’
Liberating Crimea would be easier than retaking Donbass, given the strategic characteristics of the peninsula, said the head of Ukrainian military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov. Russia occupied Crimea and part of the eastern Donbass region in 2014.
“From a military point of view, it is much easier to recapture Crimea than Donbass, which has a front longer than 1,000 kilometers and a depth of more than 200 kilometers,” Budanov explained in a speech at the Faculty of Economics of Kiev University.
“Crimea has two access points. One from the Russian side and one from ours: the Crimean (Kerch) bridge and the land isthmus.” Thanks to the combined pressure of Ukrainian troops and the destruction of Russian communication routes, the peninsula can be easily isolated, he added.
Ukraine: Kiev, ‘Mexico to arrest Putin if he attends presidential inauguration’
The Ukrainian Embassy in Mexico has called on the Mexican government to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he attends the inauguration of President-elect Claudia Sheinbaum. “We trust that the Mexican government will comply with the international arrest warrant and hand Putin over to the United Nations judicial body in The Hague,” the embassy said.
Ukraine: Kiev, ‘1,140 Russian casualties on last day of war’
Russia has lost 587,510 troops in Ukraine since the start of the war on February 24, 2022, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported on August 8. This figure includes 1,140 casualties suffered by Russian forces over the past day. According to the report, Russia has also lost 8,431 tanks, 16,332 armored combat vehicles, 22,285 vehicles and fuel tanks, 16,487 artillery systems, 1,142 multiple launch rocket systems, 914 air defense systems, 366 aircraft, 327 helicopters, 13,293 drones, 28 boats and one submarine.
Ukraine: Medvedev, ‘after Kursk, it is necessary to crush the enemy’
Russia must learn a lesson from the actions of the Ukrainian army on the border with the Kursk region and resolutely crush the enemy. This was written on Telegram by Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. “We must learn a serious lesson from what happened and do what the Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov promised the Supreme Commander to do, namely to resolutely defeat and destroy the enemy,” he said. Medvedev stressed that “the reasons and goals of the terrorist operation of the Ukrainian Nazis in the Kursk region have been thoroughly and objectively analyzed.” In his opinion, Kiev was driven in particular by the desire “to demonstrate to its masters the best sides of its dwindling forces, to get more money and weapons, as well as to make Russia redeploy some of its forces from the line of engagement in Kursk and Belgorod.” On August 6, according to Moscow, the Kursk border region was subjected to a massive attack by Ukraine. Shelling and drone strikes killed five civilians and wounded 31, including six children. Army General Valery Gerasimov, head of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, told President Vladimir Putin that Russian troops had completed their operation in the Kursk region, defeating Ukrainian forces and regaining control of the border.
Ukraine: Tajani, ‘Attack on Kursk is a reaction to Moscow’s invasion, we are not at war with Russia’
The attack by Kiev’s troops in the Russian region of Kursk “is a reaction by Ukraine to the Russian invasion. We are obviously not at war with Russia, we have always said that our weapons must not be used on Russian soil. It is a question between Ukraine and Russia and I hope that in this part of the world too we can arrive at a de-escalation and a just peace that guarantees the territorial integrity of Ukraine”. This was stated by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani to the microphones of Giornale radio Rai, on the sidelines of the cultural event ‘Mediterranea’ in Sabaudia.
