Russia-Ukraine war: List of crucial occasions, day 542

Here is the circumstance on Saturday, August 19, 2023.

Battling

• A Ukrainian drone smashed into a structure in main Moscow after Russian air defences shot it down, interrupting air traffic at all of the 4 civilian airports in the Russian capital.
• The variety of Ukrainian and Russian soldiers eliminated or injured in Ukraine because the war started in February 2022 is nearing 500,000, the New York Times reports, mentioning unnamed United States authorities. Russian casualties are approaching 300,000, consisting of as lots of as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injuries. Ukrainian deaths were close to 70,000, with 100,000 to 120,000 injured, the Times reported.

• Ukrainian forces crossed to the Russian-occupied east bank of the Kherson area and have actually used up positions. Russian-installed local guv Vladimir Saldo stated Ukrainian “sabotage groups” had actually handled to hide on the borders of the Russian-controlled town of Kozachi Laheri, near the Dnipro river. They were later on “cleaned out” by Russian forces, he stated.
• Someone was eliminated and 2 hurt as an outcome of Russian shelling of a town near the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson. 4 individuals were likewise hurt after Russia shelled a suburb of Chasiv Yar city, situated in the Donetsk area near Bakhmut.
• Ukrainian forces are not likely to reach and retake the Russian-occupied tactical southeastern city of Melitopol throughout their counteroffensive, a United States main informed the Reuters news firm. Melitopol has actually been under Russian control because March 2022 and has roadways and trains utilized by Russian soldiers to carry products to locations they inhabit.
• The Ukrainian armed force stated it made gains on the southeastern front, pressing forward from a freshly freed town, Urozhaine, in a tried drive towards the Sea of Azov.

Military help

• The United States authorized sending out F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine from Denmark and the Netherlands as quickly as pilot training is finished, a United States authorities stated.

• A public survey has actually discovered that majority of Germans protest providing Taurus rockets to Ukraine. The survey by public broadcaster ARD discovered 52 percent of the Germans surveyed oppose providing cruise rockets to Ukraine, fearing they might be utilized to assault targets in Russia.
• The United States, Japan and South Korea consented to continue supporting Kyiv and to preserve strong, collaborated sanctions versus Moscow, while likewise intending to more curb reliance on Russian energy.
• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated his nation got brand-new military devices from its partners however did not define which nations. “Heavy devices, weapons, air defence systems are being available in. We continue [to] deal with the next bundles. News will be coming quickly,” he stated.
• China’s deputy irreversible agent at the UN, Ambassador Geng Shuang, informed a UN Security Council rundown that equipping Ukraine “can not win peace” as weapons just win wars.

Regional security

• Belarus Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin stated that Minsk is safeguarding Russia from a possible NATO attack in the middle of the dispute in Ukraine, according to state news firm BelTA. “On its area, Belarus dependably safeguards Russia from a NATO strike in Russia’s back. It is the most crucial location of work for us,” he stated.

• Russian and Chinese warships carried out joint maritime patrols in the Pacific including rescue training and drills for countering air attacks, Moscow’s defence ministry stated.
• Japan’s defence ministry rushed fighter jets after 2 Russian IL-38 information-gathering airplane were spotted flying back and forth in between the Sea of Japan and the East China Sea.
• Lithuania closed 2 of its 6 border checkpoints with Belarus in a relocation revealed previously this month, mentioning the security danger presented by Russia’s Wagner mercenary group.

• North Korea’s newest Hwasong-18 global ballistic rocket– its very first ICBM to utilize strong rocket fuel– has actually sparked a brand-new dispute over a possible Russian function in the nuclear-armed state’s remarkable rocket advancement. In a report released by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies, Theodore Postol, teacher emeritus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, argued that the Hwasong-18 ICBM is most likely the outcome of technical cooperation sourced to Russia.

Politics

• The Sakharov Center, a popular rights group in Russia, has actually been completely closed. The Moscow City Court stated it had actually “chosen to liquify” the Sakharov Center, which introduced almost 3 years earlier, for unlawfully hosting conferences and exhibits.
• A brand-new school book applauding the “so-called unique military operation” in Ukraine will be provided in Russian schools in September, the UK Ministry of Defence stated. The book apparently identifies Ukraine as an “ultra-terrorist state”.

Sanctions

• Russia prohibited entry to 54 United Kingdom nationals, consisting of the chief district attorney of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, who provided arrest warrants in March for Russian President Vladimir Putin and another authorities, implicating them of the war criminal offense of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian kids to Russia.
• Russian oil magnate Eugene Shvidler lost an effort at London’s High Court to reverse UK sanctions troubled him after Russia’s intrusion of Ukraine. Shvidler, whose net worth is approximated by Forbes publication at $1.6 bn, was approved in March 2022 on the premises of his association with Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich. Shvidler’s 2 personal jets were likewise taken.
• A senior Moldovan authorities stated Russia’s choice to prohibit a number of Moldovan authorities from getting in the nation was regrettable.

Humanitarian

• The United States extended its momentary secured status (TPS) for Ukraine and Sudan nationals through to the spring of 2025, mentioning continuous disputes in their nations. The department likewise revealed modifications that would make it possible for extra Ukrainian and Sudanese nationals to make an application for the status.
• Ukraine’s Shakhtar Donetsk football group will play its house Champions League video games in Germany this season at the Volksparkstadion in Hamburg. Not able to host European video games in Ukraine due to the fact that of the Russian intrusion, Shakhtar’s house video games were kept in the Polish capital Warsaw last season.

Black Sea stress

• The Hong-Kong-flagged Joseph Schulte container ship ended up being the very first vessel to break Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea port, after showing up in Turkey’s Istanbul. The container ship had actually been stuck in Ukraine given that February 23, 2022.

• Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu stated he hoped 60 percent of Ukrainian grain exports will transit through Romania. The Romanian Black Sea port of Constanta has actually been highlighted as a possible transit point for Ukrainian grain in the middle of Russia’s blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

Diplomacy

• President Zelenskyy stated he signed an essential law required for Ukraine to open EU accession talks, explaining the relocation as “one action better to the EU”.

• Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba talked with Bahrain’s Foreign Minister Abdullatif bin Rashid al-Zayani and revealed Kyiv’s thankfulness to the Gulf country for going to the current top in Saudi Arabia where they went over Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s strategy for peace.

Source

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Al Jazeera and news firms