Civilians urged to speed up evacuation from Pokrovsk
Military authorities in Pokrovsk, a city in eastern Ukraine, have urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities said that Russian troops are “advancing at a fast pace. With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions.”
Key events
Lorenzo Tondo
Russia is seeking to open a criminal case against two journalists of Italy’s state broadcaster Rai who entered the Kursk region alongside Ukrainian troops.
According to sources cited by Rai, the press agency La Presse, and the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, Rai’s war correspondents Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini, who last Wednesday produced a dispatch from the city of Sudzha, face the risk of prosecution for “illegal crossing of the state border.”
The news has allegedly been confirmed by the Russian ministry of internal affairs.
Sources in Russia claim that “the Kremlin’s intention is to initiate criminal proceedings against the Italian journalists.” The Italian embassy in Russia, in close coordination with the Italian Ministry of foreign affairs, is actively working on the case and conducting “appropriate investigations.”
In a recent post on X, Battistini shared Article 79 of the Geneva Convention, stating that “journalists in war zones should be treated as civilians and protected accordingly, as long as they do not take part in hostilities.”
Civilians urged to speed up evacuation from Pokrovsk
Military authorities in Pokrovsk, a city in eastern Ukraine, have urged civilians to speed up their evacuation because the Russian army is quickly closing in, the Associated Press reported.
Authorities said that Russian troops are “advancing at a fast pace. With every passing day there is less and less time to collect personal belongings and leave for safer regions.”
Russian forces captures village in Donetsk region: report
Russian forces took control of Serhiivka, a village in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, Reuters reported citing the TASS state news agency.
Joe Biden has met with Vladimir Kara-Murza and his family in the White House.
Kara-Murza, a Russian-British citizen and prominent opposition figure, was detained in Moscow in April 2022 and later sentenced to 25 years on treason and other trumped-up charges.
He was released as part of a major exchange with the west earlier this month.
“Vladimir spent two and a half years unjustly imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine. Today his family is whole once more” Biden said.
I welcomed Vladimir Kara-Murza and his family to the White House today to celebrate his return to America.
Vladimir spent two and a half years unjustly imprisoned in Russia for speaking out against Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Today his family is whole once more. pic.twitter.com/5NopnA2HnW
— President Biden (@POTUS) August 16, 2024
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office, has stressed that “Ukraine is not interested in occupying Russian territories.”
“Ukraine is waging an exclusively defensive war strictly within the framework of international law… But if we are talking about potential negotiations – I emphasise potential – we will have to put [Russia] at the table opposite,” he said.
“On our own terms. We have absolutely no plans to beg,” he added.
Ukraine is not interested in occupying Russian territories. This is obvious. Because #Ukraine is waging an exclusively defensive war strictly within the framework of international law… But if we are talking about potential negotiations – I emphasize potential – we will have to…
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 16, 2024
3 killed in Donetsk region, Ukrainian official says
Russian attacks killed three civilians in the last 24 hours in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the region’s governor, Vadym Filashkin, said, Reuters reported.
One person was killed in the village of Mykolayivka and two were killed in the village of Verkhniokamyanka, he said.
Belarus’ defence minister, Viktor Khrenin, said there was a high probability of an armed provocation from Ukraine, Reuters reported citing the state-run Belta news agency.
Ukraine’s defence ministry has published footage from the first hours of the incursion into Kursk region in Russia.
The unique footage of the first hours of 🇺🇦 Defense Forces operation in the Kursk region.
Demining, destroying the enemy’s defensive lines, the work of aviation and artillery, prisoners.📹: Air Assault Forces Command pic.twitter.com/oopsMdGRxX
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 16, 2024
Fears of water supply sabotage in Germany
Residents of Mechernich and surrounding towns in western Germany have been warned not to drink tap water, AFP reported.
The warning came after a hole was found in a fence around a water tank that also supplies a nearby military base.
Earlier this week, a base near Cologne airport was temporarily sealed off due to a suspected act of sabotage, after a hole was discovered in a fence near drinking water storage facilities.
A Russian parliamentary deputy, Mikhail Sheremet, said today that the Ukrainian incursion into Russia has brought the world close to an all-out global war, Reuters reported citing the RIA news agency.
“Considering the presence of Western military equipment, the use of Western ammunition and missiles in attacks on civilian infrastructure and irrefutable proof of foreigners’ participation in the attack on Russian territory, one could come to the conclusion that the world is on the brink of a third world war,” Sheremet said.
Shaun Walker
Ukraine’s president has claimed Kyiv’s troops have full control over the Russian town of Sudzha, which had a prewar population of 5,000 people and contains infrastructure pumping Russian gas towards Europe.
Sudzha, roughly six miles (9.6km) inside Russian territory, is the biggest of 80 settlements that Ukraine claims to have taken during the 10 days since its surprise incursion into Russia began.
“General Syrskyi reported on the completion of the liberation of the town of Sudzha from the Russian military. A Ukrainian military commandant’s office is being established there now,” said Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after receiving a briefing from the commander in chief of Ukraine’s armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, on Thursday.
The claim could not be independently verified, but a Ukrainian television channel broadcast a report from Sudzha on Wednesday suggesting the town was under Ukrainian control.
While some residents have remained, sheltering from the fighting in basements, most have been evacuated. “We hid in the bushes,” said one, Tatyana Anikeyeva, speaking to Russian television from a facility helping evacuees. “Volunteers were handing out water, food, bread to people on the go. The sound of the cannonade continued without any break. The house was shaking.”
Read the full story here.
Kremlin aide accuses west of involvement in Kursk operation
Kremlin aide Nikolai Patrushev said today Nato and the west were directly involved in the planning for Ukraine’s attack on Russia’s Kursk region, Reuters reported.
The White House has said Ukraine did not provide advance notice of its incursion and that the US was not involved.
“The operation in the Kursk region was also planned with the participation of Nato and Western special services,” Patrushev told the Izvestia newspaper.
