Tuesday, August 8

Russia’s war against Ukraine

Rescuers carry a wounded person from a damaged residential building following Russian missile strikes on Pokrovsk, Donetsk region, amid Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images)

President’s Office denies Ukraine has softened its position on peace talks. The Wall Street Journal reported, citing anonymous European officials, that Ukraine didn’t press the demand for a full withdrawal of Russian troops to start peace talks at the Aug. 5 meeting in Saudi Arabia. Representatives of the Ukrainian delegation denied it to the Kyiv Independent.

Ukrainian MP: German parliament ready to approve long-range missiles for Kyiv. Yehor Cherniev, Servant of the People MP and deputy chairman of Ukraine’s National Security, Defense and Intelligence Committee, said on Aug. 7 that key factions in the German parliament have reached consensus on the transfer of long-range Taurus cruise missiles to Ukraine.

Official: 22 Ukrainian POWs return home in latest prisoner exchange. President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak reported on Aug. 7 that 22 Ukrainian prisoners of war have been returned from Russian captivity.

Commander: Russia continues to use chemical weapons in Ukraine. Russian troops fired two artillery barrages with munitions containing a chemical substance, presumably chloropicrin, on Aug. 6, said Oleksandr Tarnavskyi, the commander for the Tavria military sector.

UK Defense Ministry: Russia deploys its air force ‘without decisive operational effect.’ The Russian Air Force lacks “decisive operational effect” in its support of Russia’s ground troops in Ukraine, the U.K. Defense Ministry wrote in its intelligence update on Aug. 7.

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Defense Ministry: Russia increasing attacks on eastern front. Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar said on Aug. 7 that over the last week, the eastern front became the “epicenter of hostilities.”

ISW: Russian opposition media suspects Moscow’s top investigator of involvement in forced deportation of Ukrainian children. Russian independent internet outlet Verstka reported on Aug. 6 that the Russian Investigative Committee “took patronage” over Ukrainian children living in children‘s homes throughout Russia, the Institute for the Study of War said in their latest update.

Russia has damaged over 760 cultural heritage sites in Ukraine since Feb 24. Russian forces have damaged at least 763 cultural heritage sites in unoccupied regions of Ukraine since Feb. 24 2022, according to Ukraine’s Culture Ministry. The highest number of damaged sites have been recorded in Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson, Kyiv and Odesa oblasts.

Reuters: Russian missile developer hacked by North Korea. The computer networks of one of Russia’s top missile developers were breached by an “elite group of North Korean hackers,” Reuters reported on Aug. 7.

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Ukraine war latest: Military confirms strikes on key bridges linking occupied Crimea with mainland Ukraine

Ukraine targeted key bridges that connect occupied Crimea to mainland Ukraine. The strikes have been set to disrupt Russian forces’ logistics and create further challenges for their operations on the southern fronts.

Photo: Ercin Erturk/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

Human cost of war

Update: 7 killed, 67 injured in Russian attack on Pokrovsk. Ukraine’s Interior Ministry reported that at least seven people were killed in Russian strike on Pokrovsk in Donetsk Oblast on Aug. 7. The ministry added that the number of wounded increased to 67, and includes two children, 29 police officers, and seven emergency workers.

Russia attacks Kharkiv Oblast with guided aerial bombs, killing civilians. Russian forces dropped four guided aerial bombs at the village of Kruhliakivka in Kharkiv Oblast on the evening of Aug. 7, killing two civilians aged 45 and 60, reported Governor Oleh Syniehubov.

President’s Office: 2 killed, 3 injured in Russian strike on Kharkiv Oblast. Russian forces hit a house in the village of Kucherivka in Kharkiv Oblast, killing two people and injuring three others, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff Andriy Yermak reported on Aug. 7.

Governor: 1 killed, 1 injured in Russian shelling of Nikopol. Russian troops repeatedly shelled the city of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovsk Oblast on Aug. 7, killing a 36-year-old man and injuring an elderly resident, Governor Serhii Lysak reported.

General Staff: Russia has lost 250,800 troops in Ukraine. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Aug. 6 that Russia had lost 560 casualties just over the past day.

International response

Pentagon approves shipment of first Abrams tanks batch for Ukraine. The United States approved a shipment of the first batch of M1 Abrams battle tanks to Ukraine, U.S. Army Acquisition Chief, Doug Bush announced on Aug. 7.

In other news

Russian-led Orthodox Church metropolitan released from custody. Moscow-backed Orthodox Metropolitan Pavlo (Petro Lebid) was released from custody on a Hr 33.3 million ($290,000) bail, Lebid’s lawyer Mykyta Chekman said on Aug. 7.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Oleg Sukhov, Elsa Court, Lili Bivings

Dinara Khalilova, Brad LaFoy, and Olena Goncharova.

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