A local volunteer looks at a building damaged by Ukrainian strikes in the Kursk region, August 16, 2024 (Tatyana Makeyeva/AFP)

Monday’s Coverage: Zelenskiy — We Are Creating “Buffer Zone” in Russia’s Kursk

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 2115 GMT:

Ukrainian forces have apparently blown up a temporary pontoon bridge erected by Russia, after strikes since last Friday blew up all permanent bridges across the Seym River in the Kursk region.

Satellite images indicated that the temporary bridge disappeared today, and there was a plume of smoke in the area.

Ukraine’s incursion is attempting to trap Russian forces south of the river in the Glushkovsky district.[/stumble]

UPDATE 1423 GMT:

Christopher Miller of the Financial Times passes on a first-hand report from Niu-York, where Ukrainian defenders are fighting a losing battle against Russian capture of the town in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine.

UPDATE 1410 GMT:

China’s purchases of oil from Russia are falling.

Russian sales to China, its main customer, dropped by 7.4% year-on-year in July. Even more striking, they have declined by 30% since March, from 2.55 million barrels per day to July’s volume of 1.76 million bpd, the lowest since the end of 2023.

The fall accelerated after Vladimir Putin met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing in May. Chinese refineries have replaced Russian oil with barrels from the Middle East, including a 13% year-on-year increase from Saudi Arabia. Imports from Malaysia, the main hub for the transit of oil from sanctioned countries Iran and Venezuela, soared by 61% to 1.46 million barrels per day.

China remains Russia’s largest buyer, accounting for 43% of all oil exports.

UPDATE 1341 GMT:

Russian authorities have almost tripled the bonus for anyone signing a contract to fight in the 2 1/2-year invasion of Ukraine, to almost 1 million roubles ($10,942).

At the end of July, Vladimir Putin doubled the one-time federal payment to 400,000 roubles ($4,377). Forty-seven Russian regions also increased the bonus: the average of 596,000 roubles is more than 3.6 times last yer’s of 168,000 rubles.

In a third of Russia’s regions, contract soldiers are receiving a total of 2 million rubles. In Karachay-Cherkessia in the north Caucasus, the bonus is 1.6 million roubles v. an average income is 23,400 rubles.

Military expert Pavel Luzin summarizes, “There is an obvious shortage of people willing to sign contracts in the quantities that the military needs given the current level of losses in the Russian army and the intensity of military operations.

From July 2023 to June 2024, payments to servicemen participating in the war and compensation to the wounded and relatives of those killed reached 3 trillion rubles, 28% of Russia’s record of breaking military budget, 8% of the federal budget, and about 1.5% of Russian GDP.

UPDATE 1153 GMT:

At least five civilians have been killed and at least 21 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine over the past 24 hours.

The fatalities were in the Donetsk region, where seven people were wounded. Other injuries were reported from the Dnipropetrovsk, Sumy, Kherson, and Kharkiv regions./p>

Ukraine air defenses downed 25 of 26 Iran-type drones launched by Russia overnight, as well as two Kh-59 cruise missiles and one Iskander-K cruise missile.

However, the Russians struck an industrial facility, setting it ablaze, in Ternopil in western Ukraine (see 1035 GMT).

UPDATE 1140 GMT:

Ukraine is preparing to ban the Russia-linked Ukrainian Orthodox Church.

On Tuesday, Parliament passed a bill for the ban on the church and any affiliated religious organizations, to be approved by a court decision.

Ukrainian authorities have accused the UOC of supporting Vladimir Putin’s invasion, including with funds and literature. Churches have been raided, and priests detained.

President Zelenskiy’s Chief of Staff, Andrii Yermak, posted, “There will be no Moscow Church in Ukraine.”

UPDATE 1047 GMT:

For a third day, Russian emergency services are fighting a large fire at an oil depot, damaged by a Ukrainian drone strike, in the Rostov region.

The fire in the town of Proletarsk is burning across 10,000 square meters. Of the 500 firefighters combatting the blaze, 41 have been hospitalized with injuries.

The Ukraine Army said the objective of the strike was “to undermine the military and economic potential of the Russian Federation”.

UPDATE 1035 GMT:

An industrial facility has been set afire by a Russian attack on Ternopil in western Ukraine.

A tank with fuel and chemicals was struck around 3 a.m.

Residents have been told to stay inside their homes, with young children staying on school premises.

Oksana Chaichuk of the Health Ministry said an excess of chlorine levels of 4 to 10 times has been recorded.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on partners to be bolder in aid of Ukraine’s resistance of Russia’s 2 1/2-year invasion.

Zelenskiy spoke in the city of Dnipro to Ukrainian diplomats as the country’s forces advanced in the Kursk region in southwest Russia, but also as Russia’s 10-month offensive in eastern Ukraine threatens to seize the city of Pokrovsk.

He said Ukrainian forces control 92 settlements and more than 1,250 square kilometers (483 square miles) in Kursk, only two weeks after crossing the border. Troops continue to strengthen their positions, stabilize “certain areas”, and capture Russian soldiers.

But he emphasized that international allies should lift restrictions on Ukraine’s use of weapons, including long-range missiles. The Kremlin’s threats of retaliation to bolster those restrictions are a bluff, he explained.

The world is shedding its last and very naive illusions about Russia — illusions that have significantly hindered our defense. The naive, illusory concept of so-called red lines has crumbled apart….

The world sees that everything in this war depends only on courage – our courage, the courage of our partners. On brave decisions for Ukraine, on courage in supporting Ukraine.

Russian officials confirmed on Monday that Ukraine has damaged a third bridge over the Seym River in the Kursk region. The extent of the damage is unclear, but the operations are threatening to cut off Russian troops south of the river in the Glushkovsky district.

Map: Institute for the Study of War

While Russia has moved forces from some theaters to Kursk, it is maintaining its offensive in eastern Ukraine. On Monday, Russian military observers claimed the capture of the small town of Niu-York.

As Zelenskiy spoke, authorities ordered families with children to evacuate urgently from Pokrovsk and nearby towns in the Donetsk region.

Pokrovsk is a logistics hub with a pre-invasion population of around 62,000.

Serhiy Dobriak, the head of city’s military administration, said civilians have “a week or two, no more”. Authorities can evacuate at least 1,000 people a day, but only 500 to 600 people per day are currently leaving.

Donetsk Governor Vadym Filashkin posted that around 53,000 people, including almost 4,000 children, are still in and near Pokrovsk.