Photo: Dobra Kobra/Shutterstock

Tuesday’s Coverage: Russia Evacuates More Villages in Kursk Region

Map: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1058 GMT:

The International Monetary Fund has indefinitely postponed a trip to Russia.

The IMF was preparing to send its first mission to Russia since November 2019. Several European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Poland, and the Baltic States, criticized the initiative.

The IMF originally suggested holding the meeting in a third country, but eventually accepted the Kremlin’s demand of discussions in Moscow.

Russia’s Executive Director for the IMF, Alexei Mozhin, told TASS on Tuesday that the visit had been postponed due to “technical unpreparedness” of the Fund, but said Russia is still ready to host the experts.

Mozhin is stepping down from his position in November and will be replaced by Ksenia Yudaeva, under US sanctions since April 2022.

UPDATE 0848 GMT:

An ammunition depot in Russia’s Tver region has been “wiped off the face of the earth” by a drone attack (see 0705 GMT), says a Ukrainian military intelligence official.

Officials said the operation was conducted by the Ukrainian security service SBU, Defense Intelligence, and the Special Operations Force. An SBU official said the depots contained long-range Russian missiles and KAB guided bombs.

UPDATE 0714 GMT:

At least four civilians were killed and at least 22 injured by Russian attacks across Ukraine in the past 24 hours.

At least two civilians were killed and five injured in a Russian attack on the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine on Tuesday night.

Rescue workers are currently searching for people under rubble in the Komyshuvakha community.

One person was slain in an attack on Kropyvnytskyi in the Kirovohrad region. A 90-year-old woman “received minor injuries” and did not require hospitalization.

In Kherson city in southern Ukraine, a 63-year-old man was killed in a drone attack. Four other people were injured across the region.

Ten people were wounded in the Kharkiv region in northeast Ukraine.

Air defenses downed 46 out of 52 Iran-type drones. Russia also launched three Kh-59/69 guided air missiles.

UPDATE 0705 GMT:

Following a Ukrainian drone attack, some residents have been evacuated from the town of Toropets in Russia’s Tver region, around 470 km (292 miles) north of the border and more than 370 km (230 miles) west of Moscow.

Governor Igor Rudenya said a fire had been set but did not give further information about damage or casualties.

A series of 18 earthquakes, with a magnitude between 2 and 3.2, were recorded after the attack from around 4 a.m. for more than two hours.

Russia has built facilities for the storage of missiles, ammunition, and explosives in Toropets, a 1,000-year-old town with a population of just over 11,000.

The evacuees were moved to the town of Zapadnaya Dvina, 35 km (22 miles) to the southeast.

Russia’s Defense Ministry claimed 54 Ukrainian drones were downed overnight, but did not mention any over the Tver region.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: Reassuring both citizens and allies, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy is setting out a “Victory Plan” for the defeat of Russia’s 31-month invasion.

In his nightly address to the nation, Zelenskiy spoke of a meeting on the “military component” of the plan. He specifically referred to the development of a fleet of US-made F-16s, the first of which were delivered to Ukraine this summer after months of hesitation.

There is a clear understanding of the steps needed to increase the number of combat aircraft in Ukraine and accelerate pilot training. All tasks for the Air Force and the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine have been set.

Briefed by officials, US officials have been indicating that the Biden Administration wanted details of a way forward. Russia is pursuing its 11-month offensive in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine and maintaining its aerial attacks on energy infrastructure and other civilian sites; however, Ukraine has captured part of the Kursk region in western Russia in a six-week cross-border incursion.

The President said on Monday evening that the Plan is “90% ready”:

Necessary steps for Ukraine have already been clearly defined.

For each step, there is a clear list of what is needed and what will strengthen us. There is nothing impossible in this plan….

Together, this package can ensure the right development of the situation not only for Ukraine, but for everyone in the world who values international law.

Zelenskiy is expected to set out more elements of the Plan in meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York next week.

US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller confirmed that Secretary of State Antony Blinken was briefed on the Plan during his trip to Kyiv last week. The US Ambassador to the UN, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said, “We think it lays out a strategy and a plan that can work.”

Zelenskiy has given few details, but has said the Plan includes the Kursk operation, Ukraine’s participation in the global security infrastructure, pressure on Russia to end the war through diplomatic means, and economic aspects.