August 13, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

A Russian warship fired warning shots and boarded a cargo ship it claims was headed to Ukraine in the Black Sea on Sunday, according to Russia’s Ministry of Defence. 

Russia said the warship fired warning shots when the captain of the Palau-flagged dry cargo ship failed to respond to “the request to stop for inspection for the carriage of prohibited goods.” The incident took place in southwestern Black Sea, the ministry said. 

The ministry claimed the ship named Sukra Okan was headed to the Ukrainian port of Izmail. Marine traffic websites currently shows the cargo vessel’s destination as the Romanian port of Sulina, which is close to Izmail. 

Kyiv did not immediately comment on whether or not the ship was headed to a Ukrainian port. 

“In order to inspect the bulk cargo ship, a Ka-29 helicopter with a group of Russian servicemen was hoisted from the patrol ship Vasily Bykov,” the ministry said. “Following radio conversations, the ship stopped its course and the boarding team landed on the bulk cargo ship,” the statement said. 

Some context: Russia pulled out of a UN and Turkish brokered deal in July that allowed Ukraine to move its grain via the Black Sea and warned that any ships headed to Ukraine would be treated as potentially carrying weapons. 

On Thursday, the Ukrainian navy issued an order declaring "temporary corridors" for merchant ships sailing to and from Ukrainian ports. Although, it admitted that the military threat and mine danger from Russia remained along all routes.

Late last week, imprisoned Russian opposition leader Alexey Navalny was handed a harsh judgment: After a court hit him with a new 19-year sentence in a penal colony, he was sent immediately to a punishment cell.

It was a stark contrast to the fate of Yevgeny Prigozhin, the head of the Russian mercenary group Wagner. Back in June, Prigozhin led the abortive mutiny that presented the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in over two decades of rule. While Prigozhin’s troops stopped short of Moscow, a furious Putin said in a televised speech that those on the “path of treason” would face punishment. Almost two months later, in the case of the Wagner chief, this simply hasn’t happened.

Clearly, the price for confronting Putin is not fixed. Perhaps more surprisingly, Prigozhin hasn’t even kept a low profile since the June uprising.

Just weeks after the insurrection, Prigozhin popped up on the sidelines of the recent Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg, shaking hands with a dignitary from the Central African Republic (CAR).

To be sure, the mercenary boss was not striking a martial pose: While subscribers to his Telegram channel have become accustomed to seeing him in camouflage and tactical gear, Prigozhin was spotted in a polo shirt and mom jeans, cutting a seemingly more mild-mannered figure than in months past.

But pity the poor Russian diplomat who has to explain why Prigozhin – whose forces shot down Russian military aircraft and killed Russian military servicemembers on their march toward the capital – remains at large.

Read the full story here.

Seven people were killed in Ukraine's southern Kherson region as a result of Russian attacks on Sunday, according to Ukrainian officials. 

Four people were killed, including a child under the age of 2, in the village of Shyroka Balka, according to Andriy Yermak, the head of Ukraine’s Office of the President.

Two people were killed and one person was injured in the village of Stanislav, which was hit 12 times, according to Klymenko. 

Both villages were previously occupied by Russia but have been under Ukrainian control since November 2022.

Some context: The Ukrainian military is ramping up activity in the southern Kherson region amid a sweeping counteroffensive.

This week Russian state media reported that Ukrainian forces conducted a raid across the Dnipro River in region in an attempt to land near a Russian-occupied village.

In a symbolic move, Ukrainian border guards have replaced a border marker on the strategic Snake Island which was destroyed during the Russian occupation. 

“A border marker was installed on Snake Island. The previous one, which stood there before the full-scale invasion, was brazenly destroyed by the Russian occupiers,” State Border Guard Service Head Serhii Deineko said in the video standing next to the yellow- and blue-colored border marker. “Historical justice was restored,” he said.

Dmytro Usov from Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said: “We remember everyone who liberated Snake Island. We remember everyone who liberated every piece of our land. And we will certainly return all our territory.” 

Some context: Snake Island lies around 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of Ukraine and is close to the sea lanes leading to the Bosphorus and Mediterranean.

The Russian Navy captured the island at the start of the full-scale invasion but Ukraine was able take back the island in June 2022.

The island is one of the most potent symbols of Ukrainian resistance. The small but strategic territory was the scene of one of the opening salvos of the war in Ukraine, with demands from a Russian warship calling for the Ukrainian defenders to surrender. They boldly replied with “Russian warship, go f**k yourself.”

Russia intercepted three more Ukrainian drone attacks on Sunday, two over the western border region of Belgorod and one over the western Kursk region, according to Russia's Ministry of Defence. 

The first drone was thwarted in the early hours of Sunday morning over Belgorod.

"Russian air defense equipment detected and destroyed the unmanned aerial vehicle over the territory of Belgorod Oblast," it added. 

The second attack on the region was thwarted around 11 a.m. local time. A third drone attack over the Kursk region was then obstructed around 11:30 a.m.

No casualties or damage were reported, the ministry said. 

Russia had already "foiled" a Ukrainian drone attack over the Belgorod region on Saturday, according to the ministry.

Some background: Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia have become an increasingly common feature of the war, with Kyiv warning that more will come.

Belgorod and other western border regions in Russia are frequent targets.

After an attack on Moscow in July, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, "the war is gradually returning to Russia’s territory."

Two ammunition depots were destroyed in the Russian-occupied town of Oleshky in southern Ukraine's Kherson region shortly after midnight, according to Vladislav Nazarov, the spokesman for the Operational Command "South".

He said there were strikes on concentrations of Russian personnel. 

Ukraine has been escalating its targeting of Russian infrastructure and territory.

Earlier this month, explosions hit critical road bridges linking occupied Crimea with parts of Russian-controlled areas in the Kherson region, Russian authorities said, claiming that the bridges were hit by air-launched long-range missile supplied to Ukraine by the UK.

More Ukrainian missiles were shot down in the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea on Saturday.

The United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) said in a statement there was a "realistic possibility" that Russia no longer funds the activities of the mercenary Wagner Group.

In a series of tweets on the social platform “X”, formerly known as Twitter, the defence ministry said that the Russian state “acted against some other business interests of Wagner owner Yevgeny Prigozhin” after he led a failed mutiny against the Russian army's top brass in June 2023.

“However, the sizable force would be a significant and potentially unwelcome drain on modest Belarusian resources," the UK MOD added.

The defence ministry went on to suggest that as a consequence, the Wagner Group would likely move towards “a down-sizing and reconfiguration process, largely to save on staff salary expenses at a time of financial pressure.”

Some context: The Wagner group's short-lived rebellion presented the biggest challenge to Russian President Vladimir Putin in over two decades of rule.

Under a deal brokered by Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, Wagner fighters have since relocated to Belarus where their presence has alarmed neighboring Poland.

Prigozhin himself remains at large and was pictured in Russia last month, suggesting he retains some power.

One civilian was killed and six were wounded as a result of shelling on various areas of the Donetsk region Saturday, according to Denis Pushilin, the Russian-installed head of occupied Donetsk.  

According to Pushilin, Ukraine inflicted strikes on the Petrovsky, Kirovsky, Kuibyshevsky and Kyivsky districts of the city of Donetsk, as well as the cities of Svitlodarsk, Makiivka and Yasynuvata. 

Additionally, six residential buildings and one civilian infrastructure facility were damaged in the Kuibyshevsky and Petrovsky districts of the city of Donetsk, Pushilin said. 

On Wednesday, Ukraine claimed "partial success" in the village of Urozhaine, near where Russians made "unsuccessful attempts" to regain lost ground, in the Donetsk region, according to Ukrainian officials.

European officials took some small comfort when China attended a summit in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last weekend. The meeting aimed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

While Beijing didn’t budge from its stated position of impartiality, China’s mere presence at a meeting to which Russia says it was not invited has, some sources claim, sent a message to the international community that it’s not willing openly to pick Russia’s side against the West.

It might be a very small victory, but in the diplomatic world of zero-sum games, Russian President Vladimir Putin not getting exactly what he wants is something to celebrate.

“We never expected China to move fully to the Western position, but supporting this meeting will be a major disappointment to Russia,” a senior EU official told CNN.

However, while China’s engagement with the international community might be a blow for Russia, it’s still being viewed with suspicion by Western allies, not least because of the continued economic, diplomatic and security ties the countries share.

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