15/8/2024–|Last update: 8/15/202409:59 AM (Makkah Time)
Russia has intensified its attacks on eastern Ukraine, announcing the killing of about 200 Ukrainian soldiers in one day, while the evacuation of thousands of Russians from the Kursk region in western Russia, which Ukraine invaded and announced its intention to establish a buffer zone there, continues.
The General Staff in Kyiv said that Russian attacks on Ukrainian positions near the city of Pokrovsk, northwest of Donetsk, were particularly intense, with 54 attempts to advance by Russian units recorded.
Clashes also broke out near Toretsk, north of Donetsk, where Russia has launched air strikes. Fighting is also continuing around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, where Russia launched an offensive earlier this year.
Ukrainian officials said Russian forces attacked the port infrastructure of the southern Ukrainian city of Odessa late Wednesday, wounding at least two people. The region's governor, Oleh Kiper, said the Russians used a ballistic missile.
Ukraine's port infrastructure has come under repeated Russian attack since Russia withdrew last summer from a U.N.-brokered deal that guaranteed safe shipments of Ukrainian grain.
For its part, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced yesterday evening that its forces “continued to carry out active operations on the main axes of the special military operation, and that the losses of the Ukrainian army amounted to about 1,925 soldiers during the last 24 hours.”
Russian evacuation
Regarding the situation in the Russian Kursk region, the Russian army confirmed yesterday that it had repelled Ukrainian attacks that aimed to achieve greater progress deep inside the Kursk region near 5 towns, including Levshinka, which is 35 kilometers from Ukraine.
The Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement that its forces, backed by aircraft, drones and artillery, “thwarted attempts by mobile enemy groups with armored vehicles to penetrate deep into Russian territory” and inflicted heavy losses on the Ukrainians.
Acting regional governor Alexei Smirnov said last night that authorities in the region had decided to evacuate residents from the Gluchkov district, amid continued advances by Ukrainian forces in the border area.
Smirnov said police and “other government agencies are coordinating the evacuation.” Russian officials said nearly 200,000 people have been evacuated since the offensive began.
Ukrainian progress
On the other hand, Ukraine announced yesterday that it had made “good progress” in Kursk, confirming its intention to establish a “buffer zone” there to protect itself from Russian shelling, as well as to establish “humanitarian corridors” that it said were to deliver aid to Russian civilians.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said yesterday that Ukrainian forces planned to open humanitarian corridors in the Kursk region to facilitate the evacuation of civilians “either towards Russia or towards Ukraine.” Vereshchuk posted a phone number last night for those concerned to use.
The Kursk region is located directly on the border with Ukraine and has a population of about 20,000. On August 6, Ukrainian forces launched a major offensive in the region, surprising Russian forces and launching the largest foreign military attack on Russian territory since the end of World War II.
The rapid Ukrainian incursion into Russia's Kursk region is the largest cross-border raid by Kyiv's forces in the nearly two-and-a-half-year war, exposing Russia's vulnerabilities and dealing a painful blow to the Kremlin.
The raid provided a much-needed morale boost for Ukraine as its undermanned and under-equipped forces face relentless Russian attacks along a front line stretching more than 1,000 kilometers (620 miles).