A drone strike in Crimea has reportedly hit the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Pro-Russian separatists are said to have occupied other towns in Donetsk. All news about the war in Ukraine can be found here in the ticker.
Saturday, August 20, 8:15 a.m.: The headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol was hit in a drone attack on the Crimean peninsula annexed by Russia. The fleet’s anti-aircraft defenses hit the drone, said the city’s chief administrator, Mikhail Rasvozhayev. “She fell on the roof and burned.” There are no victims.
The official released a picture of the destroyed roof. Videos on social media show a column of smoke over the city and explosions in the night. Rasvozhayev blamed Ukraine for the attack. Most recently, there were also heavy explosions at a military base and in an ammunition depot. Ukraine received this with satisfaction and announced that it expected further explosions. Crimea is not a safe place, the Ukrainian leadership said.
Three weeks ago, the headquarters of Putin’s fleet was hit by a drone attack, injuring five people.
Just the day before, the US think tank Institute for the Study of War reported that the Russian occupiers were visibly tightening security measures in Crimea.
12.33 p.m .: According to their own statements, pro-Russian separatists together with Russian troops have occupied other towns in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk. The settlements of Saytseve and Dacha north of the town of Horliwka had been conquered, the separatists announced on Telegram on Friday. So far, a total of 270 settlements in Donetsk have been brought under Russian control, it said. This was initially not independently verifiable.
The Ukrainian general staff last commented on Zaitseve on Wednesday and stressed that all Russian attempts to attack there had been “choked off”. The American Institute for the Study of War reported this morning that the Russian troops have not been able to record any significant gains in territory since July 6th.
11:04 a.m .: According to British military experts, Russian attacks on the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and its surroundings are aimed at tying down the defenders’ forces and preventing them from counterattacking. That emerges from the daily intelligence update of the Ministry of Defense in London on Friday.
At least 12 civilians were killed in a rocket attack on Kharkiv on Wednesday, the statement said. Due to its proximity to the front, the metropolis is within range of many Russian weapon systems. “Multiple rocket launchers and generally inaccurate weapons have wreaked havoc across much of the city,” the British experts said.
Friday, August 19, 10:08 a.m.: According to the Ukrainian general staff, 400 Russian soldiers have died in the war within 24 hours. The number of Russians killed since the start of the Ukraine war has risen to 44,700. In addition to ten tanks and five anti-aircraft systems, Ukrainian forces are said to have destroyed a further 16 Russian armored personnel carriers in one day.
8:59 p.m .: The Russian air defense fired on unnamed objects over the city of Kerch in Crimea on Thursday evening. This was announced by an advisor to the leadership of the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 after initial assessments. “There is no danger to the city and the bridge,” adviser Oleg Kryuchkov wrote on Telegram. Kerch residents reported on social networks that they heard two explosions.
The 18-kilometer bridge between Crimea and the Russian mainland begins in the port city. Ukraine regards the structure, which opened in 2018, as a legitimate military target. Russia has threatened massive retaliation if the rail and road bridge is attacked.
8:43 p.m .: A Russian ammunition depot in the Belgorod area close to the border with Ukraine went up in flames on Thursday, according to local authorities. No one was injured, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram. According to the information, the depot was near the village of Timonowo, about 4.5 kilometers from the border with Ukraine. The residents of the villages of Timonowo and Soloti were brought to safety. “The cause of the fire is being sought,” wrote Gladkow.
A thick column of black smoke was seen again on Thursday over the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014. Unverified videos of it could be seen on the internet. According to the Ria Novosti agency, Crimea’s civil protection agency said that only an area of dry grass burned near Mezhvodnoye in the west. Heavy explosions have occurred several times in Russian military installations on the peninsula in recent days. The cause was unclear but suggested Ukrainian attacks.
12:04 p.m .: According to official information, at least eleven people died in massive Russian rocket attacks on the city of Kharkiv in eastern Ukraine on Thursday night. The Ukrainian military governor, Oleh Synyehubov, told the Telegram news service that these were exclusively civilians. Another 35 people were injured. There were also attacks in the city of Krasnohrad, around 80 kilometers to the south-west. According to the authorities, two people were killed and two others injured. The information could not initially be verified independently.
According to the authorities, at least three civilians were killed and another six injured in towns in the neighboring region of Donetsk, which are under Ukraine’s control. The pro-Russian separatists in the Donetsk region also report deaths and injuries from rocket attacks on an almost daily basis. The Russian war of aggression on the neighboring country has now lasted almost half a year. The United Nations has registered more than 5,500 civilian deaths, but assumes the number of victims to be far higher.
11:05 a.m .: The Russian military leadership is becoming increasingly nervous after the attacks on the Crimean military bases. As the “Institute for the Study of War” reports, the commander of the all-important Russian Black Sea Fleet, Admiral Igor Osipov, has now been fired. His successor is Viktor Sokolov, Vice-Admiral.
Osipov has led the fleet since 2019. The change in leadership is interpreted as a clear indication that the Russians are losing confidence in their own troops in view of the repeated successful Ukrainian attacks.
10:53 a.m .: According to British secret services, Russia has problems protecting its battle tanks in the war of aggression against Ukraine. The severe damage to many Russian vehicles in Ukraine is very likely related to the fact that the tanks are not well enough protected with so-called reactive armor, according to a statement by the Ministry of Defense in London on Thursday. According to the information, such protective covers can protect tanks from damage in the event of a fire.
The secret services therefore assume that many Russian troops are not sufficiently trained in handling such protective covers. That’s why they aren’t attached to the tanks at all – or at least not in such a way that they could deter explosive projectiles. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine at the end of February, the British government has regularly published intelligence information on its progress. Moscow accuses London of a targeted disinformation campaign.
10.40 a.m .: According to human rights activists in Russian prisons, volunteers are being specifically sought for Moscow’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The Russian civil rights activist Olga Romanowa, who lives in Berlin, reported on Facebook that suspects and accused were also recruited with the promise that in return the criminal proceedings would be dropped. There are examples from detention centers in the Moscow region. “But I think it started everywhere,” wrote Romanova, who is considered a respected expert on prisoner’s rights in Russia.
There is no general mobilization in Russia for the war in Ukraine, which has been going on for almost half a year. That is why the army and President Vladimir Putin depend on volunteers. A sign of a shortage of personnel at the front is that the authorities in many regions have started using street advertising to promote a mission in Ukraine. Cities and regions set up their own battalions.
Since almost all charges in Russia end in a guilty verdict, suspects and accused should now be given a choice: war or prison. The founder of the Gulaga.net project created to combat violence in Russian prisons, Vladimir Osechkin, while in exile in France, confirmed prison recruitment practices. There is also information from St. Petersburg, Ryazan, Tver and Bryansk.
According to the internet portal Meduza, there were already reports in the Russian media at the beginning of July about the search for volunteers in numerous prison camps in the huge empire. Accordingly, the private mercenary organization “Wagner” is said to have recruited criminals there for use in the war. The Internet portal Mediazona reported that the businessman Yevgeny Prigozhin wanted by the USA, who is considered a “Wagner” financier with the best contacts to Putin, is said to have recruited volunteers in prison camps himself. In return, they were promised a monthly wage of 100,000 rubles (1,600 euros), bonuses, payments to families in the event of death and an amnesty.
09:20: The Russian Ministry of Defense has denied the stationing of heavy weapons near the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia. “Russian troops have no heavy weapons either on the territory of the power plant or in the surrounding areas. There are only guards there,” the ministry said on Thursday. The ministry accused Kyiv of preparing a “provocation” on the nuclear power plant during the visit of UN Secretary-General António Guterres to Ukraine, in order to then be able to accuse Moscow of “creating a man-made disaster”.
The Defense Ministry said Ukraine has deployed troops to the area and plans to launch an artillery attack on the nuclear power plant from the city of Nikopol on Friday while Guterres visits the city of Odessa. “Responsibility for the consequences” should then be shifted to “the Russian armed forces”.
6:13 a.m .: According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Russian Air Force is trying to bring fighter jets and helicopters to safety in Crimea after several explosions. Some of the aircraft would be transferred to the interior of the peninsula annexed in 2014, and some would be withdrawn to the Russian mainland. This was announced by the Ukrainian military intelligence service on Facebook on Wednesday. The transfer of at least 24 aircraft and 14 helicopters was observed. The information from Kyiv could not be checked.
Last week, on August 9, explosions shook the Russian air base at Saki on the west coast of Crimea. Satellite images later showed that at least seven fighter jets had been destroyed. Heavy detonations at an ammunition depot near Dzhankoy and a smaller explosion at Gvardeyskoye air base near Simferopol were observed on Tuesday. Ukraine has officially taken no responsibility. However, the damage suggests targeted actions against the military installations.
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