Three killed in strikes on Lutsk amid wave of attacks in western regions
More detail now, via Reuters: Russia launched a large-scale air attack on Ukraine’s western region of Lviv and the north-western region of Volyn, killing at least three people and wounding scores of others, officials said.
Three people were killed and several hospitalised in Lutsk after a business enterprise was hit, Yuriy Pohulyaiko, governor the Volyn region of which Lutsk is the administrative centre, said on the Telegram messaging app.
The Volyn region borders Nato-member Poland to its west.
There were no casualties in Russia’s air attack on the western region of Lviv, according to preliminary information, but more than 100 residential houses were damaged, 500 windows broken and a kindergarten playground was destroyed.
Key events
Andriy Yermak, head of the office of the president of Ukraine, said Russian athletes should be banned from participating in international competitions after Russian strikes destroyed a sports facility in Dnipro.
The sports facility in Dnipro after the Russian strikes.
All Russian athletes should be banned from participating in international competitions, even under a neutral flag. pic.twitter.com/BtN0Mr6C7q
— Andriy Yermak (@AndriyYermak) August 15, 2023
Russia on Tuesday released video footage showing an armed naval inspection unit boarding a cargo ship in the south-western Black Sea on Sunday and questioning the captain about why the ship had not stopped when demanded to by a Russian warship.
Russia said that it fired warning shots with automatic weapons at the Palau-flagged Sukru Okan vessel after it failed to respond to a demand for it to halt, though it was unclear why the ship was boarded so close to Turkey, Reuters reports.
In a video released by the Russian defence ministry, crew members can be seen kneeling on deck with their hands on their head as a Russian Ka-29 helicopter approaches.
What appears to be bodycam footage from the naval unit, shows Russian servicemen with automatic weapons checking the ship and entering the bridge.
“Stop machine, stop machine,” one of the armed Russians says as crew members put their hands on their heads and kneel before the Russian weapons.
The defence ministry said:
During the inspection activities carried out, the work of the inspection team was carried out professionally in accordance with the requirements of international documents.
After the completion of the work of the inspection team on board the Sukru Okan, a verification protocol was drawn up, the ship continued to move to the port of Izmail.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy, described the Russian missile attacks “on civilians” in western Ukraine, as “solely for the sake of killing and psychological pressure”.
The Ukrainian air force said Russia fired a total of 28 cruise missiles at the country. Sixteen of them were intercepted, the statement said.
On Twitter, Podolyak said:
Deliberate large-scale attacks on civilians. Solely for the sake of killing and psychological pressure.
Podolyak added that the barrage was “an undeniable manifestation” of Russia’s “terrorist activity, legally documented by numerous destructions and victims.”
Six out of seven Russian-launched missiles hit the western region of Lviv, wounding 15 people, Lviv’s governor, Maksym Kozytskyi, reported. More than forty buildings and houses were damaged in the region that borders Poland, including in the city of Lviv, and the power grid was also damaged.
Kira Rudik, a Ukrainian MP and the leader of the liberal Golos party, shared a video showing the aftermath of a Russian attack on Lviv, which injured at least 15 people and damaged more than 40 buildings.
In a tweet, she said:
It is a pure terrorism.
Aftermath of russia’s barbaric attack on Lviv region: at least 15 injured, 40 buildings damaged. It is a pure terrorism.
Video: Serhiy Kruk pic.twitter.com/HEpEY9DMHS
— Kira Rudik (@kiraincongress) August 15, 2023
Three suspected spies for Russia in Britain have been arrested and charged in a major national security investigation, the BBC reports.
The defendants are Bulgarian nationals alleged to be working for Russian security services, the BBC said.
They were held in February under the Official Secrets Act by counter-terrorism detectives at London’s Metropolitan Police, which has a policing responsibility for espionage, the report added.
The Met Police had no immediate comment when contacted by Reuters.
More to follow.
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said that Ukraine’s military resources were “almost exhausted”, as Kyiv wages a gruelling counter offensive to recapture lost territory, AFP reports.
Shoigu said at a security conference in Moscow:
Despite comprehensive assistance from the West, Ukraine’s armed forces are unable to achieve results.
Preliminary results of the hostilities show that Ukraine’s military resources are almost exhausted.
He added that there was “nothing unique” about Western weapons and that they were not invulnerable to Russian arms on the battlefield.
Kyiv kicked off its long anticipated counter offensive in June, but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.
While Ukraine has claimed gains around the war-torn city of Bakhmut in its east, Russia has claimed advances around the town of Kupiansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region.
Shoigu was speaking at the Moscow Conference on International Security. Russia invited representatives from over 100 nations to attend, but Western countries were excluded.
Russia on Tuesday fined social media site Reddit for the first time for not deleting “banned content” that it said contained “fake” information about Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, RIA reported, citing a Moscow court.
Reddit joins a list of sites under scrutiny in Russia for failing to remove content that Moscow deems illegal, including Wikimedia, streaming service Twitch, and Google.
RIA said the court had fined Reddit 2 million roubles (£16,000). Reddit did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment, Reuters reports.
Since invading Ukraine last year, Russia has tightened controls over coverage of the conflict by media and bloggers, introducing tougher punishments for “discrediting” the actions of its armed forces or publishing false information about them.
Rouble recovers after central bank rate hike
Julia Kollewe
The statement doesn’t mention the rouble, which dropped to its lowest level in nearly 17 months yesterday. The Russian currency has been boosted by the central bank’s move.
It now takes 97 roubles to buy a dollar, whereas yesterday the exchange rate was at 102 roubles per dollar at one stage.
Russia’s central bank lifts rates to 12%
Julia Kollewe
The Bank of Russia has raised its key rate to 12% from 8.5%. It explained in a statement on its website:
The decision is aimed at limiting price stability risks.
Inflationary pressure is building up. As of 7 August, the annual rate of inflation rose to 4.4% while current price growth rates continue to increase. Over the last three months current price growth amounted to 7.6% on average in annualised terms on a seasonally adjusted basis. The same core inflation measure went up to 7.1%.
Steady growth in domestic demand surpassing the capacity to expand output amplifies the underlying inflationary pressure and has impact on the ruble’s exchange rate dynamics through elevated demand for imports. Consequently, the pass-through of the ruble’s depreciation to prices is gaining momentum and inflation expectations are on the rise.
Hereinafter, with current price growth rates staying at the attained levels the risk of inflation’s deviation upwards from the target in 2024 is substantial. The Bank of Russia’s decision is aimed at shaping monetary conditions and overall domestic demand dynamics necessary to bring inflation back to 4% in 2024 and stabilise it close to 4% further on.
Moving forward, in its key rate decision-making the Bank of Russia will take into account actual and expected inflation dynamics relative to the target and economic transformation processes, as well as the risks posed by domestic and external conditions and the reaction of financial markets. According to the Bank of Russia’s forecast, given the monetary policy stance, annual inflation will return to 4% in 2024.