An additional boost to repel Russian advances. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion in February 2022, kyiv has been pleading for the delivery of F-16s in the hope of ending Russian domination in the air and better protecting its cities and troops against incessant bombing. This has now been done.
Key information to remember
⇒ Ukraine: Senior Russian official visits Tehran
⇒ In Russia, a pianist opposed to the conflict in Ukraine dies in prison
⇒ Ukraine has received its first F-16 jets, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced on Sunday
Ukraine: Senior Russian official visits Tehran
A senior Russian official, former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, arrived in Tehran on Monday for a visit aimed at deepening cooperation between Russia and Iran, amid threats of military escalation with Israel. The man, who serves as secretary general of the Russian Security Council, is expected to discuss strengthening bilateral relations, economic and security issues, and the regional and global situation, Russian news agencies reported.
He is due to meet with Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Akbar Ahmadian and Army Chief of Staff Mohammad Bagheri.
Pianist Opposed to Ukraine Conflict Dies in Prison in Russia
Pavel Kouchnir, a Russian pianist imprisoned after criticizing the attack on Ukraine, has died in custody, NGOs and his relatives reported, amid a crackdown on dissent in Russia. Aged 39, he died at an unspecified date in a remand center in Birobidzhan, a city located in a remote region of the Far East, bordering China. His death has not been officially announced. Contacted Monday by AFP, the local prison administration declined to comment.
“We have received letters from his fellow prisoners and from this detention center, there is no longer any doubt that he is dead,” Olga Romanova, the exiled head of an NGO defending Russian prisoners, told Current Times on Saturday. According to Romanova, he died while on hunger strike.
Ukraine says it intercepted 24 kamikaze drones launched by Russia
On the night of August 5, Russia launched 24 Shahed suicide drones towards Ukraine. They were launched from the vicinity of Primorsko-Akhtarsk and Kursk. All of them were intercepted by the Ukrainian Air Force, according to authorities.
Mali announces severance of diplomatic relations with Ukraine
Mali announced on Sunday that it was breaking off diplomatic relations with Ukraine after a senior Ukrainian official, according to Bamako, admitted kyiv’s “involvement” in a heavy defeat of the Malian army and the Russian paramilitary group Wagner in late July during fighting with separatists and jihadists.
The transitional government of Mali has decided to “sever diplomatic relations with Ukraine with immediate effect,” government spokesman Colonel Abdoulaye Maïga said. The government of Mali “has learned with deep shock of the subversive remarks by which Andriy Yusov, spokesman for the Ukrainian military intelligence agency, admitted Ukraine’s involvement in a cowardly, treacherous and barbaric attack by armed terrorist groups that resulted in the death of members of the Malian Defense and Security Forces in Tinzawatène, as well as material damage,” Abdoulaye Maïga denounced in the statement.
Russian airbase in Morozovsk, Rostov Oblast damaged
The Ukrainian General Staff announced on Saturday an attack on the Morozovsk military airfield in the Rostov region with a massive barrage of kamikaze drones. They targeted, in particular, the warehouses where guided aerial bombs are stored.
The operation was carried out by the Security Service of Ukraine, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense (HUR), according to the statement. Russia announced that it had intercepted 75 Ukrainian drones. While the Ukrainian website Defense Express claims, for its part, that 18 drones reached their target.
Ukraine receives its first F-16 aircraft
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky announced Sunday that he had finally received his first F-16 fighter jets, the American-made warplanes that Kiev has been waiting for years to receive, hoping to use them to repel the advance of Russian forces. The announcement comes as the situation remains tense on the front lines. Ukraine announced Sunday that it was evacuating children and their parents from several locations in the Donetsk region (east), close to areas where Russia has claimed new advances in recent days.
“We have had hundreds of meetings and negotiations” with allies to obtain the planes and strengthen the country’s air defenses and “we have often heard the words ‘it is impossible’ in response,” Zelensky said at a ceremony at an undisclosed location in Ukraine. “Now this is reality, reality in our skies. F-16s are in Ukraine,” he said. “I am proud of our guys who […] have already started using them for our country.” Volodymyr Zelensky, however, did not disclose the number of aircraft received by kyiv, limiting himself to saying that it was “insufficient”, as well as the number of Ukrainian pilots trained in the West to fly these aircraft, and technicians to maintain them.