🇷🇺 A polytechnic school in Russia’s #Tatarstan, a region some 900 kilometers east of Moscow, is using manufacturing facilities that are part of a nearby special economic zone to assemble #Iranian attack #drones and are increasingly turning to underage students as laborers, many of whom often work in exploitative conditions.
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-iran-suicide-drones-assembled-underage-students-ukraine/32545386.html
#russia #russiaukrainewar #humanrights
🇺🇦 Beaches officially opened for swimming in Ukraine’s largest port city of #Odesa for the first time since the #Russian invasion began in February 2022, local officials announced Saturday.
Bathing during air raid alerts, however, remains banned in the Black Sea city.
https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/12/europe/odesa-beaches-reopen-ukraine-intl/index.html
#ukraine #blacksea #russia #russiaukrainewar
🇧🇾 🇵🇱 #Belarusian President Aleksander #Lukashenko said he is seeking to improve relations with #Poland, amid heightened tensions over border issues between the two countries.
https://www.politico.eu/article/belarus-aleksander-lukashenko-improve-relations-poland/
#belarus
🇵🇱 🇧🇾 Poland’s defense minister said Saturday that the country has increased the number of troops protecting its border with #Belarus as a deterrent amid “destabilizing” actions by its pro-Russian neighbor.
https://apnews.com/article/poland-belarus-russia-border-troops-61a92fdee3ee61b827d86c9d94ecac9e
#poland #nato #ukraine #russia #russiaukrainewar
🇷🇺 A #Russian warplane crashed in Russia’s #Kaliningrad region on Saturday during a training mission, killing the two pilots on board.
#russia
🇺🇦 #Ukraine, which is seeking to form safe shipping routes in the Black Sea, has started registering ships willing to use the corridor it announced earlier this week, a local news agency said on Saturday.
#blacksea
Sky News:
🇧🇾 🇷🇺 President #Lukashenko and his #Russian counterpart are showing "increasingly erratic and unpredictable behaviour" which is "not grounded in the support of the Russian and #Belarusian people", Sean Bell writes.
#belarus #russia #ukraine #russiaukrainewar
🇷🇺 🇺🇦 #Russia air defence forces shot down two #Ukrainian missiles over a bridge connecting Moscow-annexed #Crimea to the #Russian mainland, an official said on Saturday.
#ukraine #russiaukrainewar
🇦🇲 🇦🇿 On August 11, the Republic of #Armenia appealed to the United Nations Security Council with a request to convene an emergency meeting regarding the deterioration of the humanitarian situation as a result of the total blockade inflicted upon the civilian population of Nagorno-Karabakh.
https://www.mfa.am/en/press-releases/2023/08/12/arm_unsc/12135
#azerbaijan #karabakh #nagornokarabakh #unitednations #unsc #russia #turkey
🇷🇺 A small number of #Russian Orthodox priests are publicly opposing their leader's support for Russia's invasion of #Ukraine, and they're suffering the consequences.
#russia #church #russiaukrainewar #repression #censorship
🇪🇺 🇺🇦 The EU has delivered #Ukraine 223,800 shells under the first part of a plan to provide a million artillery rounds to aid Kyiv’s fight against #Russia, a spokesman said on Friday.
https://www.thedefensepost.com/2023/08/12/eu-delivers-shells-ukraine/?expand_article=1
#europe #RussiaUkraineWar
🇺🇦 🇷🇺 An elderly woman and a police officer were killed early Saturday by #Russian shelling on a settlement in #Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine and #Zaporizhzhia in the south, #Ukrainian officials said.
#ukraine #russia #RussiaUkraineWar #russianwarcrimes
🇷🇺 In years past, the month of August was often greeted in #Russia with a degree of caution, even alarm. #Russians spoke in whispered tones of their “August curse” to explain the unusually high number of deadly accidents, terrorist attacks, or outbreaks of war.
For a long time now that curse seemed to have been lifted and almost forgotten, reducing the month to just another hot summer interlude.
But this year, it appears to be back with a vengeance.
https://edition.cnn.com/2023/08/12/europe/russia-august-curse-intl/index.html
#RussiaUkraineWar
🇳🇪 🇷🇺 Western powers fear #Russian influence could grow stronger if the junta in #Niger follows Mali's example by ejecting Western troops and inviting in mercenaries from Russia's #Wagner Group.
https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/west-african-regional-group-weighs-next-steps-niger-2023-08-12/
#russia #wagnergroup #nigercoup
🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Saturday Briefing:
- #Russia says it destroys 20 Ukrainian drones over #Crimea
- #Ukraine made tactically significant advances in western Zaporizhzhia Obl.
- #Russian officer flees to Lithuania
- #Belarus is aiding Russia in the deportation of #Ukrainian children
- #Google blocks Workspace apps for sanctioned Russian firms
- The US sanctioned the Alfa Group oligarchs
- #Germany in talks with MBDA over delivery of cruise missiles to Ukraine
#RussiaUkraineWar
🇪🇬 🇺🇦 The U.S. managed to convince #Egypt not to send rockets to #Russia but has so far failed to persuade Cairo to arm #Ukraine instead, the Wall Street Journal reported on Aug. 11, citing U.S. and Egyptian officials.
https://news.yahoo.com/wsj-egypt-resists-us-calls-205822044.html
#usa #russiaukrainewar
🇷🇺 🇺🇦 #Russian forces destroyed 20 #Ukrainian drones launched onto the #Crimean Peninsula early on Saturday, Russia's defence ministry said.
#ukraine #crimea #russia #russiaukrainewar
🇺🇲 ISW:
🇺🇦 #Ukrainian forces made tactically significant advances in western #Zaporizhzhia Oblast amid continued #counteroffensive operations on at least three sectors of the front on August 11.
🇷🇺 Ukrainian counteroffensive operations appear to be forcing the #Russian military to laterally redeploy Russian forces defending in western Zaporizhzhia Oblast, indicating that the Ukrainian effort there may be significantly degrading Russian defenses.
https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-august-11-2023
#ukraine #russia
🇱🇹 🇷🇺 A #Russian lieutenant illegally crossed the border into #Lithuania and requested political asylum.
He said he decided to flee #Russia because he didn’t want to participate “in a bloody war.”
#russianarmy #russiaukrainewar