“The decision to allow kyiv to attack was made; carte blanche was given and indulgences were granted. Therefore, we will respond brutally“, this is how strongly the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Russia, Sergei Ryabkov, demonstrated before the Russian agency TASS. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev sought to speak in a firmer tone, warning that “Russia is patient. It is obvious that A nuclear response is an extremely complex decision with irreversible consequences, but all patience has a limit.”
However, on the Western side, the “allies” are wondering whether allowing Ukraine to use its weapons to attack Russia would significantly change the course of the war. British Prime Minister, Keir Starmerarrived in Washington on Friday to discuss with the American president, Joe Bidenthis concession.
Meanwhile, the number of exchanged captives between Ukraine and Russia reached Saturday 1994. On this occasion, 206 people were released in the Kursk region, many of them prisoners of the Kremlin for more than two years. According to a statement by the Russian Defense Ministry, each side exchanged 103 soldiers with the Humanitarian Mediation in the United Arab EmiratesIn late August, the two sides also exchanged 230 prisoners of war, including a number of Russian conscripts captured at Kursk while performing their military service.
Former prisoners taken by Russia arrive in Ukraine
nothing would change
U.S. officials, during Starmer’s meeting with Biden, stressed that Ukraine already has the capability to attack targets in Russia using drones, and that while the long-range ATACMS missiles provided by the United States would enhance its capability, they would not be enough to change the dynamic.
In reference to Ukraine, Washington also highlighted the real direction that Zelensky’s strategy should take. Beyond asking for more weapons to attack Russian soil, “kyiv should focus on stopping the Russian advance in the east of the country.”
However, the main fear remains on the table: the beginning of a direct war between NATO and Russia. Just as Joe Biden proposed. In relation to this, Ryabkov told TASS that “Moscow periodically sends messages to Washington. During these contacts, all the necessary signals are transmitted from our side. That is why I say that we are really engaged in a permanent political and diplomatic work for the purpose of prevent the situation from becoming an uncontrollable crisis“.
Vladimir Putin said that Ukraine cannot launch attacks on its territory without the help of the West, as it needs. satellite information and flight input data to do so. According to the Russian president, the current debate among NATO countries is not limited to the possible use by kyiv of Western long-range weapons, but also to opportunity to get directly involved in the conflict.
Russian military exhibition of captured Ukrainian weapons in Rostov-on-Don.
Reuters
Iran on the board of directors
Last Tuesday, the United States assured that Russia would have received ballistic missiles from Iranfor which he announced new sanctions against ships and companies “involved” in the supply of Iranian weapons to Moscow. Information that had previously been “alerted” by the British Foreign Secretary, David Lammy.
“He will likely use them within weeks against Ukraine,” Blinken said, citing intelligence he said was shared with U.S. allies and partners around the world.
In his defense, Iran’s foreign minister said Wednesday that he had not delivered any ballistic missiles to Russia and that the sanctions imposed on Iran by the United States and the three European powers would not solve any problems between them. “Once again, the United States and the E3 are acting on the basis of misinformation and flawed logic. Iran has NOT delivered ballistic missiles to Russia. Place. Sanctions are not a solutionbut that’s part of the problem,” the statement said.
G7 foreign ministers on Saturday condemned “in the strongest terms” Iranian exports and Russia’s acquisition of Iranian ballistic missiles. “Iran must immediately cease all support for Russia’s illegal and unjustifiable war against Ukraine, which poses a direct threat to the Ukrainian people as well as to European and international security in general,” the statement said.
Ukrainian President Zelensky meets with NATO Military Committee Chairman Admiral Bauer in kyiv. Archive image.
Reuters
Similarly, like Iran, Russia has denied the accusations. “Our cooperation has stood the test of time and does not contain any elements that constitute a violation from the point of view of international obligations or negatively influence in some way someone’s security or a certain regional balance,” said Sergei Ryabkov, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister, according to the agency. TASS.
Nearly 2000 copies released
Despite the third exchange of prisoners of war since kyiv’s incursion into Russian territory, Ukrainian troops continue to exert pressure and even advance in some areas of Russia’s Kursk region.
According to the Ukrainian Analytical Project Deep StateIn the Kursk region, Kyiv forces occupied Vetreno, Durovka and part of Zhuravliwhile the Russians recaptured Snagost with the surrounding villages and advanced towards Lyubimivka.
This week, the Russian military launched a Counteroffensive at Kurskwhere Ukrainian troops entered on August 6 in an attempt to repel Russian attacks on the northeastern Kharkiv and Sumi regions and slow Russian pressure on the eastern Donetsk front, and occupied 1,300 square kilometers of territory.
Ukrainian prisoners of war after their release.
Reuters
Russia claims to have recovered the control of ten sites and, although Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky admitted this week that a Russian counteroffensive was underway, both the Pentagon and the United States Institute for the Study of War (ISW) consider today the “marginal” operation.
Zelensky also assures that Russia has not achieved “significant results” in the counterattack, for which Russia plans – according to its own statements – to increase the number of troops deployed in Kursk to between 60,000 and 70,000.
