“Ukraine – Russia”

In 18 months of war, Ukrainian land has mostly changed hands in sudden bursts, with Russia snatching a mass of territory at the start and Ukraine recapturing chunks in dramatic counterattacks. Now 10 weeks into its most ambitious counteroffensive, with heavy casualties and equipment losses, questions have been growing about whether Ukraine can punch through Russian lines.

Despite grueling fighting, Ukrainian forces along much of the 600-mile front are moving forward, and commanders and veteran soldiers say they are in better shape now than six or 12 months ago.

#Ukraine: A Russian 2S7[M] Pion 203mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by a GMLRS strike of the Ukrainian forces in #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/yRh8hPqQNp

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 20, 2023

It has been called Russia’s “ghost”, “shadow”, or “dark” fleet. Nearly 500 ships, many of them old tankers with murky ownership and obscure insurers, could be playing an integral role in moving Russian crude to China and other ports in Asia, because of a G7 price cap meant to keep foreign-currency oil revenues out of the Kremlin’s hands.

Often the ships use tactics designed to hide their location or the origin of the crude carried from Russian ports, which may later be refined in India and other countries and even re-exported to the western countries sanctioning the Kremlin.

Denmark and the Netherlands have said the US has cleared the way to allow F-16 fighters to be re-exported to Ukraine after some of its pilots are trained to fly them, helping restore momentum to a process that appeared to be stalling.

Ministers from both countries, the leaders of an international coalition to help Ukraine obtain the jets, thanked Washington for the green light, although it remains unclear when any F-16 transfers could take place.

Kajsa Ollongren, the Dutch defence minister, said she welcomed the US decision “to clear the way for delivery of F-16 jets to Ukraine”, which would allow the coalition “to follow through on the training of Ukrainian pilots”.

Russia is building thousands of Iranian-designed attack drones in a massive secret military base, according to leaked documents.

Engineers at the Alabuga facility in Tatarstan, some 500 miles east of Moscow, are attempting to produce around 6,000 upgraded drones by 2025, The Washington Post reported.

Although production is behind schedule, experts believe it could mean hundreds of “Shahed” drones being directed toward Ukrainian targets at a time, rather than the dozens currently used in attacks.

#Ukraine: A rare Russian S-300V4 air defense battery was targeted by Ukrainian forces in the South- as a result a 9A83M2 TELAR and 9A84-2 TEL were destroyed by GMLRS strikes, along with 9S32M1 and 9S19M2 radars suffering damage. pic.twitter.com/qQZ8pjt9hU

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 15, 2023

In a city plagued by disunity, raw power reigns

Lockdown reportedly returned to Bexleyheath on Saturday. As rumours about an impending wave of “TikTok-fuelled looting” circulated on social media, shopkeepers debated whether it was safe to unlock their doors. Eventually they did, but only after a dispersal order was issued, handing the police additional powers to snuff out antisocial behaviour. No doubt the Met’s officers hoped to avoid a repeat of the carnage that had unfolded earlier in the week, when gangs of children ran amok on Oxford Street, allegedly in the hope of ransacking a JD Sports.

Teens formed a mob in London, storming stores in Regent Street after police ordered dispersal at Oxford Street. Social media trend urged riots and looting, targeting JD Sports. Urgent warning: “Don’t come if you can’t run. Don’t bring weapons.” pic.twitter.com/7hAFEJ0oPG

— True News (@TrueNewsCo) August 16, 2023

President Zelensky has announced that he is dismissing the heads of all Ukraine’s regional military recruitment offices and replacing them with veterans who had served on the front line. He used a video address to say that a state investigation had turned up widespread corruption, including bribe-taking and help for draft dodgers to flee abroad.

Ukraine’s counteroffensive began two months ago, but in many ways its forces have been preparing for it for years by learning how to fight like NATO militaries, with a mix of infantry, artillery, armored vehicles and air power.

But the Biden administration waited more than a year before letting NATO countries send F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine. By the time pilots are trained on the advanced aircraft, it will be too late for them to assist and protect ground forces slogging through this phase of fighting.

#Ukraine: A Russian BMPT "Terminator" tank support fighting vehicle was taken out of action and T-80BV was damaged by the Ukrainian SBU "Alpha" using several FPV loitering munitions and indirect fire near Spartak, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/IcYLcxbDAJ

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 12, 2023

We are putting on a collective spectacle of self-destruction, degeneracy and spiritual vapidity

In an outstanding article in the New York Times, Roger Cohen recounted his experience of traveling across Russia for a full month, and hats off to the veteran journalist for risking a shared cell with the Wall Street Journal “spy” Evan Gershkovich.

Cohen explains that Vladimir Putin is successfully flogging his war in Ukraine to the Russian people as a battle against the whole spiritually depraved West, no longer the home of ruthless capitalism but of “sex changes, the rampages of drag queens, barbaric gender debates and an LGBTQ takeover.” In a tirade last November, Putin lambasted the US and “other unfriendly foreign states” for “selfishness, permissiveness, immorality, the denial of the ideals of patriotism” and “destruction of the traditional family through the promotion of nontraditional sexual relations.”

You must admit, he’s got a point.

Some 200,000 people are thought to have been killed in fighting between Russia and Ukraine since February 24, 2022, when President Vladimir Putin opened the latest—and perhaps final—chapter of Moscow’s 30-year effort to hinder Kyiv’s westward drift and regenerate a neo-imperial sphere of influence.

Putin’s military gambit has not gone to plan. The stunning failure of Russia’s thunder run on Kyiv in the early days and weeks of the invasion proved a harbinger of Moscow’s battlefield struggles. The demands of large-scale, mechanized, 21st century warfare pulled back the veil on Russia’s supposedly modernized force, illuminating the kind of corruption and incompetence that have hamstrung Moscow’s militaries for years.

#Ukraine: A Russian T-80BV tank with a Kontakt-1 cope cage was destroyed by the Ukrainian 77th Airmobile Brigade near Yahidne, #Donetsk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/yzjPOsjfxn

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 11, 2023

KYIV, Ukraine — A first group of six Ukrainian pilots is not expected to complete training on the U.S.-made F-16 before next summer, senior Ukrainian government and military officials said, following a series of delays by Western partners in implementing an instruction program for the sophisticated fighter jet.

The timeline reflects the disconnect between Ukraine’s supporters, who envision F-16s as a key tool in the country’s long-term defense, and Kyiv, which has desperately requested that the jets reach the battle space as soon as possible, viewing them as critical for the current fight against occupying Russian forces.

#Ukraine: A Russian BM-21 Grad 122mm multiple rocket launcher was torn apart by the detonation of the rockets loaded onboard after it was targeted by the 55th Artillery Brigade using DPICM cluster projectiles in #Donetsk Oblast.

Another Grad parked nearby was damaged as well. pic.twitter.com/MvAPsA9icH

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) August 10, 2023

Ukrainian conscription officials accused of taking bribes and smuggling people out of the country have been sacked in an anti-corruption purge.

President Volodymyr Zelensky confirmed more than 30 people face criminal charges after an inspection of local army offices exposed corruption.

He said bribery at a time of war is “high treason”.

It comes amid efforts to bolster the armed forces, as Ukraine’s counter-offensive operation continues.

A statement from the president’s office said corruption allegations “pose a threat to Ukraine’s national security and undermine confidence in state institutions”.

Ukraine says it has foiled a fresh assassination attempt against President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and arrested a woman believed to have been acting as an informant for Russia.

In a statement Monday, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) alleged the woman was trying to “establish the time and list of locations” of where Zelenskyy would be during a trip of the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, in order to help Russia carry out a “new mass airstrike” there.

President Joe Biden has claimed that the U.S.’s support for Ukraine “will not waver” amid its conflict with Russia, but new reports about the slow pace of Kyiv’s counteroffensive highlight the costs of the fighting.

The New York Times reported last week that newly Western-trained Ukrainian brigades have failed to achieve any “sweeping gains,” due to Russian artillery fire. Similarly, CNN has highlighted Ukraine’s difficulty in penetrating Russian defenses, with one Ukrainian official calling the density of Russian mines “insane.” And Politico reported Tuesday that U.S. officials expect the counteroffensive to last “at least through the fall and possibly into the winter.”