WAR IN UKRAINE: August 18, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 541
A Hong Kong-registered container ship that’s co-owned by a Germany company and a Chinese investment bank and which has been stuck in Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion last year arrived safely in Turkish waters late yesterday after sailing across the Black Sea. The vessel was using a so-called humanitarian corridor established unilaterally by the Ukrainian Navy. The sailing busted a Russian blockade of the Black Sea.
A Ukrainian drone attack has hit a building in Moscow, causing an explosion that was heard across the city's business district, Russian officials have said. Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said air defences had shot down the drone with its debris falling on the city's Expo Center. It marks the latest in a series of such attacks on the Russian capital. Unverified footage on social media appeared to show thick grey smoke rising into the night sky over Moscow. There was immediate comment from Ukraine - BBC
Ukrainian forces have likely used either U.S.-supplied cluster munitions or their domestically-produced alternatives while retaking the village of Urozhaine, CNN reported on Aug. 17, citing two unnamed experts.
NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on August 17 it was up to Ukraine to decide when to join any peace negotiations following the Russian invasion. Stoltenberg also said the alliance has not detected any changes to Russia's nuclear forces and NATO has seen no reason to reconsider its own corresponding setup - RFE/RL
Moscow risks sparking a direct war with NATO by intercepting ships in international waters and seeking to impose an economic stranglehold on Ukraine, NATO's former Supreme Allied Commander Europe is warning. Ex-U.S. Admiral James Stavridis, who led the alliance's forces on the continent between 2009 and 2013, told POLITICO that escalations at sea — including the boarding of a Turkish ship on Sunday — could force Kyiv's partners to intervene to prevent Ukraine's economy being crippled. "Russia's actions in the international waters of the Black Sea create a real risk of escalating this to a war at sea between NATO and the Russian Federation," said Stavridis. NATO, he went on, "is not going to provide all the weapons and money for Ukraine, only to watch Russia strangle their economy with an illegal blockade” - Politico