WAR IN UKRAINE : August 19, 2024
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 542
The U.S. believes nearly 500,000 Ukrainian and Russian soldiers have been wounded or killed during the expansive conflict that has raged in Ukraine since February of last year, according to a New York Times report citing unnamed officials. The officials cautioned that casualty figures remained difficult to estimate because Moscow lis believed to routinely undercount its war dead and injured, and Kyiv does not disclose official figures, the newspaper said. Russia's military casualties are approaching 300,000, including as many as 120,000 deaths and 170,000 to 180,000 injuries, the newspaper reported. Ukrainian deaths were close to 70,000, with 100,000 to 120,000 wounded, it added - Reuters
Ukrainian air defense shot down 15 out of 17 Iranian Shahed drones that Russia used in its latest overnight attack on Ukraine, the military said on August 19, as Russia's Defense Ministry claimed that it had downed a Ukrainian missile over Moscow-occupied Crimea.
Flights from civilian airports in Moscow were temporarily restricted in the early morning on August 18 after authorities announced that a downed Ukrainian drone had struck a building in the Russian capital - RFE/RL
Officials in Washington and Europe said Friday that the United States had given its approval for the Netherlands and Denmark to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine — support Kyiv had been pushing for, but which is unlikely to immediately change the face of the conflict. It was not immediately clear when the first F-16s might enter the conflict. Ukrainian pilots will need to undertake at least six months of training on the aircraft, according to officials. U.S. Air Force Gen. James Hecker, commander of U.S. air forces in Europe and Africa, told reporters in Washington he did not expect the F-16s to be a game-changer for Ukraine. Getting F-16 squadrons ready for battle could take "four or five years," he said - CBC
Russia has dispersed its naval forces in the Black Sea between the southeastern coast of Crimea and Novorossiysk in fear of Ukrainian surface drone strikes, Southern Command spokesperson Natalia Humeniuk said on Aug. 18. Meanwhile, US intelligence assesses that Ukrainian forces will fail to reach the key southeastern city of Melitopol in this year’s counteroffensive, the Washington Post reported, citing unnamed sources familiar with the forecast - Kyiv Independent