WAR IN UKRAINE: August 3, 2023
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 526
Kyiv has been attacked by Russian kamikaze drones for the second night in a row with 15 downed on their approach to the Ukrainian capital, city authorities said. Sergiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said Moscow had used a barrage of Iranian-made Shahed drones, in an onslaught that lasted three hours. Preliminary reports suggest there were no casualties or damage caused. Later on Thursday morning the press service of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed 15 drones were launched and destroyed.
Russian drone strikes in Odesa “deliberately” targeted infrastructure on the Danube River, according to Ukrainian officials. President Volodymyr Zelensky said 37 Iranian-made Shahed drones were used to attack Ukraine early Wednesday. During his nightly address, he said some of the drones were shot down, "but only part of them."There were no casualties, the Ukrainian leader noted. However, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis has said the attacks near the Danube were “unacceptable," given their close proximity to Romania, a NATO member - CNN
More than 10,000 civilians have been killed and over 15,000 others wounded since Russia's invasion began in February 2022, Ukraine’s War Crimes Department said. The figures are similar to those of international organizations like the UN, but the true number is likely to be much higher, officials said - CNN
The U.S. has delivered military aid to Moldova as part of the modernization process of the Moldovan military, the U.S. Embassy in Moldova and the country's Defense Ministry announced on Aug. 1. “Today marks the delivery of donated military equipment from the United States to the Moldovan National Army," the embassy said in its statement. “Over the last 31 years, the United States government via United States European Command provided over $123 million in military assistance, training, and education and over $36 million in humanitarian assistance at the request of the current and previous Moldovan governments." - Kyiv Independent
A mercenary for Russia’s notorious Wagner Group has appealed to police for help after he says his former cellmate and a group of sex workers he hired robbed him of his war earnings. Denis Kuzmin, a convicted murderer freed from prison to take part in the war against Ukraine, was on his way home to Omsk when he decided to stop at a Moscow sauna with his former cellmate, according to local media. The two hired several escorts, and Kuzmin said he eventually nodded off before waking up to discover both his friend and the women gone—along with the 790,000 rubles ($8,500) he was paid to kill Ukrainians. Kuzmin reportedly turned to police for help after calling his former prison buddy only to be told he was already at Sheremetyevo International Airport - Daily Beast
A planned announcement on the expansion of BRICS at a forthcoming summit in South Africa will mark a significant change in the global order, the nation’s ambassador to the five-nation bloc said, even as some of its members push back against new admissions. Heads of state from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will make a pronouncement on the enlargement of the group when they meet Aug. 22-24, Anil Sooklal said in a lecture at the University of KwaZulu-Natal on Wednesday. Twenty-two nations have asked formally to become full-time members of the group, and more than 20 others have submitted informal requests - Bloomberg