WORLD BRIEFING: August 26, 2023
Olga Holynska says her final goodbye to her only daughter Sophia. Sophia was killed by a Russian missile strike on Chernihiv. She was an only child. Olga's husband, Sophia's dad, is on the frontlines defending Ukraine.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS
Today marks the 549th day of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine
Russia says 10 bodies and flight recorders have been recovered from the scene of a jet crash presumed to have killed Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin. "Molecular-genetic tests are now being carried out," investigators say. The plane crashed near Moscow on Wednesday, prompting speculation that a bomb or a missile was to blame. Claims that the Kremlin gave an order to kill Prigozhin were a "complete lie", Russian President Vladimir Putin's spokesman told the BBC earlier. Prigozhin - once a Putin loyalist - led an aborted armed revolt by his mercenary fighters in June - BBC
Niger’s junta ordered the French ambassador in Niamey on Friday to leave the country within 48 hours, according to the Nigerien Foreign Ministry. In a statement published by state-run broadcaster ORTN, the Nigerien Foreign Ministry said the ambassador Sylvain Itte had refused to attend a meeting scheduled for Friday with the country’s foreign minister -CNN
The US State Department said Friday it “strongly condemned” the Hong Kong authorities’ “ongoing harassment” of family members of pro-democracy activists living overseas. The US said it was “particularly concerned” about recent cases involving activists like Nathan Law, Joshua Wong and Elmer Yuen whose family members and acquaintances had been “detained and questioned by Hong Kong police.”
WAR IN UKRAINE
Two people were reported killed in Russian shelling in eastern Ukraine on August 26, as Russia reported more drone strikes, including in the capital, Moscow. The two civilians died when a shell hit a cafe in the village of Podoli in the eastern region of Kharkiv, Kharkiv regional Governor Oleh Synehubov said - RFE/RL
Ukraine’s National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption found that since 2020, the family of the deputy military commissar of Odesa, Denys Halushko, has bought cars and real estate worth more than €350,000 without having any legal income. A residential building, a plot of land and at least three luxury cars are believed to have been concealed. Earlier this month, President Volodymyr Zelensky fired all military commissars on suspicion of corruption.
Required reading…
Opinion: Putin’s virtual bravado, Xi’s big win, and 6 new members. Why this was a summit like no other
Opinion by Michael Bociurkiw
JohannesburgCNN — The BRICS bloc of emerging nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — this week more than doubled its membership, extending the welcome mat to cash-rich Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, outlier Iran, as well as Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia. The move breathes new life into a group set to rival the G7 and brings the world closer to multi-polarity.
Today’s summits rarely wind up with seismic accomplishments — especially ones with such relatively unwieldy and uninspiring titles as “BRICS and Africa: Fostering Collaborative Growth, Sustainable Progress and Comprehensive Multilateralism.”
Read my full CNN analysis from the site of the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg here