WORLD BRIEFING: August 13, 2024
Nearly the entire civilian population of the Krasnoyaruzh district of Russia's Belgorod region has been evacuated, the region's governor reported, as Ukrainian forces continued to make headway in the neighboring Kursk region. Ukrainian leaders, including President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and military commander Oleksandr Syrskiy, have spoken openly for the first time about their forces' shock incursion into Russia's Kursk region, with Zelenskiy saying that Moscow must be "forced to make peace." A fire at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has been "completely extinguished," a Moscow-installed official said on August 12. Ukrainian naval and and military intelligence forces have attacked and damaged a former offshore gas platform used by Russian forces in the Black Sea, the navy's spokesman said on August 10. - RFE/RL
Ukraine’s top military commander says his forces now control 1,000 square kilometers (386 square miles) of Russia’s neighboring Kursk region, the first time a Ukrainian military official has publicly commented on the gains of the lightning incursion that has embarrassed the Kremlin. Gen. Oleksandr Syrskyi made the statement in a video posted Monday to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s Telegram channel. In the video, he briefed the president on the front-line situation. “The troops are fulfilling their tasks. Fighting continues actually along the entire front line. The situation is under our control,” Syrskyi said. Russian forces are still scrambling to respond to the surprise Ukrainian attack after almost a week of fierce fighting. - AP
Russia has trained its navy to target sites deep inside Europe with nuclear-capable missiles in a potential conflict with Nato, according to secret files seen by the Financial Times. Maps of targets as far-flung as the west coast of France and Barrow-in-Furness in the UK are detailed in a presentation for officers that predates the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The FT has previously reported from the same cache of 29 secret Russian military files that Moscow had rehearsed using tactical nuclear weapons in the early stages of a conflict with a major world power. The latest revelations show how Russia envisioned a conflict with the west reaching well beyond its immediate Nato frontier, planning for a series of overwhelming strikes across western Europe. The documents were shown to the FT by western sources. The files, drawn up between 2008 and 2014, include a target list for missiles that can carry either conventional warheads or tactical nuclear weapons. Russian officers highlight the advantages of using nuclear strikes at an early stage. The presentation also indicates that Russia has retained the capability to carry nuclear weapons on surface ships, a capacity that experts said carries significant extra risks of escalation or accidents. The document notes the navy’s “high manoeuvrability” allows it to conduct “sudden and pre-emptive blows” and “massive missile strikes . . . from various directions”. It adds that nuclear weapons are “as a rule” designated for use “in combination with other means of destruction” to achieve Russia’s goals. Analysts who reviewed the documents said they were consistent with how Nato assessed the threat of long-range missile strikes by the Russian navy and the speed with which Russia would probably resort to nuclear use. - FT
Vice President Kamala Harris is trying to outmaneuver former President Donald Trump and address old vulnerabilities on her policy positions as she starts to fill in how she would govern if elected in November. But the first major window into her thinking came this past weekend, with a proposal pulled not from the policy backwaters of the Biden administration or the cutting-room floor of the legislative process but from her rival: Trump. Harris announced that she, like Trump, wants to end federal taxation of tipped earnings for workers — with the added caveat that she would limit the plan to those in the lower- and middle incomes. The idea has drawn bipartisan support in recent months and is particularly salient in service industry-heavy Nevada.
In an interview with Elon Musk on the X platform, Donald Trump heaped praise on Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin as being 'at the top of their game.’ He said Ukraine is running out of soldiers, and that North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un believes Joe Biden is a 'stupid man.’ Trump made policy promises including 'the largest deportation in history' if he is elected, an 'iron dome' defence system for the US and shutting the Department for Education to 'move education back to the states' - Daily Mail
Relief could be in sight for some in Europe over the next few days as a punishing heatwave begins to break. But conditions will persist in eastern and southern parts of the continent. “So, the peak of the current very hot spell is basically [the 12 and 13 August] in western Europe, with a gradual cool-down expected from Wednesday,” Lars Lowinski, a meteorologist for Weather & Radar, says. “Meanwhile, eastern and especially southeastern parts of Europe will see much warmer than average conditions through this weekend. This comes after a sometimes record-breaking hot July in those areas, especially in the Balkans.” Much of Europe has been baking over the last few days as the continent faces the latest in a series of scorching heatwaves. It has left many questioning when the unbearably warm weather will end. - Euronews
