WAR IN UKRAINE: Aug 8, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 166
Six western officials told the Financial Times that they were concerned about the pledge made on Friday by the Turkish and Russian leaders to expand their co-operation on trade and energy after a four-hour meeting in Sochi. One EU official said that the 27-member bloc was monitoring Turkish-Russian co-operation “more and more closely”, voicing concern that Turkey was “increasingly” becoming a platform for trade with Russia. One senior western official told the FT that countries could call on their companies and banks to pull out of Turkey if Erdoğan follows through on the commitments he set out on Friday
Russia has already used 50% of its resources in the war, says American diplomat, former special representative of the US State Department for Ukraine, Kurt Volker. “Russia has already used about 50% of its trained military and weapons. Their military capabilities have been dramatically reduced. That’s good, but now they’re using less accurate weapons, and they’re hitting more civilian targets. But on the other hand, they are less likely to hit the military, so their abilities are reduced.”
Notes from a casual conversation with an enlisted Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier returning from the front: the young man was heading him for a two week break after serving fine months in the frontline. He says that the situation in terms of equipment and food has improved substantially. “Now we use the US-supplied M4s instead of AK-46s. They’re less heavy and more accurate.” He said in some areas near the Russian border as many as 50 percent of folks in some settlements are Communists or pro-Russian. On the communications front, he said Elon Musks Starlink systems works perfect YKY. “We carry it everywhere and provides fast and uninterrupted wifi.” Veterans from several counties, including Canada and Poland, are fighting and are fully-integrated
Required reading…
‘Absolute evil’: inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians burned to death. Entrepreneur Anna Vorosheva accuses Moscow of murder after spending 100 days in the Olenivka detention centre.
Screams from soldiers being tortured, overflowing cells, inhuman conditions, a regime of intimidation and murder. Inedible gruel, no communication with the outside world, and days marked off with a home-made calendar written on a box of tea.
Now recovering in France, Vorosheva said she had no doubt Russia “cynically and deliberately” murdered Ukrainian prisoners of war. “We are talking about absolute evil,” she said.
The fighters were blown up on 29 July in a mysterious and devastating explosion. Moscow claims Ukraine killed them with a US-made precision-guided Himars rocket. Satellite images and independent analysis, however, suggest they were obliterated by a powerful bomb detonated from inside the building.
Read the full Observer report here