August 12, 2023 - Russia-Ukraine news

Today’s coverage of the war in Ukraine is done for the day. Follow?the latest Ukraine news?or read through the updates below.

The motor of a Russian Geran-2 drone is pictured during a media briefing of the Security and Defense Forces of Ukraine in Kyiv on April 13.

A United Kingdom-based organization that investigates weapon components says it?has discovered Russian efforts to produce its own domestic version of Iran’s Shahed series drones.

Conflict Armament Research (CAR) has previously documented drones in Ukraine that are marked with the Russian word for geranium, “geran,” implying at first glance that they are of Russian origin. The research center had said the unmanned aerial vehicles, or UAVs, were all Iranian-made Shahed-131 and Shahed-136 models.

But when CAR investigators got their hands on the physical remnants of two Geran-2 Russian drones used in Ukraine last month, a detailed analysis showed that Russia “has started producing and fielding its own domestic version of the Shahed-136,” the research center said.

Investigators said “major differences in the airframe construction and in the internal units, including for navigation” showed that the two UAVs were manufactured in Russia rather than Iran.

The researchers described the development as a turning point in Moscow’s ability to extend its heavy use of the unmanned weapons.

Russia “now has more than one pathway to still be able to sustain its current attack patterns” in Ukraine, CAR added.

The researchers said Russia “has distilled the principles of the Shahed series UAV, while simplifying its functioning by combining new solutions” and will likely be able to produce new UAVs fairly quickly.

About the Shahed drones: Russia has primarily used the Iranian-made drones to attack critical Ukrainian infrastructure and stretch Ukraine’s air defenses, according to US intelligence officials.

Tehran, for its part, has flatly denied providing the drones for Russia during the war.

Earlier this year, a separate report by CAR revealed that Iran was powering the drones with stolen Western technology.

Ukraine claimed “partial success” near the village of Robotyne along the southern Zaporizhzhia front after weeks of fighting in the area, as Russia continues offensive efforts near Kupiansk in the northeastern Kharkiv region that borders Russia.?

Ukraine’s drive to push down to the Sea of Azov and through to the Melitopol and Berdiansk areas continues, with fierce fighting along the front lines in that southern direction, officials say.

On Friday, social media video and images showed Ukrainian troops had entered Robotyne — a location that has seen heavy battles for several weeks. According to the Institute for the Study of War, even marginal gains by Ukraine in this area are significant.

In the Donetsk region: Meanwhile, Russians made “unsuccessful attempts” to regain lost ground near the village of Urozhaine in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military’s General Staff said. On Thursday, Ukraine also claimed “partial success” in gaining positions in the area near the recently retaken village of Staromaiorske.?

Russian forces are trying to “escalate and take over the initiative” in the east in an effort to “pull” Ukrainian troops from other areas of the front lines, according to a regional military official.?

In the Kharkiv region: In the Lyman-Kupiansk direction in the northeastern Kharkiv region, “the enemy is trying escalate and take over the initiative at this direction and attacking our positions,” said Serhii Cherevatyi, the deputy commander of strategic communications for the eastern military grouping.?

Russian forces attempted offensives near Kupiansk, which were repelled in a number of settlements in the area, according to the daily update from the General Staff.

With the upcoming anniversary of Ukraine’s September 2022 lightning offensive, Cherevatyi said on national television Saturday that Russian forces are looking to make gains there and “want to pull our forces and resources away from the Bakhmut area at all costs.” Ukraine has bolstered its defensive positions since last fall, according to the spokesperson.

Remember: A mandatory evacuation was ordered for Kupiansk and surrounding areas as Russia intensified shelling of the area and claimed to have captured some Ukrainian positions near the northeastern city that lies close to the Russian border.?Kupiansk fell to Moscow’s forces within the first week of their invasion in February last year, but was then taken back last September.?

Russian defenses intercepted a Ukrainian drone over the western border region of Belgorod on Saturday, Russia’s defense ministry said.

The attempted attack happened around 5:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. ET), but it was “foiled,” the ministry said in a post on Telegram. Nothing was damaged in the incident and no one was wounded or killed, the post added.

The defense ministry did not name a potential target of the attack, saying simply that it was an assault on “facilities on the territory of the Russian Federation.”

Some background: Ukrainian drone strikes inside Russia have become an increasingly common feature of the war, with Kyiv warning that more will come.

A?string of drone strikes has peppered Russian cities, including the capital of Moscow, throughout the summer. Belgorod and other western border regions are also frequent targets.

CNN’s Rob Picheta contributed to this report.

Representatives from China (L) and the United States (R) attended talks on Ukraine in Saudi Arabia last weekend.

European officials took some small comfort when China attended a summit in?Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, last weekend. The meeting aimed to find a peaceful solution to the conflict in Ukraine.

While Beijing didn’t budge from its stated position of impartiality, China’s mere presence at a meeting to which?Russia?says it was not invited has, some sources claim, sent a message to the international community that it’s not willing openly to pick Russia’s side against the West.

It might be a very small victory, but in the diplomatic world of zero-sum games, Russian President Vladimir Putin not getting exactly what he wants is something to celebrate.

“We never expected China to move fully to the Western position, but supporting this meeting will be a major disappointment to Russia,” a senior EU official told CNN.

However, while China’s engagement with the international community might be a blow for Russia, it’s still being viewed with suspicion by Western allies, not least because of the continued economic, diplomatic and security ties the countries share.

Read the full story here.

Ukraine opened registration Saturday for merchant ships to sail through temporary corridors in the Black Sea, according to the Ukrainian Navy.?

The temporary routes aim to overcome the global food security crisis, Pletenchuk said. He added that it will allow shipowners and companies to “finally take back their merchant vessels that are in humanitarian captivity due to the constant threats of Russians at sea.”

Pletenchuk said ship owners and captains have been warned of the existing danger, and said Ukrainian Armed Forces will help to ensure the security of the merchant ships sailing through the corridors, with the Navy “doing everything we can.”

The Ukrainian Navy first announced the temporary corridors for civilian ships to sail to and from Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea on Thursday. The navy outlined that only vessels whose owners or captains officially accept the current conditions will be allowed to use the routes.

However, it is not immediately clear when ships will begin using the new routes.

Pletenchuk also did not outline a set duration for how long the corridors will remain open, saying, “everything depends on the events in the Black Sea.”

Some background: Last month, Russia said it was suspending its participation in?the Black Sea Grain Initiative, once again raising fears over global food supplies.

The deal allowed Ukraine to export grain by sea, with ships bypassing a Russian blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports and navigating safe passage through the waterway to Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait in order to reach global markets. It proved vital for stabilizing global food prices and bringing relief to the developing countries that rely on Ukrainian exports.

People visit a Black Sea beach that was reopened after being closed down last year in Odesa on August 10.

Beaches have officially opened for swimming in Ukraine’s largest port city of?Odesa?for the first time since the full-scale Russian invasion began in February 2022, local officials announced Saturday.

Bathing during air raid alerts, however, remains banned in the Black Sea city.?

Odesa?has seen relentless waves of Russian attacks over the last 17 months, filling the waters with sea mines and leading officials to close the stretch of sandy beaches and holiday resorts once popular with Ukrainian and foreign vacationers.

However, despite officially banning swimming since the start of the war, some people have continued to do so.?

The city’s beaches were further tarnished in June when filthy waters from the collapse of the Russia-controlled Nova Kakhovka dam washed downstream, posing what the?Odesa?municipality described as a “genuine threat” to the health of residents.

The head of the?Odesa?region military administration, Oleh Kiper, said several “swimming and recreation areas” would open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. local time in a post on the Telegram messaging app on Saturday, adding that more beaches would open up as inspections were completed.?

Kiper said lifeboats and mesh fences to protect against explosive ordnance would be required in open swimming areas, adding divers would be sent to inspect the Black Sea waters if necessary. Daily coastal cleaning will also take place, he said.

In a Telegram post,?Odesa’s municipality said air raid shelters were available near the reopened swimming spots, with shelter locations indicated on information boards at the beaches.

Another Ukrainian missile has been shot down in the Kerch Strait in the Black Sea on Saturday, according to an update from the Russia-appointed Head of?Crimea?Sergey Aksyonov.

“Another enemy missile was shot down over the Kerch Strait. Thank you to our air defense troops for their high professionalism and vigilance!” Aksyonov wrote on Telegram on Saturday.

Aksyonov earlier said that two Ukrainian missiles has been shot down in the Kerch Strait on Saturday.

Photos and videos circulating on social media platforms showed white smoke billowing from the bridge connecting the Russian mainland to the peninsula declared annexed by Russia in 2014. CNN has not independently verified the images.?

Two missiles intercepted near the Kerch Strait, from Russian authorities.

Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down over a bridge connecting Russia-annexed Crimea to the mainland, Russian authorities say.

The Kerch bridge has come under repeated attack during the conflict.

“Two enemy missiles were shot down by air defense forces near the Kerch Strait. The Crimean bridge has not been damaged,” the Russia-appointed Head of Crimea Sergey Aksyonov said.

Photos and videos circulating on social media platforms showed white smoke billowing from the bridge. CNN has not independently verified the images.?

Traffic on the bridge has been temporarily blocked following the attempted attack, officials said.

Some context: The Crimean bridge is a vital artery for supplying Russia’s war on Ukraine, allowing people and goods to flow into the Ukrainian territories that Moscow has occupied in the south and east of the country.

Also known as the Kerch Bridge, it holds personal value for Russian President Vladimir Putin. In the Kremlin narrative it marks the?“reunification”?of Crimea with the Russian mainland.

In October, the bridge was partially destroyed when a fuel tanker exploded and damaged a large section of the road. The Kremlin was quick to blame Kyiv for that explosion, and Putin alleged that it was an act of “sabotage” by Ukrainian security services.

The bridge was also hit by two strikes in July in an attack a Ukrainian security official told CNN Kyiv was responsible for.

A 73-year-old woman was killed in Kharkiv region Saturday morning amid increased shelling in the region.

This week, Ukrainian officials called the northern front in the eastern region the “epicenter” of hostilities, but said that Ukrainian defenses are holding.

As Russian attacks intensify, Ukraine has ordered the evacuation of civilians in and around the city of Kupiansk, which was liberated in a lightning Ukrainian campaign offensive in September 2022.

Oleh Syniehubov, head of Kharkiv region military administration, said about 12,000 people remained in the city and was now considering announcing mandatory evacuations for children in more settlements.

Syniehubov added that over the past 24 hours, Russian troops shelled other settlements in the region with artillery, mortars and other weapons.

In years past, the month of August was often greeted in?Russia?with a degree of caution, even alarm. Russians spoke in whispered tones of their “August curse” to explain the unusually high number of deadly accidents, terrorist attacks, or outbreaks of war.

For a long time now that curse seemed to have been lifted and almost forgotten, reducing the month to just another hot summer interlude.

But this year, it appears to be back with a vengeance.

For a start, Russians are witnessing a massive upsurge in Ukrainian attacks that have brought the Kremlin’s war home, making Moscow pay a price and giving ordinary Russians a taste of the horrific violence Ukraine has suffered since last February.

In the Black Sea, Russia’s military and commercial fleets have come under attack from Ukrainian naval drones this month, threatening Russian supply and trade routes.

And every day in August so far has seen the news media carry reports of small-scale but incessant Ukrainian drone attacks targeting official buildings, military installations, or commercial and residential premises.

Read the full story here.

One person has been killed and 12 people wounded Saturday when Ukraine’s southeastern town of Orikhiv was hit with a guided aerial bomb, the Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko said in a statement posted on Telegram.

“The enemy hit Orikhiv with guided aerial bomb this morning. A police officer was killed in a strike. 12 people have been wounded, including 4 police officers,” the minister said, adding that doctors are fighting for the lives of those wounded, some in serious condition.?

Some context: Located 60 kilometers southeast of the city Zaporizhzhia,?Orikhiv?has found itself on the frontline of Ukraine’s counteroffensive. It is caught between Kyiv’s troops pushing south and Russian forces attempting to hold regional positions.

The town has come under heavy bombardment from Russian airstrikes with half-ton bombs landing frequently – sometimes 20 in as many minutes.

Russian forces destroyed 20 Ukrainian drones launched to the Crimean Peninsula overnight into Saturday,?Russia’s Ministry of Defense said.?

There were no casualties and no damage as a result of the attack, the ministry said on Telegram, adding that 14 drones were destroyed by air defenses, and six were suppressed by electronic warfare equipment.

Some context: The incident comes against the backdrop of rising tensions in the annexed Crimea and the Black Sea area.

Crimea has regularly been targeted with drones, including attacks on the bridges linking the peninsula to the mainland.

This month Ukrainian?sea drones?also attacked a major naval base in Russia, leaving a damaged Russian warship listing, a brazen strike carried out hundreds of miles from Ukrainian-held territory. Hours later a huge Russian oil tanker was hit.

Russia launched advanced Kinzhal missiles at Ukrainian pilots who will soon go for training on US-made F-16 fighter jets, the Ukrainian Air Force claimed Friday.

Military officials say one of the four Russian?missiles, also known as KH-47, was shot down. The other three missiles hit near on of Ukraine’s military airfields, which have been consistent Russian targets for several months, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat told Ukrainian television.

While Starokostiantyniv airfield in western Ukraine has been most frequently targeted,?Friday’s early morning attack targeted the Kolomyia airfield — also located in western Ukraine, in the Ivano-Frankivsk region.

“This time our youth was targeted,” Ihnat said. “Our young pilots who will soon go for training.”

Ihnat claimed Russia “wanted to hit our youngsters, depriving us of the prospect for our further re-equipment with the latest Western technologies. But as we see they did not succeed in this.”

One of the missiles was downed over the Kyiv region. It’s unclear what happened to the others.

CNN is unable to verify?any battlefield claims.

About Kinzhal missiles:?Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Russian military have touted the Kinzhal, or Kh-47, as an example of Russia’s modernized missile arsenal, claiming that its?hypersonic speed?makes it extremely difficult to intercept.

Ukraine has acknowledged that the missiles are tough to defend against, though it has knocked at least one out of the sky using a?US Patriot defense battery.

This video purports to show the moment a sea drone strikes a Russian tanker.

The Russian Sig tanker struck by a maritime drone last week has been towed to the village of Aksai in the Rostov region for repairs, according to a statement published by the Russian Marine Rescue Service on Friday.

Marine Rescue Service specialists used more than 800 kilograms (about 1,763 pounds) of biosorbents to repair the tanker and did not get any pollution into the water while towing and working on it, according to the statement.

Some background: On the night of August 5, the Sig tanker was hit by a drone carrying 450 kilograms (992 pounds) of TNT while on its way to the Kerch Strait. The strike created a hole in its engine room, forcing the 11-person crew to fight water going into the vessel, Russian authorities said. The flooding eventually stopped.

Following the attack, Russia’s Federal Agency for Maritime and River Transport said no casualties were reported and that the tanker was not carrying oil when the drone crashed into the ship. Meanwhile, Ukrainian officials said some crew members were injured and that the tanker was carrying fuel for the Russian military.?

CNN has not been able to independently verify those claims.