Ukraine-Russia war live: Putin’s forces ‘anticipated’ Kursk incursion as military’s death toll tops 70k

A charred transformer from a damaged Ukrainian power plant is now on display in Kyiv’s Kontraktova Square, symbolising the devastation caused by Russian strikes on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.

The exhibit, organised by energy company Dtek, a nonprofit organisation, and Ukraine’s ministry of energy, contrasts the peacetime past with the harsh realities of war.

The exhibit is to stay in Kyiv for the next two months.

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A senior Russian lawmaker, Vyacheslav Volodin, warned that if Ukraine were to strike deep into Russian territory using Western missiles, it could trigger a global conflict involving nuclear weapons.

He stated that Russia would respond forcefully with more powerful weapons. “Russia will give a tough response using more powerful weapons,” the speaker of Russia’s Duma, the lower house of parliament said.

His remarks followed a European Parliament vote supporting Ukraine’s ability to target Russian sites with Western weapons.

Mr Volodin emphasised the historical sacrifices of the Soviet Union in World War II, urging Europeans to recognise the speed at which Russia could retaliate with its RS-28 Sarmat missile, which could reach Strasbourg in just over three minutes.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky stated yesterday that Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s Kursk region, launched on 6 August, successfully diverted around 40,000 Russian troops from the frontline.

This move is aimed to relieve pressure on eastern Ukraine, where Russia has recently captured several villages.

Just a few days ago, it was reported that Russia deployed “significant” reinforcements for a counterattack on the western flank of Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region. Initially, Russia’s response was limited, as Russian president Vladimir Putin focused on an offensive toward the eastern city of Pokrovsk, despite Ukraine’s hopes of drawing Russian troops away from that front.

Mr Zelensky added that Kyiv’s forces were “holding on heroically and doing everything necessary for our other military-political steps”.

But after a week of Russia’s initial counterattack, they appear to have retaken around 30 square miles of the Kursk region, according to DeepState, a Ukrainian war tracker with close ties to the defence ministry. The counterattack appears concentrated on the western flank of the Ukrainian attack, initially towards, but now past, the town of Snagost.

Oleksandr Kamyshin spent more than a year as minister of strategic industries, overseeing Ukraine’s defence industry. He tells Askold Krushelnycky about his latest challenge:

Despite earlier reports that Berlin would not approve more aid for Ukraine in 2023, a German finance ministry document revealed an additional €400m in support for Ukraine, according to AFP.

The funds are intended to provide military assistance, including drones and air defence systems, to bolster Ukraine’s defences for the rest of 2024. While Germany has already pledged around €8bn this year, aid is expected to drop to €4bn in 2025, as per a Reuters report in July.

According to the German finance ministry document — a letter to the parliamentary budget committee — additional funds are needed to “fulfil the German government’s support commitments to the Ukrainian armed forces”.

The Kyiv Independent reported that Germany’s political challenges, including gains by “anti-war” parties in regional elections, and budgetary concerns have complicated its ongoing support for Ukraine.

As of June 2024, Germany has allocated €14.7bn in aid to Ukraine, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy.

A close ally of Russia’s Vladimir Putin has warned Western governments that a nuclear war would ensue if they gave the green light for Ukraine to use long-range Western weapons to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Vyacheslav Volodin, speaker of the lower house of parliament and a member of Mr Putin’s Security Council, was responding to a vote in the European Parliament urging EU countries to give such approval to Kyiv.

“What the European Parliament is calling for leads to a world war using nuclear weapons,” Mr Volodin wrote on Telegram.

His message was entitled “For those who didn’t get it the first time” - an apparent reference to a warning by Putin last week that the West would be directly fighting Russia if it let Ukraine fire long-range missiles onto Russian territory.

Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said that Moscow is prepared to defend its interests in the Arctic through diplomatic, military, and technical means.

His comments come in response to increasing US and Nato military exercises in the region, which Mr Lavrov sees as a potential threat. In comments quoted in Russian media, he emphasised that Russia is fully equipped to protect its interests amid rising tensions.

“We see how Nato is intensifying exercises in connection with possible crises in the Arctic,” Mr Lavrov was quoted as saying in a documentary series titled “Soviet Breakthrough”.

“Our country is fully ready to defend its interests in military, political and military-technical terms.”

His remarks follow a US Pentagon report highlighting intensified Russian activity in the Arctic, including the reopening of Soviet-era military sites and cooperation with China on shipping routes and minerals, which the US believes could affect polar stability.

A proposed corridor through Armenia would effectively sever the country’s connection to Iran and slice through its sovereign territory, with the support of Moscow, writes former MP Lord Alton: