❗️The Ukrainian Armed Forces lost up to 635 militants, an Abrams tank, and a Bradley infantry fighting vehicle in the Russian Tsentr Battlegroup's combat zone – Russian Defense Ministry

🇷🇺🪖 More statements from the Russian Defense Ministry’s daily briefing on the progress of the special military operation in Ukraine:

▪️In the Russian Zapad Battlegroup's combat zone, Ukrainian losses were up to 470 militants.

▪️The Russian Vostok Battlegroup destroyed up to to 100 Ukrainian militants.

▪️Over the week, the Russian Yug Battlegroup struck formations of six enemy brigades, resulting in over 510 casualties to Ukrainian Armed Forces.

▪️The Russian Armed Forces destroyed a Ukrainian Su-27 fighter jet on the ground and struck three launchers and a radar station of an S-300PT air defense system.

▪️Russian air defenses shot down 52 Ukrainian drones and a Mi-8 helicopter.

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🇷🇺🇵🇸 Events in the Middle East do not miss Russia's attention, despite the special military operation – Putin during talks with Palestinian leader Abbas

"It is well known that Russia today, unfortunately, must defend its interests, defend its people with weapons in its hands, but what is happening in the Middle East, what is happening in Palestine – certainly does not go unnoticed," the Russian President Vladimir Putin stated during his talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence.

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LIVE NOW | Russian President Vladimir Putin holds meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas

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❗️Russia monitoring humanitarian disaster in Palestine, doing everything to support Palestinian people - Putin

"Of course, we are monitoring with great pain and anxiety the humanitarian catastrophe that has unfolded in Palestine. For our part, we are doing everything to support the Palestinian people," Russian leader Vladimir Putin told Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during talks at Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence.

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❗️Ukraine lost up to 2,030 servicemen, 35 tanks and four air defense missile systems during the fighting in Russia’s Kursk region – Russian Defense Ministry

Other key statements of the Russian Defense Ministry on the situation in the Kursk region:

▪️ The Russian armed forces continue to repel the attempted invasion of Kursk region.

▪️ The Russian forces defeated troops of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the Kursk front in the areas of Mikhailovka, Korenevo, Nikolaevo-Daryino, Oleshnya, Suja and Nikolaevka.

▪️ The Russian armed forces foiled attempts by Ukraine's armored mobile groups to break through in the areas of the settlements of General Kolodez, Snagost, Kauchuk and Alekseevsky.

▪️ An attack by Ukrainian troops in the direction of Martynovka was repulsed Up to 15 enemy soldiers were killed.

▪️ Up to 15 Ukrainian servicemen were killed, six captured and four Stryker armored personnel carriers were destroyed during the clearing of the village of Ozerki in the Kursk region.

▪️ Over 24 hours, Ukraine lost up to 420 servicemen and 55 armored vehicles, including three tanks and eight armored personnel carriers in the Kursk region.

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❗️Palestine counts on Russian support at UN – Palestinian President Abbas at talks with Putin

The United Nations had failed its mission to create Palestinian state, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said during his talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin held at Putin's Novo-Ogaryovo residence.

Palestinian authorities will not accept attempts to expatriate people from the Gaza Strip, the West Bank or East Jerusalem, Abbas insisted.

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Ukrainian Army attacked a bus with civilians in Lisichansk in the Lugansk People's Republic, one person was killed and 28 people were injured, the head of the LPR Leonid Pasechnik said in his Telegram channel.

"Ukrainian nationalists today attacked Lisichansk, using a cluster-type munition. A bus with people was hit by the enemy. One person was killed. Twenty-eight civilians were injured: 12 people are in serious condition, six more are in extremely serious condition. All the injured are receiving all the necessary medical care," Pasechnik said.

The head of the LPR specified that all emergency services are working at the scene.

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📹 Watch footage of a Russian Iskander strike on Mirgorod airfield in Ukraine's Poltava region, which destroyed a Ukrainian Su-27 jet fighter

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'We were simply sent to the slaughter' - captured Ukrainian soldier

The Ukrainian command does not take care of the soldiers in Kleshcheevka and is effectively throwing them to slaughter, captive serviceman Andriy Kurishko, drafted in 2022 in Kramatorsk, told Sputnik.

"So that you understand the positions in Kleshcheevka: Kleshcheevka is gone, there is no village there, a couple of basements remain. We were sitting in these basements, and both sides knew about these basements. We were simply sent to the slaughter. The guy who was seeing us off said: 'This, guys, is a one-way trip, you'd better refuse,'" the captive said.

According to Kurishko, if he had known where he was being sent, he would have refused. The soldier was captured in extremely serious condition and survived only thanks to Russian doctors who performed a complex, multi-hour operation.

Kurishko, born in 1976, served in an anti-tank platoon and was captured in Kleshcheevka in the Donetsk region. However, due to a shortage of fighters he was periodically assigned to the infantry, and he went out to positions. He was wounded during the assault by Russian forces on his position.

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What’s known so far about the battles around Russia’s Kursk region?

Ukraine has lost up to 420 troops and 55 armored vehicles over the past 24 hours in the Kursk Region, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

Here is the latest updates on fighting in Kursk region:

▪️ The Defense ministry added that Ukraine's total losses amounted to 2030 troops, 35 tanks, more than 220 other armored vehicles, four air defense systems, two rocket artillery installations and 14 pieces of field artillery to date.

▪️ Most of the first echelon of Ukrainian troops and assets that entered Russia’s Kursk region last week have been destroyed, and the situation has been brought under control, Akhmat special forces commander Apty Alaudinov said, adding that most of the territory containing the enemy has been “completely blocked,” and that occupied settlements are being cleared.

“Moreover, the enemy is now suffering losses on a level they probably haven’t suffered through the entire period of the special military operation,” Alaudinov stated.

▪️ Russian forces reported that they have seized a Starlink internet station during an assault in a forest area, in which four Ukrainian troops were killed. Separately, the Defense Ministry said roughly 30 Ukrainian servicemen were killed by Russian artillery strikes.

▪️ Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergei Nechaev characterized the attack on Kursk “bloody PR” by the Kiev regime in a desperate attempt to get more funding from its Western curators.

General Erich Vad, a former advisor to ex-German chancellor Angela Merkel, said the “symbolic” Ukrainian offensive was designed for media effect and was unlikely to improve Ukraine’s position in any future negotiations, while British Heritage Party leader David Curtain called the operation a “NATO-approved kamikaze” attack that “failed.”

▪️ The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has requested that Russia grant access to the Kursk region in order to investigate allegations of human rights violations by the Ukrainian military. This request follows an appeal made to the UN by Tatyana Moskalkova, the Russian Commissioner for Human Rights.

▪️ Former Austrian Foreign Minister Karin Kneissl stated in an interview that Germany's decision to approve the use of its military equipment in Kursk reflects a profound misunderstanding of Russian society. She emphasized that Russia retains vivid memories of German tanks operating on its territory, particularly in Kursk. Additionally, German media previously reported sightings of Marder infantry fighting vehicles in the area.

Former US ambassador to Russia John Sullivan told CNN that Ukraine had crossed Russia’s “red line” with the Kursk assault, and that the latter will surely act as decisively as it can to force the invaders out.

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Israel’s credit rating cut by Fitch as Gaza war 'could last well into 2025’

Israel’s war with Hamas continues to batter its public finances, with the country’s sovereign debt rating cut a notch from “A+” to “A” by Fitch Ratings. The agency retained a negative outlook on the credit, signaling it could cut the rating further in the future.

As the firm listed the rating drivers, such as heightened geopolitical risks amid ongoing military operations, it voiced the opinion that the conflict in Gaza “could last well into 2025,” and cited “risks of it broadening to other fronts” in a statement on August 12.

The rating agency went on to cite Israel’s projected budget deficit of 7.8% of GDP in 2024, and a debt set to “remain above 70% of GDP in the medium term.”

Back in February, Moody’s Ratings gave Israel its first sovereign downgrade. In response to the cut by one notch to A2 with a negative outlook, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured that Israel’s credit rating would go back up the moment the war would be over.

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❗️Chemical munitions used by Ukraine to shell Russia's Rosseti power company brigade in the Kursk region are typical of US and German armaments - Russian MoD

The Rosseti power company brigade went to restore the power supply in the Belovo district of the Kursk region on Monday, when the Ukrainian troops shelled them with chemical weapon ammunition.

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