Live blog: Putin accuses West of fuelling Ukraine conflict

Tuesday, August 15, 2023

1555 GMT — Russia's President Vladimir Putin has addressed a security conference outside Moscow in a pre-recorded video statement, accusing the West of fueling the conflict "by pumping billions of dollars" into Ukraine and "supplying it with equipment, weapons, ammunition, sending their military advisers and mercenaries."

"Everything is being done to ignite the conflict even more, to draw other states into it," Putin said.

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1656 GMT — Russia arms deal with N Korea would violate UN resolutions: US

The United States said that Russia would be violating UN resolutions if it reaches an arms deal with North Korea, after the two countries' leaders called for greater cooperation.

"Any kind of security cooperation or arms deal between North Korea and Russia would certainly violate a series of UN Security Council resolutions," State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.

Patel highlighted that Russia was relying on some of the world's most ostracised nations, North Korea and Iran, to support its "war of aggression" against Ukraine.

"Our information indicates that Russia is seeking to increase this type of military cooperation with the DPRK," he said, referring to the North by its official name, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

1441 GMT — Ukraine's Zelenskyy meets troops in frontline Zaporizhzhia region

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited the southeastern region of Zaporizhzhia and met troops fighting in the counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south, the president's office said.

Zelenskyy was shown in a video with senior Ukrainian soldiers examining a battlefield map at what the president's office said was the frontline command point of the 46th separate airmobile brigade near the town of Orikhiv.

"The president listened to reports by the commanders on the course of combat actions in frontline areas ... and discussed the most problematic issues of their units together with the brigades and combatants," it said in a statement.

1351 GMT — Ukraine ploughs funding into fortifying border with Russia, Belarus

The Ukrainian government is to build new fortifications and military infrastructure in northeast regions that border Russia and Belarus at a cost of nearly $35 million, Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said.

"At the request of Kharkiv and Chernihiv...we are allocating 911.5 million hryvnias ($24.7 million) for Kharkiv and 363 million ($9.8 million) for Chernihiv to build military engineering and fortification structures," Shmyhal said on Telegram.

The Chernihiv region that borders Russia and Belarus was partially occupied at the start of Russia's full-scale offensive in February 2022, but it was later liberated.

1328 GMT — Ukraine launched attacks on Bryansk, Belgorod regions: governors

The governors of two Russian regions, bordering Ukraine, reported attacks on their territories.

The Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group tried to enter the territory of the Bryansk region, its Governor Alexandr Bogomaz said on Telegram.

"The armed forces of the Russian Federation, as well as the FSB (Federal Security Service) of Russia in the Bryansk region, near the village of Kurkovich in the Starodubsky district, prevented an attempt by the Ukrainian sabotage group to infiltrate into the territory of the Russian Federation," he said.

As a result of the group's shelling, one farm animal was killed and a car was damaged, he added. Separately, Belgorod region’s Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said on Telegram two people, including a woman, were injured in shelling by Ukraine's armed forces. Ukrainian authorities have not yet commented on the attacks.

1245 GMT — Russia claims Ukraine military resources are 'almost exhausted'

Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said that Ukraine's military resources were "almost exhausted", as Kiev wages a gruelling counter-offensive to recapture lost territory.

"Despite comprehensive assistance from the West, Ukraine's armed forces are unable to achieve results," Shoigu said at a security conference in Moscow.

"Preliminary results of the hostilities show that Ukraine's military resources are almost exhausted," he said.

He added that there was "nothing unique" about Western weapons and that they were not invulnerable to Russian arms on the battlefield.

Kiev kicked off its long-anticipated counter-offensive in June, but has acknowledged tough battles as it struggles to break through heavily fortified Russian positions.

1105 GMT — Russian defence minister says operation ended West's military dominance

Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu has said Moscow's "special military operation" in Ukraine ended Western dominance in the military domain, thus decreasing the ability to force its interests upon others.

Speaking at the Moscow Conference on International Security (MCIS) in the Russian capital, Shoigu said the move has increased the role of Asian, African and Latin American countries in the international arena.

Shoigu said the West made "unprecedented" efforts to disrupt the conference but failed, and the participants continue promoting the establishment of the multipolar world.

The minister argued that the Russian army "debunked many myths about the superiority of Western military standards," showing that the use of Western weapons, NATO's methods of planning operations, training and managing troops does not always ensure victory on the battlefield.

1103 GMT — Sweden prepares $314M military support package for Ukraine

Sweden has planned a new military support package to Ukraine worth $313.5 million (3.4 billion crowns), consisting mainly of ammunition and spare parts to previously delivered weapon systems, Defence Minister Pal Jonson said.

"We have to prepare ourselves for the fact this could be a long-lasting war and we also have a long-term perspective so that we can support those platforms that we are sending to Ukraine in a lasting manner," Jonson told a news conference.

The new military aid package will be Sweden's 13th to Ukraine since the start of the war, taking the total value of the Nordic country's such aid to roughly 20 billion crowns. ($1 = 10.8449 Swedish crowns)

1059 GMT — Missile hits Swedish SKF factory in Ukraine, killing three

Swedish bearings maker SKF has said its factory in Lutsk, Ukraine was hit by a missile overnight, killing three employees.

Ukrainian officials said Russian air strikes had hit two western regions of Ukraine and other areas on Tuesday, killing three people and wounding more than a dozen.

"Last night there was an attack on the city of Lutsk in Ukraine and our factory has been hit in that attack," SKF's spokesperson Carl Bjernstam said.

"We are very sad to confirm that three of our colleagues have been killed," he added.

0921 GMT — Ukraine says Russia carried out missile strikes on several regions

The Ukrainian authorities have said that Russia last night carried out missile strikes on several regions.

According to an online map tracking the air raid alerts, sirens sounded for 30 minutes this morning in Poltava, Kharkiv and Sumy regions.

Meanwhile, the air raid alerts blared across the entire territory last night, according to the online map's data.

0341 GMT — Russia strikes western Ukraine in deadly large-scale air attack

Russia has launched a large-scale air attack on Ukraine's western region of Lviv and the northwestern region of Volyn, killing three people, injuring others and forcing evacutaions, officials said.

"Many missiles were shot down, but there were also hits in Lviv," city mayor Andriy Sadovyi said on the Telegram messaging app, adding that orders were given to evacuate at least one burning apartment building.

Ukrainian media reported that according to preliminary information, Tuesday's attack was the largest air assault on the Lviv region, which borders NATO member Poland, since the start of Russia's offensive in Ukraine in February 2022.

In Russia's air strikes on the city of Lutsk, in the Volyn region, three people have been killed, according to the region's governor.

"As of now, three people have died. Several more wounded are in the hospital," said Yuriy Poguliaiko, governor of Volyn.

A business enterprise was also hit, injuring at least two people, local authorities said on the Telegram. Air raid alerts were issued for the entire Ukraine for about two hours, starting at around 2300 GMT (2 am local time).

2326 GMT — North Korea's Kim, Russia's Putin vow stronger ties

North Korea leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin have exchanged letters pledging to develop their ties into what Kim called a "long-standing strategic relationship," Pyongyang's state media KCNA said.

The letters mark the 78th anniversary of Korea's liberation from Japan's 1910-45 colonial rule, which is also celebrated as a national holiday in South Korea.

In his letter to Putin, Kim said the two countries' friendship was forged in World War II with victory over Japan and is now "fully demonstrating their invincibility and might in the struggle to smash the imperialists' arbitrary practices and hegemony," KCNA said.

The United States has accused North Korea of providing weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine, including artillery shells, shoulder-fired rockets and missiles. Pyongyang and Moscow have denied any arms transactions.

For our live updates from Monday (August 14), click here.