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relationship with Russia, journalists from European Pravda reported.
Ukraine's counteroffensive progress has been slower for multiple reasons.The minefields in southern Ukraine are so dense the troops trying to liberate the area can only advance “tree by tree,” one soldier involved in Kyiv’s counteroffensive reported CNN. He said he’s never seen this many mines in all his years of service. As he and other Ukrainian soldiers wade through mined areas, encountering heavily fortified defences and aerial assaults, much of the world seems to think they are moving slowly. Ukraine’s Western allies are nervous that Kyiv's progress in its long-awaited counteroffensive is measured in meters rather than kilometers. But the slower-than-expected pace of the counterattack means their support could become increasingly unsustainable if the conflict drags on. The Western leaders supporting Ukraine are facing elections in the next year and a half and need to justify the huge amount of resources they’ve poured into Ukraine when their voters struggle to make ends meet. That can become difficult if there isn’t much battlefield success to show for it.
Poland and Ukraine upped their defences along their borders with Belarus in July following the threat of Wagner mercenaries in Belarus. Poland reinforced its border with Belarus with 500 law enforcement officers, including riot and anti-terrorism units, Polish Interior Minister Mariusz Kamiński said on July 2. He added that there are already 5,000 Polish border guards and 2,000 soldiers guarding the border. Polish Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski said Warsaw has learned that Belarus could accommodate up to 8,000 Wagner mercenaries.
Russia has attacked Odesa for the third time in a week and destroyed an iconic cathedral protected by UNESCO. At least 25 architectural monuments in the Ukrainian port city of Odesa have been damaged by Russian missiles overnight. The most famous church in Odesa is an Orthodox cathedral known as the Transfiguration or Spaso-Preobrazhenskyi Cathedral, built in 1809, and it was left severely damaged following the attack. Kyiv's Air Force says Russia fired five different types of missiles at the port city overnight, with air defences taking down all four Kalibr cruise missiles and all five Iskander K cruise missiles. At the same time, Ukraine’s defences could not intercept any of the five Oniks cruise missiles, the three Kh-22 anti-ship missiles, or the two Iskander-M ballistic missiles that were fired at the city. The latest attack on Odesa demonstrates how certain types of Russian missiles are proving almost impossible for Ukrainian air defences to shoot down. According to Yurii Ihnat, Ukraine's Air Force spokesman, electronic warfare tactics can succeed against these missiles, forcing them to change course. Still, Ukraine needs more air defence systems like the US-made Patriot and the European SAMP-T systems.
Half of Ukrainians held by Russians in Kherson Oblast tortured. Nearly half of Ukrainians held in Russian detention facilities in the liberated parts of Kherson Oblast were tortured when the territory was under Russian occupation, with many also being subject to sexual violence, according to a report compiled by Western lawyers and published on Aug. 2.
Ukraine's Danube Port damaged in Russian drone strike. The Russian night strike against Odesa Oblast targeted Ukraine's Danube River port of Izmail, causing substantial damage to grain warehouses and other infrastructure, the Prosecutor General's Office and the defence Ministry
14 UKRAINE Country Report August 2023 www.intellinews.com