Russia-Ukraine SITREP for 15 AUG 2023 23:55 - Urozhaine is Ukraine (Patreon)

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This is Report 467, which is 71 pages and our largest report since March 12, 2022. A lot happened today.

What's the big story? Ukrainian forces liberated Urozhaine, breaking through the first echelon of Russian defenses in a fourth location, and are already advancing into Zavitne Bazhannya.

What's the second story? Ukrainian forces are rapidly advancing through Robotyne, with Russian milbloggers already setting conditions in the information space for its liberation.

Bonus story? The Central Bank of Russia raised the key interest rate by 350 basis points in an attempt to bolster the sagging rouble and bring rapidly accelerating inflation under control.

Summary

•  Deputy Minister of Defense Hanna Maliar reported that the number and intensity of Russian attacks on the “Kupyansk and Lyman” fronts have declined
•  Ukrainian forces were reported to be on the offensive near Synkivka and Vilshana
•  Fighting continues east of Petropavlivka
•  Evacuations in the Kupyansk raion and the west bank of the Oskil River in Kharkiv continued
•  Ukrainian forces restarted offensive operations in the Kykolaivka direction
•  Ukrainian forces made marginal gains in Klishchiivka after Russian forces suffered heavy losses on August 13 – 14
•  Russian missiles struck a wholesale food distributor warehouse in Kramatorsk, destroying the facility
•  Russian missiles struck the already damaged and closed Zeus Ceramics Plant in Slovyansk
•  Low-intensity fighting continued in the Avdiivka and Marinka areas of operation (AO)
•  Ukrainian forces liberated Urozhaine
•  Ukrainian forces attack Zavitne Bazhannya using reconnaissance in force
•  A Russian firebase in the Petrovskyi District, located within 500 meters of three hospitals, was attacked by Ukrainian drones
•  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with multiple units and commanders in Zaporizhzhia
•  The Russian air force bombed their own troops near Dorozhnyanka
•  Ukrainian forces have advanced further into Robotyne and toward Verbove
•  Several S-300 antiaircraft missiles used for a ground attack struck the suburbs of Zaporizhzhia
•  Russian OMON kidnaped Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant Shift supervisor Serhii Spartesnyi on July 18, and he is being held without charges
•  Russia attacked the Odesa ports of Izmail and Reni with Shahed-136 kamikaze drones
•  Online reports that Ukraine deployed two pontoon bridges over the Dnipro River are false
•  Crimean Tartar insurgent organization Atesh reported that Russian troops in Hola Prystan are in a heightened state of readiness
•  A Russian collaborator in occupied Kozachi Laheri went online to beg for Russian forces to remove her from the settlement
•  At least two Russian cruise missiles struck a sports complex in Dnipro, with another two striking an industrial complex
•  Homes were damaged in Ivano-Frankivsk due to missile debris on the night of August 14
•  Self-declared illegitimate president of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko calls the border situation” unprecedently tense” and is glad he has nuclear weapons
•  Latvia is mobilizing its border forces due to the “hybrid threat” created by Belarus
•  Private Military Company Wagner Group circulated a fake photo claiming they had crossed the Lithuania border
•  The number of PMC Wagner Group mercenaries in Belarus has dropped, confirming earlier reports of a partial withdrawal
•  NATO Secretary-General Chief of Staff, Stian Jenssen, enraged Ukrainian government officials suggesting that NATO membership could be accelerated in a land for peace deal with Russia
•  NATO officials later stated there had been no change in their position on providing Ukraine with continued military support
•  Deputy Minister of Defense Mailiar reported the M-777 155 mm howitzer is fully integrated into the armed forces
•  During the August 15 media briefing, Ukrainian Colonel Petro Chernyk said the Russia-Ukraine war is still 95% artillery
•  The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) made more anti-corruption arrests among the commissariat structure and National Guard commanders
•  Sweden announced a new military aid package
•  Russia displayed captured military equipment at Patriot Park in Moscow
•  Russian Lieutenant General Bladislav Ershov is accused of disrupting Russian logistics in Kherson due to a feud with area commanders
•  Commander of the Russian Maykop Air Training Regiment, Colonel Vadym Gurov, was killed in a training accident during a check flight
•  Russian State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin asked deputies not to speculate publicly about another wave of mobilization
•  Russian contract soldiers in Tartarstan are being promised a one-time 500,000 rouble payment for enlistment
•  PMC Convoy, created by former Wagner Group commander Sergei Aksenov, has deep connections to multiple Russian banks and businesses, preventing integration into the Russian Ministry of Defense
•  Chechen and Dagestani troops engaged in fratricide in occupied Mykhailivka
•  Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu said a priority of the so-called ‘special military operation’ is the release of Russian POWs
•  Retired FSB Colonel Mikhail Polyakov, the administrator for the propaganda channel Kremlin Laundress, had his criminal case transferred from Moscow City Court to the Military Investigation Department and was remanded back into custody
•  General of the Army Sergey Surovikin is reportedly still under house arrest
•  Russian milbloggers are furious with battalion commander Major Yuri Tomov who is collaborating with Ukraine after his capture
•  A woman in occupied Donetsk was caught on video during a racist rant directed at Russian soldiers in a café and was later forced to make an apology video
•  Former GRU Colonel Vladimir Kvachkov and leader of the Crossbow Rebellion was fined 40,000 roubles in a Moscow court for discrediting the Russian Federation Armed Forces in 2022
•  Russian forces shelled the Kherson regional oncology dispensary and surgical center
•  Humanitarian aid volunteers Andrew Bagshaw of New Zealand and Chris Perry of the United Kingdom were likely tortured and executed by PMC Wagner mercenaries after their January 2023 capture
•  Poland flexed its military muscle at the largest Armed Forces Day Parade in the nation’s history
•  India will not invite Ukraine to the September 9 – 10 G20 Summit
•  Forty-five Russian diplomats were expelled from Chisinau, Moldova
•  Ukraine is considering suspending visa-free travel with Israel due to security concerns, accusations of aiding Russia by sharing Ramstein Working Group information with Moscow, and the deportation of Ukrainian refugees
•  Pakistan has suspended all future oil imports from Russia because Urals crude oil isn’t the right weight and sweetness for their refineries
•  The Central Bank of Russia raised interest rates 350 basis points to 12.0% in an attempt to prop up the collapsing rouble
•  Up to a third of migrant workers in the Russian Federation are considering leaving because of the weak rouble

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