LIVE – War in Ukraine: Emmanuel Macron reaffirms that “France does not recognize the annexation of Ukrainian territories”.

In total, 270,000 tons of grain were destroyed in bombed Ukrainian ports in one month.

BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) emerging powers meet for a summit in Johannesburg. Discussions will center on the expansion of the alliance as it seeks to expand its influence around the world.

Vladimir Putin took the opportunity to again denounce America’s “illegal sanctions and illegal asset freezes”. The Russian president, who is under international arrest warrant for war crimes in Ukraine, spoke at the summit in a recorded video message. Russia is represented by its Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Logistic difficulties. According to British intelligence, this is what the Russian army will encounter. Since mid-August 2023 Russian forces have continued to use pontoon bridges at the Sonhar and Henisesk crossings on the border between southern Ukraine and occupied Crimea.

On 6 August the Kiev army bombed these two road bridges, partially destroying them.

Russian General Sergei Surovykin, once responsible for the offensive in Ukraine, was fired as commander of the Space Forces, two months after the Wagner uprising, according to multiple media outlets, and he was considered close.

“Army General Sergei Churovikhin has been removed from his post,” state news agency RIA Novosti said Wednesday, citing a source familiar with internal military operations. According to RIA Novosti, Mr Churovikhin, 56, was replaced by General Viktor Afsalov.

Neither the Kremlin nor the Russian Defense Ministry made any immediate announcements, while changes within the military are often made in an opaque manner.

Top news of the latest hours in Ukraine.

In the Zaporizhia region, Kyiv soldiers build their own weapons to counter the Russians. Reporting.

Three people were killed in a Ukrainian drone strike in the Russian region of Belgorod on the border with Ukraine on Wednesday, regional governor Vyacheslav Klatkov said in a telegram.

“Three civilians were killed” in the village of Lavy in Valouïsk district, Telegram Mr. Gladkov wrote in “Ukrainian armed forces launched an explosive device with a drone while people were in the street,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin met with leaders of the Lugansk (eastern Ukraine) and Zaporizhia (southern) regions, which Russia says are annexed, to discuss regional elections and the start of the school year, the Kremlin announced overnight Tuesday into Wednesday.

The meetings with the head of the Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) Leonid Basechnik and the pro-Russian leader of the Zaporizhia region Yevgeny Politsky took place in the Kremlin, according to a Russian presidential press release, which did not specify their date. .

During his interview with the Russian President, Mr. Passetchnik reported a “tense” situation in the LNR.

A Russian drone strike damaged Ukrainian grain infrastructure in the Odesa region (south) overnight, local governor Oleg Kiper said Wednesday morning.

Russia “struck three hours south of the Odesa region with attack drones,” Kipper said in a telegram, explaining that “production and transshipment complexes” were hit without causing any civilian casualties. The fire spread over an area of ​​700 m2 there before it was brought under control, he added.

The barns where the grain is stored are “damaged areas,” Kipper said. In total, the military destroyed nine drones of the “Shahad-136/131” type off the eastern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, the South Ukrainian Defense Forces reported in a telegram.

Russian bombings against two villages near Lyman in eastern Ukraine killed three people and wounded two others on Tuesday evening, announced the head of the military administration of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrilenko.

“According to preliminary data, the invaders attacked the villages with artillery,” the Donetsk regional prosecutor’s office said on its Facebook page. The first attack took place against Torske at 6:50 pm (3:50 pm GMT) and half an hour later against the village of Zagitne.

Those killed in Torske were two women and a man, aged 63 to 88, who were sitting on a bench during the strike, the prosecutor’s office said, adding that a man in the same village suffered chest, shoulder and hip injuries.

Russian air defenses downed two drones in Moscow and its region, the capital’s mayor said early Wednesday, marking the sixth consecutive day of attacks.

“Last night, the air defense shot down one drone in the Mozhaysky district of Moscow region. The second drone hit a building under construction in the city (of Moscow),” Sergey Sobyanin said in Telegram.

According to initial reports, no casualties were reported in the attack.

Welcome to this live dedicated to the war in Ukraine.