Ukrainian troops topple Lenin statue in Russia
Ukrainian forces appear to have toppled a statue of Vladimir Lenin in the captured town of Sudzha in Russia’s Kursk region.
The statue previously stood in Sudzha’s central square and was heavily damaged during fighting in the settlement, which Ukraine said it had captured on August 1
Photos published after the town fell showed the monument pockmarked with bullet holes, and with the first Soviet leader missing a large chunk of his face.
“The process of decommunisation continues. In Sudzha too,” Ukraine’s ministry of culture and information policy said after the statue was removed.
Ukraine demolished the majority of its Communist monuments after the Maidan revolution of 2013-2014. The only Lenin statues to remain standing in the country are reported to be in the Chernobyl exclusion zone.
Russia erected around 7,000 statues of Lenin during the Soviet era, and around 6,000 are estimated to remain scattered across the country.
05:46 PM BST
Today’s live coverage has ended
Today’s live coverage has ended. Here’s a roundup of the day’s events:
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region, published a video of himself driving a Tesla Cybertruck with a machine gun mounted on the back.
Ukrainian prosecutors said they were investigating a video that allegedly showed Russian troops displaying the head of a dead Ukrainian soldier.
The Washington Post reported that the Ukrainian incursion into Kursk derailed partial ceasefire talks between Ukraine and Russia.
The head of the Ukrainian air force released footage showing the destruction of a key Russian bridge in Kursk.
A Russian overnight strike on Sumy injured at least two people and damaged several buildings and cars.
05:20 PM BST
Pictured: Putin ally puts machine gun on Tesla truck
An ally of Vladimir Putin has published a video of himself driving a Tesla Cybertruck with what appears to be a PKM machine gun mounted on the back.
Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of Russia’s Chechnya region, heaped praise on Tesla chief Elon Musk and said he would send the adapted vehicle to the Ukraine conflict zone.
Kadyrov also invited Mr Musk to Chechnya, saying he would welcome him as his “dearest guest”.
04:35 PM BST
Italian journalists return home after angering Russia
Two Italian journalists who angered Moscow with a TV report from the Ukrainian-held parts of Russia’s Kursk region will return to Italy, their employer said on Saturday.
“The company decided to make journalist Stefania Battistini and cameraman Simone Traini return temporarily to Italy, solely to ensure personal safety and security,” Italian state broadcaster RAI said.
Russia’s foreign ministry summoned Italy’s ambassador on Friday over what it said was an “illegal border crossing” by the RAI crew.
Baza, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement, said the Kremlin’s interior ministry was planning to open criminal cases against the two journalists.
The four-person RAI crew, working under Ukrainian military escort, produced the first foreign media report from Ukraine’s Kursk incursion in the town of Sudzha last week.
03:44 PM BST
Kyiv investigates alleged Russian beheading of Ukrainian soldier
Ukrainian prosecutors have launched an investigation into a video that allegedly shows a Russian soldier displaying the head of a Ukrainian serviceman on a stake.
“A pre-trial investigation has been launched under the procedural guidance of the Office of the Prosecutor General into the violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder,” the Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said in a statement.
The video began circulating on August 16 and appears to show a Russian soldier talking to camera and pointing to the severed head of a Ukrainian serviceman, which has been placed on a stake on top of a checkpoint in what is said to be the Kolotilovka border area.
Ukrainska Pravda, a Ukrainian newspaper, said it had obtained intercepted Russian audio communications that indicated a Russian soldier was ordered to behead four dead Ukrainian servicemen. It has not published the recording.
Dmytro Lubinets, the Ukrainian human rights commissioner, said he had appealed to the UN and the International Committee of the Red Cross about the alleged incident.
03:15 PM BST
Pictured: Donors give blood in Odessa
Donors are seen giving blood at the Union Cultural Center in Odessa, Ukraine on Saturday as part of a project organised by the NGO DonorUA.
02:42 PM BST
Ukraine must not overextend supply lines, senior military analyst warns
Ukrainian forces need to be careful not to overextend their supply lines as they push forces into Russia, a senior US military analyst has warned.
Dara Massicot, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment, said that logistics would become an increasingly important factor for Ukrainian forces the longer they stay in Russia.
“I’m not sure what the logistics plan is and how they will sustain these forces or what they’re using for secure communications, because Starlink doesn’t work inside Russian territory,” she told the Meduza Russian-language news website.
Starlink is Elon Musk’s satellite system that Ukrainian forces have been relying on for their communications across the frontline in the eastern Donbas region. Ukrainian commanders have said that they are advancing by up to two miles every day in Russia.
02:27 PM BST
Germany freezes military aid to Ukraine
By Jörg Luyken
Germany has frozen its military aid to Ukraine, claiming that a domestic budgetary crisis means it can no longer afford to supply Kyiv with new weapons.
Olaf Scholz, the German chancellor, told his defence minister this month that there would be no money available for further military aid, according to a new report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper.
You can read the full story here.
02:18 PM BST
Pictured: 88-year-old Maria watches Ukrainian military activity near the Russian border
02:06 PM BST
Russia to evacuate more villages in Belgorod
Russian authorities in the Belgorod region said that they will evacuate six more villages from August 19 because of the increased threat from Ukraine’s incursion.
Vyacheslav Gladkov, the Belgorod region governor, said that people living in the villages of Novostroyevka Vtoraya and the settlements of Sovkhozny, Dobropolye and Kazachok should relocate to temporary accommodation.
These villages lie near the border with Ukraine and towards the west of Belgorod, which borders the Kursk region. Ukraine invaded the Kursk region on August 6 and has been trying to expand the assault into Belgorod.
Russia’s FSB security forces have already imposed a counter-terrorism operation in the Kursk and Belgorod regions in response to the Ukrainian invasion.
01:41 PM BST
Watch: Aftermath of Russian missile strike on Sumy
A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Saturday morning injured at least two people and damaged several buildings and cars, local officials said.
Click here to view this content.
01:21 PM BST
Ukraine plans to attack Kursk nuclear power plant, Russia says
Russia has said Ukraine is planning to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant and blame such a “provocation” on Moscow.
In a statement, the Russian defence ministry said it would respond to any such action with “tough retaliatory measures”.
The ministry added that it took information it said it had received regarding Kyiv’s alleged plans with “due seriousness”.
It went on to say that such an attack would be a man-made disaster, and that vast swathes of Europe would face radioactive contamination.
Kyiv has denied the Russian accusations, labelling it “insane” propaganda.
01:00 PM BST
Watch: Ukrainian troops pull off daring battlefield evacuation
Ukraine’s 47th Separate Mechanised Brigade has released footage of what it says was a “brilliantly planned evacuation” of soldiers about to be overrun.
In the video, Ukrainian troops can be seen sheltering in a trench as Russian soldiers close in on their position. A US-supplied Bradley armoured vehicle then fires on the advancing Russians, forcing one soldier to scramble for cover, before quickly driving in to pick up the friendly troops.
12:08 PM BST
Kursk incursion is ‘temporary’ and ‘not an occupation’
Ukraine’s advance into the Kursk region of Russia is “temporary” and not an occupation, a Ukrainian presidential adviser has said.
“There is a big difference between this and the type of war that Russia is leading,” Mykhailo Podolyak told US news channel NBC. “Ukraine is incurring with completely different goals.”
“Ukraine is not planning to occupy this territory. This is temporary,” he added.
Mr Podolyak went on to say that Kyiv intended to destroy Russian military infrastructure in Kursk, which had been used to launch attacks across the border into Ukraine.
On X on Friday, Mr Podolyak said that the Kursk offensive was a “tool” to force Russia to enter into a “fair negotiation process”.
11:59 AM BST
Ukraine ‘strengthening positions’ in Kursk, Zelensky says
Ukrainian forces are strengthening their positions in the Kursk region of Russia, Volodymyr Zelensky said, quoting a report from the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces.
The report added that Kyiv’s troops had expanded the “stabilized area”, which appeared to refer to the areas of the Kursk region currently claimed to be under Ukrainian control.
It also thanked Ukrainian troops and commanders for capturing Russian military personnel, which it said would hasten the release of Ukrainian troops and civilians held by Russia.
Mr Zelensky also said that the situation in Pokrovsk and Toretsk in the Donetsk region of Ukraine was “under control” despite dozens of Russian assaults on the settlements over the last 24 hours.
Ukrainian authorities on Friday urged civilians to speed up their evacuation of Povkrovsk, as the Russian army was rapidly closing in on the town.
11:32 AM BST
Ukraine ‘shoots down all Russian overnight drones’
Ukraine shot down all 14 Russian Shahed drones launched at the country overnight, Kyiv’s air force said.
It added that the Russian drones were fired from Primorsko-Akhtarsk, Yeysk and Kursk and were destroyed over Mykolaiv, Cherkasy, Poltava, Dnipro, Zaporizhzhia, and Kyiv.
Russia also fired an Iskander-K cruise missile at the city of Sumy, which was not intercepted and injured at least two people (see our post at 10.25am).
The Shahed drone is an Iranian-designed unmanned attack weapon fitted with a warhead of up to 50kg and with a range of up to 1250 miles. Typically launched in “swarms”, they are flown into targets and detonate on impact.
10:53 AM BST
Ukraine’s Kursk incursion ‘derails partial ceasefire talks’
Ukraine’s incursion into the Kursk region of Russia has derailed talks for a partial ceasefire, the Washington Post reported on Saturday.
According to the newspaper, Kyiv and Moscow were set to hold indirect talks in Qatar about halting strikes on energy and power infrastructure.
The discussions were reportedly abandoned after Ukraine’s shock cross-border assault into Russian territory that began on August 6.
For over a year, Russia has hit Ukraine’s power grid with a barrage of cruise missiles and drone strikes. Ukraine, meanwhile, has conducted a campaign of long-range drone attacks on Russian oil facilities that has reduced Moscow’s oil refining capacity by an estimated 15 per cent.
10:41 AM BST
Ukrainian men attack border guard while trying to flee to Romania
Three Ukrainian men attacked a border guard while attempting to illegally cross into Romania, local media has reported.
“The men, having attacked the serviceman, took away his weapon and fled in the direction of the neighbouring country,” the Kyiv Independent quoted a border guard service spokesman as saying.
The spokesman said that two of the men were later detained by Ukrainian servicemen, while the third was caught by Romanian police, who found the stolen weapon in his possession.
Ukrainian men aged 18-60 are prohibited from leaving the country without special permission.
According to Romanian police, 11,000 military-aged Ukrainian men have illegally crossed into the country since the start of Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
10:25 AM BST
Pictured: The aftermath of a Russian strike on Sumy
A Russian missile attack on the Ukrainian city of Sumy on Saturday morning injured at least two people and damaged several buildings and cars, local officials said.
“As a result of the attack, two people were injured, 10 cars, two apartment buildings, and a shopping center building were damaged. All specialized services are working at the scene,” Oleksiy Drozdenko, the head of the city’s military administration, wrote on the Telegram messaging app.
10:14 AM BST
Russia accuses Ukraine of bombing nuclear power plant road
Russia has accused Ukraine of bombing a road alongside the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine, creating a “direct threat” to the facility and to its staff.
The plant’s management said an “explosive charge” was dropped by a drone on a perimeter track next to the facility’s power units early on Saturday morning, according to Russia’s state-run Tass news agency.
Nobody was injured in the alleged attack, the agency added.
Tass published photographs showing several men inspecting an impact crater on the road, all of whom were wearing International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)-branded clothing.
Russia and Ukraine regularly accuse each other of endangering the safety of the plant.
