UKRaine Ready to Face Any RUssian Offensive in Foreseeable Future; UKR Says It Stopped Air Attacks On Odesa; UKR Opening New Front in Kherson Oblast – Just 83 Kilometers From Crimea; UKR Air Defense Forces Down 15 Drones, 8 Kalibr Missiles Launched at Odesa at Night, LIVE UPDATES and MORE

By admin On Aug 16, 2023

Military intelligence: Ukraine ready to face any Russian offensive in foreseeable future:

Ukraine is ready for any large-scale offensives that Russia could potentially launch in the near future, military intelligence (HUR) General Vadym Skibitskyi said on Aug. 14, commenting on recent rumors about such attacks in Western media.

Moscow is currently exerting efforts to slow down Ukraine’s counteroffensive, and destroy the country’s internal unity and the trust between Kyiv and its partners, Skibitskyi told Obozrevatel in an interview.

“They want to win time to restore weapons stockpiles and the fighting capacity of their occupying forces. Our task is to prevent this,” the military intelligence officer said.

“Yes, it is not easy for our security and defense forces, but we have no choice but to continue the fight and we are moving forward wisely and courageously.”

Skibitskyi pointed out that despite predictions of a large-scale Russian offensive during the last winter, such plans have failed.

Since mid-July, Russian forces have been concentrating around Kupiansk in Kharkiv Oblast, trying to regain the positions lost during the Ukrainian surprise counteroffensive last autumn. —>READ MORE HERE

Ukraine says it stopped air attacks on Odesa, while British and Dutch jets go after Russian bombers:

Russia launched three waves of drones and missiles against the southern Ukraine port city of Odesa, officials said Monday, though the Ukrainian air force said it intercepted all the airborne weapons fired during the nighttime attacks.

Falling debris from the interceptions of 15 Shahed drones and eight Kalibr missiles damaged a residential building, a supermarket and a dormitory of an educational facility in the city, Odesa Gov. Oleh Kiper said.

Two employees of the supermarket were hospitalized, Kiper said. Video showed a huge blaze at the store during the night and, the next day, the large building’s charred and mangled wreckage.

Meanwhile, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, rebuked critics who suggest a 2 1/2-month-old counteroffensive aimed at dislodging Russian forces from occupied areas of Ukraine should be advancing more quickly.

The Ukrainian army does not intend to engage in conspicuous “large-scale battles” against the Russians as the operation moves forward, Podolyak said on the X platform, formerly known as Twitter.

The goal, he said, is a piecemeal and systematic destruction of “the capabilities of the enemy army: its logistics, technical potential, officers and personnel.”

Also Monday, the Dutch Defense Ministry and the British Royal Air Force said they scrambled fighter jets when Russian bombers were tracked flying toward the airspace of the Netherlands and off Scotland, respectively. The pair of Russian warplanes spotted in each location were flying in international airspace.

Britain’s air force said two Typhoon fighters were launched from RAF Lossiemouth to monitor the Russian bombers as they flew north of the Shetland Islands off Scotland. The Russian Tu-142 Bear-F and Tu-142 Bear-J, which are used for maritime reconnaissance and anti-submarine warfare, were in airspace that is part of NATO’s northern air policing area, the U.K. Defense Ministry said. —>READ MORE HERE

Follow links below to +++++relevant+++++ and related stories:

+++++Russia-Ukraine News LATEST UPDATES: (REUTERS) (AP) (NY POST) and (WSJ)+++++

+++++Ukraine opening new front in Kherson Oblast – just 83 kilometers from Crimea+++++

+++++Air defense forces down 15 drones, 8 Kalibr missiles launched at Odesa at night+++++

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