The Ukrainian armed forces lost more than 300 servicemen in the Kursk area between last Thursday and Friday, and 21,900 since the start of the hostilities in the region, the Russian Defence Ministry stated last Friday.
Russian marines have destroyed a Ukrainian reconnaissance unit in the Kursk border region, they said.
The Russian military repelled five Ukraine army attacks towards the settlements of Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Novaya Sorochina and Kremyanoye.
Russia’s Battlegroup North units continued offensive operations and destroyed Ukrainian formations in the areas of Daryino, Lyubimovka, Tolsty Lug, Novy Put and Plekhovo.
The Russian Armed Forces struck clusters of manpower and equipment in the areas of Bondarevka, Goncharovka, Daryino, Zazulevka, Kurilovka, Leonidovo, Lyubimovka, Malaya Loknya, Martynovka, Makhnovka, Nikolayevo-Daryino, Novy Put, Nizhny Klin, Novoivanovka, Orlovka, Plekhovo, Sverdlikovo, Tolsty Lug and Cherkasskoye Porechnoye.
Tactical air and missile forces struck Ukrainian reserves in the Sumy region.
The operation to wipe out the enemy forces continues with Russia advancing in several areas in the Donetsk and Lugansk areas.
Ukraine fired 46 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), on Friday which was almost twice as many as were fired on Thursday, and 96 munitions at 9 districts in Russia’s Belgorod Region over the past day, injuring three people, the region’s governor, Vyacheslav Gladkov, said in a statement last Friday.
Glakov stated: ‘In the Shebekinsky district, 12 munitions in two shelling rounds and five UAVs were fired at the city of Shebekino, the villages of Dobroye, Murom, Rzhevka. Two civilians were wounded.
‘27 flats in two apartment buildings, eight private houses, 80 passenger cars, two outbuildings, an administrative building, a room in an agricultural facility and an industrial production facility were damaged.’
The Borisovsky district was attacked by three UAVs, one civilian was injured as a result of the attack.
A total of 39 munitions and 16 drones were fired at the Belgorod district, damaging 5 private houses, nine passenger cars and two outbuildings.
Ten munitions and a drone were fired at the settlements in the Volokonovsky district. A social facility, a public transport stop and a power supply line were damaged.
The Grayvoronsky district was attacked by 21 munitions and 11 UAVs.
Fourteen munitions and five drones were fired at the Krasnoyaruzhsky district.
One administrative building was damaged. Five aerial targets were destroyed by an air defence system in the skies over the Prokhorovsky, Starooskolsky and Yakovlevsky districts, four passenger cars were damaged.
Meanwhile, US defence contractor Raytheon, the world’s largest producer of guided missiles, has been profiting from Ukraine-related military supplies despite previously struggling with sales up until the start of the Ukraine conflict in February 2022, a Sputnik correspondent’s analysis of the company’s earnings reports showed.
Raytheon Missiles & Defence (RMD), the subsidiary specialising in missile production under the RTX Corporation, has produced the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems (NASAMS) directly for Ukraine, while the Stinger and Javelin missiles manufactured by the company have been sent to the conflict zone since early 2022.
As a manufacturer of air defence systems such as the Patriot and the missiles used by such systems, RMD has received new orders for these missile systems after such weapons were sent to Ukraine by other Western countries.
Russia has repeatedly stated that arms supplies to Ukraine lead to further escalation of the conflict and directly involve NATO countries in it.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has repeatedly said that any cargo containing weapons for Ukraine are a legitimate target for Russia.
The United States, the United Kingdom and NATO are directly involved in the conflict, including not only by supplying weapons, but also by training personnel.
Raytheon has seen five consecutive quarters of sales growth after struggling with sales decline for four consecutive quarters before that, the company’s latest earnings report showed.
- The United States and its allies are making all possible efforts to isolate Russia and China in the Asia-Pacific region, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a press conference following his participation in the 19th East Asia Summit.
Lavrov said: ‘All practical steps of the United States and its allies (in the Asia-Pacific region) are aimed at isolating themselves from Russia, isolating themselves from China, drawing as many members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to their side as possible.
The foreign minister pointed to the paradoxical nature of the slogan promoted by the United States about the creation of the so-called free and open Indo-Pacific region.
Lavrov added: ‘Of course, there is no question of an open Indo-Pacific region in the concept that the US is now guided by.
‘And when the US and its allies today unanimously reaffirmed their commitment to the central role of ASEAN in the development of cooperation in this region, they were, of course, to put it mildly, deceiving everyone, because everything they are doing is aimed at containing China and Russia.’
According to him: ‘The achievement of this task includes everything that has been accumulated over many decades within the framework of the ASEAN-centric format, which was convenient for everyone, which took into account the interests of everyone.
‘Thus, the destructive nature of US actions in this part of the world is obvious.’
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that Russia and Iran are actively working together on the international arena and are often similar in their assessments of events.
Speaking at a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Masoud Pezeshkian, Putin stated: ‘We are actively working together on the international arena and our assessments of current events in the world are often very close.’
This is the first meeting between the two presidents.
Kremlin aide Yury Ushakov said that the sides discussed bilateral issues as well as the situation in the Middle East.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, Kremlin Aide Yury Ushakov, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Galuzin are taking part in the talks from the Russian side.
- Burkina Faso plans to sign an intergovernmental agreement with Russia on the construction of a nuclear power plant by the end of this year, the Minister of Energy, Mines and Quarries of Burkina Faso, Yacouba Zabre Gouba, announced.
The minister said last Friday: ‘We have summed up the preliminary results of cooperation with Rosatom and found them generally satisfactory.
‘By the end of October, our students will be sent to leading Russian universities to receive specialised education in the field of nuclear energy.
‘We plan to begin discussions in thematic groups on the construction of a nuclear power plant in Burkina Faso by Rosatom specialists in the near future.
‘By the end of 2024, we hope to sign an intergovernmental agreement on the actual start of negotiations on the technical aspects of the construction of a nuclear power plant.’
Earlier this year, Burkina Faso signed memorandums with Rosatom on the training of nuclear energy specialists in Russia for Burkina Faso, on cooperation in assessing and developing nuclear infrastructure, and on the formation of a positive public opinion regarding nuclear energy.
Cooperation between Rosatom and Burkina Faso began in October 2023.
