7.0 magnitude earthquake hits far eastern Russia

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces were continuing to make advances in Russia's Kursk region after launching a major cross-border offensive 11 days ago that caught the Kremlin's military leadership by surprise and changed the dynamics of the 30-month war.

Following an update from Ukraine's top military commander, Colonel General Oleksandr Syrskyi, Zelensky said in a Telegram post on August 17 that Ukraine had “strengthened” its positions in the Kursk region and stabilized more territory under its control.

Ukrainian forces pushed deep into Russian territory after sweeping across the border in a surprise attack on August 6, capturing dozens of settlements.

The surprise incursion, which comes as Russia continues its advance in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, appears to strengthen Kyiv's hand in any future peace negotiations.

WATCH: Ukrainian forces near the city of Toretsk say they believe Russia will have to redirect resources to its territory, but have yet to see any let-up in fighting.

Russia claims to have annexed four Ukrainian regions — Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhia — as well as Crimea. If Ukraine can continue to hold on to parts of Kursk and neighboring Russian regions, it may seek to trade them for the territories it has annexed, experts say.

The Kremlin was embarrassed by the incursion, the first foreign occupation of its territory since World War II, and accused NATO of helping Ukraine plan the attack, a claim Washington denies.

The Kremlin, which views the war as one between Russia and the West, has often hinted at escalation in what analysts say is an attempt to intimidate Washington into refraining from supplying Ukraine with powerful weapons, such as long-range precision missiles and F-16 jets.

As Ukrainian forces continued their surprise advance on Kursk, the Russian Foreign Ministry accused Ukraine of using US-made long-range missiles to destroy a key bridge in the Gluchkov area of ​​the Kursk region, killing “volunteers” who were helping to evacuate civilians in the process.

“For the first time, the Kursk region was hit by Western-made rocket launchers, probably American HIMARS,” ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said late on August 16.

According to Russian security officials, the destruction of the bridge cut off part of the area, making it more difficult to evacuate civilians from the area. According to Russian authorities, the Ukrainian incursion has so far led to the evacuation of more than 120,000 civilians.

By comparison, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has forced up to 7 million Ukrainians to flee their homes. Russia has also killed thousands of civilians with drone and missile strikes on non-military sites such as homes, shopping malls and train stations.

Live Briefing: Russia's Invasion of Ukraine

RFE/RL's live news briefing brings you all the latest developments on the full-scale Russian invasion, Kyiv's counter-offensive, Western military aid, international reactions and the plight of civilians. For all of RFE/RL's coverage of the war in Ukraine, click here.

Kyiv claims to have taken control of 82 settlements across 1,150 square kilometres since its surprise cross-border incursion on August 6.

The United States so far sees the incursion as a protective move that justifies the use of American weapons, according to officials in Washington.

However, Ukraine still faces Western restrictions on the use of certain weapons systems inside Russia, including long-range missiles like the US-made ATAMCS. The Biden administration views the use of ATAMCS inside Russia as an escalation. There has been no indication from Western capitals that Ukraine has violated these rules during the war.

On August 17, The Times of London reported that the United States was also blocking Britain from supplying the powerful long-range Storm Shadow missile. The newspaper reported that the United Kingdom had sent a similar request to the United States more than a month ago, but had not yet received a response.

In a later post, Zelenskyy expressed regret that the UK had restricted the use of Storm Shadow missiles, saying that the ability to strike long-range missiles “is really a matter of principle for us.” The 400-kilogram Storm Shadow missiles can destroy targets more than 300 kilometers away. Kyiv wants to use them to strike Russian air bases that house fighter jets that are bombing Ukrainian troops and cities.

“It is critical that our partners work to remove the barriers that prevent us from weakening Russian positions in the way this war requires. Long-range capabilities are the answer to the most important strategic questions in this war,” he wrote.

On August 16, former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson urged Washington and London to allow Ukraine to attack Russian territory with ATACMS and Storm Shadow missiles.

In a separate setback for Ukraine, the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung reported on August 17 that Germany had halted any new financial or military aid to Ukraine due to budget constraints.

In a letter dated August 5 to Defence Minister Boris Pistorius and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, seen by the news agency, Finance Minister Christian Lindner said new aid could only be provided if funding was guaranteed.

“Starting today, Olaf Scholz and the coalition government under his leadership are freezing financial and therefore military support for Ukraine,” Ingo Gadehens, a member of the opposition Christian Democrats, told the German Press Agency.

The previously pledged aid will be delivered. In the future, the money will be allocated to Ukraine from profits generated by frozen Russian assets, the agency reported.

Targeted energy facilities

Meanwhile, the Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukraine on August 17 of planning to attack the Kursk nuclear power plant and blamed Moscow for it.

Russia will respond forcefully in the event of such a “provocation,” the ministry was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

Meanwhile, Russian officials at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine said on August 17 that a Ukrainian drone dropped an explosive charge on a road outside the plant, endangering employees using the road.

Moscow and Kiev have repeatedly traded accusations of sabotaging the operation of the plant, which Russia occupied shortly after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Last week, Zelensky accused Russia of causing a fire in the plant's cooling tower, while Russian officials said Kyiv was deliberately trying to destroy the plant and sow “nuclear terrorism.”

Non-nuclear energy facilities have been targeted by both sides during the war, with Russia damaging half of Ukraine’s energy facilities and Ukraine damaging more than a dozen Russian refineries, some more than once.

Kyiv and Moscow were scheduled to hold “indirect talks” next week in Doha on halting attacks on energy infrastructure, but were postponed because of the Kursk incursion, The Washington Post reported on August 17, citing people familiar with the developments.

Russia plans more evacuations

On August 17, Ukrainian forces damaged another bridge over the Sim River, limiting Russia’s ability to supply its forces south of the river. Another road bridge and a pontoon bridge remain standing, but are under Ukrainian fire.

Ukraine seeks to capture the city of Korenyevo, located south of the river, to strengthen its position in Kursk.

Earlier this week, Ukraine announced the capture of Sudzha, a town of 5,000 people, the largest town to fall to Ukrainian forces so far. Korynevo is slightly larger.

Zelensky said Ukraine would set up a command office in Sudzha to coordinate aid and military affairs.

Russian forces have so far struggled to mount an effective response to the incursion, which is widely seen as a major morale boost for Ukraine.

Zelensky said on August 17 that Ukrainian forces had already captured hundreds of Russian soldiers, and that Kyiv planned to use them in a prisoner swap.

“By this morning, our country’s “exchange fund” has been replenished. I thank all our soldiers and commanders who captured Russian servicemen, thereby accelerating the release of our servicemen and civilians held captive by Russia,” he wrote on social media.

Authorities in Russia's Belgorod region, which borders Ukraine and Kursk, said they would evacuate five villages starting next week.

“From August 19, we are closing access to five settlements, evacuating residents and helping them take out their property,” regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov announced on Telegram.

WATCH: Skepticism reigned in the Ukrainian border city of Sumy when locals were asked about the government's plans to accept refugees from Russia's Kursk region.

Russian strike and penetration of Ukraine

In an effort to repel Ukrainian forces in Kursk, Russia has continued its bombing of Ukraine.

In the northeastern Sumy region, at least two people were wounded in a Russian missile attack early on August 17, according to emergency services.

Ukrainian officials said the missile hit a parking lot near a high-rise apartment building, setting at least 10 vehicles on fire, shattering windows and damaging the facades of nearby buildings.

Ukrainian air defenses shot down all 14 Russian drones launched in a night strike overnight, the Ukrainian Air Force said in a statement early on August 17.

Shahed drones were shot down over six Ukrainian regions in the south and center of the country, including areas near the capital, Kyiv, according to the statement posted on Telegram.

Meanwhile, Ukraine's Main Intelligence Directorate said its cyber experts, in collaboration with the hacker group VO Team, had successfully infiltrated the internet service provider of an organization affiliated with Russia's nuclear weapons program.

In a statement on August 17, the directorate said it had hacked the Chelyabinsk-based internet service provider Vega, whose clients include the Russian Research Institute of Technical Physics, disabling 1,173 switches and 10 servers.

The intelligence services reported that “the information on Vega's servers was destroyed, and a number of strategic institutions in the city were deprived of Internet and communications services for about a week.”

RFE/RL could not confirm this information.

With reports from the Ukrainian and Russian services of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty

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