RUSSIAN PERSPECTIVE
Russia is ready for confrontation with NATO – Putin
Russia is “always ready for any scenario,” President Vladimir Putin told journalists on Saturday, commenting on a potential direct confrontation between the Russian and NATO militaries. The president was answering a question about recent near-collisions involving Russian and American aircraft in Syria.
“No one wants that,” the president added, pointing to the existing conflict-prevention lines that allow Russian and US officers to talk directly about “any crisis situation.” The fact that these lines still work shows that no side is interested in a conflict, he added. “If someone wants it – and that’s not us – then we’re ready,” Putin added.
The Russian military has reported a total of 23 dangerous incidents involving Russian aircraft and those of the US-led coalition since early 2023, said Admiral Oleg Gurinov, head of the Russian Reconciliation Center for Syria. Most incidents took place in July, he added.
In 11 cases the Russian pilots recorded being targeted with Western aircraft-targeting systems. Such actions on the part of the US-led coalition led to the automatic engagement of onboard defense systems, which saw Russian aircraft releasing decoy flares, the admiral told journalists.
Moscow has also repeatedly warned Washington and its allies about the risks of a potential direct conflict between Russia and NATO, particularly amid the ongoing conflict in Ukraine. Continued Western arms supplies to Kiev only extend the hostilities and make its Western backers engage in the conflict even deeper, Russia said.
** Russian tank destroys Ukrainian armored column
A single Russian tank supported by artillery has stopped a Ukrainian attack that involved around a dozen armored equipment pieces, Russian media reported on Saturday. A video of the battle first appeared on some Telegram channels and was then posted by RIA Novosti.
The fighting took place in Zaporozhye Region, where the Ukrainian troops sought to assault Russian defensive positions, the news agency reported. Russia’s aerial reconnaissance detected a Ukrainian column moving towards the frontline. “We had an armor piece in this area,” a Russian unit commander told RIA Novosti, adding that the tank’s crew was ordered to intercept the enemy and “engaged in a battle.”
Footage purportedly showing the battle showed the Russian tank attacking the Ukrainian column moving along a road while using a tree belt area for cover. The tank’s crew can be seen actively maneuvering while constantly firing on the enemy. Retaliatory fire returned by the Ukrainian forces does not appear to have caused any significant damage to the Russian armor.
The tank managed to destroy a total of seven Ukrainian equipment pieces on its own, the unit commander said, adding that some other Ukrainian armor pieces were also hit by Russian anti-tank missile crews and artillery. The tank did not suffer any serious damage during the encounter, he added.
According to the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, the Ukrainian column included at least two tanks and five US-made MRAP M1224 MaxxPro vehicles. The Russian tank crew forced the Ukrainian group to enter a minefield, where some of their equipment pieces were blown up, the media outlet reported.
The battle came amid Kiev’s attempts to breach Russian defenses during its much-touted counteroffensive. The operation, which started on June 4, has failed to bring about significant changes on the battlefield, almost two months after it was launched.
Ukrainian troops have suffered heavy losses, including Western-supplied heavy armor, during their largely unsuccessful attacks on Russian defenses. According to Western media, Kiev’s backers have also been frustrated by the slow pace of the operation.
The Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the Ukrainian troops had already lost “almost a fifth of NATO kit” provided for their counteroffensive. On Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin described the difference between the losses of the two sides as “colossal.” Ukraine lost ten times more soldiers than Russia during the battle, he claimed.
WESTERN PERSPECTIVE
Putin says Russia does not reject talks with Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday that an African initiative could be a basis for peace in Ukraine but that Ukrainian attacks made it hard to realise.
He was speaking at a press conference after meeting African leaders in St Petersburg on Friday and hearing their calls for Moscow to move ahead with their plan.
"There are provisions of this peace initiative that are being implemented," he said. "But there are things that are difficult or impossible to implement."
Reuters reported in June that African mediation in the conflict could begin with confidence-building measures followed by a cessation of hostilities agreement accompanied by negotiations between Russia and the West.
Putin said that one of the points in the initiative was a ceasefire. "But the Ukrainian army is on the offensive, they are attacking, they are implementing a large-scale strategic offensive operation... We cannot cease fire when we are under attack."
On the question of starting peace talks, he said, "We did not reject them... In order for this process to begin, there needs to be agreement on both sides."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has rejected the idea of a ceasefire now that would leave Russia in control of nearly a fifth of his country and give its forces time to regroup after 17 grinding months of war.
** Russian missile kills 2 in Zaporizhzhia, Ukrainian official says
A Russian missile attack killed two people and blew out apartment windows in the southern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia on Saturday, Anatoliy Kurtiev, secretary of the city council, said.
"An enemy missile hit an open area," Kurtiev said on Telegram. "Unfortunately a man and a woman died. Another woman was injured."
Rescue crews were seen carrying the victims away in body bags in a wooded area beside a railway line a few hundred meters from a station in the city center. Men in uniforms examined pieces of shrapnel and stood beside a crater in the earth several meters wide.
"The blast wave knocked out windows in high-rise buildings and damaged the building of an educational institution and a supermarket," Kurtiev said, adding that psychologists and other services were providing support on the ground.
At one apartment building, a 65-year-old woman who gave her name as Olena, sat behind the shattered window of a parking office booth and crossed herself as she described how she survived the impact uninjured.
"I was sitting here like this," she said, gesticulating as she recalled the moment of the impact. "It was just so unexpected," she said. "All the glass went flying."
Kurtiev said the blast wave broke windows in 13 high-rise buildings and an educational institution.
** More Wagner fighters move closer to Polish border, Poland PM says
A group of a hundred soldiers from the Russian Wagner group have moved closer to the Belarusian city of Grodno near the Polish border, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Saturday.
Poland, a former Warsaw Pact member which has been a full member of the U.S.-led NATO military alliance since 1999, has been concerned about the possible spillover of war on to its territory ever since Russian invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
Earlier this month, Poland began moving more than 1,000 troops to the east of the country amid rising concerns that the presence of Wagner fighters in Belarus could lead to increased tension on its border.
"The situation is getting increasingly dangerous ... Most likely they (the Wagner personnel) will be disguised as the Belarusian border guard and help illegal migrants get to the Polish territory (and) destabilise Poland," Morawiecki said at a press conference in Gliwice, western Poland.
"They will most likely try to enter Poland pretending to be illegal migrants and this poses additional threats," Morawiecki said.
However he did not give the source of his information on the Wagner movements, and Anton Motolko, founder of the Belarusian opposition Hajun project which monitors military activity in the country, told Reuters his group had not seen any evidence of the Wagner group moving closer to Grodno.
The city has a potentially significant position given it is near the Suwalki Gap, a strategic strip of land along the Polish-Lithuanian border, which divides Belarus, Russia's ally, from the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad.
Earlier in July, Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin was shown in a video welcoming his fighters to Belarus, telling them they would take no further part in the Ukraine war for now but ordering them to gather their strength for Africa - where they are involved in a number of conflicts - while they train the Belarusian army.
The following day, some Wagner fighters arrived at the training ground of the 38th airborne assault brigade outside the city of Brest, just a few miles from the Polish border.
Wagner's move to Belarus was part of a deal that ended the group's mutiny attempt in June, when they took control of a Russian military headquarters, marched on Moscow and threatened to tip Russia into civil war, President Vladimir Putin has said.
RT/Reuters
