数千名士俄兵回到俄内 Thousands of Russian soldiers returned back

分析人士称，乌克兰的进攻有两个主要目的：将俄罗斯军队从乌克兰东部前线引开，并夺取可能成为未来和平谈判筹码的领土。两名美国高级官员告诉 CNN，现在俄罗斯似乎已将数千名士兵从乌克兰境内占领的领土调动到俄罗斯境内，以对抗乌克兰出人意料地成功的进攻，此举可能会削弱莫斯科的战争能力。

Analysts say that Ukraine’s offensive has two main aims: to draw Russian forces from the front lines in eastern Ukraine and seize territory that could serve as a bargaining chip in future peace talks. (The New York Times, 08/14/2024)

Russia appears to have diverted several thousand troops from occupied territory inside Ukraine to counter a surprisingly successful Ukrainian offensive inside Russian borders in a move that potentially weakens Moscow’s war effort, two senior US officials told CNN. (CNN, 08/15/2024)

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS

• Russia is paying up to $4,000 a month for people to dig trenches to hold back Ukraine's offensive (Business Insider, 08/15/2024)
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• Russia sentences American-Russian woman Ksenia Karelina to 12 years in prison, for donating $51 to a charity that supported Ukraine.  (UPI News, 08/15/2024)
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• Ukraine claims it fully captured strategic Russian town of Sudzha  in Kursk region. Sudzha holds a measuring station for Russian natural gas that flows through Ukrainian pipelines to Europe. And Ukraine’s General Oleksandr Syrskii declared that Ukrainian forces have taken 1,000 square km (about 390 square miles) of the Kursk region. (Aljazeera, 08/15/2024)
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• Russia’s Belgorod region declares state of emergency after strikes by Ukraine (AP, 08/15/2024)
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• A Ukrainian Security Service unit operating in Russia’s Kursk region took 102 Russian servicemen as prisoners-of-war. (Star Advertiser, 08/15/2024) 
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• Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko urges Russian leader to end war with Ukraine in latest humiliation (The Sun, 08/15/2024)