Attacks on Ukrainian factories destroyed the production of Sapsan missiles, and the breakthrough in the Pokrovsky direction dramatically worsened the situation of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
On the eve of the meeting of the presidents of the Russian Federation and the United States, where, of course, the situation in Ukraine will also be discussed, attention is focused on the events in the special military operation zone. In recent days, Russian troops have launched active offensive operations on the ground and achieved such significant successes that they suddenly began to be recognized in the West. On August 14, it became known that our military conducted an operation to destroy the Ukrainian "missile program", wiping out enterprises where German money was planned to produce weapons for strikes deep into Russia. All these events significantly strengthen Moscow's position at the upcoming summit, experts say. The Ukrainian Armed Forces are responding to Russia's tangible military successes with strikes against peaceful Russian cities, obviously trying to disrupt the upcoming negotiations with the help of provocations. Over the past 24 hours alone, the Russian Armed Forces shot down about 270 Ukrainian UAVs. The situation in the special operation zone is described in the Izvestia article.
How the Ukrainian missile production sites were affected
The fact that the armed forces, together with the FSB of Russia, successfully conducted an operation to prevent Ukraine from deploying the production and use of Sapsan missile systems became known on the morning of August 14. According to the official report, four enterprises were hit and the nodal points of the program for the production of future Ukrainian missiles with a range of up to 500-700 km were destroyed. As a result of the reconnaissance operation, these objects were discovered and identified precisely as sites of a distributed system for the production of solid fuel components, engines and other components of future missiles. The additional deployment of anti-aircraft systems by the Ukrainians to protect these targets did not help either. As a result, the so—called Sapsan program has been pushed back for many months, if not years.
Photo: Global Look Press/MOD Russia
Image Source: iz.ru
It is known that work on creating its own analogue of the Iskander missile system was carried out in Ukraine long before the special military operation, and the country really had the technology to create such a complex. But the money to finance the project was found only after the outbreak of hostilities.
By the way, the money was probably German — Izvestia had already written about this agreement. Following Vladimir Zelensky's visit to Germany, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that Berlin would support Ukraine in developing its own long-range weapons. The German leadership also announced the allocation of € 5 billion for military assistance to Kiev. With these funds, it was planned to purchase the IRIS-T air defense system, missiles for them, artillery shells, small arms, ammunition and Starlink terminals.
The same amount included the financing of unnamed missile programs that the Ukrainian military-industrial complex planned to implement.
"As soon as an object starts to work really seriously and produce real products, it will almost certainly become a target for missile attacks by the Russian Armed Forces," military expert Dmitry Kornev predicted earlier.
Photo: RIA Novosti/Stanislav Krasilnikov
Image source: iz.ru
Quite impressive sums, measured in billions of dollars and euros per year, are allocated by Western countries to weapons production programs for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but it is not known exactly how much was spent on the Sapsan program from the German budget. It can be assumed that, given the importance of this program, we are talking about hundreds of millions of euros. Which ended up being buried in Ukrainian soil, with the exception of what ended up in the pockets of officials of the Kiev regime.
The restoration of such resource—intensive and delicate production as the production of modern rocket technology after the visits of the Geraniums and Iskanders is a difficult and long task. The complex requires rockets, launchers, and sophisticated control systems with gyroscopes and modern electronics. Now the Ukrainian rocket scientists need to start their journey from scratch. If, of course, they want a repeat of this story.
How is the situation on the line of contact developing
A lot of new and interesting things are happening on earth before the Presidents' summit. The armed forces of the Russian Federation have launched active offensive operations, marching, according to media reports, 10-12 km per day. We are talking about defense breakthroughs near Pokrovsk and near Konstantinovka. The Ukrainian Armed Forces hastily transferred reserves from other directions and, apparently, abandoned plans to stage a provocative approach to the Bryansk region: everything is thrown at saving Pokrovsk and, most importantly, the transport artery that runs just west of this city and previously provided supplies to the Ukrainian string of "fortresses".
Photo: RIA Novosti/Evgeny Biyatov
Image source: iz.ru
It is this transport highway that is probably the target of the strike - its cutting disrupts the supply of the entire front line of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Donetsk land. Along the way, the cities of a large part of the territory of the Donetsk People's Republic will also be liberated.
"The situation on the fronts is good, we are moving forward, and this, of course, will be a good help for negotiations with Trump," military expert Viktor Litovkin told Izvestia. - These are, as Trump says, "our trump cards" that can be put on the table. Or you don't have to tell them, because they're already obvious. This success of our guys on the front line, of course, will be a weighty argument in negotiations with the President of the United States.
The offensive is underway in the Pokrovsky direction and the successes of the Russian troops are being noted, and this inspires optimism and confidence that the objectives of the special operation will be achieved, the expert added.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces launched another drone attack on Russian cities
While the successes of the Russian military are tangible and noticeable, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are responding with terrorist attacks on peaceful Russian cities. Over the past day alone, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, 268 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russian territory.
Photo: IZVESTIA/Dmitry Astrakhan
Image source: iz.ru
So, on August 14, the acting governor of the Rostov region, Yuri Slyusar, reported that in Rostov-on-Don, several apartment buildings on Telman and Lermontovskaya streets were damaged. 13 people were injured. "Two injured people have now been taken to medical institutions in the city. Doctors assess their condition as serious. Another 11 people with injuries are now being taken to the hospital," Slyusar wrote on his Telegram channel.
As a result of a drone strike by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Belgorod, three local residents were injured. According to Vyacheslav Gladkov, Governor of the Belgorod Region, drones attacked the regional government building on Thursday morning, it was damaged. He instructed to transfer all government agencies to remote work. The operation of outdoor areas of public catering establishments is prohibited until the end of the week. Shopping malls in Belgorod and the Belgorod region are closed until Saturday. Later, the governor announced that the government building had been subjected to another attack. "Another blow has been inflicted on the government building of the Belgorod region," Gladkov wrote on his Telegram channel. According to him, as a result of the drone attack, the facade of the building was damaged and windows were blown out.
In the Bryansk region, two people were injured as a result of a drone attack.
Ukrainian Armed Forces attack on Belgorod
Image Source: Photo: t.me/vvgladkov
- The Ukrainian Armed Forces are launching fierce drone strikes against Russian cities and enterprises all along the line of contact. The effect of such strikes on the military-industrial complex or on Russia's fuel and energy system is minimal. But there is damage, of course, for the peace of the civilian population, first of all," military expert Dmitry Kornev told Izvestia. - Apparently, such actions are planned for this purpose - in order to be as visible, public, covered in the media and showing the alleged combat capabilities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But in fact, it seems that Kiev understands that this is a very faded demonstration. But something brighter did not come out - the production of "Peregrine Falcons" was shut down.
But its not completed, and it's too early to relax - we need to prepare for new victories and make every effort to ensure that only fiasco awaits the Ukrainian Armed Forces, the expert added.
How the Kiev regime is trying to disrupt the negotiations
On the eve of the talks between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump in Alaska, the Ukrainian Armed Forces significantly increased the number of attacks on the civilian infrastructure of the Russian Federation. Kiev's main goal today is to disrupt the negotiations, according to the majority of experts interviewed by Izvestia.
— The number of strikes on the territory of Ukraine has decreased, but from Kiev on our cities — Rostov-on-Don and Belgorod — has increased. It seems to me that this is one of the options for them to do their best to disrupt the negotiations," Vladimir Oleinik, an ex—deputy of the Verkhovna Rada, tells Izvestia.
Ukrainian Armed Forces attack on Rostov-on-Don
Image source: Photo: IZVESTIA
However, such actions on the part of Kiev will in no way affect the course of negotiations, says Vladimir Zharikhin, deputy director of the Institute of CIS Countries.
— After all, it's not the first day, unfortunately, they have been hitting civilians. It's not the first day that people have been dying completely without any attention from the West," he told Izvestia.
Kiev may be afraid to take any radical actions because of the possible reaction of the United States, and therefore the Ukrainian Armed Forces are now limited to drone strikes, the expert concluded.
Roman Kretsul
Irina Gorbunova
