Ukraine military says they have halted part of the Russian push in the Donesk/Donvas region….
The CIA and MI6 Intellifence chiefs sit down and talk about the Ukraine’s fight with Russia….
Daily Kos gives the Ukraine update from online sources….
Reinforced Ukrainian defenders in a key location on the front have halted what had been relentless Russian advances in eastern Ukraine, according to soldiers and battlefield maps. But Russia continued to advance elsewhere, and pressed on Saturday with long-range bombardment of more distant cities.
After a night of explosions and rattling antiaircraft fire in the capital, Kyiv, debris from Iranian-designed attack drones was discovered in the city’s government quarter, near the Parliament building.
It was unclear whether the drones had targeted the building or were shot down in its vicinity. Falling debris, from the exploding drones or antiaircraft missiles, started a grass fire. No damage was reported to the Parliament.
In the east, a Russian offensive toward the Ukrainian town of Pokrovsk, which has become a focal point of the war in recent months, has stalled along one key section of the front for more than a week, even as advances continued elsewhere, soldiers fighting in the area said. Battlefield maps based on open sources such as satellite images and videos posted online also showed the halt.
Still, the fighting in villages and fields east of the town, which is a logistical hub for Ukraine’s defense of the eastern Donbas region, remains fluid and there was no indication that the large Russian force gathered in the area had abandoned its goal of advancing toward the town….
…
The chiefs of the C.I.A. and the British Secret Intelligence Service, appearing together publicly for the first time in the history of their agencies, said on Saturday in London that Ukraine’s surprise offensive in the Kursk region had exposed vulnerabilities in Russia’s military and was an “audacious” effort to “try and change the game” in the two-and-a-half-year-old war.
“The Kursk offensive is a significant tactical achievement,” said William J. Burns, the director of the C.I.A. He said it had “put a dent” in the narrative propagated by President Vladimir V. Putin that Russia would grind down Ukraine and exploit divisions in the Western alliance to dictate the terms of a settlement.
Richard Moore, the chief of the British service, also known as MI6, said it was “typically bold and audacious on the part of the Ukrainians to try and change the game,” adding, “I think they have, to a degree, changed the narrative.”
For two of the world’s most powerful spy chiefs, it was a deeply unaccustomed setting: seated next to each other on a sofa, chatting about the most sensitive intelligence issues their agencies face, before an audience gathered by The Financial Times at an annual festival, which features a champagne-tasting tent and panels on subjects like “How can we justify eating steak?”…
Sep 7, 2024 – ISW Press
Ukraine’s Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) Head Lieutenant General Kyrylo Budanov noted that Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk Oblast is having theater-wide impacts on Russian offensive operations in Ukraine and addressed the prospects for continued Russian offensive operations in Winter 2024–2025.