Suha KidwaiAugust 18, 2026 11:15 Moscow says it has protested Japanese Prime Minister’s ‘anti-Russian’ comments Russia’s Foreign Ministry has said it “strongly protested” to Japan’s state ambassador over what it called “anti-Russian” comments by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi regarding a group of Russian-controlled islands off the coast of Japan. The disputed territory is made up of the four islands closest to Japan that were captured by the Soviet Union at the end of World War II. Japan’s ambassador to Russia was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Moscow after Japanese officials criticized the country’s claim to the disputed Kuril Islands (Reuters). Known in Japanese as Hopporyodo, or Northern Territories, in Russia they are simply known as part of the Kuril Islands. In recent years, Russia has strengthened its military presence on the islands, which lie between the Sea of Okhotsk and the Pacific Ocean. Control of the islands gives Russia a military advantage, providing Moscow with year-round access to the Pacific for its fleet based in Vladivostok, because the strait between the southern islands does not freeze in winter. Suha Kidwai August 18, 2026 10:45 kyiv will “definitely respond” to Russian attack on Kharkiv, says president President Zelensky has said that Ukraine will “definitely respond” to this Russian attack,” referring to an attack that killed 10 people in Kharkiv on Tuesday morning. In a post on X, the leader added that the “brutal” attack occurred in a residential area and shared photographs of the damage. Suha Kidwai18 August 2026 10:15Ukraine announces new T40 droneUkraine’s Defense Ministry has codified a new precision strike drone, capable of reaching Siberia. The Dovbush T40 drone is an unmanned aircraft that Ukraine’s Defense Ministry describes as having one of the highest effectiveness ratings. In a post on X, ministry officials said the new drone highlights the growth of Ukraine’s long-range military capabilities.Suha Kidwai18 August 2026 09:45UK will ‘pay the price’ for supporting Ukraine, Russia warns “London’s actions will inevitably have consequences for which it will have to answer,” the Russian embassy said in a statement posted on its Telegram channel. “The deeper its involvement in the conflict and the greater its support for kyiv’s terrorist machine, the greater the price it will pay.” The comments come after the publication of an article previously published in the Sunday Times alleging that they were used on Tuesday. British-built drones for long-range attacks against Russia for the first time British-made drones have reportedly been used for the first time in long-range Ukrainian attacks against Russia (AP) In response, a British Ministry of Defense spokesman said: “Britain stands shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine and we are committed to providing the equipment Ukraine needs to defend itself against Putin’s illegal invasion.” 09:15 Russia has faced 1.47 million losses since the start of the war, according to the latest count Russia has lost approximately 1.47 million men over the course of the war, Kiev said. In a post on a second overnight barrage of Ukrainian attacks on mainland Russia Suha Kidwai August 18, 2026 08:45 Russian missile attack kills 10 in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, governor says A Russian missile attack killed 10 people and injured eight others in a village in northeast Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, the regional governor said on Tuesday. The attack on the village of Pechenihy damaged 10 buildings. private homes, a cafe, a post office, a store and at least seven cars, residents told Reuters. Suha Kidwai August 18, 2026 08:15 Russia tells North Korea they are creating a “new and just world order” from the Kursk region, writing in a letter that they managed to expel a “Ukrainian Nazi clique.” North Korea and Russia are working to “establish a “new and just world order,” Lavrov wrote in a letter to the minister. of North Korean Foreign Affairs, Choe Son Hui, as reported this morning by the North Korean state news agency, KCNA. Pyongyang has deployed troops to Russia since late 2024, when it helped Moscow retake a part of Kursk that had been captured by a Ukrainian counteroffensive. Vladimir Putin’s regime routinely calls the Ukrainian administration “neo-Nazis,” even though the country has a Jewish president who lost family members in the Holocaust and who heads a democratically elected, Western-backed government. Putin has vowed to continue fighting in Ukraine until Moscow guarantees the country’s “demilitarization,” “denazification” and neutrality, unless kyiv accepts a deal that achieves those goals. Arpan RaiAugust 18, 2026 07:54Moldova condemns violation of airspace and explosion of aerial object The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova condemned the violation of the country’s airspace by an unidentified aerial object that subsequently exploded on Monday. Moldova shares a border with Ukraine and supports kyiv. It has had to deal with numerous incidents of drones flying over its territory and debris near the border since the start of Russia’s full-scale war. The aerial object entered Moldovan airspace at 5:37 p.m. local time (14:37 GMT) and exploded shortly after, near the settlement of Talmaza, near the border with Ukraine, Moldovan authorities said. The explosion set grass on fire, but there were no casualties, they said. They did not identify the origin of the object. “This incident constitutes a serious violation of the sovereignty of the Republic of Moldova and poses a direct risk to the security of our citizens. These types of incidents are unacceptable,” the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in its statement. Arpan Rai, August 18, 2026 07:19 The EU plans far-reaching sanctions against Russia in the coming months, says Kallas. The European Union intends to significantly expand sanctions against Russia in the coming months over its war in Ukraine, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas told a German newspaper. “EU sanctions have already cost Russia dearly, depriving its war machine of more than one trillion euros ($1.16 trillion) and by the autumn I will present the most far-reaching list of sanctions since the start of the war,” he told Die Welt. “Once adopted, they would immediately increase by a third the total number of sanctioned Russian entities. “Pressure must continue to build until Moscow ends its war,” said Kallas, who heads the European External Action Service (EEAS), the EU’s diplomatic service. He did not elaborate on the timing or details of the new designations, but EU diplomatic sources later told Reuters that the EEAS would propose around 1,600 individuals and entities based in Russia and would focus on the Moscow’s military industrial complex. The designations will include travel and transaction bans as well as asset freezes, they added. The EU has already listed almost 3,000 people and companies.Arpan RaiAugust 18, 2026 07:11.
