August 9, 2023 Russia-Ukraine news

The Russian Ministry of Education this week unveiled new history textbooks with sections about the "special military operation," — a term President Vladimir Putin uses to refer his war in Ukraine — the annexation of Crimea and Western sanctions.

Critics say the move is a part of a sustained effort to indoctrinate school children and stifle any independent thinking.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has always maintained that Moscow's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine is an effort to liberate the country from a "Nazi regime" and Western influence. He even went as far as suggesting there was no such thing as an independent Ukraine, insisting instead that the country has traditionally been part of Russia and that Russians and Ukrainians are "one people."

Elsewhere, the authors tell students that when they look for information about Ukraine on the internet, they should remember that there is a "global industry for the production of staged videos and fake photos and videos."

Since coming to power in 2000, Putin has always emphasized the importance of education and programs for young people, pushing for reforms, according to Katerina Tertytchnaya, an associate professor of comparative politics at University College London

"This is a long-term investment policy on the part of the Kremlin, they care about the younger generations and how they see the state and how they interact with it," she said.

Read the full story here.

Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, defended progress made by Ukraine in its counteroffensive.

He argued that before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army was “hysterically feared and not even imagined to be effectively fought against.”

In a video released on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that the counteroffensive hasn't been easy and is "happening probably slower" than some had hoped.

His remarks came after CNN reported that Western officials describe increasingly “sobering” assessments about Ukrainian forces’ ability to retake significant territory as they struggle to break through Russia’s multi-layered defensive lines, according to senior US and Western officials briefed on the latest intelligence.

See Podolyak's full tweet:

Poland will send more troops to its Belarusian border after the country’s Border Guard asked for 1,000 more people to be deployed there, Polish state news agency PAP reported on Wednesday. 

According to the Polish defense ministry, there are currently around 2,000 people stationed on the border.

While Blaszczak has agreed to send more troops to the border, he is yet to confirm the exact number, according to PAP.

Some context: Tensions have been escalating in recent weeks between the NATO member and key Kremlin ally after Poland accused Belarus of allowing Russian mercenary group Wagner to move towards the country's border.

On Friday, Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Paweł Jabłoński told CNN’s Isa Soares that Poland would send more troops to the border, citing the need to be “resilient.”

At least 56 people were injured in an explosion at a mechanical plant Wednesday in the city of Sergiev Posad, located northeast of Moscow, the governor of Moscow region, Andrei Vorobyov, said in an update.

Russia’s Investigative Committee said it has opened a criminal investigation into the incident. 

“In total, 56 people asked for medical help. 30 are now in the hospital, six of them are in intensive care,” the governor said in a Telegram post. “Another 26 people went to the emergency room - they did not need hospitalization, after the examination, the doctors let them go home.”

Rescue teams continue to working at the site of the explosion as more people could remain under the rubble. “Rescuers will need about 12 hours to clear the rubble. There may still be people left, three have already been removed - doctors assess their condition as serious,” the official added.

Russian state media reported earlier Wednesday, citing local authorities, that the source of detonation was a pyrotechnics warehouse rented by a third company on the site of the Zagorsk Optical and Mechanical Plant, which makes optical systems for the Russian military. The cause of the explosion is a violation of technological processes, they added. 

A representative from Russia’s Investigative Committee told TASS news agency that suggestions of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) attack on the plant have not been confirmed. The official cause of an explosion is being determined by authorities, they said.

“One thing is clear, that the explosion was powerful, and it was in the pyrotechnics workshop," he added.

The explosion was captured on security cameras and car dashcams in the small city. Video shared on social media shows a huge mushroom-shaped plume of smoke rising over the plant.

An eyewitness named Nikolai said in an interview with MASH, an independent Russian media blog present at the scene, that there used to be a munition factory at the site before “it was sold and turned into pyrotechnics factory.”

“The company went bankrupt; it is not clear who worked there and what they did there. What caused the explosion is also unclear,” Nikolai said.

The eyewitness said "the bang was very strong and immediate color of the explosion was orange before it turned into grey smoke. Usually, when pyrotechnics explode you can smell sulfur — but there was absolutely no smell of sulfur. There were no detonations — only a big bang."

Kyiv claimed on Wednesday that it struck a Russian command post in the city of Nova Kakhovka, as the Ukrainian military ramps up activity in the southern Kherson region amid a sweeping counteroffensive.

Nova Kakhovka is located on the occupied east bank of the Dnipro River, where Ukrainian forces reportedly carried out a raid on Tuesday. Kyiv refused to confirm reports of the operation.

"At about 10:00 a.m. (local time), the Armed Forces of Ukraine hit a command post of the Russian army in the temporarily occupied Nova Kakhovka," the Strategic Communications Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said on Telegram.

CNN cannot independently verify this claim, but videos posted by Stratcom filmed on Wednesday show plumes of smoke rising over the city.

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Wednesday he held a meeting with top military commanders on the counteroffensive.

Some context: Earlier this week Zelensky conceded that the counteroffensive has been "difficult," he said in a video released by his office on Tuesday.

This prompted US officials to acknowledge that Ukraine's recent progress had been slowed.

“Even the Ukrainians…including President (Volodymyr) Zelensky, have said that they're not going as far or as fast as he would like," White House National Security Council Coordinator for Strategic Communications John Kirby told CNN on Tuesday

Analysis: The primary challenge for Ukrainian forces is the continued difficulty of breaking through Russia’s multi-layered defensive lines in the eastern and southern parts of the country, which are marked by tens of thousands of mines and vast networks of trenches.

Ukrainian forces have incurred staggering losses there, leading Ukrainian commanders to hold back some units to regroup and reduce casualties.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has discussed plans for Moscow to bolster the country's forces on its western borders, as the war in Ukraine has ramped up tensions between countries in the region.

“Today, at the meeting of the Board, we will consider issues related to the creation of the Leningrad and Moscow military districts with the simultaneous strengthening of groupings of troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on our western borders,” Shoigu said, according to a readout from a board meeting published by the Defense Ministry on Wednesday.

Shoigu cited Poland's increased militarization as among the reasons for the expansion, saying the move threatens the "occupation" of Russian territory.

"There are plans to create on a regular basis the so-called Polish-Ukrainian connection supposedly to ensure the security of Western Ukraine, but in fact -- for the subsequent occupation of this territory," territory," he said at a meeting of the board of the military department.

Some background: Earlier this month, Poland said it would deploy more troops at its border with Belarus, a Kremlin ally, amid an escalation in military tensions between both countries.

Thousands of fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner were sent to Belarus after a failed mutiny against Moscow in June. They have since been moving towards a key corridor in the region, a thin strip of land between Poland and Lithuania called the Suwalki gap, in an apparent attempt to put pressure on NATO and EU members.

The war in Ukraine prompted leaders in Europe to rethink their national security strategy in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long sought to undermine NATO expansion in the region.und: Earlier this month, Poland said it will deploy more troops at the border with Belarus, a Kremlin ally, amid an escalation in military tensions between both countries.

Thousands of fighters from the Russian mercenary group Wagner were sent to Belarus after a failed mutiny against Moscow in June. They have since been moving towards a key corridor in the region, the Suwalki gap, in an apparent attempt to put pressure on NATO and EU members.

The war in Ukraine prompted leaders in Europe to rethink their national security strategy in the face of Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has long sought to undermine NATO expansion in the region.

CNN's Sana Noor Haq contributed reporting.

Kyiv refused to confirm reports from Russia that its forces carried out a key operation along the Dnipro River, as Ukraine struggles to make sizeable gains in its counteroffensive in the southeastern region.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian forces have achieved “partial success” on the southern front, Ukrainian officials have said.

Ukrainian forces are also continuing "to conduct offensive actions on the southern flank around the town of Bakhmut, consolidating the achieved positions,” Maliar said.

In the east: Russian forces are focusing their attention on the area around the city of Kupyansk in Kharkiv region, Maliar said.

Ukraine liberated the city from Russian forces last autumn and it has recently come under increased shelling.

Some context: President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video released by his office on Tuesday the Ukrainian counteroffensive has been "difficult" and is "happening probably slower" than some had hoped.

Western officials have also spoken of increasingly "sobering" assessments about Kyiv's ability to retake significant territory, senior US officials told CNN. US National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the offensive is "not without its difficulties, but they keep trying."