Ukraine

• Ukraine claimed that its forces have successfully encircled around 3,000 Russian troops in Kursk.
• There are signs that Ukraine's claim is true: even Russian web propagandists - who spout lots of misinformation but don't usually share bad news unless it's undeniably true - acknowledged that things in Kursk "are not in our favor" and reported that Ukraine "took units of the 18th Motor Rifle Division into an operational encirclement."
• Ukrainian officials said they used U.S.-provided HIMARS systems to destroy three Siem River bridges and prevent the now-encircled Russian troops from fleeing to safety.
• That's a big deal because it tests the standing U.S. policy against Ukraine using its weapons for offensive strikes. There are indications that the U.S. stance has softened in recent months, although U.S. officials insist it hasn't changed (they didn't comment on the HIMARS report).
• That policy is in place because the U.S. fears that Russia could see domestic strikes with U.S. weapons as a justification for escalation. Indeed, Russia summoned the U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission in Moscow to complain about Ukraine's use of HIMARS.

Middle East

• Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire yesterday. First, Israel struck a Hezbollah weapons depot in eastern Lebanon, killing one, and then Hezbollah returned fire in the general direction of an Israeli air base in the Golan Heights, damaging two civilian homes and injuring one.
• Pres. Biden and Vice Pres. Harris held a phone call with Israeli PM Netanyahu yesterday. Neither side divulged exactly what was said on the call, but I imagine Biden and Harris sought to coax Netanyahu into relaxing his new ceasefire demands that Hamas has categorically rejected. (Hamas has also raised new demands that Netanyahu can't politically accept - including for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor - and shares the blame for peace talks floundering).
• Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Israel is winding down its three-month offensive in southern Gaza - having destroyed 150 Hamas tunnels in the Philadelphi corridor - and is "looking to the north now."
• It's also focusing on Deir al Balah, and ordered hundreds of thousands of displaced Gazans to evacuate the central Gazan city ahead of planned military operations.

• Venezuelan police arrested another journalist - La Patilla's Ana Guaita Barreto - for reporting (accurate) election results that showed Edmundo Gonzalez winning the presidency.
• By its own count, Maduro's government has detained over 2,400 people since the election - including many accused of "terrorism" for merely protesting against Maduro and the election he stole.
• Reuters reported that the U.S. has drafted a list of around 60 Venezuelan Maduro allies who are targets for new punitive sanctions related to their role in stealing the election and suppressing the protests that followed it.
• Unnamed U.S. government sources said the list includes officials from Venezuela's National Elections Council, Supreme Court, and counterintelligence police - as well as their close family members.

• The Lobito Atlantic Railway exported its first shipment of Congolese copper to the U.S. this week.
• Lobito is a new, shorter export route for DRC's vast copper and cobalt resources: travel time from the Kolwezi mines to the Angolan port of Lobito is just eight days - compared with nearly a month to the South African port of Durban.
• The U.S. and EU both helped fund the development of the Lobito Railway, which makes use of old Belgian and Portuguese train tracks.
• In return for their investment, they'll benefit from an export route for critical minerals that's not only cheaper and more efficient, but also - crucially - not controlled by China.

• Yemen's Houthi rebels attacked a Greek-owned oil tanker 77 nautical miles (89 miles / 142 km) off the coast of Houthi-countrolled Hodeidah, causing a fire. The ship is currently anchored between Yemen and Eritrea, and the EU warned that it "represents a navigational and environmental hazard."

• An analysis by ACLED (https://acleddata.com/2024/08/21/qa-the-wagner-groups-new-life-after-the-death-of-yevgeny-prigozhin/) showed that Russian Africa Corps (fka Wagner Group) mercenaries in Africa have become much more violent since the group's founder, Yevgeny Prigozhin, died in a suspicious plane crash one year ago tomorrow.
• By ACLED's count, mercenary-related political violence in the Sahel doubled in the first full quarter after Prigozhin's death (Q4 2023), and has remained elevated ever since.
• One reason for the increase is a rise in rebel and jihadist violence that juntas in Mali, Niger, and Burkina Faso hired Wagner / Africa Corps to suppress. Another, ACLED suggests, could be Africa Corps's shift post-Prigozhin to focus on offensive "security and military operations" rather than defensive protection of mines and logging concessions.

• Following the end of many green incentives, U.S. demand for electric vehicles has dropped so much that Ford cancelled plans to develop an electric SUV and will instead develop a hybrid gas-electric version. Ford expects to lose $5 billion on its electric vehicles this year.
• Australia is pivoting in the other direction: it just approved what will be the world's largest solar power generation and battery storage plant. The plant could start producing by 2030.