Kyiv troops capture 102 prisoners of war; Russian-US citizen sentenced to 12 years for treason

A Russian court sentenced Ksenia Karelina, a dual Russian-US citizen, to 12 years in prison for treason over a donation she made to a charity that helps Ukraine.

A second liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker left an export terminal in northern Russia that is subject to US sanctions, ship-tracking data show.

Ukraine reports largest surrender of the war by Russian troops 

Ukrainian forces said they accepted the surrender of the largest single group of Russian soldiers since the start of the war more than two years ago, as Kyiv’s military claimed to continue expanding its cross-border incursion.

A Ukrainian Security Service unit operating in Russia’s Kursk region took 102 Russian servicemen as prisoners-of-war, according to a person with knowledge of the operation, who asked not to be identified because the matter is sensitive.

The Russians were captured on Wednesday in a sprawling underground complex, and had ample stocks of ammunition and supplies, the person said. Russia hasn’t commented.

Ukraine now controlled 1,150 square kilometres of Russian territory, including 82 villages and towns, since the incursion that began 10 days ago, Commander-in-Chief Oleksandr Syrskyi told President Volodymyr Zelensky in a video report posted on Zelensky’s Telegram channel on Thursday. The claims couldn’t be independently verified.

Zelensky said Ukraine had set up a military command post in the Kursk regional town of Sudzha, which Syrskyi said would be used to maintain public order and provide for the basic needs of the local population. The president praised Ukraine’s troops in the region for replenishing the “exchange fund” for prisoner swaps in his regular video address on Wednesday.

Russian officials had already contacted Ukraine about a possible prisoner exchange, Dmytro Lubinets, the parliamentary human rights commissioner in Kyiv, said in televised comments on Wednesday. He declined to give details, including the total number of servicemen who’ve been captured.

Russian Defence Minister Andrey Belousov held talks with military officials “on ensuring the security of the population” in border regions, the Defence Ministry in Moscow said in a post on Thursday on Telegram.

Belousov discussed measures to ensure “the integrity and inviolability” of the Belgorod region, which neighbours Kursk, against Ukrainian attacks, saying he’d personally monitor their implementation, according to the statement.

The authorities in Moscow declared a federal state of emergency in Belgorod on Thursday. Regional Governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said it was facing repeated drone attacks and shelling from Ukrainian forces.

Fighting continued in eastern Ukraine where Russian forces were advancing to within 10km of the Donetsk region city of Pokrovsk. The head of the local administration, Serhii Dobriak, urged residents to leave, saying in a video on its website that “the situation is only getting worse” in the city that’s an important logistics hub in the region for Ukraine.

Russia sentences Russian-US citizen to 12 years for treason

A Russian court sentenced Ksenia Karelina, a dual Russian-US citizen, to 12 years in prison for treason over a donation she made to a charity that helps Ukraine.

The Sverdlovsk Regional Court announced the sentence on Thursday after prosecutors had asked the judge to jail Karelina for 15 years. The Federal Security Service, known as the FSB, accused her in February of collecting funds for the Ukrainian army, Russia’s state-run Tass news service reported.

A resident of Los Angeles, Karelina (33) was detained during a family visit to the Urals city of Yekaterinburg. She pleaded guilty on 7 August and hoped to be released in a future prisoner exchange with the US, her lawyer Mikhail Mushailov said, according to Tass.

The case revolved around a donation of about $50 that Karelina allegedly made in 2022 to a US-based charity providing humanitarian assistance to Ukraine, according to the Pervy Otdel group, a human rights project run by a team of lawyers and journalists, which didn’t say where it got the information. The FSB claimed the money was used to aid the Ukrainian military, without offering any evidence, in the wake of Russia’s February 2022 invasion.

Second ‘dark fleet’ LNG ship leaves sanctioned Russian terminal

A second liquefied natural gas (LNG) tanker left an export terminal in northern Russia that’s subject to US sanctions, ship-tracking data show.

The Asya Energy, part of a suspected “dark fleet” of vessels assembled by Moscow to take gas to willing buyers, was heading west after satellite images showed the ship at the Arctic LNG 2 plant last weekend.

Traders were closely tracking activity at the terminal, which was slapped with sanctions last year that prevented delivery of the ice-class tankers needed to export the LNG. Yet earlier this month a tanker set off from the plant, suggesting Russia’s managed to circumvent the curbs using its shadow fleet.

The Asya Energy previously showed its location as circling in the Barents Sea for more than 10 days, apparently concealing its true location. The ship’s destination and the buyer of its cargo are unclear.

The second vessel’s behaviour mirrors that of the first.

That tanker, the Pioneer, was last seen entering the Mediterranean Sea as of Thursday, tracking data show. That means it may be headed to southern Europe or Turkey, North Africa or the Middle East. The vessel could even be bound for Asia, should it cross the Red Sea, though LNG ships have largely avoided the waterway since Houthi attacks on shipping intensified in January.

“Interesting to see that despite the conflict in Ukraine, Russia is still growing” in LNG, Oystein Kalleklev, chief executive officer of shipper Flex LNG, said on Wednesday. Moscow appeared to be repeating its oil playbook — using a shadow fleet to send cargoes to friendly nations — he said.

No major disruption after Ukraine grain facility hit by missile

A Louis Dreyfus Company grain facility in Odesa was hit by a missile on Wednesday, the company said.

The missile hit the truck discharge bay at its Brooklyn Kyiv facility, but no employees were harmed and products stored in silos were undamaged. Repair work was not expected to “materially disrupt terminal operations” as there were alternative logistics options at the site, LDC said in an email.

Ukraine is a major producer of wheat and corn, with previous delays to exports roiling the grains market. Odesa port is a key export hub, as the majority of Ukraine’s agricultural goods are exported via the Black Sea. DM