End of the 2024 Olympics and bringing military hardware to the border by Belarus: highlights for August 11

How did Ukraine perform at the Olympics?

At the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, Ukrainian athletes managed to win 12 medals in various sports.

In particular, Ukraine won three golds, the best result in 12 years at this level of competition. The gold medals were won by the fencing team (Olha Harlan, Alina Komashchuk, Yuliia Bakastova and Olena Kravatska), track and field athlete Yaroslava Mahuchikh and boxer Oleksandr Khyzhniak.

With these victories, Ukraine took 22nd place in the medal table at the Olympics.

AFP: Ukrainian military's goal in Kursk region is not occupation

Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers are taking part in combat operations in Kursk region of Russia, but they do not plan to occupy the territories, an unnamed Ukrainian official told AFP. He emphasized that Kyiv will comply with international humanitarian law.

Netrebko's performances at the Rome Opera demanded to be canceled

The Ministry of Culture of Ukraine has appealed to the mayor of Rome and the head of the Rome Opera House to cancel the performances of Russian opera singer Anna Netrebko at the Rome Opera House.

In 2014, she donated 1 million rubles to the Donetsk Opera House, which was already under occupation. She was also photographed with former MP Oleg Tsarev, holding a separatist flag.

Gayun: There were no Ukrainian drones in the sky over Belarus

The monitoring group Belaruski Gayun claims that no drones were spotted during a flight of Belarusian military aircraft on August 9. The self-proclaimed president of the country claimed that Ukraine allegedly violated the airspace that day.

Belarus prepares hardware to be deployed to the border with Ukraine

The Ministry of Defense of Belarus has reported on the preparation of military hardware amid an order to strengthen the grouping of troops in the areas bordering Ukraine.

At the same time, the Ukrainian State Border Guard Service says it has not recorded any movement of equipment or personnel. However, they emphasized that the border with Belarus “has never been secondary for Ukraine”.

Klitschko was asked not to close the Lybid River into a collector. What did he say?

Kyiv authorities were urged to ban the closure of urban rivers into concrete collectors, including the Lybid. Instead, they proposed to approve a “reverse movement” to “free and develop” the capital's rivers. Mayor Vitali Klitschko replied that the arguments of the appeal did not deserve attention.

According to him, the Lybid River in Kyiv has a total length of over 17 km and almost the entire watercourse along it has a concrete bed, which effectively turns it into a sewer.

Ukrzaliznytsia has a special ticket reserve for the military

More than 500 military personnel have the opportunity to travel with Ukrzaliznytsia every day using a specially created ticket reserve for military personnel.

As noted, the reserve is valid for a certain list of trains running from and to frontline cities. This list is periodically expanded, according to the General Staff.

IOC reports a “campaign of insults” against Bubka

Former NOC of Ukraine President Serhii Bubka was criticized on social media for awarding a gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games to German woman of Russian origin Daria Varfolomeyev, who competed in occupied Crimea in 2021. The IOC responded that Serhii Bubka “fulfilled his duty as an IOC member”. They also condemned the “campaign of insults” against the Ukrainian athlete.

Other important news of the day

• Russia publishes recordings of "successful strikes" on the Ukrainian armed forces in Kursk region, although they were filmed long ago in other places, Insider writes.
• Strike on Kostiantynivka on August 9: investigators identified all 14 dead, including children.
• The occupiers attacked Kyiv region at night: a man and a child were killed. A 93-year-old woman died near Kherson as a result of Russian shelling.
• In Kursk, a downed missile hit a nine-story residential building.