At least 12 Russians killed in strike on base, says Ukraine
At least 12 Russians have been killed in a strike on a base in the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka, according to the Ukrainian military.
Footage posted to Telegram by the State Border Guard Service showed numerous burnt-out trucks, collapsed buildings, and debris.
“The base of the occupiers was destroyed in Nova Kakhovka,” the post read. “At least 12 Rashists [supporters of Russian militarism] were liquidated.”
Key events
Summary
It’s just after 9pm in Ukraine. Here’s a round-up of all the latest from the conflict.
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The Ukrainian military said at least 12 Russian were killed in a strike on a base in the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka. Footage posted to Telegram by the State Border Guard Service showed numerous burnt-out trucks, collapsed buildings, and debris.
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Also in occupied southern Ukraine, the mayor of the city of Melitopol said explosions were heard near a Russian command centre. Ivan Fedorov said that a “loud explosion rang out near the enemy’s lair” in the centre of the city.
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The top official in Russian-annexed Crimea has claimed the FSB security service has broken up what he described as a six-person terrorist cell of a banned Islamist group. It followed a series of strikes on Russian bases and other infrastructure across the region which Russia has sought to blame on “sabotage”.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told Ukrainians living in Crimea to avoid Russia military bases following the strikes. “Do not approach the military objects of the Russian army,” he said in his latest video address, adding that they might also explode because of “bungling”.
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Ukrainian defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that, contrary to Russian claims, Ukraine has not lost any of the Himars rocket launchers provided to it by the US. Since the start of the conflict, Ukraine has received at least 20 of the US-made launchers, and has used them to attack Russian ammunition depots, command posts, and air defences. Russia has repeatedly claimed to have destroyed a number of the systems.
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The mayor of the village of Verkhnyo Rogachytsk in the Kherson region has been kidnapped, according to the deputy chair of the regional council. Yuri Sobolevsky said Svitlana Ivanivna was taken from her home at around 11am on Tuesday.
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A Russian soldier has become one of just a handful to speak out publicly against the war in Ukraine. Speaking to the Guardian, Pavel Filatyev, who fled Russia this week after publishing a 141-page account of his time fighting as part of a paratrooper unit, said: “I don’t see justice in this war. I don’t see truth here.”
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Four more vessels carrying agricultural products have sailed from ports in Ukraine. Turkish state media said the ships departed Odesa and Chernomorsk on Wednesday morning carrying sunflower meal, sunflower oil and corn, it said. They are the latest vessels to leave Ukraine under the terms of a grain export deal agreed between the UN, Ukraine, Turkey and Russia last month.
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UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Lviv to review the deal in talks with the Ukrainian and Turkish presidents. The three will also discuss “the need for a political solution to this conflict” and the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a UN spokesperson said.
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Polish Deputy Foreign Minister Marcin Przydacz has criticised German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his opposition to a proposal to ban all Russian nationals from the European Union. Asked about the comments, Przydacz said: “[Scholz] did not read all those reports about the enormous support for Vladimir Putin’s policy among ordinary Russians, maybe he did not see all the videos in which people gather with the letter Z.”
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Russia has appointed a new commander for its Black Sea fleet, according to Russian state media. Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov is said to have been presented to a meeting of the fleet’s most senior figures in the Sevastopol in Crimea. The previous commander of the fleet, Igor Osipov, is thought to have been removed following the sinking of its flagship, the Moskva, in April.
“I don’t see justice in this war”, says Russian soldier
A Russian soldier has become one of just a handful to speak out publicly against the war in Ukraine.
Speaking to the Guardian, Pavel Filatyev said: “I don’t see justice in this war. I don’t see truth here.”
Filatyev fled Russia earlier this week after publishing a 141-page document providing a day-by-day account of his time fighting as part of a paratrooper unit.
He was eventually evacuated from the conflict after being wounded and contracting an eye infection. He says that, by then, he had decided he needed to expose the rot at the core of the invasion.
“We were sitting under artillery fire by Mykolaiv,” he said.
“At that point I already thought that we’re just out here doing bullshit, what the fuck do we need this war for? And I really had this thought: ‘God, if I survive, then I’ll do everything that I can to stop this.’”
Read the full story here.
A key advisor to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has repeated a call for the Crimean Bridge to be destroyed.
Writing on Twitter, Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine had never granted permission for the construction of the bridge and that it was an “illegal object”.
“It harms the peninsula’s ecology and therefore must be dismantled. Not important how – voluntary or not,” he said.
The Crimean Bridge, built following Russia’s invasion of Crimea in 2014, spans the Kerch Strait, connecting the peninsula to mainland Russia.
The bridge was closed overnight on Tuesday following a series of strikes on Russian bases and other infrastructure in Crimea. The closure is thought to have come amid fears that it would also be targeted.
Speaking to the Guardian this week, Podolyak signalled that Ukraine regarded the bridge as a legitimate military target.
“It’s an illegal construction and the main gateway to supply the Russian army in Crimea. Such objects should be destroyed,” he said.
About “Kerchen bridge”. As recorded in international law: Crimea – ??. So this bridge is an illegal object, permission for the construction of which was not given by Ukraine. It harms the peninsula’s ecology and therefore must be dismantled. Not important how – voluntary or not.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 17, 2022
Poland’s deputy foreign minister has criticised German Chancellor Olaf Scholz for his opposition to a proposal to ban all Russian nationals from the European Union.
In a press conference in Olso on Monday, Scholz said that this was “not the war of the Russian people, but it is Putin’s war”.
Asked about the comments during an appearance on Polish state broadcaster TVP1, Marcin Przydacz said he rejected the idea of “good Russians and a bad tsar”.
“[Scholz] did not read all those reports about the enormous support for Vladimir Putin’s policy among ordinary Russians, maybe he did not see all the videos in which people gather with the letter Z,” he said.
“Russian society, unfortunately, fed by propaganda for not even the last years, but for decades, hundreds of years, lives in an imperialist dream in which its position would depend on how many territories it seizes, how many countries it conquers.”
Avoid Russian bases, Zelenskiy tells Ukrainians after explosions
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has told Ukrainians living in Crimea to avoid Russia military bases after three strikes on the peninsula in the past week.
“Do not approach the military objects of the Russian army,” he said in his latest video address, adding that they might also explode because of “bungling”.
Russia has blamed the explosions on “sabotage”, and earlier claimed to have detained six members of an Islamist terror cell.
Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks, but speaking about them to the Guardian a key adviser to the president said that “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouse explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves”.
Read the full story here.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is in Lviv ahead of talks with the Ukrainian and Turkish presidents on Thursday.
A photo showing Guterres arriving in the city was posted to Twitter by an official UN account.
Guterres is set to meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Tayyip Erdoğan to review the grain export deal agreed between the UN, Ukraine, Turkey, and Russia last month.
The three will also discuss “the need for a political solution to this conflict” and the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a UN spokesperson said previously.
Russia has appointed a new commander for its Black Sea fleet, according to state media agency RIA Novosti.
The agency said Vice-Admiral Viktor Sokolov had been presented to a meeting of the fleet’s most senior figures in the Sevastopol in Crimea.
It added there was no public event because of what it called the “yellow level of terrorist threat” in the city.
The previous commander of the fleet, Igor Osipov, is thought to have been removed following the sinking of its flagship, the Moskva, in April.
Solokov previously served as the head of Saint Petersburg’s Kuznetsov Naval Academy, the main staff college for the Russian Navy.
Ukraine has not lost any Himars, says defence minister
Ukraine has not lost any of the Himars rocket launchers provided to it by the US, the Ukrainian defence minister has said.
Since the start of the conflict, Ukraine has received at least 20 of the US-made launchers, and has used them to attack Russian ammunition depots, command posts, and air defences.
Russia has repeatedly claimed to have destroyed a number of the systems.
Himars stands for High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.
Speaking to the Ukrainian-language arm of the US outlet Voice of America, Oleksii Reznikov said Ukraine still had all the systems it has been given.
The claim was later repeated on the official Twitter account of the country’s defence ministry.
.@oleksiireznikov for @holosameryky
?30% of russian elite troops (paratroopers, marines, special forces) were eliminated in Ukraine
✅#UAarmy has not lost any #HIMARS
?We need a political decision about ATACMS supplies
⏩Our plan: total de-occupation of ?? territories— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 17, 2022
The seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Russia has raised the risk of a nuclear incident at the site, the Nato secretary-general, Jens Stoltenberg, has said.
The area around the plant, situated in the southern Zaporizhzhia region, has been under Russian control since March. The plant remains near the frontline and has been hit by shells multiple times in recent weeks.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Serbian president, Aleksandar Vučić, Stoltenberg said: “The seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Russian forces poses a serious threat to the safety and the security of this facility, raises the risks of a nuclear accident or incident, and endangers the population of Ukraine, of neighbouring countries, and of the international community.
“It is urgent to allow the inspection by the International Atomic Energy Agency and to ensure the withdrawal of all Russian forces.”
Chinese troops will travel to Russia to take part in joint military exercises led by Russia, China’s defence ministry has said.
Last month, Moscow announced plans to hold “Vostok” [East] exercises from 30 August to 5 September, saying that some foreign forces would also participate.
China said the exercises would include forces from India, Belarus, Mongolia and Tajikistan.
The exercises will be the first conducted by Russia since 2018, when China took part for the first time.
The ministry said the exercises were “part of an ongoing bilateral annual cooperation agreement with Russia” and “unrelated to the current international and regional situation”.
Four more vessels carrying agricultural products have sailed from ports in Ukraine, according to the Turkish state-run news agency Anadolu.
Citing Turkey’s Ministry of National Defence, the agency said the ships departed the ports of Odesa and Chernomorsk on Wednesday morning.
They were carrying sunflower meal, sunflower oil and corn, it said.
On Tuesday, the first ship to depart Ukraine carrying wheat under the terms of a grain export deal agreed last month docked in Syria.
Since 1 August, a total of 21 ships carrying agricultural products have left Ukraine.
At least 12 Russians killed in strike on base, says Ukraine
At least 12 Russians have been killed in a strike on a base in the occupied city of Nova Kakhovka, according to the Ukrainian military.
Footage posted to Telegram by the State Border Guard Service showed numerous burnt-out trucks, collapsed buildings, and debris.
“The base of the occupiers was destroyed in Nova Kakhovka,” the post read. “At least 12 Rashists [supporters of Russian militarism] were liquidated.”
A “freeze” of the conflict in Ukraine of the sort that followed the Russian occupation in Donbas is currently not possible, the Ukrainian defence minister has said.
Speaking to the Ukrainian-language arm of US outlet Voice of America, Oleksiy Reznikov said: “I don’t think that the option of freezing is possible.
“The option of reducing activity is possible, depending on the season. And again, modern war is a war of resources.
“Resources, of course, are being depleted on both sides. And, accordingly, each side needs time to recover.”
Reznikov also claimed that Russian forces had lost at least a third of their combat capacity since the start of the invasion in February.
Russia expects its average price for gas exports to more than double over the course of this year, according to economy ministry forecasts seen by Reuters.
The figures suggested that the average price charged by state-owned energy giant Gazprom in 2022 would be $730 (£605) per 1,000 cubic metres, up from $305 (£253) in 2021.
Based on those forecasts, the ministry expects Russia to earn $338bn (£280bn) and $256bn (£213bn) from its total energy exports this year and next, respectively, up from $244bn (£202bn) in 2021.
The forecast also said that, after this year, prices would gradually fall until the end of 2025.
The reduced supply of Russian gas to Europe since the invasion of Ukraine has seen prices surge. Gazprom has said supplies to China are increasing, but Europe remains by far the largest market for Russian gas.
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