The day of the war at a glance: Ukraine wants Wagner base destroyed – Russia continues massive attacks

The day of the war at a glance
Ukraine wants Wagner base destroyed – Russia continues massive attacks

Russian attacks in eastern and southern Ukraine continue unabated. Moscow reports hundreds of killed Ukrainian soldiers and foreign mercenaries. Ukraine, in turn, claims a successful strike against the Russian mercenary force Wagner. There are also explosions near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, Russian President Putin has reaffirmed the goal of capturing the entire Donbass. The 173rd day of the war at a glance:

Reports of heavy fighting and heavy casualties

Russia reported attacks by its troops in eastern and southern Ukraine. In the Kharkiv region, more than 100 “foreign mercenaries” were killed and more than 50 injured in 24 hours, including Germans and Poles, said Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow. More than 420 Ukrainian soldiers were killed in airstrikes on the Cherson and Donetsk regions.

The Ukrainian governor of Kharkiv, Oleh Synyehubov, only spoke of Russian rocket attacks on industrial buildings and infrastructure, but gave no information on possible victims. The Ukrainian general staff in Kyiv also reported massive attacks in the east and south of the country – in the Donetsk region an attempt by the enemy to break through the defense line to Sloviansk was repelled. There was no independent confirmation of the information provided by either side.

Ukraine: Wagner base shut down

According to the Ukrainian army, it attacked a base of the Russian mercenary group Wagner in eastern Ukraine. The base of the Wagner group was destroyed in the precision attack, said the governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hajday. The Wagner group of mercenaries is considered Russia’s “shadow army”. The mercenaries are accused of serious human rights abuses, including torture and targeted killings. Moscow denies any connection to the group.

Melitopol’s mayor: saboteurs blow up railway bridge

According to Ukrainian sources, saboteurs blew up a railway bridge southwest of the Russian-held city of Melitopol in southern Ukraine. As a result, no more military trains are coming from the Crimean peninsula, wrote the mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fyodorov, on Telegram. Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and uses it as a supply base for Russian troops stationed in southern Ukraine.

Putin sticks to capture of the Donbass

Russian President Vladimir Putin reiterated the goal of complete capture of Donbass. The Russian army is fulfilling its tasks in the “Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics,” the Kremlin chief told international guests at a military forum near Moscow in the “Patriot” park. While Ukraine accuses Russia of the most serious war crimes and a bloody occupation policy, Putin once again claimed that “the soil of the Donbass is being liberated step by step” from Ukrainian nationalists.

London: Moscow plans for Donetsk annexation well advanced

According to British intelligence experts, Russia’s plans for a referendum in the Donetsk region on joining the Russian Federation are well advanced. It is not yet clear whether Moscow has already decided to hold such a referendum, according to the daily intelligence update from the British Ministry of Defence. The fact that the region is still not fully under Russian control is likely to be seen by the Kremlin as a setback, the experts said.

Reports of explosions at Zaporizhia NPP

According to the authorities, explosions could be heard again around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant (NPP) Zaporizhia, which was occupied by Russian troops. The area of ​​​​the nuclear power plant, which is located in the city of Enerhodar, and residential areas were shelled 25 times with heavy artillery, said the crew representative Vladimir Rogov on Telegram. Accordingly, grenades struck there. According to Ukrainian Mayor Dmytro Orlov, who fled Enerhodar, explosions were heard in the power plant city.

Ukraine accuses Russia of “nuclear terrorism” with the shelling. Crew representative Rogov said Ukrainian “terrorists” would fire the shots. He had also previously proposed a cease-fire.

Russia wants to let nuclear inspectors in nuclear power plants

According to Russia, it wants to do everything possible to ensure that inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) can inspect the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. That said the spokeswoman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Moscow, Maria Zakharova. The representative of Russia at the IAEA added that a visit to the nuclear power plant by experts from the UN agency could be organized in the near future.

Selenskyj warns Russians: Those who remain silent are complicit

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on the Russians to raise their voices in support of Ukraine. “The evil takes place on such a scale that silence is tantamount to complicity,” he said in his video speech every evening on Sunday. According to polls, a majority of Russians support Putin. However, the validity is uncertain. Open criticism of the war is severely punished by the Russian power apparatus.

Debate on EU entry ban for Russians

Zelenskyj also welcomed the Czech initiative to ban visas for Russian citizens. The discussion about a corresponding proposal by the Czech EU Council Presidency is becoming “more intense every day,” said Zelenskyj. The Czech Republic wants to propose a travel ban for all Russians to the EU member states and has not issued visas to Russian citizens since the first day after Russia invaded Ukraine.

At the summit meeting of the heads of government of the Nordic countries with Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Oslo, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin also urged entry bans for Russian tourists to the EU. “Russian citizens did not start the war, but at the same time we have to realize that they support the war,” Marin said. Chancellor Scholz, on the other hand, spoke out again in Oslo against such an entry ban, referring, among other things, to Russian citizens who are fleeing Putin’s regime. Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson advocated common EU action on this issue.

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