The Russian military also continued its strikes in northern and southern Ukraine. In Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian authorities said local air defenses shot down a drone over the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. It was the second drone incident at the headquarters in three weeks and followed explosions at a Russian airport and ammunition depot on the peninsula this month. Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to Crimea’s governor, also said Saturday that “attacks by small drones” had triggered air defense systems in western Crimea. “Air defense systems successfully hit all targets above the ground over Crimea on Saturday morning. There are no casualties or material damage,” his boss, Sergei Aksionov, told Telegram. A child stands on top of a damaged Russian tank on Saturday in Kyiv, where a group of damaged military vehicles is on display at an exhibition. (Nacho Doce/Reuters) The governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said on Telegram that the city’s air defense systems were back in action late Saturday. The incidents underscored the vulnerability of Russian forces in Crimea. A drone attack on the Black Sea headquarters on July 31 injured five people and forced the cancellation of Russia’s Navy Day celebrations. WATCHES | Russia to allow inspection of Ukraine’s nuclear plant:
Russia agrees to independent inspection of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Russian President Vladimir Putin has said UN officials will be allowed to visit and inspect the Zaporizhia nuclear complex in Ukraine, amid claims that fighting near the plant is continuing and civilians have been injured. This week, a Russian ammunition depot in Crimea was hit by an explosion. Last week, nine Russian warplanes were destroyed at an air base in Crimea. Ukrainian authorities have not publicly claimed responsibility. But Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy referred to Ukrainian attacks behind enemy lines after the Crimea blasts.
12 injured in Voznesensk missile attack
Fighting in areas of southern Ukraine just north of Crimea has intensified in recent weeks as Ukrainian forces try to drive Russian forces out of towns they have seized since the start of the nearly six-month war. A Russian rocket attack injured 12 people, including some children, and destroyed houses and an apartment building on Saturday in the city of Voznesensk in the Mykolayiv region, the Ukrainian prosecutor’s office said. Two of the children were in serious condition and the governor said one lost an eye. Ukrainian authorities say a residential building in Voznesensk, Ukraine, was damaged by a Russian missile attack on Saturday, along with some private homes. Twelve people were injured in the aftermath of the strike. (State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Reuters) Meanwhile, a Ukrainian airstrike hit targets in Melitopol, the largest Russian-controlled city in the Zaporizhzhia region, according to local officials deployed by Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainian military announced on Saturday that it had destroyed a valuable Russian radar system and other equipment stationed in occupied areas in the southern Zaporizhzhia region. It was not clear if this was the hit in Melitopolis. “Tonight there were loud explosions in Melitopol, which the whole city heard,” said Ivan Fedorov, the Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol. “According to preliminary data,” it was “a precise hit on one of the Russian military bases, which the Russian fascists are trying to restore for the umpteenth time in the area of the airport.” A view from Kharkiv, Ukraine shows rockets being fired from Russia’s Belgorod region early Saturday morning. (Vadim Belikov/The Associated Press)
The Eye of Bahamut
In the east, Ukraine’s military General Staff said on Saturday that fighting had intensified around Bakhmut, a small town whose capture would allow Russia to threaten the two largest remaining cities in the eastern Donbass region. Ukrainian soldiers prepare barricades in Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine in the Donetsk region on Saturday. (Ammar Awad/Reuters) Bakhmut has for weeks been a key target of Moscow’s eastern offensive as the Russian military tries to complete a months-long campaign to capture all of Donbas, where pro-Moscow separatists have declared two republics that Russia recognized as sovereign states at the start of the war. . A local Ukrainian official said there was continuous fighting on Saturday morning near four settlements on the border between Luhansk and Donetsk provinces, which together make up the disputed area. Luhansk governor Serhi Haidai did not name the settlements or mention Bahmut. Russian forces captured almost all of Luhansk last month and have since focused on seizing Ukrainian-held areas of Donetsk. People shop on a street in Bakhmut, Donetsk region, Ukraine, on Saturday. Bakhmut has been a key target of Moscow’s eastern offensive for weeks. (Ammar Awad/Reuters) On Friday, Russian shelling killed seven civilians in Donetsk province, including four in Bakhmut, governor Pavlo Kirilenko wrote on Telegram on Saturday. Taking Bakhmut would give the Russians room to advance on the main Ukrainian-held towns of the province, Kramatorsk and Sloviansk. Ukraine said Sloviansk and Kramatorsk were targeted on Friday, along with the Kharkiv region in the north, home to Ukraine’s second-largest city. Local authorities reported new Russian shelling overnight along a wide front, including the regions of northern Kharkiv and Sumy, which border Russia, as well as the eastern region of Dnipropetrovsk and Mykolaiv. Also on Saturday, pedestrians in central Kiev took pictures of a large column of burned and captured Russian tanks and infantry vehicles displayed on a central boulevard in the Ukrainian capital. The report comes just days before Ukraine’s independence day on August 24, which also marks six months since the Russian invasion. Ukrainians inspect a group of damaged Russian military vehicles on display in Kyiv. (Andrew Kravchenko/The Associated Press)
