Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned over the weekend of the risk of more serious attacks ahead of the 31st anniversary of Ukraine’s independence from Russian-Soviet rule on Wednesday. In a video speech over the weekend, he said Moscow could try “something particularly nasty” ahead of Wednesday, which also marks half a year since Russia’s invasion. Local authorities in Kyiv have banned large public events, rallies and other gatherings related to the anniversary from Monday to Thursday due to the possibility of rocket attacks, according to a document released by the Kyiv military administration. Kyiv is far from the front lines and has rarely been hit by Russian missiles since Ukrainian defenders repelled a Russian ground offensive to capture the capital in March. A person climbs into a damaged Russian tank on display at an open-air military museum in Kyiv on Sunday. (Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images) Separately, a US official told Reuters that the US has information that Russia plans to launch new attacks against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and government facilities soon. “We have information that Russia is intensifying efforts to launch strikes against Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. Given Russia’s track record in Ukraine, we are concerned about the continued threat posed by Russian strikes to civilians and non-military military infrastructure.” said the official. The official said the statement was based on declassified US intelligence. Fears of intensified attacks were likely to rise after Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Ukrainian intelligence on Monday of killing Daria Dugina, the daughter of a Russian ultra-nationalist ideologue, in a suspected car bombing on Saturday, Russian news agencies said news. Ukraine has denied involvement.
New front line
Russia launched what it calls a “special military operation” on February 24 to demilitarize its smaller neighbor and protect Russian-speaking communities. Ukraine and its Western backers accuse Moscow of waging an imperialist-style war of conquest. The conflict, Europe’s biggest since World War II, has destroyed towns and cities, killed thousands, forced millions abroad and deepened a volatile geopolitical standoff between Russia and the West. Ukrainian soldiers are seen in Kramatorsk, located in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region, on Monday. (Ammar Awad/Reuters) Since Russian forces retreated in disarray from Kyiv early in the war, they have focused on capturing the rest of the eastern Donbass region, partially held by separatist proxies since 2014, and holding on to the occupied areas of the south. In Donetsk province, which is part of Donbas, Russian artillery and multiple rocket launchers hit Soledar, Zaytseve and Bilohorivka near the town of Bakhmut, killing at least two civilians, Ukrainian authorities said. Russia denies targeting civilians. In Kharkiv, a northeastern city under frequent and deadly artillery fire and longer-range rockets, Mayor Ihor Terekhov announced an extension of the overnight curfew that will be in effect from 4pm to 7am from Tuesday to Thursday. In the latest sign of a planned Ukrainian counteroffensive to retake the Russian-held Kherson region in the south, smoke was rising from the only Dnipro bridge in the city of Kherson, an interior ministry adviser in Kiev said. A source in the emergency services of occupied Kherson told the Russian Interfax news agency that the Antonivka Road Bridge was hit by high-precision HIMARS rockets supplied to Ukraine by the United States and that 15 people were injured. The bridge, a key means of transport for Russian military transport in the region, has been repeatedly targeted by Ukrainian forces. WATCHES | Why the war in Ukraine may reach a tipping point:
Because the war in Ukraine may be reaching a tipping point
The war in Ukraine appears to be entering a new phase, with Ukraine launching military strikes deep into Russian territory and a major counter-offensive said to be in the works. Terence McKenna describes what happened and how Russia is responding. In the port of Mykolaiv near Russian territory in the south, regional governor Vitaliy Kim said authorities planned a precautionary order for residents to work from home on Tuesday and Wednesday and urged people not to gather in large groups. Reuters was unable to independently verify either side’s battlefield reports.
Nuclear danger
Artillery and missile fire at a nuclear reactor complex in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, on the Russian-held south bank of the Dnipro River, has sparked fears of a nuclear disaster and led to calls for the surrounding area to be demilitarized. Ukraine and Russia have traded blame for repeated shelling incidents in and around the Zaporizhia complex in recent weeks. Kyiv has accused Moscow of basing troops and storing military equipment on the power plant’s grounds and using it as a shield to bomb territory controlled by the Kiev government in the west and north. Russia denies this and accuses Ukraine of targeting the plant with shells and drones. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is seen near the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar, in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region, on Monday. (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters) Moscow has called for a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday to discuss the plant, Russian state news agency RIA reported, citing Deputy UN Ambassador Dmitry Polyansky. On Monday night, Russian forces fired rockets into Nikopoli, just across the Dnipro from the plant on its south bank, as well as the Krivyi Rih and Synelnykovskyi districts further northwest and northeast respectively, regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram. In a telephone call on Sunday, US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Boris Johnson welcomed recent discussions on easing the UN nuclear watchdog’s mission to Zaporizhia.
Thousands dead so far
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, citing its monitoring mission in Ukraine, said on Monday that 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded as of August 21, mostly by artillery, rocket and missile attacks. Separately on Monday, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi — Kiev’s army chief — provided what appeared to be the first public tally of Ukrainian military deaths, saying nearly 9,000 soldiers had been killed in the battle. Russia has not said how many of its soldiers have been killed. The General Staff of Ukraine put the death toll of the Russian army at 45,400. Reuters was unable to verify military casualties on either side.
