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Five injured in Kharkiv shelling
Shelling in Kharkiv, a city in north-west Ukraine, has left five people injured, with two of them in a serious condition, a top Ukrainian official has said.
Posting on Telegram, the head of the Kharkiv regional state administration Oleg Synegubov, said:
As a result of the morning shelling of Kharkiv, 5 people were injured.
According to the information of the Regional Center of Emergency Medical Assistance, 4 people were hospitalized, 2 of them are in serious condition. 1 person was treated on the spot.
Medical and rescue services continue to work at the sites of the hits.
Key events
Putin ready to offer allies in Latin American, Asia and Africa ‘advanced’ weapons
Vladimir Putin said on Monday that Moscow valued its ties with countries in Latin American, Asia and Africa and was ready to offer modern weapons to its allies, reports Reuters.
Putin used a speech at an arms show near Moscow to boast of Russia’s advanced weapons capabilities and declare its willingness to share technology with like-minded countries.
Putin told the the opening ceremony of the “Army-2022” forum near Moscow:
(We) are ready to offer our allies the most modern types of weapons, from small arms to armoured vehicles and artillery to combat aviation and unmanned aerial vehicles.
Almost all of them have been used more than once in real combat operations.
The Russian president’s comments come just a day after he offered to expand relations with North Korea.
In a letter to Kim Jong-un for Korea‘s liberation day, Putin said closer ties would be in both countries’ interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the north-east Asian region, North Korea‘s KCNA news agency said.
Russian soldiers are taking their families out of Melitopol, according to the BBC’s Russian service.
The broadcaster reports the city’s mayor, Ivan Fedorov, saying: After the partisans and the armed forces of Ukraine have actively worked for another week, the Russian military is taking their families out of the city.”
It comes after authorities in Kherson reportedly said on Sunday that some Russian commanders had left the city.
Andrew Roth
Andrew Roth has the latest on Brittney Griner’s appeal against her nine-year jail sentence:
Lawyers for American basketball star Brittney Griner have filed an appeal against her nine-year prison sentence for drug possession.
Griner, a centre for the Phoenix Mercury who had been playing in Yekaterinburg during the WNBA off-season, was arrested in February at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo airport after vape canisters containing cannabis oil were found in her luggage. She was convicted on 4 August.
Lawyer Maria Blagovolina said on Monday the appeal had been filed, but declined to give details. Alexander Boykov, a lawyer at Moscow Legal Centre who represented Griner in court, told Reuters the appeal would be mainly based on alleged violations in the course of the investigation.
Griner’s defence team argued in court that some of her case files had been drawn up without being translated for her into English. It was not clear how soon an appeal could be heard.
Read more here: Brittney Griner lawyers appeal against nine-year Russian jail sentence
Kyiv could be facing a cold winter due to gas shortages, says Mayor Klitschko
Former boxing champion and mayor of Kyiv Vitali Klitschko said he did not want to reassure residents that “everything will be fine” and that there were “harsh realities” in the country.
He said there will be gas for people living in the capital and it will not increase in price, but residents needed to be prepared for “different scenarios”.
In an interview with Babel, he added:
This is the expectation. But we do not rule out that there may be acts of terrorism, attacks on gas stations. We also take this scenario into account. We bought generators, fuel for these generators. First of all, they will go to hospitals, kindergartens and schools. We will do everything possible and impossible, which depends on us, to keep the houses warm.
He urged Ukrainians living in Kyiv to prepare warm blankets and clothes at home and to be prepared for temperatures to be lower than normal, at around 18-19C.
These are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
Five injured in Kharkiv shelling
Shelling in Kharkiv, a city in north-west Ukraine, has left five people injured, with two of them in a serious condition, a top Ukrainian official has said.
Posting on Telegram, the head of the Kharkiv regional state administration Oleg Synegubov, said:
As a result of the morning shelling of Kharkiv, 5 people were injured.
According to the information of the Regional Center of Emergency Medical Assistance, 4 people were hospitalized, 2 of them are in serious condition. 1 person was treated on the spot.
Medical and rescue services continue to work at the sites of the hits.
Summary
It is just after 1pm in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
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Ukrainian forces reported heavy Russian shelling and attempts to advance on several towns in the eastern region of Donetsk that has become a key focus of the near six-month war, but said they had repelled many of the attacks. Ukraine’s military command said on Sunday that Russian soldiers had continued unsuccessfully to attack Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka, which, since 2014, has become one of the outposts of Ukrainian forces near Donetsk.
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Russia is probably in the advanced planning stages to hold a referendum for the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) to join Russia, according to British intelligence. On 11 August, Russian media reported that the Moscow-installed administrative head, Denis Pushilin, said that the date of a referendum on the DPR joining Russia would be announced after the DPR’s “complete liberation”. However, it is unclear if the final decision to go ahead with a vote has yet been taken, the UK’s Ministry of Defence reports.
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Mykolaiv came under sustained overnight fire from Russian forces, a Ukrainian official has said. Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, posted on his Telegram account that an educational facility and hotel had been struck on the outskirts of the city. He added there were no casualties.
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The defence team of US basketball star Brittney Griner has appealed against her conviction for drugs possession and trafficking, Griner’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina told Reuters on Monday. Griner, who had played for a Russian club, was arrested at a Moscow airport on 17 February after cannabis-infused vape cartridges were found in her luggage. She pleaded guilty to the charges but said she had made an “honest mistake” by entering Russia with cannabis oil, which is illegal in the country. She was convicted on 4 August and jailed for nine years.
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Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, says Russia and North Korea will expand bilateral relations, Pyongyang’s state media reported on Monday. Putin told North Korean leader Kim Jong-un that the two countries would “expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with common efforts”, Pyongyang’s state media reported on Monday. In a letter to Kim for North Korea’s liberation day, Putin said that closer ties would be in both countries’ interests, and would help strengthen the security and stability of the Korean peninsula and the north-eastern Asian region, North Korea’s KCNA news agency said.
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The first UN ship to carry Ukrainian grain for Africa is ready to depart with 23,000 tonnes of wheat. The MV Brave Commander will head to Africa and “Ethiopia will be the last country where the 23,000-tonne cargo of wheat will be delivered”, said Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov. It will be the first shipment of food aid since Kyiv and Moscow agreed a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey in July to unblock Black Sea grain deliveries.
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The first ship to depart Ukraine when grain exports resumed was approaching the Syrian port of Tartus on Sunday. The ship left Ukraine two weeks ago but cargo on the Razoni was refused by its original Lebanese buyer, two shipping sources told Reuters.
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Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said his forces will target Russian soldiers who shoot at or from the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. “Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our army,” he said.
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A total of 42 countries have called on Russia to immediately withdraw military forces from the plant, including the US, Japan and the UK, plus the EU. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has warned of a possible nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.
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Zelenskiy has warned those with Russian citizenship against being complicit and silent in supporting Putin’s war on Ukraine. “People’s silence approaches the level of complicity. And the rejection of the real fight against evil becomes the assistance to it. Therefore, if you have Russian citizenship and you are silent, it means that you are not fighting, it means that you are supporting it,” he said in his latest national address.
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Ukraine’s forces continued to strike at strategic bridges supplying Russian troops holding the city of Kherson, the only major site held by the invaders on the west bank of the Dnieper, including the Antonovsky road bridge and the crossing at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant upstream. Ukraine said Russian troops who crossed the Dnieper River during their offensive in the southern region were facing growing difficulties after bridges were damaged.
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Russia says it has taken control of Udy, a village in the eastern Kharkiv region, according to its latest military briefing. The village has been under heavy shelling by Russian forces.
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Russia’s priority over the past week has likely been to reorient units to strengthen its campaign in southern Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Sunday. The UK Ministry of Defence said Russia also appeared to be intensifying attacks on the eastern Donbas front, in what is likely to be an attempt to ensure Ukraine is not able to concentrate forces in the south against Kherson.
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Countries throughout Europe have called for the EU to limit or block short-term Schengen visas for Russian citizens. Ukraine, Estonia, Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic all urged new restrictions. Poland is also considering restrictions for Russian tourist visas.
The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has published its latest map showing Russian military attack and troop locations in Ukraine.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has vowed to target Russian troops at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant who fire on Ukrainian towns and cities.
In a video statement on Saturday evening, Ukraine’s president said:
Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the station or shoots under the cover of the station must understand that they are becoming a special target for our intelligence, for our special services, for our army.
Both Ukraine and Russia have accused one another of shelling the nuclear plant, which is the largest in Europe, following multiple incidents in recent weeks.
Russian troops captured the station early in the war. G7 nations have called on Moscow to withdraw from the plant to avoid risking nuclear catastrophe.
The defence team of US basketball star Brittney Griner has appealed against her conviction for narcotics possession and trafficking, Griner’s lawyer Maria Blagovolina told Reuters on Monday.
Griner, who had played for a Russian club, was arrested at a Moscow airport on 17 February after cannabis-infused vape cartridges were found in her luggage.
She pleaded guilty to the charges but said she had made an “honest mistake” by entering Russia with cannabis oil, which is illegal in the country.
She was convicted on 4 August and jailed for nine years.
The US government says Griner was wrongfully detained. It has offered to exchange her for Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer serving a 25-year prison sentence in the US.
Read more about the case here: Russia ‘ready to discuss’ prisoner swap but will resist pressure to free Brittney Griner
Mykolaiv came under sustained overnight fire from Russian forces, a Ukrainian official has said.
Vitaliy Kim, the governor of Mykolaiv, posted on his Telegram account that an educational facility and hotel had been struck on the outskirts of the city. He added there were no casualties.
The report could not been independently verified.
Shaun Walker and Pjotr Sauer report:
“A city with a Russian history,” proclaim billboards across the Ukrainian city of Kherson, occupied by the Russian army since the first days of March. Others display the Russian flag, or quotes from Vladimir Putin.
Over the past five months, Moscow has appointed an occupation administration to run the Kherson region and ordered schools to teach the Russian curriculum. Local people are encouraged to apply for Russian passports to access pensions and other benefits.
The next stage of the Kremlin’s plan is a referendum, to add a dubious sense of legality to these facts on the ground, and create a pretext for bringing Kherson and other occupied parts of southern Ukraine into Russia, using an updated version of the 2014 Crimea playbook.
In a series of telephone interviews, people in Kherson reported minimal enthusiasm for a referendum, and described a nervous, unpredictable atmosphere in the city.
Residents remain unsure about what the next few months might bring: a swift Ukrainian counteroffensive to regain control, a protracted battle that turns the city to rubble, or Russia carrying out its sham referendum and annexing the territory.
Read more here: ‘A referendum is not right’: occupied Kherson looks to uncertain future
These are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
The Kyiv Independent is reporting that Russian forces shelled Kharkiv, in eastern Ukraine, overnight and hit a factory.
No further information was given about possible casualties.
⚡️Russian forces shell Kharkiv overnight on Aug. 15.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov reported that at 2:50 a.m. local time Russian forces shelled Slobidsky district of the city and hit a factory. There is no information on casualties at the time of the publication.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 15, 2022
Simon Tisdall argues locking up Vladimir Putin is a strategic aim the west should pursue:
The west’s strategic aims in Ukraine – to repulse Russia’s invasion, restore national sovereignty and score a victory for global democracy over “the forces of darkness” – were clearly set out by US president Joe Biden in Warsaw in March and subsequently endorsed by UK and European leaders.
What has always been less clear is whether they honestly expect to achieve these aims, given Nato’s less than heroic refusal to get directly involved. An uncomfortable, even distressing question now arises: should Ukrainians prepare for a stab in the back this winter?
Nearly six months into the war, the widening gap between rhetoric and reality grows potentially fatal. Public outrage over the invasion is giving way to concern, bordering on panic, about its alarming knock-on effects on energy and food prices and the cost of living.
That in turn is feeding doubts about western staying power. How long before Europe’s already shaky unity crumbles, if and when Russia’s gas tap is finally turned off?
Read more of Simon Tisdall’s piece here: As Putin’s war spreads panic across Europe, Ukrainians must fear a stab in the back
Russian troops are using Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, as cover to fire missiles into Ukraine-held territory. Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding talks to residents and Ukrainian military officials, who say they cannot retaliate.
The Philippines is looking to buy heavy-lift Chinook helicopters from the US, after scrapping a deal with Russia worth 12.7bn pesos ($227.35m) in order to avoid sanctions, Manila’s ambassador to Washington said on Monday.
In June, days before President Rodrigo Duterte ended his six-year term, the Philippines scrapped a deal to buy 16 Mi-17 Russian military transport helicopters because of fears of US sanctions linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, reports Reuters.
Ambassador Jose Manuel Romualdez told journalists in a virtual forum.
This cancellation of this contract is precipitated mainly by the war in Ukraine. While there are sanctions expected to come our way, from the United States and western countries, obviously it is not in our interest to continue and pursue this contract.
Romualdez said the Chinooks would replace existing hardware used for the movement of troops and in disaster preparedness in the Southeast Asian country.
The US is willing to strike a deal for the amount the Philippines was set to spend on the Russian helicopters, Romualdez said, adding the deal with Washington will likely include maintenance, service and parts.
The Philippines is pursuing discussions with Russia to recover its $38m down payment for the helicopters, the delivery of which was supposed to start in November next year, or 24 months after the contract was signed.
Rustem Umerov, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, posted a picture of the Canadian military on Twitter and thanked them for helping train members of the Ukrainian armed forces.
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