A Russian soldier at the occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, August 4, 2022 (Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters)


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EA on Times Radio: Ukraine Still Stands on Independence Day; Killing of Darya Dugina in Russia

Monday’s Coverage: Russia Shells Nikopol from Occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant


Source: Institute for the Study of War


UPDATE 1655 GMT:

Speaking at a press conference alongside visiting Polish President Andrzej Duda in Kyiv, Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has pledged a “powerful response” if Russia escalates attacks on Ukraine Indpendence Day on Wednesday.

Duda told an international conference on Crimea that all of Ukraine must be liberated from Russian occupation: “Crimea is and will be a part of Ukraine, just like Gdansk and Lublin are part of Poland.”

He pledged Poland will support Ukraine until “the last day of the fight.”


UPDATE 1645 GMT:

Officials in the Krasnodar region of Russia claim that more than 1,000 Ukrainian children from the overrun port city of Mariupol “have found new families” in Russian cities such as Tyumen, Irkutsk, Kemerovo, and Altai Krai.

The officials said more than 300 children are “temporarily held in specialized institutions” of the Krasnodar region and can be adopted.

In late July, Ukraine identified 5,600 children forcibly deported to Russia from occupied territories.


UPDATE 1434 GMT:

Canada has imposed sanctions on another 62 Russian individuals and the defense firm Avtomatika, which makes drones and electronic voting machines.

The individuals include “high-ranking Russian government officials, including Russian federal governors and regional heads, their family members, and senior officials of currently sanctioned defence sector entities”.


UPDATE 1243 GMT:

Rafael Grossi, the Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, hopes he can lead a mission to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “in days, not weeks”.


UPDATE 1221 GMT:

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken to an international conference on Crimea about the liberation of the peninsula, occupied by Russia since 2014.

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To overcome terror, it is necessary to gain victory in the fight against Russian aggression. It is necessary to liberate Crimea. This will be the resuscitation of world law and order.

Therefore, we need to free Crimea from occupation as well. It started in Crimea and it will end in Crimea.


UPDATE 1209 GMT:

The UN has issued a warning about planned trials of Ukrainian POWs in the southern port city of Mariupol by Russia and its proxies.

Ravina Shamdasani, a spokesperson for the UN rights office, said:

We are very concerned about the manner in which this is being done. There are pictures in the media of cages being built in Mariupol’s philharmonic hall, really massive cages and apparently the idea is to restrain the prisoners….

This is not acceptable, this is humiliating.

Ukrainian military intelligence has said the occupiers of Mariupol, overrun in May after 12 weeks of attack and siege, intendt o display the POWs in iron cages during a “show trial” on Ukraine Independence Day this Wednesday.

Interior Ministry official Anton Gereschenko tweeted:

Kyiv has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights to ensure the rights of the POWs, including measures to prevent the show trials. The Justice and Foreign Ministries also sought pressure on Russia to provide information on the detention of and medical support for the detainees.


UPDATE 0927 GMT:

Ukraine’s Agriculture Ministry says 33 cargo ships with 719,549 tons of foodstuffs have left Black Sea ports since a July 22 deal to lift Russia’s blockade.

The Ministry said another 18 ships are loading or waiting for permission to leave port.


UPDATE 0539 GMT:

The UN has named members of the team seeking to investigate the mass killing of more than 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Olenivka prison in Russian-occupied eastern Ukraine.

However, there is still no indication that Russia and Russian proxy authorities will permit access.

The POWs were slain in a blast on July 29. Russian officials tried to blame the Ukrainian military, but failed to produce evidence. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the explosion was “a deliberate war crime by the Russians”.


UPDATE 0531 GMT:

Implicitly claiming “independence”, Russian proxy officials in the Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine have labelled incoming Ukrainian citizens as “asylum seekers”.

The order also designates Ukraine as a separate country from the Zaporizhzhia area.

Russian and Russian proxy officials have pursued steps for “independence” or Russian annexation of parts of southern Ukraine, occupied in the early days of Moscow’s invasion. However, the authorities have struggled to establish control and to implement effective measures amid local resistance.

The officials have indicated that “referenda” for independence will be held on September 11, but the US-based Institute for the Study of War assesses that the step may be delayed.


UPDATE 0526 GMT:

Netherlands has pledged another 65 million euros ($64.6 million) for Ukranian reconstruction.

The aid includes co-financing by Dutch companies to rebuild infrastructure destroyed by the Russian invasion. There are 10 million euros ($9.94 million) for demining and 1 million euros ($995,000) to support initial design plans for rebuilding three cities in southern Ukraine: Kherson, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.


ORIGINAL ENTRY: UN Secretary-General António Guterres has called for an end to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, amid the use of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine as a military base by Russian occupiers to fire on Ukrainian-held territory across the Dnipro River.

Addressing the Security Council on Monday, Guterres said that the world is at a “maximum moment of danger”. He sought “commitment to dialogue and results” at Zaporizhzhia, and asked all countries with nuclear weapons, including Russia, to pledge “no first-use”.

Guterres has appealed for the Russians to demilitarize the plant, but Moscow has bluntly rejected the call. On Sunday the occupiers again shelled Nikopol across the Dnipro River, starting a fire at an industrial site and damaging dozens of residences, a kindergarten, shops, pharmacies, markets, a court and a bus station.

The Secretary-General and the international community have also sought access for a mission to the complex by the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency. Russia has stalled on allowing any visit.

Last week, the Russians threatened to shut down the plant, with six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors, on the pretext that it might be shelled by the Ukrainians.