Relatives of Ukrainian POWs protest on August 4, 2022 after mass killing at Russian-controlled Olenivka Prison in eastern Ukraine

Friday’s Coverage: Russia Calls for Evacuation of Kherson in South

Source: Institute for the Study of War

UPDATE 1446 GMT:

The governor of Russia’s Belgorod region, near the Ukraine, says shelling has set an oil depot on fire.

On Thursday, Russian officials said Ukrainian shells destroyed an ammunition depot and an electricity substation.

UPDATE 1443 GMT:

A Russian missile strike seriously damaged a key energy facility in the Kyiv region.

Governor Oleksiy Kuleba said there were no casualties.

Crews are restoring power but residents are being warned about possible outages and asked to conserve electricity during evening hours of peak demand.

UPDATE 1433 GMT:

Russian shelling killed two civilians in the Dnipropetrovsk region of south-central Ukraine.

In the neighboring Zaporizhzhia region, the Russians attacked with Iranian-made kamikaze drones and S-300 missiles.

UPDATE 1414 GMT:

Pramila Patten, the UN special representative on sexual violence, has described the Russian military’s use of rape as a weapon of war:

When women are held for days and raped, when you start to rape little boys and men, when you see a series of genital mutilations, when you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy.

And when the victims report what was said during the rapes, it is clearly a deliberate tactic to dehumanize the victims.

Patten said the UN has verified more than a hundred cases” of rape or sexual assault in Ukraine from February 24, the start of the Russian invasion, to late September. The victims were from 4 to 82 years old.

UPDATE 1042 GMT:

The President of Tajikistan, Emomali Rahmon, pushes back against Vladimir Putin at the Central Asia-Russia summit in Kazakhstan: “We have always respected the strategic interests of our partner [Russia]. But we want respect too.”

Putin acknowledged in a press conference that Russia’s ex-Soviet allies are “worried”.

UPDATE 0951 GMT:

The Biden Administration has approved an additional $725 million in military aid to Ukraine.

The package includes high-speed anti-radiation missiles, precision-guided artillery, and medical supplies.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the commitment is “in the wake of Russia’s brutal missile attacks on civilians across Ukraine”, and “the mounting evidence of atrocities by Russia’s forces”.

UPDATE 0930 GMT:

Russia has blocked a joint communiqué from the International Monetary Fund calling for an end to the war in Ukraine.

Instead, the IMF Steering Committee issued a chair’s statement. IMF Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said:

It is very clear just on a human level, practical level, objective level: stop the war. Stop the war. This is the most straightforward way to get the world economy in better shape. Stop the war.

UPDATE 0631 GMT:

UK military intelligence reports that many newly-mobilized Russian men are probably having to buy their own body armor.

Citing “endemic corruption and poor logistics” as a leading cause of Russia’s “poor performance”, the analysts said the equipment for reservists and other mobilized men is “almost certainly lower than the already poor provision of previously deployed troops”.

The 6B45 vest, meant to be on general issue to combat units, is selling on Russian online shopping sites for 40,000 roubles (about $640), compared to 12,000 roubles in April.

ORIGINAL ENTRY: The Red Cross has confirmed that Russia continues to prevent it from seeing Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The humanitarian agency issued its statement 2 1/2 months after the destruction of the Olenivka Prison in the Russian-occupied part of the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine. The incident killed 53 Ukrainian POWs and wounded 75.

Russia and its proxies are suspected of executing the POWs or killing them in an explosion, and then trying to blame Ukraine’s military for striking the prison.

The Red Cross’s statement was prompted by the criticism of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskiy. On Thursday night, after a meeting with the Red Cross in which Ukrainian officials sought a visit to Olenivka within three days, Zelenskiy said the agency had been ineffective with a lack of leadership.

I believe that the International Committee of the Red Cross is not a club with privileges where they get paid and enjoy life. The Red Cross has obligations, primarily of a moral nature. The mandate of the Red Cross must be fulfilled….

There is Olenivka…a concentration camp where our prisoners are kept. Access to them is required, as it was stipulated. The Red Cross can make it happen. But you have to try to make it happen.

The Red Cross responded on Friday:

We share the frustration regarding our lack of access to all prisoners of war held in the international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine. We have been working since February to obtain access to check on the conditions and treatment of POWs and keep their families informed about their loved ones.

We have been able to visit hundreds of PoWs but there are thousands more who we have not been able to see.

We want to stress that our teams are ready on the ground – and have been ready for months – to visit the Olenivka penal facility and any other location where PoWs are held. However, beyond being granted access by high levels of authority, this requires practical arrangements to materialise on the ground. We cannot access by force a place of detention or internment where we have not been admitted.

While calling on all countries to observe the Geneva Conventions, the Red Cross did not specifically name Russia: “Our mission can only be achieved through coordinated efforts with parties to the conflict. And we ask them and the international community to support the role we have been given.”