Russian military leaders are likely to be “increasingly concerned” about security in Crimea after reported explosions, a British intelligence update said. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) said both Russian and Ukrainian authorities admitted that an ammunition dump exploded on Tuesday near Dzhankoi in the north of the region and that a nearby railway and sub-station were also damaged. The update said Russian media also reported smoke rising near the Gvardeyskoye airbase. And while the “the cause of these incidents and the extent of the damage is not yet clear”, Russian commanders are likely to be “increasingly concerned” with security in the region that Russia annexed in 2014.
In the Donetsk region at the forefront of the Russian offensive, two civilians were killed and seven others were wounded by recent Russian shelling of several towns and villages. Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, confirmed the latest casualties on Telegram. The area has been the subject of heavy shelling by the Russian military in recent weeks as they try to make tactical advances in the Donbas region.
A recreation centre has been destroyed and three people injured after Russian shelling in Odesa, a top official has said. Sergey Bratchuk, a representative of the Odesa military administration, said a fire broke out and nearby buildings were damaged after the attack. In a post on the Telegram messaging app he said the damage was caused by two enemy rockets. A rescue operation is continuing, he added.
The mayor of Lviv, Andriy Sadovyi, has warned residents in the western city to prepare for a tough winter. In a video posted to his social media accounts, he said: “It’s likely that we’re in for a difficult winter. It’s logical – there can’t be anything simple in a country that fights for its independence. But we have to be prepared for everything.” He added that the city’s authorities had worked on an action plan for any emergencies “that may arise as a result of an enemy attack”.
There could be more attacks in the “next two or three months” similar to the strikes in Crimea, a key adviser to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said in an exclusive interview with the Guardian. Mykhailo Podolyak said Ukraine was engaged in a counteroffensive aimed at creating “chaos within Russian forces” by striking at the invaders’ supply lines deep into occupied territories.
Ukraine has hinted it was behind a series of mysterious and devastating strikes in occupied Crimea that destroyed a key railway junction used for supplying Russian troops and a military airbase. Several explosions on Tuesday appeared to have destroyed a Russian ammunition depot and an electricity substation about 125 miles (200km) from the frontline with Ukrainian forces. Russia blamed saboteurs for orchestrating the series of explosions.
The leaders of Ukraine, Turkey and the UN are set to meet to review the grain export deal in Lviv on Thursday. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, Zelenskiy, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, will also discuss “the need for a political solution to this conflict” and the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the UN spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric said.
Ukraine’s nuclear operator reported what it called an “unprecedented” cyber-attack on its website, but said its operations had not been disrupted. “On 16 August 2022, the most powerful cyber-attack since the start of the Russian invasion occurred against Energoatom’s website,” the operator said, adding it “was attacked from Russian territory”.
North Korea and the self-proclaimed republic in Donetsk will develop “equally beneficial bilateral cooperation”, Denis Pushilin, the head of the separatist administration, said in a letter to Kim Jong-un, North Korean state media reported on Wednesday.
The first ship to depart Ukraine under a grain export deal docked in Syria on Tuesday, according to a shipping source and satellite data. Another ship carrying the first cargo of food aid bound for Africa also left Ukraine’s ports.
Russia’s defence ministry has warned Britain against a planned spy plane flight over Russian territory, saying its air force has been given orders to prevent an intrusion. The ministry said the UK sent a notice informing about a planned flight of an RC-135 reconnaissance plane along a route that partly passes over Russian territory. “We regard this action as a deliberate provocation,” the ministry said.
Estonian authorities removed a Soviet-era tank from its pedestal in the eastern city of Narva, the most significant removal yet out of an estimated 200 to 400 such monuments that the government has pledged to take down by the end of the year. “No one wants to see our militant and hostile neighbour foment tensions in our home,” the prime minister, Kaja Kallas, said on Tuesday. Estonia will also this week close its border to more than 50,000 Russians with previously issued visas.
Finland says it will cut the number of visas it issues to Russians to 10% of current volumes from 1 September after Russian tourists began using the country as a gateway to European holiday destinations. Finland will also join the Baltic states in jointly proposing the discontinuation of an EU visa facilitation agreement with Russia that makes it easier and cheaper for Russians to travel to and within the EU, the foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, said.
