Summary
It’s 9pm right now in Ukraine.
In an exclusive with the Guardian, Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there could be more attacks in the “next two or three months” similar to today’s mysterious strikes on a railway junction and airbase in Crimea. Though Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks – and Russia said a fire on Tuesday had set off explosions at the ammunitions depot in the Dzhankoi district – Podolyak called the Dzhankoi incident a “reminder” that “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouse explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves”.
A record number of cars have crossed the Crimea bridge that links Crimea to Russia – which suggests that a number of Russian tourists and Russians who settled into the region after the annexation in 2014 are now fleeing. Russian state media is reporting that 38,297 cars crossed the Crimea bridge on 15 August.
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, in Lviv on Thursday. Guterres will go on to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday.
Finland has decided to limit the number of visas issued to Russians by 90% starting 1 September.
Russian shelling has killed one person and injured 10 in Nikopol in Dnipropetrovska oblast and Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
That’s all from us today. Thank you for following along. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest news from Ukraine.
Updated
UN secretary-general to meet with Zelenskiy, Erdogan in Lviv
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, in Lviv on Thursday.
Guterres will go on to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv, #Ukraine on Thursday and visit Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday, a U.N. spokesman said. SG will then visit the grain deal JCC in Istanbul.
— Michelle Nichols (@michellenichols) August 16, 2022
Updated
Finland has decided to limit the number of visas issued to Russians by 90% starting 1 September.
⚡️Finland limits visas to Russians.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 16, 2022
According to Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto, Finland will cut the number of visas issued to Russians to 10% of the current amount starting Sept. 1, Reuters reported.
Zelenskiy’s adviser: Ukraine's military strategy is to 'create chaos'
In an exclusive interview with the Guardian, Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there could be more attacks in the “next two or three months” similar to today’s mysterious strikes on a railway junction and airbase in Crimea.
Though Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks – and Russia said a fire on Tuesday had set off explosions at the ammunitions depot in the Dzhankoi district – Podolyak called the Dzhankoi incident a “reminder” that “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouse explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves”.
“Our strategy is to destroy the logistics, the supply lines and the ammunition depots and other objects of military infrastructure. It’s creating a chaos within their own forces,” Podolyak said.
Read more here:
Updated
Russian shelling has killed one person and injured 10 in Nikopol in Dnipropetrovska oblast and Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
⚡️ 1 person killed, 10 injured in Russian shelling of Nikopol in Dnipropetrovska Oblast, Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 16, 2022
In both cities, residential areas were targeted, according to reports from the governors of the two oblasts.
Updated
Russian state media is reporting that a record number of cars have crossed the Crimea bridge that links Russian-occupied Crimea to Russia – which suggests that a number of Russians who settled into the region after the annexation in 2014 are now fleeing.
38,297 cars have crossed the Crimea bridge on 15th August, Russian state media TASS reports, citing the local department of road management.
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 16, 2022
This is a record amount of cars to cross the bridge in one day.
I wonder whether the record will be beaten today. pic.twitter.com/q1XbWTfJ2c
Updated
The first ship to depart Ukraine under a deal to resume grain exports from the country two weeks ago was docked in Syria’s Tartous on Tuesday, according to a shipping source and satellite data.
Reuters writes that the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from Ukraine’s Odesa port on 1 August under a hard-won grain deal but did not unload in Lebanon as planned.
Its location had not been clear in recent days as it has kept its transponder off.
This video shows the ship leaving from Odesa after weeks of negotiations led by the UN and Turkey:
Updated
Today so far
There have been a number of attacks across Russian-occupied Crimea: The first took place at an ammunitions depot near Dzhankoi in the north, damaging a railway station and wounding two. Next, there were reports of an explosion about 58 miles (93 kilometres) south in Simoferopol. Now, reports of explosions and black smoke at a military airbase in Gvardeyskoye, near the middle of the region. Ukraine is playing it coy at the moment on whether its armed forces are behind these attacks, but Russia’s defence ministry has fully come out and called them “acts of sabotage”.
With the explosions in Russian-occupied Crimea, Russian forces struck back, with missile attacks reported in the northern Zhytomyr region. For a short while today, all of Ukraine was under an air raid siren alert.
The Russian federal security service is coming out and saying that “Ukrainian saboteurs” blew up six towers of high-voltage power lines coming from the Kursk nuclear power plant, disrupting its operations. This comes as both Moscow and Kyiv lob accusations at each other of heightening the risk of a nuclear accident.
Estonia today removed a Soviet-era second world war memorial from Narva after accusing Russia of using such monuments to stir up tensions.
Russian courts were busy today: one court fined rock legend Yuri Shevchuk after finding him guilty of “discrediting” the Russian army when he condemned the military invasion of Ukraine. Another court fined US-based streaming service Twitch for hosting a short video containing what the court called “fake” information about alleged war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha. Though the content of the video was not specified, Russia has repeatedly threatened to fine sites such as Google, Twitter and Wikipedia, accusing them of hosting “fake” content related to its military campaign in Ukraine. And there were various verified accounts out of Bucha of Russian soldiers torturing, executing and sexually assaulting civilians. After Russian forces left the area, Ukrainian armed forces found mass graves of civilians with their armed tied behind their backs, some showing signs that they had been beaten before they had been killed. Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova has identified at least 10 soldiers involved in human rights abuses in Bucha.
The Ukrainian security service has identified eight additional Russian soldiers suspected of war crimes in Bucha. These eight servicemen, most of them of unit 6720 of the federal service of the national guard of the Russian federation, are accused of looting property and ransacking abandoned homes.
Updated
Eight more Russian soldiers suspected of war crimes in Bucha
The Ukrainian security service has identified eight additional Russian soldiers suspected of war crimes in Bucha.
The eight servicemen, most of them from unit 6720 of the federal service of the national guard of the Russian federation, are accused of looting property and ransacking abandoned homes.
“These Russian soldiers looted ‘trophies’ for themselves – computer and household appliances, jewellery, gadgets, clothes, food, etc,” the statement on Telegram reads. “It is documented that later the perpetrators sent the stolen property to their relatives in postal shipments from the Belarusian city of Mozyr.”
За матеріалами СБУ повідомлено про підозру ще 8 мародерам з армії рф, які грабували українців у Бучі
— СБ України (@ServiceSsu) August 16, 2022
Серед них - військовослужбовці зс рф і росгвардії.
➡️ https://t.co/HyXI4DKiGe pic.twitter.com/6okrtYqCIy
Ukrainian authorities have notified all eight of the accused.
There were various verified accounts from Bucha of war crimes and human rights abuses, such as Russian soldiers torturing, executing and sexually assaulting civilians. After Russian forces left the area, Ukrainian armed forces found mass graves of civilians with their arms tied behind their backs, some showing signs that they had been beaten before being killed. Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova has identified at least 10 soldiers involved in human rights abuses in Bucha.
Updated
Another attack in Russian-occupied territory: it appears unidentified individuals have blown up a railway in the Kursk oblast. The railway was only used for freight trains.
⚡️Railway blown up in Russia's Kursk Oblast.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 16, 2022
Unidentified individuals in Russia's Kursk Oblast on Aug. 16 blew up a part of a railway only used for freight trains, Russian media Baza reported.
Updated
Estonia today removed a Soviet-era second world war memorial from Narva after accusing Russia of using such monuments to stir up tensions.
The Guardian’s Jon Henley reports that it was 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,” Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said.
The Baltic state was a Soviet republic from 1944 until 1991 and nearly a quarter of its population of 1.3 million people are ethnic Russians. “We will not afford Russia the opportunity to use the past to disturb the peace in Estonia,” Kallas said.
A second world war-era T-34 tank that formed part of the memorial will go to the Estonian War Museum and a mass grave of wartime victims will instead receive a neutral grave marker.
Local opposition to removing the monument had sparked fears of a repeat of history – in 2007, riots broke out in Tallinn over the removal of a Soviet monument. Only 4% of Narva’s residents are ethnic Estonians and more than 80% are ethnic Russians.
Narva’s mayor Katri Raik had previously refused to hand the tank over to the museum. Annual Victory Day commemoration ceremonies take place around the memorial, and the Narva city council had failed to reach a decision about the removal of the monument despite a government order to do so before the end of the year.
Read more here:
Updated
Russian court fines Twitch for video on Bucha
A Russian court has fined US-based streaming service Twitch for hosting a short video containing what the court called “fake” information about alleged war crimes in the Ukrainian town of Bucha, Reuters is reporting.
Twitch was ordered to pay 2m rubles ($33,000), according to Russian news agencies, for failing to remove a 31-second clip of a girl. The court did not specify the content of the video.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to fine sites such as Google, Twitter and Wikipedia, accusing them of hosting “fake” content related to its military campaign in Ukraine.
There were various verified accounts out of Bucha of Russian soldiers torturing, executing and sexually assaulting civilians. After Russian forces left the area, Ukrainian armed forces found mass graves of civilians with their arms tied behind their backs, some showing signs that they had been beaten before being killed. Ukraine’s prosecutor general Iryna Venediktova has identified at least 10 soldiers involved in human rights abuses in Bucha,
Russia has denied any wrongdoing in Bucha.
Twitch, which is owned by Amazon, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Earlier, RIA reported that Telegram messenger was hit with two fines totalling 11m rubles ($179,000) for refusing to delete channels that allegedly showed how to “sabotage” military vehicles and hosting “unreliable data” about Russia’s progress.
Updated
The Russian federal security service is purportedly saying that “Ukrainian saboteurs” blew up six towers of high-voltage power lines coming from the Kursk nuclear power plant, disrupting its operations, Russian media is reporting.
They are treating these attacks that took place in the Kurchatov district earlier this month – on 4, 9 and 12 August – as an act of terror.
Missiles strike the Zhytomyr region
With explosions in Russian-occupied Crimea – which Ukraine is hinting that its armed forces are responsible for, but not yet accepting responsibility for them – Russian forces have struck back, with missile attacks reported in the northern Zhytomyr region.
All Ukraine under an air raid alert now. Explosions as a result from missile strikes reported in the northern Zhytomyr region, bordering Belarus. In the last days, Russia brought a lot of equipment and weapons to Belarusian airfields with a plan to launch more missiles on Ukraine
— Olga Tokariuk (@olgatokariuk) August 16, 2022
The Ukrainian air force has tweeted a video of the explosion at the ammunition depot near Dzhankoi in Russian-occupied Crimea, in yet another coy hint that Ukraine was behind the attack but not quite taking responsibility.
🇷🇺 do not comply with fire safety. - Yuri Ignat, speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of 🇺🇦.
— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) August 16, 2022
Details: "Dzhankoy (Crimea) is another airfield where the 🇷🇺 have concentrated attack helicopters and other military equipment."
Dzhankoy today ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/SsG1DrIIae
Updated
A Russian court today fined rock legend Yuri Shevchuk after finding him guilty of “discrediting” the Russian army when he condemned the military invasion of Ukraine, Agence France-Presse is reporting.
The frontman of the 1980s Soviet rock band DDT was ordered to pay the maximum fine of 50,000 rubles ($815), the press service of a court in the central city of Ufa said on the Telegram messenger. According to the statement, Shevchuk made a speech during his concert that contained “public calls to prevent the use of Russia’s armed forces”.
Shevchuk did not attend the hearing in person because he was in quarantine for Covid-19, but released a written statement through his lawyer.
“I, Yuri Shevchuk have always been against war, in any country, at any time ... I think all problems and difficulties of a political nature between countries and people should be resolved through diplomacy,” the statement said.
Shevchuk has over the years publicly criticised Vladimir Putin and opposed the annexation of Crimea in 2014.
On 18 May, the 65-year-old performer told his audience in Ufa that it “is not the president’s ass that needs to be licked and kissed”, according to videos posted online.
“Now people are being killed in Ukraine. Why? Our guys are dying in Ukraine. Why?” he told a cheering crowd.
Updated
The attacks on Russian-occupied Crimea appear to be escalating. The first took place at an ammunitions depot near Dzhankoi in the north, damaging a railway station and wounding two.
Next, there were reports of an explosion about 58 miles (93km) south in Simferopol.
Now, there are reports of explosions and black smoke at a military airbase in Gvardeyskoye, near the middle of the region:
❗️Explosions can be heard at the military airbase in the village of #Gvardeyskoye in #Crimea and clouds of black smoke can be seen, #Russian media reported.
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 16, 2022
They are checking a theory about a possible drone attack on an ammunition depot. pic.twitter.com/EGigt3V7fo
Ukraine is being very coy at the moment on whether its armed forces are behind these attacks. Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is hinting that they are: “Operation ‘demilitarisation’ in the jewellery style of the armed forces will continue until the complete de-occupation of Ukrainian territories.”
BBC’s Ukraine correspondent James Waterhouse noted that by “jewellery”, Yermak meant “precise” in this instance.
Russia's Defence Ministry calls it an "act of sabotage":
— James Waterhouse (@JamWaterhouse) August 16, 2022
"Damage was caused to a number of civilian facilities, including power lines, a power plant, a railway track, as well as a number of residential buildings.
"There are no serious injuries"
Updated
Explosions reported at second location in Crimea
There are now reports of explosions in Simferopol toward the south of the Crimea, about 58 miles (93km) away from the explosion at the ammunition depot that damaged a railway line in the north near Dzhankoi.
⚡️ Explosions were heard at a Russian military base near Simferopol, Crimea
— Iuliia Mendel (@IuliiaMendel) August 16, 2022
Updated
Summary
It’s coming up to 1.30pm in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
Explosions have rocked an ammunition depot in Crimea, severely disrupting railway services , reports Reuters. Moscow’s senior representative in the region, Sergei Aksyonov, confirmed that two people were wounded, railway traffic halted and about 2,000 people evacuated from a village near the military depot – but he skirted talk of a cause. Ukraine hinted at involvement but has not explicitly said it was them. It comes after another reported explosion at a substation, also in Crimea.
Vladimir Putin said that western countries were seeking to extend a “Nato-like system” into the Asia-Pacific region, Reuters reported. Delivering the welcome address at the Moscow international security conference, Putin said the US was trying to “drag out” the conflict in Ukraine. He added that US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month had been “a thoroughly planned provocation”.
Russia’s Black Sea fleet is struggling to exercise effective sea control, with patrols generally limited to the waters within sight of the Crimean coast, according to the latest British intelligence report. The Black Sea fleet continues to use long-range cruise missiles to support ground offensives but is keeping a defensive posture, the British Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence bulletin.
Ukraine has received six more M109 howitzers from Latvia, its minister of defence, Oleksii Reznikov, announced.
Ukrainian and Russian officials reported shelling near the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, on Monday with both sides blaming each other. One Russian-installed regional official said 25 heavy artillery strikes from US-made M777 howitzers had hit near the plant and residential areas. Ukraine said it was Russian forces that had shelled the city to try to make it appear that Ukraine was attacking it.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for action at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant, urging the world not to “lose to terrorism” or “give in to nuclear blackmail … If now the world does not show strength and decisiveness to defend one nuclear power station, it will mean that the world has lost,” he said in his nightly address. “If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.”
Russia’s defence minister and the UN chief discussed the security situation at the plant by phone on Monday, the Russian defence ministry announced. Russia earlier said it would facilitate an IAEA mission to the plant amid warnings from the UN’s nuclear agency of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.
However, a senior Russian diplomat said that any such IAEA mission could not pass through the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and through the frontline as it was too dangerous, according to Russian news agencies. The UN says it has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by experts.
Five Europeans face trial on mercenary charges in separatist-controlled Donetsk, Ukraine. Mathias Gustafsson of Sweden, Vjekoslav Prebeg of Croatia, and Britons John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy all pleaded not guilty to charges of being mercenaries and “undergoing training to seize power by force”, according to Russian media reports. They could face the death penalty under the laws of the self-proclaimed, unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic.
Three civilians were killed and two wounded by an explosive device while swimming in the Black Sea in the Ukrainian southern region of Odesa, local police said. People working on a construction site reportedly ignored barriers and warning signs on a beach in the Belhorod-Dnistrovskyi district and went swimming in the sea. Three men aged 25, 32 and 53 were killed and another man and a woman were wounded, police said.
The British military is training 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in marksmanship, battlefield first aid and urban warfare. British trainers aim is to turn raw recruits into battle-ready soldiers in a matter of weeks. The first batch arrived last month and have already been sent back to replenish depleted Ukrainian units. Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Nordic nations have also sent trainers.
The Moscow-appointed administration in Ukraine’s Kherson region plans to hold a referendum on 11 September, according to Kremlin sources. Referendums are also planned in three other Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – where Moscow aims to annex the territories and declare them to be a new region of Russia.
Ukraine’s parliament has extended martial law for a further three months.
Updated
Andriy Yermak, the chief of staff for Volodymyr Zelenskiy, is hinting that Ukraine was behind the explosions in Crimea:
Zelensky's Chief of Staff Andriy Yermak hints Ukraine was behind the explosions in Crimea:
— James Waterhouse (@JamWaterhouse) August 16, 2022
“Operation "demilitarization" in the jewellery style of the Armed Forces will continue until the complete de-occupation of Ukrainian territories."
(Jewellery = precise)
Explosion at ammunition depot in Russian-occupied Crimea, footage suggests
Footage shared widely on social media purports to show the explosion at an ammunition depot that took place near the village of Mayskoye in Russian-occupied Crimea.
Russia’s defence ministry claimed the explosions were caused by a fire at a temporary storage facility near an arms depot, state-owned news agency RIA reported.
The blasts caused two injuries, said Crimea’s Russia-appointed governor, Sergei Aksyonov.
Updated
These are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Ukraine.
Updated
The next few weeks may determine Ukraine’s de facto borders for years to come. In the eastern Donbas, Russian troops continue to advance. In the south, by contrast, their grip appears shakier.
The Guardian’s Luke Harding visits the city of Mykolaiv, where he meets determined Ukrainians.
Updated
The reported explosion at an ammunition depot in the village of Maiskoye near Dzhankoi in the north of Crimea, has damaged a railway line.
Sergei Aksenov, the head of the peninsula that was annexed by Russia in 2014, said that trains from the Krasnodar territory will only go to the village of Vladislavovka near the town of Feodosia, reports the BBC.
Passengers can then get on a bus and be taken to the nearest bus station, he confirmed.
Updated
Putin accuses US of trying to 'drag out' conflict in Ukraine
Vladimir Putin said today that western countries were seeking to extend a “Nato-like system” into the Asia-Pacific region, Reuters reported.
Delivering the welcome address at the Moscow international security conference, Putin said the US was trying to “drag out” the conflict in Ukraine.
He added that US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan earlier this month had been “a thoroughly planned provocation”.
Updated
Reuters has obtained an image of the reported substation fire in Dzhankoi in Crimea.
We reported earlier that Ukrainian broadcaster NEXTA-TV published unconfirmed footage of the blast. Russian media outlet RIA Novosti also reported that a transformer substation caught fire in the city at about 6am on Tuesday.
So far, Russian authorities have not provided any further details on the incident. It comes after a separate explosion at an ammunition depot in the village of Mayskoye, Russia’s Tass news agency reported.
Russia’s defence ministry said no “serious” casualties had occurred in the explosion, state-owned news agency RIA reported.
Updated
The Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu said today that Russia had no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
During a speech at the Moscow international security conference, he alleged that Ukrainian military operations are being planned by the US and Britain, and that Nato had increased its troop deployment in eastern and central Europe “several times over”, Reuters reports.
Shoigu added that the AUKUS bloc of Australia, the UK and US had the potential to develop into “a political-military alliance”.
Updated
Luke Harding reports for us from Mykolaiv:
In a wrecked office inside Mykolaiv’s administration building in southern Ukraine, Dmytro Pletenchuk showed off his collection of Russian weapons. Propped against the wall were fired Russian rockets and cluster bombs. “I’m thinking about opening a bar for veterans when the war is over,” he said. “My friend who was killed in Kharkiv used to run one. We could use them as decorations.”
Pletenchuk’s one-time government workplace was a spectacular ruin. In March, a Russian missile slammed into the regional state HQ, gouging a giant hole, killing 37 people and wounding many more. The security guards in reception miraculously survived. Colleagues having breakfast in the canteen were less fortunate. There are bloodstains on the stairs and in an upstairs corridor.
“We are fighting against fucking idiots. It’s good for us. But they have nuclear weapons,” Pletenchuk said, showing off his glass-strewn ninth-floor office, with a panoramic view over the city’s river and port. “Russia is like a monkey with a hand grenade,” he added. “It’s a problem for the whole world. We don’t know if they are going to blow everyone up.”
Read more of Luke Harding’s article here: ‘A question of time’: Ukrainians determined to win back the south
Updated
Ukraine has not officially confirmed or denied responsibility for the reported explosions in Crimea.
But, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak tweeted after the explosions today that there is a “high risk of death for invaders and thieves” in the Russian-occupied area.
Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014, despite most of the world recognising it as Ukrainian territory.
Morning near Dzhankoi began with explosions. A reminder: Crimea of normal country is about the Black Sea, mountains, recreation and tourism, but Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouses explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves. Demilitarization in action.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 16, 2022
Updated
Earlier we reported that an ammunition depot had caught fire in the town of Mayskoye in Crimea.
Russia‘s defence ministry said there were no serious casualties from the explosion, state-owned news agency RIA reported.
Interfax quoted the defence ministry as saying that a fire had broken out in the temporary storage area of the ammunition depot.
Updated
Here is a quick snap from Ukrainian senior presidential adviser Anton Gerashchenko purporting to show the explosions reported to have occurred at an ammunition depot in Crimea this morning.
Crimea, Dzhankoy
— Anton Gerashchenko (@Gerashchenko_en) August 16, 2022
Explosions at the ammunition depot - media in the occupied Crimea pic.twitter.com/6zowH6H6Nw
Updated
Russia’s Black Sea Fleet struggling: UK MoD
Russia’s Black Sea fleet is struggling to exercise effective sea control, with patrols generally limited to the waters within sight of the Crimean coast, according to the latest British intelligence report.
The Black Sea fleet continues to use long-range cruise missiles to support ground offensives but is keeping a defensive posture, the British Ministry of Defence said in its daily intelligence bulletin.
The Black Sea fleet’s limited effectiveness undermines Russia’s overall invasion strategy, in part because the amphibious threat to Odesa has been largely neutralised, the intelligence update added.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 16 August 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 16, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/jrmLUD5Osz
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/lWN6wkwQh1
Updated
Ammunition depot on fire in Crimea - reports
We have a little more detail on the blasts reported in Crimea earlier this morning.
According to more local media reports, an ammunition depot in the village of Maiskoye near Dzhankoi in the north of Crimea, has also caught fire.
Russian state media outlet Tass cited the Russian-appointed administrative head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov.
“The detonation of ammunition occurred in the north of Crimea,” the outlet reported in a Telegram update.
Residents are being evacuated, Tass added in a Telegram update.
Aksyonov earlier said that he urgently left for the village, located about 25km south-east of Dzhankoi to investigate an explosion at a transformer substation.
The cause so far remains unknown.
Explosions this morning at a Russian ammunition depot near Dzhankoi, a major junction in NW Crimea. HIMARS? Saboteurs? Neptunes? Something else? Unclear. But Ukraine has struck deep behind enemy lines before. This video shows munitions detonating and springing out of the blaze. https://t.co/gPOYTjbWpf
— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) August 16, 2022
Updated
Substation on fire in Crimea - reports
Multiple unconfirmed reports and video footage of explosions are filtering in this morning from occupied territories in Ukraine’s south and south-east.
Ukrainian broadcaster NEXTA-TV published unconfirmed footage of a blast purportedly from Dzhankoi in Crimea.
Russian media outlet RIA Novosti also reported that a transformer substation caught fire in the city around 6am on Tuesday.
The Russian-appointed administrative head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that he urgently left for the village of Mayskoye near Dzhankoi.
“I left for the village of Mayskoye, Dzhankoy district. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated. I will inform you as information becomes available,” Aksenov said in his Telegram channel, as reported by RIA.
#Dzhankoi in occupied #Crimea. pic.twitter.com/YZp1vk1Blj
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 16, 2022
Explosions in occupied #Donetsk are being reported. pic.twitter.com/eoPriFgQLI
— NEXTA (@nexta_tv) August 16, 2022
Updated
Zelenskiy replaces security service chiefs
Zelenskiy dismissed or reshuffled the security service heads of four regional departments.
According to the decrees published on the president’s website, Serhiy Zayats was dismissed from the post of head of the SBU main directorate in the Kyiv region. Yuriy Boreichuk was dismissed from the post of head of the SBU main directorate in the Ternopil region.
Artem Bondarenko was moved from the post of head of the SBU main directorate in the Lviv region, to head of the SBU main directorate in Kyiv and its region.
⚡️ Zelensky dismisses Security Service heads in four regions.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 15, 2022
President Zelensky signed decrees dismissing the heads of SBU branches in Kyiv and Kyiv, Ternopil, and Lviv oblasts.
Lviv Oblast SBU Head Bondarenko was later appointed as the agency's head in Kyiv and Kyiv Oblast.
Ukraine has received six more M109 howitzers from Latvia, its minister of defence, Oleksii Reznikov, announced.
6 more M109 howitzers that have recently arrived in 🇺🇦 from 🇱🇻 are already showing results on the battlefield. I‘m sincerely grateful to my 🇱🇻 colleague @Pabriks & the people of Latvia for their unwavering support.
— Oleksii Reznikov (@oleksiireznikov) August 15, 2022
Together we will win! pic.twitter.com/t5F3n7parJ
Updated
On the topic of grain shipments from Ukraine’s ports, a total of five ships, two from from the port of Yuzhny and three from Chernomorsk, departed from Ukrainian ports loaded with corn and wheat.
In addition, four ships en route to Ukrainian ports will be inspected by the Joint Coordination Centre today, Turkey’s ministry of defence added in an announcement early this morning.
The first cargo of humanitarian food aid bound for Africa from Ukraine since Russia’s invasion has reportedly left the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi.
The ship Brave Commander was seen leaving the port, according to Refinitiv Eikon data.
Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksandr Kubrakov, confirmed the news saying the cargo ship is expected to arrive in Ethiopia in two weeks.
Earlier, a joint co-ordination centre, set up by Russia, Turkey, Ukraine and the United Nations, said it had approved the ship’s departure.
🛳 BRAVE COMMANDER left the Pivdennyi Sea Port. I’m thankful to @UN and @WTF for your support & all the hard work you have done. The cargo ship is expected to arrive to 🇪🇹 in two weeks. #BlackSeaGrainInitiative pic.twitter.com/YwqMebdlZ6
— Oleksandr Kubrakov (@OlKubrakov) August 16, 2022
Russia puts conditions on nuclear plant visit
The United Nations has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a spokesman said, but a Russian diplomat imposed conditions, saying routing any mission through Ukraine’s capital was too dangerous.
UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that “in close contact with the IAEA, the UN secretariat has assessed that it has in Ukraine the logistics and security capacity to be able to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from Kyiv”.
But he said both Russia and Ukraine have to agree.
However, a senior Russian diplomat said that any such IAEA mission could not pass through the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and through the frontline as it was too dangerous.
Russian state media RIA news agency quoted Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy head of the foreign ministry’s nuclear proliferation and arms control department, as telling journalists:
Imagine what it means to pass through Kyiv – it means they get to the nuclear plant through the front line.
This is a huge risk, given that Ukraine’s armed forces are not all made up in the same way.”
Russia’s Tass news agency also quoted Vishnevetsky as saying that any such mission had no mandate to address the “demilitarisation” of the plant as demanded by Kyiv as it could only deal with “fulfilment of IAEA guarantees”.
The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, earlier called for an end to military activity around the plant.
Russia’s defence minister and the UN chief discussed the security situation at the plant by phone on Monday, the Russian defence ministry announced. Russia earlier said it would facilitate an IAEA mission to the plant amid warnings from the UN’s nuclear agency of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.
Zelenskiy calls for action at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for action at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant, urging the world not to “lose to terrorism” or “give in to nuclear blackmail”.
In his nightly address he said:
All Russian troops must be immediately withdrawn from the plant and neighbouring areas without any conditions.
… if now the world lacks the strength and determination to protect one nuclear plant, it means that the world loses. Loses to terrorists. Gives in to nuclear blackmail.
If now the world does not show strength and decisiveness to defend one nuclear power station, it will mean that the world has lost.
Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions. Everything depends solely on the direction and speed of the wind. If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.”
Ukrainian and Russian officials reported shelling near Europe’s largest nuclear plant on Monday with both sides blaming each other.
One Russian-installed regional official said 25 heavy artillery strikes from US-made M777 howitzers had hit near the plant and residential areas. Ukraine said it was Russian forces that had shelled the city to try to make it appear that Ukraine was attacking it.
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.
The United Nations has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a spokesman said, but a Russia diplomat imposed conditions, saying routing any mission through Ukraine’s capital was too dangerous.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, dismissed the security service heads of regional departments in Kyiv, Kyiv region, Ternopil and Lviv regions – the latest in a slew of expulsions of top officials.
It is 7.30am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
Ukrainian and Russian officials reported shelling near the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, on Monday with both sides blaming each other. One Russian-installed regional official said 25 heavy artillery strikes from US-made M777 howitzers had hit near the plant and residential areas. Ukraine said it was Russian forces that had shelled the city to try to make it appear that Ukraine was attacking it.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for action at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant, urging the world not to “lose to terrorism” or “give in to nuclear blackmail … If now the world does not show strength and decisiveness to defend one nuclear power station, it will mean that the world has lost,” he said in his nightly address. “If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.”
Russia’s defence minister and the UN chief discussed the security situation at the plant by phone on Monday, the Russian defence ministry announced. Russia earlier said it would facilitate an IAEA mission to the plant amid warnings from the UN’s nuclear agency of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.
However, a senior Russian diplomat said that any such IAEA mission could not pass through the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and through the frontline as it was too dangerous, according to Russian news agencies. The UN says it has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by experts.
Five Europeans face trial on mercenary charges in separatist-controlled Donetsk, Ukraine. Mathias Gustafsson of Sweden, Vjekoslav Prebeg of Croatia, and Britons John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy all pleaded not guilty to charges of being mercenaries and “undergoing training to seize power by force”, according to Russian media reports. They could face the death penalty under the laws of the self-proclaimed, unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic.
Three civilians were killed and two wounded by an explosive device while swimming in the Black Sea in the Ukrainian southern region of Odesa, local police said. People working on a construction site reportedly ignored barriers and warning signs on a beach in the Belhorod-Dnistrovskyi district and went swimming in the sea. Three men aged 25, 32 and 53 were killed and another man and a woman were wounded, police said.
The British military is training 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in marksmanship, battlefield first aid and urban warfare. British trainers aim is to turn raw recruits into battle-ready soldiers in a matter of weeks. The first batch arrived last month and have already been sent back to replenish depleted Ukrainian units. Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Nordic nations have also sent trainers.
The Moscow-appointed administration in Ukraine’s Kherson region plans to hold a referendum on 11 September, according to Kremlin sources. Referendums are also planned in three other Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – where Moscow aims to annex the territories and declare them to be a new region of Russia.
Ukraine’s parliament has extended martial law for a further three months.
