1. Ukrainian forces hit key bridges, Russian barracks within the south of the rustic
Ukraine has struck Russian troop bases and two key bridges around the Dnipro river in long-range missile moves in a single day, Ukrainian officers mentioned on Monday.
The moves hit the one two crossings Russia has to the pocket of southern Ukrainian territory it has occupied at the western financial institution of the huge Dnipro river, mentioned Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern army command.
“The results are rather respectable, hits on the Antonivskyi and Kakhovskyi bridges,” she mentioned on home tv.
Ukrainian HIMARS moves additionally hit more than one army bases in Ukraine’s Russian-occupied southern town of Melitopol within the early hours, killing troops and destroying {hardware}, the town’s mayor mentioned.
“According to preliminary estimates, a significant amount of military equipment was destroyed,” Ivan Fedorov wrote on Telegram.
Ukraine’s protection minister mentioned two weeks in the past that fifty Russian ammunition depots were destroyed via US-supplied HIMARS more than one rocket launchers, which Ukraine began the usage of in June.
2. The first shipment send wearing Ukrainian grain from Black Sea arrives in Turkey
The first of the ships to go away Ukraine underneath a deal to unblock grain provides, the Turkey-flagged Polarnet, arrived at its vacation spot in Turkey on Monday.
The send wearing 12,000 tonnes of corn docked at Derince port within the Gulf of Izmit after atmosphere off from Chornomersk on 5 August.
“This sends a message of hope to every family in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia: Ukraine won’t abandon you,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted. “If Russia sticks to its tasks, the ‘grain hall’ will stay keeping up international meals safety.”
A total of 10 ships have now been authorized to sail under the grain deal between Ukraine and Russia, which was brokered by Turkey and the United Nations — eight outbound and two headed for Ukraine.
The first ship to depart Ukraine, the Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni, which left on 1 August, still hasn’t reached its destination in Lebanon and was anchored off Turkey’s coast on Sunday evening, according to the Marine Traffic website.
Meanwhile, two more ships carrying corn and soybeans departed Ukraine’s Black Sea ports on Monday, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.
The Sakura left Yuzhny carrying 11,000 tonnes of soybeans to Italy, while the Arizona left Chornomorsk with 48,458 tonnes of corn bound for skenderun in Turkey.
Four ships that left Ukraine on Sunday are expected to anchor near Istanbul on Monday evening, the Defense Ministry said. They are due to be inspected on Tuesday.
3. Amnesty ‘regrets distress and anger’ caused by Ukraine report as criticism persists
The furore over Amnesty International’s report accusing Kyiv of endangering civilians continued on Monday, drawing angry reactions from Ukrainian officials and criticism from Western diplomats.
The report also sparked fears it would serve as a further justification for Moscow in its increased bombardment of civilian targets in recent weeks.
On Sunday, the rights group said it regrets the pain caused by the report, which infuriated President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and triggered the resignation of its Kyiv office head.
In the meantime, the Russian Mission in Geneva tweeted that if a civilian building “is used for army functions, it becomes a valid goal for a precision strike”, causing further reactions against the report.
The rights group published the report on Thursday, saying the presence of Ukrainian troops in residential areas heightened risks to civilians during Russia’s invasion.
4. UN chief calls for end to attacks on Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom called on Monday for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to be made a military-free zone, warning of the risk of a Chornobyl-style nuclear disaster after the site was hit by shelling.
He called for a team of peacekeepers to be deployed at the site in comments on television after Ukraine and Russia accused each of shelling the nuclear power plant — Europe’s biggest — which lies in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine.
“The determination that we call for from the sector neighborhood and all our companions… is to withdraw the invaders from the territory of the station and create a demilitarized zone at the territory of the station,” Petro Kotin said.
Meanwhile, UN chief Antonio Guterres has called for the end of military operations around Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
Zaporizhzhia in southern Ukraine has been hit by a series of bombardments since last Friday, with both Russian and Ukrainian forces blaming one another for the attacks.
“Any assault on nuclear energy crops is a suicidal factor,” the UN’s secretary-general told reporters in Tokyo, adding that international inspectors should be allowed to access the nuclear plant immediately.
“I am hoping that those assaults will finish,” said Guterres. “At the similar time, I am hoping that the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] will be capable of get admission to the facility plant.”
Russian forces captured the plant in Ukraine’s southeast in early March, shortly after Moscow’s 24 February invasion of its western neighbour, but it is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
Reports from Ukraine on Monday claim that the Russian military has mined the power plant with explosives, while the Russian commanding officer at the site has allegedly expressed his readiness to blow up the plant.
5. No Zelenskyy-Putin meeting in sight, says Kremlin
There is no basis for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents at the moment, the Kremlin said on Monday.
In response to a question about Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s offers to broker peace talks, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could meet only after negotiators from both sides had “accomplished their homework”.
Negotiations between Moscow and Kyiv have been stalled for months, with each side blaming the other for a lack of progress.
“The Ukrainian delegation has long gone off the radar, there is not any negotiation procedure now,” Peskov said on Monday.
“As for a gathering between Presidents Putin and Zelenskyy, it’s imaginable best finally the homework has been accomplished via the delegations. This is lacking, so there aren’t any vital necessities for the assembly,” he added.
