A market after a bombardment in Bakhmout, eastern Ukraine, on July 21, 2022 (AFP / Igor TKACHEV)
Russia continued its bombing of Ukraine on Thursday, killing three in the country’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, while partially resuming gas supplies to Europe but failing to allay fears of an energy crisis in the country this winter.
At the same time, Kyiv claimed that the Russians are stockpiling heavy weapons and ammunition “in close proximity” to sensitive facilities at the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, which has been occupied since March, alarmed by the risk of an accidental explosion and fire.
For its part, Moscow on Monday mentioned raids by Ukrainian drones “a few tens of meters from structures vital to the security of the plant,” then again on Wednesday.
For its part, Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused both Russian and Ukrainian soldiers of “unnecessarily” endangering civilians by stationing troops in the middle of populated areas like a school basement and a pharmacy.
– Three dead in strike in Kharkiv –
Map of the situation in Ukraine as of July 20 at 7am GMT (AFP /)
In the north-east, a new bomb attack killed three and injured 23, including four seriously, in Kharkiv, a city that had been bombed by the Russian army for weeks, regional governor Oleg Synegoubov said. Three people had been killed there the day before, including a teenager near a bus stop.
Russian diplomatic chief Sergey Lavrov said on Wednesday that Moscow’s goals are no longer limited to eastern Ukraine, but also include “other areas” and could expand further.
After attacking Ukraine on February 24, Russian troops quickly reached the gates of the capital Kyiv, failing to capture it. At the end of March, Russia announced that it wanted to focus on Donbass in the east, which has been partially controlled by pro-Russian separatists since 2014.
Visitors view destroyed Russian military vehicles on display in the center of Ukraine’s capital Kyiv, July 20, 2022 (AFP/MIGUEL MEDINA)
Russian soldiers have been advancing into this mining basin in recent weeks, notably breaching the twin locks of Severodonetsk and Lysychansk, two cities in the Lugansk region, clearing the way for them to try to move further towards the cities of Kramatorsk and von Sloviansk advance west in the Donetsk region.
The war in Ukraine must end to avoid the “precipice” of a “nuclear” conflict, the Belarusian president said in an exclusive interview with AFP on Thursday, while saying it was up to Kyiv and the West to give in to the Kremlin .
Alexander Lukashenko, Moscow’s main ally, has lent the Russian army his country’s territory so that it can launch its offensive against Ukraine on February 24.
– Russian gas for Europe –
The latest episode in the Russia-West energy confrontation, Russia on Thursday restarted the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which directly connects the Siberian gas fields with northern Germany, after a 10-day shutdown for maintenance, Moscow said.
Ukrainian First Lady Olena Zelenska before the US Congress on July 20, 2022 (POOL/SAUL LOEB)
However, the German network operator Gascade complained that it was only 40 percent utilized before the maintenance.
Austria and Italy also reported a resumption of deliveries.
“Technically, nothing prevented Nord Stream from resuming full operation after the maintenance,” reacted Federal Economics and Climate Minister Robert Habeck, for whom “Russia is increasingly proving to be an uncertainty factor in the energy system”.
In connection with the war in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin is using gas as a “weapon”, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen had hammered the day before.
View of a destroyed shopping center in the city of Kherson (Ukraine), July 20, 2022 (AFP / STRINGER)
The suspicion of “blackmail” was brushed aside on Thursday by Russian Presidency spokesman Dmitry Peskov, for whom “it is these restrictions (west-imposed ed.) that prevent repairs to equipment, particularly turbines in compressor stations, are carried out “.
Russia will also “look into” the possibility of supplying additional gas to Hungary this year, Sergey Lavrov announced on Thursday.
“Today our colleagues expressed the Hungarian government’s interest in purchasing new gas this year. This request will be sent and considered immediately,” the minister specified.
– An agreement on grain “possible” –
Ukraine, whose economy has collapsed since the Russian invasion began, announced on the same day that its national currency, the hryvnia, would be devalued by 25% against the dollar.
A relative kneels in front of the body of a teenager killed by a Russian missile attack at a bus stop in Saltivka, near Kharkiv, a northern district of Ukraine’s second largest city, Kharkiv, July 20, 2022 (AFP / SERGEY BOBOK)
“Such a measure will strengthen the competitiveness of Ukrainian producers” and “support the stability of the economy in wartime conditions,” the central bank said in a statement.
For its part, Turkey announced that an agreement on the sea exit of grain blocked in southern Ukraine is “possible in the coming days” if the West responds to Russia’s pleas for sanctions to be lifted.
These exports could in this case be made from three Black Sea ports – Odessa, Pivdenny and Chornomorsk – stressed Roustem Oumerov, a member of the Ukrainian delegation at the Turkish-mediated talks between Russia and Ukraine on the subject in recent days.