Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has told officials to stop talking to reporters about Kiev’s military tactics against Russia, saying such remarks are “frankly irresponsible”. The president’s comments come after news organizations quoted unidentified officials as saying Ukrainian forces were responsible for the blasts that destroyed a Russian airbase in Crimea on Tuesday, though Kyiv refused to say if it was behind the blasts.
The devastation at Russia’s Crimean air base suggests that Kyiv may have acquired new long-range attack capabilities that have the potential to change the course of the war. The base is well beyond the range of advanced missiles that Western countries have so far sent into Ukraine, with some Western military experts saying the extent of the damage and the apparent precision of the strike hinted at a powerful new capability with potentially important implications.
The United Nations has called for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant as Russia and Ukraine exchange allegations of further bombing of the plant on Thursday. The Ukrainian nuclear power company said it was shelled five times by Russian forces on Thursday, leaving employees unable to change shifts. However, the Russian news agency Tass reported that local Russian-installed authorities in occupied Zaporizhia said the facility had come under fire from Ukrainian forces. Ukrainian agency Energoatom said the plant is functioning normally.
The United States supports calls for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhia plant following fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces near the planta State Department spokesman said on Thursday. “Fighting near a nuclear power plant is dangerous and irresponsible and we continue to call on Russia to cease all military operations in or near Ukrainian nuclear power plants and return full control to Ukraine, and support Ukrainian calls for a demilitarized zone around it Nuclear power plant,” said the announcer.
The British defense secretary said Vladimir Putin is now unlikely to be able to occupy Ukraine. Ben Wallace said Russia’s invasion of Ukraine had “stalled” and was “starting to fail” as he pledged more financial and military support to defend the eastern European nation.
Russia has doubled the number of air strikes on Ukraine’s military positions and civilian infrastructure compared to the previous week, said Ukrainian Brigadier General Oleksiy Hromov on Thursday. “The enemy’s planes and helicopters do not fly within range of our air defenses, and therefore the accuracy of these strikes is low,” he told a press conference.
Ukraine intends to evacuate two-thirds of residents from areas it controls in the eastern battlefield region of Donetsk before the winter. Partly out of concern, people might not be able to keep warm amid war-ravaged infrastructure, the deputy prime minister said Thursday. The government plans to evacuate about 220,000 people out of about 350,000, including 52,000 children, Iryna Vereshchuk told a news conference.
Ukraine expects a ship to arrive on Friday to load grain for delivery to Ethiopia as part of a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey, reports Portal.
Ukraine expects $3 billion in US financial aid to arrive in August and another $1.5 billion in September, said his Finance Minister Serhiy Marchenko on Thursday. Marchenko said the payments are part of the $7.5 billion financial aid package agreed by Ukraine and the US earlier this summer and would be used to fund “critical expenses” such as healthcare and pension costs.
Belarus has said the blasts heard overnight at one of its military bases 19 miles from Ukraine were caused by a “technical incident”. At least eight explosions were heard near the Zyabrovka military airport after midnight, according to Telegram Messenger reports. Portal could not independently verify the reports.
McDonald’s will begin reopening some of its restaurants in Ukraine in the coming months, in a show of support after the American fast food chain was pulled out of Russia. The burger giant closed its Ukrainian restaurants following the Russian invasion nearly six months ago, but continued to pay more than 10,000 McDonald’s employees in the country.