Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin spoke by phone as the Pentagon pledged $775 million in new military aid to Kyiv and Russian strikes claimed new casualties in Kharkiv and Donetsk province. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of Friday 19th August on the front lines of the war in Ukraine.
Emmanuel Macron and Vladimir Putin are calling for an inspection of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant “as soon as possible”.
While Moscow and Kyiv are accusing each other of attacking Ukraine’s nuclear power plant in Zaporijia, the Russian President on Friday 19 estimated a catastrophe that could lead to radioactive contamination of large areas. During a phone call with Emmanuel Macron, the two heads of state called for the ” “As soon as possible” organization of a visit to the plant by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), reports the Kremlin.
For its part, the Elysée assured that Vladimir Putin had accepted that the IAEA mission would travel “under state control through Ukraine” and not through Russia or the Ukrainian territories it occupies. The deployment of IAEA experts will also require a “ceasefire,” “at least for the duration of the mission,” Elysée stated.
Washington announces new $775 million in military aid to Kyiv
According to a senior US Department of Defense official, this new aid will include additional missiles for US Himars precision artillery systems. These rocket launchers allow Kyiv to bombard targets tens of kilometers inside Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory. It will also include mobile weapon systems and additional grenades and drones.
For the first time, armored anti-mine vehicles for troop transport will also be included, “a good example of the needs of Ukrainians to advance their troops and retake territory,” the American spokesman specified. Another novelty, Harm air-to-surface radar missiles, which the Ukrainians have been able to adapt to their Russian-made Mig bombers: this is the first time the United States has announced that they have supplied these supersonic missiles, designed to to find and destroy enemy air defense systems.
The American official finally insisted on the “complete lack of progress by the Russians on the battlefield” in recent weeks. “We have not seen any recapture of territory” by Ukrainian forces, she admitted, “but we are seeing a significant weakening of Russian positions in several places.”
Emmanuel Macron urges the French to ‘pay the price of freedom’
During a speech in Bormes-les-Mimosas (Var), Emmanuel Macron condemned Vladimir Putin’s “brutal attack” on Ukraine and hailed the “heroic resistance” of the Ukrainian people in the face of “terrible attacks by the Russian army and its auxiliaries”. “. In “this war that is thundering at our doors”, the head of state asserts, “it takes strength of soul to face the coming time, to withstand uncertainty, sometimes lightness and adversity, and to agree to pay the price together for our freedom and our values”.
The Nord Stream gas pipeline will be closed for “maintenance” from August 31 to September 2
“On August 31, 2022, the sole Trent 60 gas compression unit will be shut down for three days for maintenance work,” which Siemens technicians will attend, Gazprom said in a statement. Gas supplies to Europe will therefore be suspended for this period, according to the Russian gas giant, which states that “maintenance must be carried out every 1,000 hours”.
At the end of this period and “without technical disruptions,” deliveries will resume at a flow of 33 million cubic meters of gas per day, the company said. The announcement led to a further increase in European gas prices: the price of the Dutch TTF futures contract rose to 257.40 euros by the end of the session, an all-time high. A halt to supplies during a 10-day maintenance in July had already raised concerns from European countries accusing Moscow of using gas as a “weapon of war”.
At least six people are killed in shelling in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions
In eastern Ukraine, fighting continues in the Donbass, Moscow’s priority strategic target. According to Ukrainian authorities, five deaths have been registered in the last 24 hours in Donetsk province alone. In the northeast of the country, Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, was hit by shells and local authorities said at least one person was killed. At least 12 other people have died in the same way in the region over the past two days, it said.