According to Ukraine, it has managed to largely isolate the Russian troops in the south. Russia, on the other hand, reports the capture of the Donetsk suburb of Pisky. All news about the war in Ukraine can be found here in the ticker.
8:58 p.m .: According to the local mayor, the situation around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia is becoming more and more precarious. The risk of a nuclear catastrophe at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant “is growing every day,” the mayor of Enerhodar, where the nuclear power plant is located, said in a phone call to AFP on Sunday. The Russian army is shelling “the infrastructure that ensures the safe operation of the power plant,” added Dmytro Orlov.
A civilian was killed. The dead man was an employee at the nuclear power plant, the Ukrainian power plant operator Enerhoatom reported on Telegram. By some accounts he had walked his dog. Two other residents of the city were injured, Enerhoatom said. About six bullets would have hit a residential area in the afternoon.
“What is happening is downright nuclear terrorism,” criticized Enerhodar’s mayor Orlov from the city of Zaporizhia, which is still under Ukrainian control. “It can end unexpectedly at any time.” The fire protection rules are violated again and again and the situation “continues to heat up”.
“The invaders continue to terrorize the civilian population and the nuclear power plant,” criticized the mayor. Mortar shells are fired at from the occupied villages every day and every night. “The situation is risky and what worries most is that there is no de-escalation process,” Orlov told AFP.
The mayor had already left Enerhodar in April. According to him, the city was shelled for the first time at the weekend. The number of those who wanted to leave the city had increased dramatically. In the “near future” there may not be enough staff for the proper operation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
6:56 p.m .: Russia says it has fired on targets in dozens of towns in new rocket and artillery attacks in eastern Ukraine. The attacks were concentrated on the Donetsk region, in the neighboring region of Kharkiv the village of Udy had been taken, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced in Moscow. The information could not be verified independently. The Ukrainian general staff in Kyiv also reported massive attacks in the east and south of the country.
5:32 p.m .: In the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, artillery shells hit again on Sunday. This was announced by Russian and Ukrainian sources. Both sides blamed the other for the shelling. It was unanimously reported that a civilian had been killed.
“Ukrainian nationalists fired rockets at a residential area of Enerhodar,” the Russian occupation administration said, according to TASS agency. The city’s Ukrainian mayor, Dmytro Orlov, spoke of a “murderous provocation” by the occupiers. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.
The international community is concerned about the security situation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which has been occupied by Russian troops since March. Experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are to inspect the nuclear power plant. However, the United Nations, Russia and Ukraine cannot agree on the modalities of the visit.
Sunday, August 14th, 2022, 3:41 p.m.: In southern Ukraine, where Kyiv launched a counteroffensive, the Ukrainian troops say they have succeeded in further isolating the Russian armed forces. All bridges on the Dnipro in the region around Kherson were destroyed or damaged, said regional deputy Serhiy Khlan on Sunday morning.
“The only way for the occupiers to cross the river is through pontoons near the Antonivsky Bridge,” added the politician. However, these were not sufficient for Russian needs. “Russia is moving its command centers from the right to the left bank of the river, realizing that in the event of an escalation, they cannot be evacuated in time.”
The Russian troops had taken Cherson relatively quickly after the start of the invasion of Ukraine. It’s the only regional capital they’ve conquered so far. Since then, the Russian army has advanced several dozen kilometers to the west. But the three Russian-controlled bridges over the Dnipro have been bombed several times in recent weeks.
8:52 p.m .: The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense gave an update on the current situation on Saturday. According to this, a fifth of the Russian troops in Ukraine have been eliminated. The front now extends over a length of 1,300 kilometers. According to the ministry, Ukraine “urgently” needs a reinforcement of its artillery.
5:16 p.m .: On Saturday, Ukraine and Russia again blamed each other for attacks on the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. “Restrict their presence in the streets of Enerhodar! We have information about new provocations by the (Russian) occupiers,” Energoatom, the Ukrainian nuclear agency, told Telegram on Saturday.
The authority referred to a message from a representative of the city of Enerhodar, which is still controlled by Kyiv. In the city is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which has been occupied by Russian troops and has been attacked repeatedly in recent days.
“According to residents, there are renewed bomb attacks in the direction of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The intervals between launch and impact are between three and five seconds.
The Moscow-installed administration in the Russian-controlled areas accused the Ukrainian troops of being responsible for the attacks. “Enerhodar and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are again under fire from supporters,” said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the pro-Russian civil and military administration. Projectiles fell on “areas on the banks of the Dnipro and on the nuclear site”.
2:13 p.m .: Russian troops again report the capture of the village of Pisky on the outskirts of the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. The Russian news agency Interfax quoted the Ministry of Defense in Moscow as saying that they had taken full control of the Pisky suburb.
Just a week ago, Russian and pro-Russian forces announced that they had taken complete control of the village. The ministry also said, according to Interfax, that Russian forces had destroyed a US-supplied HIMARS missile system near the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk and an ammunition depot for that weapon system.
Saturday, August 13, 10:53 a.m.: According to British intelligence services, the Russian position in occupied Cherson in southern Ukraine has been significantly weakened by counterattacks on strategically important river crossings. The British Ministry of Defense said on Saturday that it was probably no longer possible to transport significant military equipment to the Russian-occupied areas west of the river via the two main road bridges over the Dnipro.
On the important Antonivka Bridge, the Russians have only managed to make superficial repairs in the past few days. The other important bridge has become impassable for heavy military vehicles due to Ukrainian attacks with precision weapons in the past few days. The main railway bridge near Cherson is said to have been further damaged. In order to organize military supplies, Moscow recently relied primarily on a ferry connection near the bridge.
Even after further repairs, the bridges would likely remain a weak point for the Russian military. The supplies and supplies for thousands of Russian troops on the west side of the Dnipro depend on two temporary ferry connections.
9.41 a.m .: The British secret service confirms the damage at the Russian military airport in Saki on the occupied Crimean Peninsula. Explosions occurred there on Tuesday, destroying numerous fighter jets. Ukraine gave a figure of ten planes, the British secret service now reports in its update five SU-24 Fencer fighter bombers and three SU-30 flanker multi-purpose aircraft that were destroyed or badly damaged.
Though that’s just a small fraction of the total aircraft available, the intelligence agency says the alleged attack “significantly weakened” the capabilities of the Navy’s air force. The conclusion: the Russian military must change its risk assessment. So far, Crimea had apparently been seen as a safe haven. The alleged Ukrainian attack destroyed this certainty.
The cause of the explosions is still unclear, according to British intelligence. However, these are almost certainly due to the destruction of up to four unprotected ammunition depots. Saki military airport was damaged but could still be used.
8:02 a.m .: According to Ukrainian information, the Russian military has made progress in heavy attacks in eastern Ukraine. “The enemy was partially successful in the advance towards Horlivka – Saytseve,” the Ukrainian general staff said in its situation report on Friday. The city of Horlivka north of Donetsk has been controlled by the pro-Russian separatists since 2014. Now the heavily fortified Ukrainian positions north of the city in the Donbass have apparently been stormed.
Fighting was also reported off Donetsk and south of the Bakhmut transport hub, part of the defensive wall around the last Kyiv-controlled Donbass conurbation, Sloviansk-Kramatorsk. In both cases, according to Ukrainian sources, the fighting is continuing, while it has been repulsed elsewhere. The reports cannot be verified independently.
Friday, August 12, 2022, 6:00 a.m.: Air alerts were raised twice across Ukraine on Thursday evening. The Ukrainian general staff reported fierce fighting in the east of the country, where Russian troops are trying to advance in Donbass. For Ukraine, Friday marks the 170th day of the fight against the Russian invasion.
12:33 p.m .: On Thursday night, Russia heavily shelled the area around the city of Nikopol in eastern Ukraine. According to Ukrainian information, 120 rockets are said to have landed around the city. According to the governor of Dnipropetrovsk, Valentyn Resnichenko, three people were killed and seven wounded.
There is also said to be heavy fighting around the eastern Ukrainian city of Pisky. An official of the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic says the site, six miles northwest of the provincial capital of the same name, is controlled by Russian and separatist forces. However, Ukrainian officials deny that the heavily fortified city, which is key to Donetsk’s defenses, fell.
Thursday, August 11, 9:48 am: Russian state media claim that air defenses thwarted a Ukrainian attack on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and the nearby occupied city of Enerhodar. This is reported by the Reuters news agency based on reports from the state news agencies Tass and RIA. The two media unanimously quote the Russian administration deployed in the Zaporizhia region. The information could not initially not be checked independently.
10:15 p.m .: At least seven civilians were killed on Wednesday by Russian artillery fire on the city of Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine, according to Ukrainian information. According to the General Prosecutor’s Office in Kyiv, high-rise buildings, single-family houses and shops in the city center were hit. Russia used Uragan multiple rocket launchers. Seven residents were injured by bomb splinters. The information can hardly be verified independently.
The Attorney General’s Office is now investigating on suspicion of a war crime. For days, Bakhmut and the neighboring town of Soledar have been the target of Russian troops trying to advance in the Donbass region. Western military observers note slow Russian advances. The Ukrainian government has asked all civilians to leave Donbass. The Russian war of aggression against the neighboring country has now lasted more than five and a half months.
3:53 p.m .: According to their own statements, the Ukrainian military has rendered a bridge at the Nowa Kachowka dam in southern Ukraine unusable by rocket fire. “The hit was accurate but effective,” Army Command South said on Facebook on Wednesday. The crew administration has not yet received any information on this. The day before, the Russian broadcaster RT had only reported regular shelling of the bridge over the ship canal and the dam itself.
Russia invaded Ukraine at the end of February and then largely conquered the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson on the lower reaches of the Dnipro River. Using long-range missile systems, the Ukrainian army is systematically trying to destroy the only three river crossings in the area. This is intended to prevent the Russian army from being replenished on the right bank and to enable recapture.
The Ukrainians have already rendered the railway bridge and the road bridge near Cherson unusable. Instead, the Russian troops built a ferry service for civilians and, according to reports, several pontoon bridges for their own military across the almost a kilometer wide river.
1:48 p.m .: After his multi-day trip to Ukraine, FDP defense politician Marcus Faber announced that only part of the 2000 self-propelled howitzers delivered from Germany and the Netherlands were intact. “I learned from the Ministry of Defense that five out of fifteen self-propelled howitzers are still operational,” he told the news portal ntv.de.
To his knowledge, no self-propelled howitzers were destroyed by Russian fire. “They are used massively,” he said. Accordingly, spare parts would be needed. Germany supplied these, but repairs are difficult, says Faber. “The Ukrainians are optimistic that they can bring their operational readiness back up. But they also say that they need their own repair facility in Ukraine. Otherwise they would have to get the howitzers out of the country again. At the moment they can only do minor repairs themselves,” said Faber.
According to its own statements, the federal government has so far delivered ten tank howitzers 2000 to the Ukraine. The Netherlands had promised Kyiv eight systems, five of which have already been delivered. Faber was in the Ukraine from August 3rd to 10th and visited the capital Kyiv as well as Kharkiv, Kramatorsk and Slowjansk.
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