Ukrainian fighter jet pilot Anton Lystopad died in combat. Lystopad was considered one of the best aviators in the Ukrainian army. In 2019 he was honored as the best pilot in the Air Force. Just a few days ago he received a third-degree medal from President Volodymyr Zelensky for his courage. In a Facebook post, Lystopad’s training facility in Ivano Frankivsk in western Ukraine writes: “He died defending the Ukrainian state.”
“If you have Russian citizenship and are silent, it means you are not fighting, which means you support it,” Zelenskyy said in Kyiv. In contrast to earlier appeals to the population of the belligerent neighboring country, the President did not address them in Russian but in Ukrainian.
According to polls, a majority of Russians support President Vladimir Putin’s course. However, the validity is uncertain. Open criticism of the war is severely punished by the Russian power apparatus. In many EU countries, especially in the east, the demand is getting louder that Russians should no longer be issued visas for travel to the EU.
According to the Ukrainian General Staff, the Russian army has gained ground near the small town of Bakhmut in the Donbass, which has been under attack for days. The Kiev situation report spoke of a “partial success” for the Russians. Attacks were repelled in other places, such as at Pisky outside of Donetsk. With strong positions near Pisky, the Ukrainian army has prevented pro-Russian Donetsk separatists from repairing the city’s devastated airfield and putting it to military use since 2014.
Almost all locations along the eastern front line were under Russian fire. According to Western military observers, the attack in Donbass is progressing more slowly than it was a few weeks ago.
The first grain freighter commissioned by the United Nations has left the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyj and is on its way to Africa with wheat. The UN World Food Program (WFP) has chartered the Brave Commander freighter, the Odessa Oblast authorities said. According to the UN, the 23,000 tons of wheat are destined for Ethiopia.
At the end of July, the UN and Turkey mediated agreements that Ukraine could again export grain via its Black Sea ports, despite the Russian war of aggression. Since the beginning of August, more than a dozen freighters have transported Ukrainian grain. However, the first transports were commercial.
The UN fears food shortages and hunger in poor parts of the world if Ukraine fails as a major grain supplier. The ships and their cargo are checked each time they pass through the Turkish Bosphorus Straits. On Sunday, two ships received permission to travel to Ukraine, and three more are to be checked on Monday.
Russian President Putin visits the International Army Games near Moscow. The competition between soldiers from Russia and from friendly countries has grown significantly in recent years. According to the Kremlin, Putin will also visit the military-technical exhibition “Army-2022”.
