Russia is firing generals, creating a lack of continuity in military leadership. After Russian attacks, a reactor at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine had to be shut down. A spy ring was supposed to bring down Kyiv. All news about the war in Ukraine can be found here in the ticker.
Monday, August 8, 6:35 a.m.: Moscow has fired several generals because of the poor performance of the Russian armed forces in the Ukraine war. According to the intelligence service of the British Ministry of Defense, six commanders have been fired since the beginning of the war.
Among other things, the commanders of Russia’s western and eastern military districts lost their posts. General Aleksandr Dvornikov, who previously had overall command of the operation in Ukraine, was also replaced. General Sergey Surovkin meanwhile would have taken command of the grouping of forces in the south from General Gennady Zhidko.
In addition to the layoffs, Russia also has personnel problems at the highest military level due to the death of generals in combat: around ten Russian generals have been killed since the beginning of the war. The lack of continuity in military leadership is contributing to Russia’s tactical and operational difficulties, according to the UK MoD.
3:31 p.m .: Russia’s army says it has destroyed tons of ammunition that NATO countries have delivered to Ukraine. A warehouse with a total of 45,000 tons of ammunition was hit in the southern Ukrainian region of Mykolaiv, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on Sunday. This could not be verified independently. Konashenkov also reported that five other weapons depots had been attacked – one of them in the particularly hard-fought eastern region of Donetsk.
In Donetsk, Russia’s air forces also attacked the small town of Bakhmut, killing up to 130 Ukrainian soldiers, Moscow said. That too could not be verified. Bakhmut is considered the cornerstone of a defensive wall that the Ukrainian army has built around the metropolitan areas of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk. This is coming under increasing pressure.
Sunday, August 7, 1:40 p.m.: For the second time in a few days, Moscow and Kiev have accused each other of shelling the southern Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia. The Ukrainian army fired a rocket at the nuclear power plant on Sunday night, the Russian news agency Interfax reported, citing the occupation administration in the city of Enerhodar, where the power plant is located. The Ukrainian nuclear agency Enerhoatom, on the other hand, accused the Russians of shelling the site under their control themselves.
During the attack, a spent nuclear fuel storage facility was hit and sensors for measuring radiation were damaged. Enerhoatom also reported that shortly before the explosion, hundreds of members of the Russian crew hid in bunkers. The information provided by both sides could not initially be checked independently.
Just last Friday, Moscow and Kyiv blamed each other for the shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
9:43 p.m .: President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has confirmed that Turkey will henceforth pay for Russian gas deliveries in rubles and will also use the Russian payment system Mir more. A new plan to strengthen economic cooperation will serve as a “source of power between Turkey and Russia in financial matters,” Erdogan said on his return flight from the Russian Black Sea city of Sochi, according to the Anadolu Agency. There he met President Vladimir Putin on Friday. The use of the Mir payment system will also make it easier for Russian tourists to stay in Turkey, Erdogan said.
9:35 p.m .: A ship with 33,000 tons of corn from Ukraine received permission to continue on Saturday after an international inspection in Istanbul. The freighter was allowed to pass the Bosphorus Strait into the Mediterranean, according to the Turkish Ministry of Defense. It is the second grain carrier since Turkey brokered an international agreement on Ukrainian exports across the Black Sea. Two more ships are expected shortly.
7:26 p.m .: According to the Russian occupation administration, one of its members died after an attack in the southern Ukrainian region of Cherson. The deputy head of the administration set up by the Russians in the city of Nova Kakhovka, Vitaly Gura, has succumbed to his injuries, pro-Russian politician Yekaterina Gubareva wrote on Telegram on Saturday. The Russian state news agency Ria Novosti also reported Gura’s death. Accordingly, he is said to have been attacked by unknown persons with a gun earlier in the day near his house.
As a result of the war of aggression against Ukraine that has been going on for almost six months, Russian troops have conquered several areas in southern Ukraine and set up their own administrations there. Since then, there have been repeated protests from the population against the new occupying power, particularly in Cherson. Russian and pro-Russian media also repeatedly reported attacks.
5:54 p.m .: After attacks on the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, one of the nuclear reactors has been shut down, according to the Ukrainian state operator. The “emergency protection system” was triggered by the air strikes and the reactor was switched off, Energoatom said on Saturday in the online service Telegram. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for Friday’s attacks.
According to Energoatom, the bombings “seriously damaged” an “auxiliary building” and a nitrogen and oxygen station. There is still a risk of radioactive radiation and an increased risk of fire, the operator explained. However, the Ukrainian staff is working and the power plant continues to produce electricity.
On Saturday, the EU condemned “Russia’s military activities around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant”. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell tweeted: “This is a serious and irresponsible violation of nuclear safety rules and another example of Russia’s disregard for international norms.”
Russian troops took control of the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and Europe in March shortly after the troops marched into the country. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has been trying to send inspectors to the facility for weeks. Ukraine has so far refused to do so, saying it would legitimize Russia’s occupation of the site in the eyes of the international community.
3:25 p.m .: Almost six months after the start of their invasion, Russian troops in eastern Ukraine are attacking the city of Bakhmut with all their might – a cornerstone of the line of defense around the last metropolitan area controlled by the Ukrainians there. This was announced by the General Staff in Kyiv in its new situation report on Saturday. The pro-Russian rebels had reported the day before that there was already fighting in the city area. The Russian military also reported that it had killed hundreds of Ukrainian soldiers and destroyed Western military equipment with air and artillery strikes on the southern front. The information provided by both sides cannot be checked independently.
Saturday, August 6, 9:01 a.m.: The British Ministry of Defense and military intelligence announced on Saturday that the Ukraine war is now entering a “new phase”.
Accordingly, the Russian troops would now gather in the south of the country to prepare for a counter-offensive by Ukraine. Ukraine has been counterattacking for days, and now the British are expecting the Russians to respond.
Several convoys of military trucks, tanks and artillery would be moving southwest away from the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine. The ministry announced this on Twitter.
In the “new phase,” fighting would shift “to an approximately 350-kilometer front line stretching southwest near Zaporizhia to Kherson, parallel to the Dnieper River,” London writes in the update.
3:56 p.m .: In the first weeks of the war, Russia wanted to take Kyiv. This was also to be done with the help of a spy ring that the Kremlin had sent to the Ukrainian capital a year earlier. The agents were supposed to infiltrate important places – and they were quite successful.
As reported by “Welt”, the Russian spies recruited two SBU employees as sources. The SBU is the secret service of Ukraine. Ukraine has now identified and arrested three members of the spy ring. The agents were not successful: Kyiv could not be taken by Russia.
You can read more reports on the Ukraine conflict on the following pages.
