PRESS DIGEST – UKRAINE

Sixth month of heroic resistance of Ukraine against Russian military invasion

Key updates on the war against Ukraine as of August 19, 2022

#RussiaIsATerroristState #ArmUkraineNow

DESTRUCTION AND LOSSES

📌The burial of the killed, whose identities have not been established, continues in Bucha. 14 bodies were buried today, according to the City Council.

📌More than 1078 children were affected by the Russian armed aggression in Ukraine. 362 children were killed, and another 716 were wounded.

📌At least 6,000 people are waiting in line for evacuation from the temporarily occupied territories in the south of Ukraine.

📌Russia destroyed 230 educational institutions in Ukraine. Almost 2,000 have been damaged.

📌LUHANSK REGION:

• Ukrainian defenders repulse an attack from the Lysychansk Refinery. Such photos of the broken city are shown by the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration.

On the morning of August 19, the Russians struck 2 educational institutions in Kramatorsk. 

• According to the order of the occupation administration, Russian invaders can now “legally” conduct “mobilization” in the Luhansk region. One received a passport of the “LPR”, which was almost issued right in the streets in the spring, and in summer one goes to the front.

📌 DONETSK REGION:

• 2 were killed and 13 wounded as a result of the strike on Kramatorsk on August 12. The shelling damaged at least 20 houses.
• • • In the temporarily occupied Mariupol, the invaders decided to legalize the cars stolen from the citizens. Now in the city, it is allowed to put “on a special account” those cars, which registration documents are lost, missing, or stolen in connection with the war. Thus, the occupiers and collaborators can now appropriate, and in fact, simply steal any car of the departed Mariupol residents.

📌 KHARKIV REGION:

• On August 13, due to the shelling, college,  residential buildings and critical infrastructure communications were damaged. 
• On August 14, Russians fired on the village of Zmiiv in the Kharkiv region. As a result of which, three people were injured.
• On August 16, during the night, Russian troops shelled five of the nine districts of Kharkiv – such a radius of fire has not been seen for a long time.

On the evening of August 17, the Russians shelled the Saltivskyi District of Kharkiv. A strong fire broke out in a residential building at the site of the missile’s arrival. 7 people were killed, and 17 were wounded.

August 18 was one of the most tragic for the Kharkiv region in the entire war. Russian missile strikes killed 17 people and wounded 42 more. The Russians shelled 2 dormitories, the Palace of Culture of Railway Workers, infrastructure facilities, and residential buildings overnight.

A 52-year-old woman died as a result of the shelling in Kharkiv on August 19. Another person was treated on the spot. 2 private residential buildings, an educational institution and a civilian enterprise – were hit by Russian missiles.

📌 ZAPORIZHZHIA REGION:

• On August 16, 2 explosions sounded near the substation in Melitopol. After that, the broadcasting of terrestrial television, which was captured and controlled by the invaders, ceased. The transit cable was damaged.
• On August 16, the town of Orikhiv was shelled by multiple rocket launchers for several hours. One resident was killed. 6 people were wounded, including 3 employees of the power company who were restoring the network.

• The Russian invaders in Melitopol have blocked the exit from the city and are conducting total filtering. 

📌 Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant:

• An employee of Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant was killed and 2 more people were injured during the shelling of Energodar. It is known that the Russian invaders shelled the city at least six times.
• Zaporizhzhia NPP operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards – the Russians shelled at several buildings, in particular, the fire department.
• On August 16, the Russians occupied a reserve control point at the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The situation remains tense. Now they are adjusting the evacuation plan from Enerhodar and the radiation risk zone, taking into account the military situation.
• On August 18, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that it might shut down the fifth and sixth power units of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, allegedly due to the “threat of shelling from Ukraine”.

Conclusion of Enerhoatom: After disconnecting the generators of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from the energy system of Ukraine, they cannot be used to cool nuclear fuel in case the plant is de-energized, which will bring a possible scenario of a radiation disaster closer.

📌 MYKOLAIV REGION:

On August 17, the Russians shelled another university in Mykolaiv – The Black Sea National University named after Petro Mohyla. Two Russian missiles hit the University at night. 27 residential buildings, the main building of the university, and the car park were destroyed.

📌ODESA REGION:

At night on August 17, the Russians attacked the Odessa region with Tu-22M3 strategic aircraft, which fired Kh-22 missiles. 5 civilians were wounded. The fire on an area of more than 600 square meters has already been localized. 7 recreation center buildings were destroyed and 15 cottage-type houses were damaged.

📌KHERSON REGION:

• ​​The occupation authorities opened a “media school” in Kherson. There were very few collaborative journalists in the city, so the Russians decided to train their personnel to work in the propaganda media. The “school” opened on the premises of the Kherson State University, occupied by the invaders. It is taught by Russians, in particular, representatives of RT, which is banned in many countries due to fake news and manipulations.
• The Russians have set up a torture chamber in Kherson – about 70 Ukrainians are held there. The occupation authorities keep people in terrible conditions in the Kherson reception distribution centre for children.

📌DNIPROPETROVSK REGION:

• On August 13, Russia struck Nikopol at night. There were 40 missiles “arrivals” with Grad multiple rocket launchers. More than two dozen residential buildings, 10 outbuildings, a kindergarten building, and cars were damaged. Also electricity and gas supply lines. Border areas were shelled in the Kryvyi Rih district with cluster munitions. 
• On August 16, in the village of Chervonohrihorivka, Dnipropetrovsk region, as a result of morning shelling, 9 private houses, several garages, and cars were damaged. Two warehouses with grain and equipment of a local agricultural enterprise were subjected to shelling. The gas pipeline and power line have been cut off.
• On August 19, Russia shelled three districts of the Dnipro. A man was killed, and a 12-year-old boy was wounded. Up to 20 multi-story buildings, a dozen stores, a lyceum, a bank, and a bus stop were damaged in the city. A power transmission line is disabled, electricians are working there.

📌SUMY REGION:

• On August 14, the Russians shelled a community in the Sumy region, damaging residential houses and a farming household. “The Russians have been shelling Yunakiv community from the early morning, using mortars and barreled artillery. Around 50 hits in total,” reports Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, the Head of Sumy Region Military Administration.
• On August 17, 2 shellings were launched from the territory of the Russian Federation in the Sumy region, where residential houses and civilian infrastructure were significantly damaged and destroyed.

📌 Russia sent about 10 ships to the Black Sea. Russian ships take refuge in safe areas along the Crimean coast as far as Novorossiysk. On combat, duty are 2 enemy surface aircraft carriers with 16 Kalibr cruise missiles and a large landing ship.

RUSSIAN AND BELORUSSIAN CONTEXT 

⚠️ Well-known Middle East analyst Elijah Magnier, citing his sources, reports that Russia has already concluded agreements with Iran on the supply of 1,000 reconnaissance and strike drones to Russia.

⚠️️The Russian media claim that three foreigners who fought on the side of Ukraine will face the death penalty. According to their information, a total of 5 detained citizens of Sweden, Croatia, and the UK will be tried by the “DPR” pseudo-court.

⚠️️Russia has increased aircraft activity around Ukraine – from the territory of Belarus, Russia, and occupied Crimea. There were almost 150 sorties per day on average. The Ukrainian Air Force detected Russian Su-25 attack aircraft, Mi-24 attack helicopters, as well as Ka-52 helicopters. The command clarified that the enemy’s aircraft had not yet entered the Ukrainian air defence operation zone.

⚠️️ China will send troops to Russia for training — Ministry of National Defense of the People’s Republic of China.

 ⚠️️ Men from Central Asia and kidnapped Chechens are recruited for the war in Ukraine. According to Ukrainian intelligence, citizens of Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan are encouraged to fight against Ukraine by granting them Russian citizenship. In Chechnya, men are simply kidnapped and formed into “volunteer” battalions.

DEFENSE UPDATES

📌The Pentagon rated the effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at 12 on a possible 10-point scale. 

“On a scale of 0 to 10, the effectiveness of the Armed Forces of Ukraine would be a 12, based on how impressive they’ve been to us in so many different ways. They have found ways to do things that we might not have thought possible,” a senior Pentagon official said.

📌On August 13, the Armed Forces of Ukraine struck the positions of the Russians in Nova Kakhovka in the Kherson region.

📌On August 14, the Ukrainian army struck at the base of the bridge at the Kakhovska hydroelectric power station in the temporarily occupied Kherson region with an accuracy of up to a centimetre. 

As a result of the shelling, Russian troops are deprived of the opportunity to use the bridge for the transfer of heavy weapons. The invaders have to use temporary pontoon crossings for this, which significantly slows down the pace and limits the amount of Russian equipment.

📌The Armed Forces of Ukraine confirmed the strike on the Antonivskyi Bridge on August 14. 

“A blow has been struck again on the Antonivskyi Bridge to finally secure its status as impassable,” said Nataliya Humenyuk, a press secretary of the United Coordination Press Center of the Southern Defense Forces.

📌The Armed Forces of Ukraine hit the bridge at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, which the Russians managed to restore.

📌 Estimated losses of the Russian Federation Army in Ukraine:

📌  The EU and 42 countries have called for immediate withdrawal of the Russian troops from the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and the whole Ukraine territory.

📌 Grain corridor:

• On the morning of August 12, the fifth caravan with grain left the Ukrainian ports.
• On August 15, 2 more ships called at the Odesa port for Ukrainian products.
• On August 16, another ship Brave Commander with grain left Ukraine for Africa. There are 23 thousand tons of wheat on board.
• As of August 17, 24 ships of more than 600 thousand tons of agricultural products have departed from Ukrainian ports within the implementation of the Initiative for the Safe Transportation of Grain and Food Products. 
• On August 18, 3 more vessels with more than 33,000 tons of agricultural products left Ukrainian ports. 

📌Serhii Prytula, a Ukrainian volunteer and TV presenter, reported that a satellite was bought with funds from the “People’s Bayraktar” campaign. It provides access to the ICEYE Company’s constellation satellite imagery database. The access was bought for more than a year. Now the Armed Forces of Ukraine will quickly receive satellite images, which will help to destroy the enemy most effectively. It will be recalled that it’s concerned 600 million hryvnias, which the Ukrainians have collected for the purchase of “Bayraktar” UAVs.

📌The Baltic Sea will become NATO’s inland sea, Estonian Defense Minister Hanno Pevkur. Estonia and Finland have agreed to unite coastal defence after the latter joins the NATO military-political bloc. This will close access to the Baltic Sea for Russian warships.

📌The Verkhovna Rada adopted the law on the Common Transit Conventions with the EU. The document simplifies customs clearance for reliable enterprises, improves the granting of the status of a financial guarantor, and ensures the payment of customs duties.

📌Serbia abandoned the Russian Federation military base and will train the army according to NATO standards.

📌Volodymyr Zelensky established an Advisory Council on Deoccupation and Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

📌The Russian Defense Ministry reports that in the morning in the Maisky area (Dzhankoy district) in the temporarily occupied Crimea, a fire broke out at the ammunition depot of a military unit. As a result, supplies were blown up. ISW believes that the explosions at the Russian ammunition depot and transformer substation in the Dzhankoy region of Crimea seriously disrupted the supply of the Russian army. Dzhankoy was used by the occupiers as a railway junction for the transfer of troops and equipment to the occupied settlements in the south of the Zaporizhzhia region, including Melitopol

📌On August 16,  another explosion in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Explosions at a military air base in the village of Hvardeyske near Simferopol in the temporarily occupied Crimea. Official sources have not yet commented on this information.

📌On August 18, President Volodymyr Zelensky held a meeting in Lviv with UN Secretary-General António Guterres. UN Secretary-General Guterres made several statements after the meeting in Lviv:

• In the situation with the ZNPP, common sense must prevail to avoid security threats.
• The UN will support the visit of the station by the IAEA mission only if it goes there via Kyiv.
• The UN is working on getting safe access to the Olenivka pre-trial detention centre.
• The representative of Brazil will lead the mission to establish the facts of the terrorist attack in Olenivka.
• Continued food and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia are critical to stabilizing markets.

📌On August 18, president of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky discussed with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s defence cooperation, nuclear blackmail by the Russian Federation and the issue of grain exports from Ukraine, large-scale theft of grain by Russia in the temporarily occupied territory of Ukraine.

📌The Memorandum of Understanding on the restoration of infrastructure, which provides for Türkiye’s participation in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine, was signed in Lviv in the presence of President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and President of Türkiye Recep Tayyip Erdogan. The document was signed by the Minister of Infrastructure of Ukraine Oleksandr Kubrakov and the Minister of Trade of Türkiye Mehmet Muş.

PUBLIC AND INTERNATIONAL SUPPORT OF UKRAINE

📌Estonia has issued a “Glory to Ukraine” coin. It has a denomination of 2 euros and was designed by Dariia Tytova, a Ukrainian who studies at the Estonian Academy of Arts. The coin can be purchased for 18 euros. All funds received by the bank will go to help Ukraine in its fight against Russia.

📌 Poland announced the cessation of issuing visas to Russian citizens.

📌 New Zealand will also send its instructors to train the Ukrainian military in the UK.

📌 The Ukrainian Air Force received four Mi-17 and Mi-2 helicopters from Latvia – they will soon be fully integrated into the Ukrainian Air Force aviation fleet.

📌Another six M109 howitzers arrived in Ukraine from Latvia. 

📌The United States will contribute $68 million to the World Food Program to buy Ukrainian wheat to address the food crisis, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted.

📌The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to seek in Brussels the suspension of the visa facilitation agreement between the EU and Russia. This will also mean an increase in the visa fee from 35 euros to 80 euros.

📌 Latvia raised €300 thousand for the Bayraktar drone for Ukraine in a day — Latvian musician, one of the initiators of the collection Ralfs Eilands.

📌Denmark is going to limit the entry of tourists from the Russian Federation.

📌Australia terminated the lease agreement with the Russian Federation on the land on which the Russians planned to build a new embassy. In particular, Russia has 20 days to vacate the Yarralumla site near the Australian Parliament.

📌 On August 18, Estonia stopped allowing Russian citizens with Schengen visas issued by this country to enter the country – currently, about 25,000 Russians have such visas.

📌Countries that have already banned or made it difficult to issue visas to Russians: 

• The Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania have completely stopped issuing visas to Russians.
• Denmark, the Netherlands, Belgium, and Japan imposed visa-type restrictions.
• Slovakia and Malta now allow Russian citizens to enter only on special occasions.
• Norway and Bulgaria have complicated the procedure for issuing visas to Russians.

📌The European Commission will provide the United Nations Development Program with $21 million to clear the rubble of destroyed infrastructure, buildings, and homes in Ukraine. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro officially declared the Russian ambassador persona non grata. Vladislav Maslenikov must leave the territory of the country within 6 days.

📌 Poland, Slovakia, and the Czech Republic have decided to launch a program to expand the production of artillery systems, ammunition, and other military equipment for Ukraine.