From the evening of the 17th to the morning of the 18th, the residential area of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, was attacked by two waves of Russian troops. A total of 17 people were killed and 42 injured, Oleh Synehubov, the governor of the northeastern Ukrainian state of Kharkiv, said today. Rescuers recovered more bodies from the destroyed house.
Three civilians were killed and 17 injured in a pre-dawn rocket attack, local emergency services said. The Russian army also attacked the city of Kharkiv yesterday, and emergency rescue units said at the time that 12 people were killed.
Kharkiv resident Tamara Kramarenko said her apartment was hit by a missile yesterday.
Ginehubov described the Russian attack as an “act of terrorism” in a Telegram post.
He also said that the town of Krasnohrad in the Kharkov region was also hit by rockets today, killing two people.
The Kharkiv mayor’s office said at least four missiles hit Kharkiv and that there were no military installations around the site.
Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov accused Russia of attacking residential buildings as an act of intimidation and massacre.
As of the afternoon of the 18th, the dead were all civilians.
Zelensky condemned the “despicable” Russian air strike yesterday, saying “we will not forgive, we will take revenge”.
Russia has always denied deliberately targeting civilians.
Ukraine is currently turning its strategic focus to Ukraine. Recently, there have been consecutive bombings in the Crimea occupied by Russia. Today, the Crimean Peninsula has been shocked again! According to the Ukrainian media “TCH”, local residents said that a strong explosion occurred at the Belbek air base north of Sevastopol, the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, at around 10 pm local time on the 18th. In addition, explosions were also heard near the “Kerch Strait Bridge” (Kerch Strait Bridge) connecting Crimea and Russia, and the Russian military has activated its air defense system!
Belbek Air Force Base is the largest Russian military airfield in Crimea, where fighter jets including Su-27, Su-27SM, Su-30M2 and Su-27M are stationed. After reconstruction in 2020, the airfield can also park long-range strategic bombers such as Tu-22M3, Tu-160 and Tu-95MS. According to reports, after the explosion at the Saky airbase in Crimea on the 9th, Russian military planes from the base were transferred to the Belbek base.
According to Reuters, three local sources said the air base was hit by at least four explosions, but a Russian official said no damage was caused.
The head of Sevanburg, Mikhail Razvozhayev, said preliminary information was that Russian air defenses had shot down a Ukrainian drone.
An unverified image uploaded by a Ukrainian news-gathering website showed at least two explosions after what appeared to be a rocket fired into the night sky.
RIA Novosti reported that residents who lived a few kilometers away from the Belbek base said explosions could be heard on the street and smoke was seen rising from the airport.
In addition, “European Truth” reported that the Kerch Bridge was located in the vicinity of this end of the Crimea. The first explosion sounded at 10:42 on the evening of the 18th, and a loud explosion-like sound was heard. A few seconds later A fire appeared in the sky.
The report quoted local online media as saying that residents in different parts of Kerch city and nearby villages heard loud explosions and the windows of some houses shook. According to the report, Russian officials said that the Kerch Bridge was not damaged, and the Russian army also activated the air defense system around the bridge.
3 explosions in 1 week in counterattack in Russian-occupied Crimea
There have been frequent explosions at a Russian military base in Crimea in recent days. The first explosion occurred at the Saki Airport in Novo Fedorovka on the 9th, killing 1 and injuring 14. According to satellite images, nine Russian fighter jets were destroyed. On the 16th, in the town of Dzhankoi near the village of Meskoye in northern Crimea, an explosion occurred at a substation and a Russian military ammunition depot, injuring at least 2 people. On the same day, Simfero in central Crimea. The Simferopol Airfield was also suspected of being attacked and thick smoke was coming from it.
CNN reported on the 17th, citing an internal Ukrainian government report, that three bombings at Russian military facilities in Crimea, annexed by Russia in 2014, were attributed to the Ukrainian side. At the same time, Ukrainian Defense Minister Reznikov revealed in an exclusive interview with The Washington Post that Ukraine is adopting a new strategy, with special forces going deep into Russian-occupied areas to attack important local Russian military targets. This strategy will weaken Russia’s ability to hold the front lines of the two armies before the Ukrainian side launches a major counteroffensive.
Reznikov admitted that Ukraine’s traditional military lacks the weapons and ammunition needed to launch a full-scale ground offensive and restore Russian-occupied areas. But he believes that Ukraine’s Western partners will eventually deliver enough bombs to Ukraine, which is also seeking to erode Russia’s military capabilities by attacking the most astute military installations in the Russian-occupied area.
Reznikov mentioned that the Ukrainian side is using the strategy of destroying Russian ordnance ammunition stocks, warehouses, headquarters and the barracks where the commander is located to deal with Russia’s “meat grinder” tactics.
It is reported that the satellite photos circulating on Twitter before and after the explosion of the Maiske Russian military base in Dzhankoi, Crimea, can be seen. One Russian military base was originally after the explosion. The area of the building became messy, and black and white smoke came out,
Twitter account “@Flash43191300” said in a tweet, “”Schemes released satellite photos of the Russian-occupied area in the Dizangor district of Crimea, before and after the explosion of the Mesk Russian military base.””
In addition, the commercial satellite imaging company Planet Labs PBC first exposed the Saki Air Force Base after the explosion and confirmed that the base was severely damaged. Although the main runway was not damaged much, the base left a large area of scorched earth. The explosion crater was clearly visible, and the buildings suspected of hangars and ammunition depots were also completely destroyed.
Ukrainian military intelligence agency warns: Russia instructs Zaporozhye nuclear power plant staff to “don’t go to work on the 19th”
Russia allegedly told workers at the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) not to come to work on the 19th, Ukraine’s military intelligence service confirmed exclusively to NBC News.
The report pointed out that at this time, Russia and Ukraine accused each other and speculated that the other party was conspiring to cause trouble at the nuclear power plant on this day. Russia threatened to shut down its nuclear power plant a day earlier and warned of the risk of man-made disasters due to continued artillery shelling by the Ukrainian side. Andriy Yusov, a spokesman for the Ukrainian Defense Intelligence Service (GUR), said in an interview that with the latest information he had just obtained, there was an order instructing most staff not to go to work “tomorrow, August 19.”
Although the Russian side refused to confirm or deny whether any Rosatom personnel were stationed in Zaporozhye, Yusov claimed that “this is what the Russians told their people, mainly Rosatom staff”, It added that this could be evidence that Russia was preparing a “massive provocation” at the nuclear power plant.
Yusov said they did not rule out the possibility of a large-scale provocation by Russia in the ZNPP area tomorrow, “which is confirmed by their propaganda, information from our sources and the behavior of the Russians at the power plant”.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres issued a warning today after talks with Turkish Presidents Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine Any damage to a nuclear power plant would be an “act of suicide”.
Agence France-Presse reported that clashes in the area surrounding the nuclear facility had escalated in recent days.
Guterres said he was “gravely concerned” about the situation at the nuclear plant and said it must be set as a demilitarized zone, adding that “we have to tell the truth that any potential sabotage of Zaporozhye is suicidal”.
Zelensky said after the talks that peaceful coexistence with Russia is impossible unless Russia withdraws its troops from Ukraine. Before the talks, he had criticized Russia for deliberately attacking the nuclear power plant.
Zelensky told reporters that he was “very surprised” to hear Erduan say Russia was “ready to achieve some kind of peace”, adding that “first they should leave our territory and then see how the situation develops”.
The BBC reported that it was the first meeting between Zelensky and Guterres since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
Erdogan echoed Guterres’ concerns, telling reporters he feared the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant was at risk of “another Chernobyl” disaster.
Ukraine holds nuclear disaster drills
Ukraine held an exercise for emergency rescuers in the city of Zaporozhye, near the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant yesterday, during which Ukraine’s interior minister said that Ukraine must prepare for “all situations” that may arise at the nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian forces be ready.
“No one could have predicted that the Russian army would fire at the nuclear reactors with tanks,” said Ukrainian Interior Minister Denys Monastyrsky.
After watching yesterday’s nuclear disaster drill, he said Ukraine should be prepared because “as long as the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is under Russian control, there are significant risks”.
Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom, said the plant has about 500 Russian soldiers and 50 armored vehicles.
Can Xi, Bai, Pu and Ze meet at G20?
“Bloomberg” reported that both Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are interested in attending the upcoming G20 (big 20 industrialized countries) summit, which also means that Putin may face Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In an exclusive interview with Bloomberg, Indonesian President Joko Widodo, who serves as the host of the G20, confirmed that Xi Jinping would attend and Putin also informed him that he would attend. In this regard, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not respond; the Kremlin statement pointed out that Putin and Jokowi communicated by telephone on Thursday local time to discuss G20 matters, but did not mention whether they would participate.
Ukraine is not a member of the G20, but Zelensky was also invited to participate because the Ukraine-Russia conflict was the focus of discussion at the meeting. He said that although he was willing to accept the invitation, it still depends on national security and the composition of the participants.
It has been reported that the United States and China are arranging talks between US President Biden and Xi Jinping during the meeting. Regarding Russia’s attitude, Biden has called for Russia to be kicked out of the G20, and the US government also wants Indonesia to exclude Putin from the list.
China and Russia show muscles for the second time this year, and India joins
The Chinese military confirmed today that it will send personnel to Russia to participate in the large-scale joint military exercise “Vostok 2022” (Vostok 2022) from the end of this month to the beginning of next month, the latest demonstration of partnership between the two major U.S. adversaries. China and Russia not only support each other on issues such as the Ukrainian war and the Taiwan Strait crisis, but also hold more joint military exercises in recent years.
According to the official website of the Chinese Ministry of National Defense on the 17th, in addition to the pro-Russian countries such as Belarus, Tajikistan and Mongolia, other participating countries also have formed a “Quartet Security Dialogue” with the United States, Japan and Australia.
The Wall Street Journal pointed out that the China-Russia cooperation plan and the consensus of the two sides as claimed by the CCP’s military should be the “friendship between the two countries has no end and cooperation is not restricted” as stated in the joint statement issued by the Chinese and Russian heads of state in February this year. The time is from August 30th to September 5th. The location is the Russian Far East. It is also the second time that China and Russia have jointly demonstrated force in this region this year. The two countries had previously visited Japan during the visit of US President Biden in May this year. Joint air strategic cruises are carried out over the sea, the East China Sea and the Western Pacific Ocean.
Russia’s Defense Ministry said last month that troops from the Eastern Military District in the Far East would train with military delegations from other countries, but did not confirm which countries were participating. Russia holds similar large-scale military exercises every year and takes turns in different regions; the “Oriental-2018” in 2018 was so grand in scale that it was claimed to be the first since the former Soviet Union, with 300,000 troops, 1,000 scheduled aircraft and helicopters, 80 ships, and 36,000 tanks, armored vehicles and other vehicles participated; the Chinese side also participated at the time.
The Wall Street Journal also said that military tensions between the United States and China and Russia have been exacerbated by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and China’s recent live-fire military exercises around Taiwan; Common interests such as hegemony are getting closer.
It is rumored that the United States will further military aid Ukraine with 800 million US dollars as soon as possible to announce on the 19th
The U.S. Biden administration is ready to provide Ukraine with about $800 million in additional military aid, three people familiar with the matter told Reuters on Tuesday, which could be announced as soon as tomorrow.
The report said that Biden will use the “presidential drawdown authority” (presidential drawdown authority) to aid Ukraine. Under the authorization, Biden can divert goods and services from U.S. arms stockpiles in an emergency without congressional approval.
The source, who requested anonymity, said the announcement of the aid could be next week, adding that the total value of the aid could change before it is announced.
U.S. security assistance to the Ukrainian government has so far accumulated billions of dollars.
Russia’s “Army 2022” Military Games in full swing
The much-watched Russian “Army 2022 (army2022)” military equipment exhibition and chariot competition kicked off on August 16 in the smoke of the Russian-Ukrainian war. During the competition, chariots from many countries were involved in car accidents. The Chinese chariot was greatly overtaken by the Russian chariot, and the missiles launched by the Russian chariot all missed the target.
There are 61 teams from 21 countries including Belarus, Venezuela, Iran, China, Mongolia, Vietnam, Sudan, etc. participating in this chariot competition. Except for the self-made ZTZ-96B chariot sent by the CCP, all other countries use the Russian-made T-72. Series of tanks.
However, the CCP’s ZTZ-96B chariot was eventually ridiculed by netizens as “China’s fastest chariot”. It can be seen from the competition film that at high speed, the ZTZ-96B chariot traveled at a speed of about 50 km/h, while the Russian T-72B3 chariot, which came after, surpassed the ZTZ-96B at a speed of about 77 km/h.
Although Russia took the best result in the individual tank competition, it also made a fool of it in the weapons demonstration. It can be seen from the video that the two 9M133 Kornet-M anti-tank missiles launched by the Boomerang armored personnel carrier (Boomerang) failed to hit the target of the combat vehicle when simulating an attack on the enemy combat vehicle.
In addition, the chariot teams of other countries are also in frequent situations. The Sudanese tank team hit the guardrail in the project of crossing the trench, and the entire track side skirt fell off. The Iranian tank group crashed into the water pipe next to the track, and the Zimbabwe tank group lost its way.
Ukrainian drone accurately throws 40 grenades to detonate Russian chariot ammunition
Since the start of the war between Russia and Ukraine, Ukrainian drones have repeatedly made extraordinary achievements, making the Russian army pay a heavy price. A video recently circulated on Twitter showed that the Ukrainian drone threw 40 grenades (M430A1) at the Russian T-72B3 chariot, detonating the ammunition of the whole vehicle, and the chariot burst into flames.
The video was released by the Ukrainian Weapons Tracking Station. In the video, the hit Russian T-72B3 tank can be seen. The ammunition in the vehicle detonated, and the roof hatch of the entire vehicle burst into a strong flame.
The tweet also stated that the Ukrainian drone dropped 40 grenades into the T-72B3 tank.
Netizens commented, “The Russian army is once again moving towards ‘demilitarization'”, “This is the same precise throw as NBA star Corey”, “A good three-pointer”.