Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused Ukrainian special services of carrying out the murder of the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue, the Interfax news agency is reporting. Ukraine has denied involvement in the car-bomb killing of Darya Dugina, whose father is the Russian political commentator Alexander Dugin, on the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday night.
Vladimir Putin has sent his condolences to the family of Dugina, describing her as a “patriot of Russia”. In a statement published on the Kremlin website, the Russian leader described the killing as a “despicable, cruel crime”.
Kremlin-linked news websites have claimed that the Ukrainian citizen accused of carrying out the killing of Dugina was a member of the Azov battalion. Kremlin-linked media shared images of what they claimed was the suspect’s ID card identifying her as a member of the Azov regiment. Ukraine’s national guard denied that the woman had served in the Ukrainian military as a member of the Azov regiment.
A senior Ukrainian official repeated a denial of Kyiv’s involvement in the car bombing on Monday, arguing that the victim and her father were not strategically significant figures. “What reason is there for us to do this?” said one, speaking on condition of anonymity. The official said they believed that Dugin was the target, not the daughter, but said he was not an important Russian political figure or a decision maker in the Ukraine war. “Not many people here have heard of him, and nobody had heard of his daughter,” they added.
A spokesperson for the Estonian police and border guard said they would not comment on the movements of private individuals, following allegations by Russia that the Ukrainian suspect fled to Estonia after Dugina’s murder. The Russian state-owned news agency Tass reported that Moscow was seeking the suspect’s extradition from Estonia. The spokesperson for Estonia’s police and border guard service said they had not received any request for information from the Russian authorities.
Authorities in Kyiv have banned large public events and gatherings before Ukraine’s 31st anniversary of independence from Russian-dominated Soviet rule on Wednesday, Reuters reports. People in the capital will not be able to meet up in big groups from Monday until Thursday owing to the possibility of rocket attacks, according to a document published by the Kyiv military administration and signed by its head, Mykola Zhyrnov. It comes after the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, warned of the risk of more severe attacks before the celebration.
Russia’s war with Ukraine is not going the way that Putin hoped, the former head of the British army has said. Gen Richard Dannatt told UK TV that Russian forces had had to “recalibrate” what they were doing as they had been unable to obtain a swift victory over the Ukrainian military. Lord Dannatt said: “I think the war has panned out completely differently to what Vladimir Putin imagined. This is probably his worst scenario, his nightmare scenario.”
Russian shelling in the Donetsk oblast in eastern Ukraine has killed two people, according to the region’s governor. Pavlo Kyrylenko said they were killed in the settlements of Georgievka and Kostiantynivka, according to a post on Twitter.
Russia is finding it difficult to motivate and add “auxiliary forces” to its regular troops in the Donbas, the latest British intelligence update said. On 15 August, Ukrainian social media channels circulated a video that allegedly showed elements from a military unit of the self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic refusing to be part of an offensive operation, the Ministry of Defence said. The fighters claimed they had already fulfilled their duty by gaining control over the Luhansk oblast and did not want to fight in the neighbouring Donetsk region – despite threats from commanders, the update said.
Artillery shells rained down overnight on the Ukrainian city of Nikopol, close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. Nikopol was shelled on five different occasions, the regional governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, wrote on Telegram. He said 25 artillery shells hit the city, causing a fire at an industrial premises and cutting power to 3,000 people.
Russian missiles hit targets near Odesa, Ukrainian officials said. Five Russian Kalibr cruise missiles were fired from the Black Sea at the region overnight, the regional administration spokesperson said, citing information from the southern military command. Two were shot down by Ukrainian air defences and three hit agricultural targets, but there were no casualties. Russia said on Sunday that the missiles had destroyed an ammunition depot containing missiles for US-made Himars rockets, while Kyiv said a granary had been hit.
