Russia has accused Ukraine’s intelligence services of carrying out the murder of Darya Dugina, the daughter of an ultra-nationalist Russian ideologue. Russia’s FSB security service published information and a video it said showed a Ukrainian woman from the country’s Azov regiment was responsible for the murder. The Guardian reports the claim lacks credibility.
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling” on Monday, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle for Mariupol have accused Russian forces of torture during their captivity. The soldiers, who were from the Azov regiment and released as part of a prisoner exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers that were beaten until their bones were broken. “Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “They undressed us, forced to squat while we are naked. If any of the boys raised their heads, they began to beat them immediately,” added Denys Chepurko.
The sole bridge across the strategic Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was reportedly hit by US-supplied high-precision Himars rockets injuring 15 people, a source told Russia’s Interfax news agency. The bridge is a key crossing for Russian military transport in the region.
Three villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region were battered by Russian artillery and multiple rocket launchers on Monday. Soledar, Zaytseve and Bilohorivka near the city of Bakhmut were struck, killing at least two civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.
Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war with Russia, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Monday. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Monday 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded between 24 February and 21 August, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
The US has rejected Ukraine’s call for a blanket ban on visas for Russians, saying Washington would not want to close off pathways to refuge for Russia’s dissidents and others who are vulnerable to human rights abuses. The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, also said he opposes a complete ban on visas for Russians.
The German chancellor says he is working fast to find alternatives to Russian gas. Olaf Scholz said he aims to extricate Germany from its dependence on Russian gas and pursue new energy supplies. Scholz met Canada’s prime minster, Justin Trudeau, in Montreal on Monday. The two leaders are set to sign a deal for Canada to supply clean hydrogen to Germany.
Ukraine has restored a rail link to neighbouring Moldova which could carry 10m tonnes of freight a year, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The 22km (12 mile) line runs from western Ukraine to Moldova. Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksander Kubrakov, said the link would provide an alternative route from the Black Sea port of Odesa.
Ukraine’s agricultural exports are likely to rise to about 4m tonnes in August, from 3m tonnes in July, a deputy chair of the Ukrainian agrarian council said. The uptick is due to a UN-brokered deal that unblocked Ukrainian seaports.
Europe faces fresh disruption to energy supplies due to damage to a pipeline system bringing oil from Kazakhstan through Russia that was reported by the pipeline operator on Monday. Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said exports from two of its three mooring points at a Black Sea terminal had been suspended.
A senior Russian diplomat has ruled out a diplomatic solution to ending the war in Ukraine. Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times that there would be no direct talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, adding that Moscow expects a prolonged conflict.
