Summary
It’s 9pm right now in Ukraine.
In an exclusive with the Guardian, Mykhailo Podolyak, a key adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said there could be more attacks in the “next two or three months” similar to today’s mysterious strikes on a railway junction and airbase in Crimea. Though Ukraine has not claimed responsibility for the attacks – and Russia said a fire on Tuesday had set off explosions at the ammunitions depot in the Dzhankoi district – Podolyak called the Dzhankoi incident a “reminder” that “Crimea occupied by Russians is about warehouse explosions and high risk of death for invaders and thieves”.
A record number of cars have crossed the Crimea bridge that links Crimea to Russia – which suggests that a number of Russian tourists and Russians who settled into the region after the annexation in 2014 are now fleeing. Russian state media is reporting that 38,297 cars crossed the Crimea bridge on 15 August.
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, in Lviv on Thursday. Guterres will go on to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday.
Finland has decided to limit the number of visas issued to Russians by 90% starting 1 September.
Russian shelling has killed one person and injured 10 in Nikopol in Dnipropetrovska oblast and Orikhiv in Zaporizhzhia oblast.
That’s all from us today. Thank you for following along. We’ll be back tomorrow with the latest news from Ukraine.
Updated
UN secretary-general to meet with Zelenskiy, Erdogan in Lviv
António Guterres, the secretary general of the United Nations, will meet with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, president of Turkey, in Lviv on Thursday.
Guterres will go on to visit the Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv, #Ukraine on Thursday and visit Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday, a U.N. spokesman said. SG will then visit the grain deal JCC in Istanbul.
— Michelle Nichols (@michellenichols) August 16, 2022
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