Summary
The time in Kyiv is just coming up to 9pm. Here is a round-up of today’s headlines:
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Thursday told government officials to stop talking to reporters about Kyiv’s military tactics against Russia, saying such remarks were “frankly irresponsible”. In the wake of major blasts that wrecked a Russian air base in Crimea on Tuesday, the New York Times and Washington Post newspapers cited unidentified officials as saying Ukrainian forces were responsible. The government in Kyiv, on the other hand, declined to say whether it had been behind the explosions.
Ukraine’s security agencies issued a joint statement on Friday calling for the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross to send representatives to locations where Russia is holding Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs). The request follows earlier allegations by Kyiv that Moscow’s forces have tortured and executed prisoners, including by staging an explosion in a Ukrainian POW camp in Olenivka.
The UK Ministry of Defence has said the explosions at the Russian-operated Saky military airfield in western Crimea earlier in the week were “almost certainly” from the detonation of up to four uncovered munition storage areas, though the original cause of the blasts remains unclear. At least five Su-24 fencer fighter-bombers and three Su-30 flanker H multi-role jets were almost certainly destroyed or seriously damaged in the blasts, according to British intelligence.
The devastation at the Russian air base in Crimea suggests Kyiv may have obtained new long-range strike capability with potential to change the course of the war. The base is well beyond the range of advanced rockets that western countries acknowledge sending to Ukraine so far, with some western military experts saying the scale of the damage and the apparent precision of the strike suggested a powerful new capability with potentially important implications.
The UN has urged a demilitarised zone around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as Russia and Ukraine trade accusations over more shelling of the plant on Thursday. Ukraine’s nuclear energy company said it had been shelled five times by Russian forces on Thursday, resulting in staff being unable to change shifts.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted that he has spoken with Pope Francis today. “Informed about the aggression that the Russian Federation is carrying out against Ukraine, about the terrible crimes of Russia,” he president wrote on Twitter.
Russian ex-president Dmitry Medvedev issued a veiled threat on Friday to Ukraine’s western allies who have accused Russia of creating the risk of a nuclear catastrophe by stationing forces around the Ukrainian Zaporizhzhia power station. Ukraine has accused Russia of firing at Ukrainian towns from the site in the knowledge that Ukrainian forces could not risk returning fire, Reuters reported. It says Moscow has shelled the area itself while blaming Ukraine.
Ukraine’s defence minister Oleksii Reznikov has said that a shipment of M20 MLRS tanks have arrived in Ukraine. In a tweet, he thanked the UK’s defence minister Ben Wallace and British people for the donation, which had been pledged earlier. “Your support is amazing and so important for Ukraine,” he said.
Jose Andres, whose World Central Kitchen group has served more than 130m meals in Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February, called for better coordination of food relief efforts in the country ahead of what promises to be a brutal winter. Donations were easing as the war drags on, he warned, which meant that WCK, which provides short-term emergency relief, must start winding down operations just as cold weather is likely to exacerbate problems facing millions of displaced Ukrainians.
India said on Friday there was no pressure on it from western countries or anywhere else over its energy purchases from Russia, as Indian firms step up imports of oil and coal from the country shunned by some governments for its invasion of Ukraine. India, the world’s third-biggest crude importer, overtook China to become the biggest buyer of Russian oil in July based on sea-borne volumes, having bought very little from the country before the start of the war in Ukraine in February.
That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, and indeed the Ukraine live blog for today. Thanks for following along. Goodbye for now.
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy tweeted that he has spoken with Pope Francis today.
“Informed about the aggression that the Russian Federation is carrying out against Ukraine, about the terrible crimes of Russia,” he president wrote on Twitter.
“We are grateful to the pontiff for his prayers for Ukraine. Our people need the support of the world’s spiritual leaders, who must convey to the world the truth about the horrors that the aggressor is committing in Ukraine,” he added.
Провів розмову з @Pontifex_it. Поінформував про агресію, яку РФ здійснює проти 🇺🇦, про страшні злочини Росії. Ми вдячні понтифіку за молитви за 🇺🇦. Наш народ потребує підтримки світових духовних лідерів, які мають доносити до світу правду про жахіття, які агресор коїть в 🇺🇦.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 12, 2022
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