What has happened in the last few hours
On the 177th day of the Russian-initiated war against Ukraine, these are the key data at 8:00 p.m. this Friday, August 19:
Putin reaffirms his commitment to facilitating an IAEA visit to the Zaporizhia facility. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered the deployment of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) experts to Zaporizhia, Ukraine’s nuclear power plant under Russian control, the French Republic’s presidency said in a statement. Putin reaffirmed the commitment this Friday during a phone call with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, the first the two have had since May 28.
The UN urges Russia not to disconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian grid. UN Secretary-General António Guterres has urged Russia not to disconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from Ukraine’s power grid, which would lead to blackouts in parts of Ukrainian territory. “Of course, electricity from Zaporizhia is Ukrainian electricity and it is necessary for citizens, especially in winter. This principle must be fully respected,” Guterres said during a visit to the port of Odessa. The operator of the Ukrainian plants, Energoatom, fears that Moscow, which has controlled the plant since March, will take the plant offline.
Gazprom again closes Nord Stream gas pipeline connecting Russia with Germany for ‘maintenance’. The Russian gas company Gazprom, the energy arm of the Kremlin, announced this Friday that it would shut down the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline again, which supplies Russian gas to Germany through the Baltic Sea. According to the company, maintenance is required on the only working compressor in the system, which will be closed from August 31 to September 2. Gazprom says that once the process is complete, gas flow will resume at a rate of 33 million cubic meters per day, about a fifth of its capacity.
The US announces a new $770 million military aid package for Ukraine. The US government this Friday announced a new $770 million (€765 million) military aid package for Ukraine. Military sources told Portal that the new aid will include surveillance drones, anti-mine vehicles and more howitzer launchers, as well as more ammunition for both howitzers and HIMARS multiple rocket launcher systems.
Ukraine said the death toll in attacks on Kharkov early Thursday rose to 21. The spokesman of the Kharkov regional prosecutor’s office Dimitro Chubenko has updated the number of victims of the attacks that shook Kharkiv (in eastern Ukraine). in the early hours of Thursday morning. In the first few hours, local authorities reported 11 dead and 37 injured. Now the public prosecutor’s office increases these numbers to 21 dead and 40 injured as a result of the bomb attack.
According to one estimate, Russia may have lost half of its naval aviation in Crimea. The explosions on April 9 at Russia’s Saky airbase in the Crimea peninsula may have “out of order” more than half of the Russian Navy’s fighter jet fleet in the Black Sea, according to Portal’ estimate this Friday, citing a senior official from A western country. Russia has denied that the blasts (which it attributes to an “accident”) caused damage to its air forces. Commercial satellite imagery shows multiple craters on the airfield’s runways and at least eight charred fighter jets.
In the photo by Anatolii Stepanov for AFP, a Ukrainian tanker on the Donetsk front.