Explosions were heard on the night of Friday, August 19 to Saturday, August 20, 2022 at around 3 a.m. in the city of Mykolayiv. Air alerts sounded across the region, reports Independent Kyiv. Russian forces also carried out several attacks in Kherson.
The information that Ukrainian forces again attacked the bridge near the Nova Kakhovka hydroelectric power station on the night of August 18-19 is confirmed.
Putin accepts international mission to Zaporizhia
Vladimir Putin has agreed that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will send a mission to Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, and says he fears the bombings will ultimately “Big catastrophe”.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was visiting Ukraine, called on Russia not to cut off the power plant, which its army has been occupying since early March and which has been the target of strikes in recent weeks, including accusations from Moscow and Kyiv mutually .
Also read: War in Ukraine. Telephone conversation between Macron and Putin, inspection in Zaporijjia… The point on the 177th day
Earlier in the day, Ukrainian power plant operator Energoatom said it feared such a scenario, saying the Russian military was searching for supplies for diesel generators that would be activated after the reactors were shut down and had restricted personnel access to the facilities.
New US weapons for Ukrainian armed forces
The United States announced this Friday, August 19, 2022, a new $775 million tranche of military aid to Ukraine, designed to help Kyiv launch a counteroffensive in the south at a time when Russian forces appear to be weakened.
“These capabilities are carefully calibrated to make the greatest possible difference on the battlefield and strengthen Ukraine’s position at the negotiating table.”underscored the head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, officially announcing these new arms shipments.
While the United States has so far made sure that they only supply arms” defensive ” the Pentagon official suggested that the goal now is to help the Ukrainian armed forces in the counteroffensive they are preparing to recapture in particular the strategic city of Kherson in the south of the country.
The senior Pentagon official acknowledged that the Ukrainian counteroffensive has so far failed to retake territory, but assured that the recent damage inflicted on Russian ammunition depots weakened Moscow’s position in the longer term. “We haven’t seen any reclaiming of territory” by Ukrainian forces, she acknowledged. “But we see a significant weakening of Russian positions in several places.”
Macron calls on the French to agree to ‘pay the price of freedom’
From Bormes-les-Mimosas, Emmanuel Macron urges the French to accept “pay the price of freedom”. “Since Vladimir Putin’s brutal attack on February 24, war has returned to European soil in front of our borders within a few hours,” he emphasized after talking to the Kremlin master during the day.
The two leaders spoke out in favor of the posting ” as soon as possible ” a mission of international experts to Ukraine’s Zaporijia nuclear power plant, under Russian control and the target of repeated bombings raising fears of a new Chernobyl.
The President had already prepared the French for a difficult return to school and winter during his July 14 interview due to the risks of energy shortages and rising prices caused by the war in Ukraine. He then accused Russia of using the gas as a “weapon of war” by limiting its supplies in response to the severe European sanctions imposed on it, which have been called upon to “return to a logic of energy sobriety together”.
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