- Ukraine says 11 dead in the central Dnipropetrovsk region
- Britain says new Russian ground force almost certain
- Explosions at Russian army base in Crimea
- Fears of bombings near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
- Ukraine says victims of mass burials were shot and tortured
Aug 10 (Reuters) – Russian airstrikes overnight killed 11 people in Ukraine’s central Dnipropetrovsk region, Governor Valentyn Reznychenko said on Wednesday, as Britain said Russia had “almost certainly established ” a major new ground force to support his war.
The new Russian force, called the 3rd Army Corps, is based in the town of Mulino, east of the Russian capital Moscow, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in a daily intelligence bulletin.
The ministry also said Russian commanders face “competing operational priorities” of bolstering their offensive in the eastern Donbas region as well as strengthening defenses against Ukrainian counterattacks in the south.
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After failing to capture the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv earlier in the war, Russian forces have focused on the east and south, where pro-Moscow separatists have controlled territory since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.
A senior Ukrainian official suggested that a series of explosions at a Russian airbase in Crimea on Tuesday may have been the work of partisan saboteurs, as Ukraine denied responsibility for the incident deep in Russian-held territory.
Large plumes of smoke could be seen in videos posted on social media from Crimea, a holiday destination for many Russians. Russia used Crimea as one of the launching pads for its February 24 invasion.
Russia said the explosions, at least 12 according to witnesses, were the detonation of stored ammunition, not the result of an attack.
Zelenskiy did not directly mention the explosions in his daily video address on Tuesday, but said it was right that people were focusing on Crimea.
“We will never give it up … the Black Sea region cannot be secure while Crimea is occupied,” he said, repeating his government’s position that Crimea should be returned to Ukraine.
HIGH RISK
The Ukrainian General Staff reported widespread Russian shelling in several regions on Wednesday.
The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company has warned of a “very high” risk of bombing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south, saying it is vital that Kyiv regains control of the facility. lation in time for winter.
Bombings by Russian forces last week had damaged three lines connecting the plant to the Ukrainian grid, he said. Russia wanted to connect the facility to its grid, Kotin said.
An interior view shows a school building damaged by a Russian military strike, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in a location given as the town of Marhanets, in Dnipropetrovsk region, Ukraine, on August 10, 2022. Press Service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
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“The risk is very high” of bombing containers that store radioactive material, he said.
Both Ukraine and Russia have said they want technicians from the UN nuclear body, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), to visit Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
Russia has asked the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, to inform the UN Security Council this Thursday about Russia’s accusation of attacks by “Ukrainian armed forces on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and its possible catastrophic consequences,” diplomats said.
Ukraine has denied the Russian claim that its forces attacked the plant.
MASS BURIALS
In the northern town of Bucha, 15 bodies were buried on Tuesday after they were found four months after Russian forces withdrew from the area.
“All the people who were shot and exhumed from a mass grave have marks of torture,” Bucha Deputy Mayor Mykhailyna Skoryk told reporters.
Ukraine and its allies accuse Russian forces of committing atrocities in Bucha, a satellite city of the capital Kyiv, after they began their invasion on February 24.
Russia denied the accusation and denies targeting civilians in what it calls its “special military operation” in its southern neighbor. Read more
Ukraine and its allies say Russia is responsible for an unprovoked imperial-style war of aggression that has sparked Europe’s biggest conflict since World War II.
Backed by weapons from its Western allies, Ukraine is betting on sophisticated rocket and artillery systems to degrade Russian supply lines and logistics.
The US State Department has approved $89 million in aid to help Ukraine equip and train 100 teams to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance for a year.
Ukraine’s president has called on the West to impose a blanket travel ban on Russians, an idea that has found support among some EU member states but has angered Russia, which dismissed it as irrational. Read more
President Joe Biden on Tuesday signed documents supporting the United States joining Finland and Sweden in NATO, the largest expansion of the military alliance since the 1990s and prompted by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine Read more
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Reuters bureau reports; Written by Michael Perry; Editing by Robert Birsel
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.