Ukraine rocks Putin as six ammo dumps blown up - 79 dead ahead of 'new phase'
UKRAINIAN armed forces have blown up six Russian ammo dumps killing 79 and destroying equipment, according to the nation's military.
Ukraine: Man recalls firing grenades at Russian forces
Ukraine's troops destroyed six warehouses in the Kherson region on Friday along with two Russian checkpoints hit in the village of Chornobayivka, Kyiv's Operational Command South reports. Moscow is focusing its efforts on preventing the Ukrainian army's advance in southern Ukraine.
It comes as Kyiv plots a counter-offensive in the region.
Britain's Ministry of Defence said in its latest intelligence briefing Russia's war on Ukraine is about to enter a "new phase" with the heaviest fighting shifting to a 217-mile (350km) front line stretching southwest from Zaporizhzhya to Kherson, following the course of the Dnieper River.
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'Very real risk' Nuclear disaster warning after shelling rocks power plant in Ukraine
Shelling at a Russia-occupied power plant in Ukraine has prompted warnings of "nuclear disaster".
The nuclear power plant, located on the Dnipro River in southern Ukraine, was taken over by Russian forces in March.
It is the largest of its kind in Europe, with six reactors.
The plant was targeted by shelling on Friday. Russia and Ukraine accused each other of carrying out the attack.
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has said in a statement: "I'm extremely concerned by the shelling yesterday at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond."
Ukraine: Nuclear warning as Putin strikes at plant 'endanger entire civilised world'
Ukraine has issued an urgent nuclear warning as Zaporizhzhia nuclear powerplant was bombed for the second time today.
Ukraine's state nuclear power company, Energoatom, warned the strikes had hit "directly on the site" of the Zaporizhzhia plant nearby to the reactor.
The Kyiv Independent reported there was a high risk of a radioactive leak at the plant.
It said: "There is a high risk of fire, as well as hydrogen and radioactive leakage, according to the operator.
"On Aug. 5, the plant shut down one of the three operating power units as Russia continues to 'terrorize and endanger the entire civilized world,' the statement [from Enerogoatom] reads."
The news comes following reports of a strike at the facility earlier today which severed a high voltage cable.
First foreign-flagged ship arrives in Ukraine since start of war
A foreign-flagged ship has arrived in Ukraine for the first time since the war started in February.
Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said the vessel will be loaded with grain.
Ukraine is starting to resume grain exports in an effort overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN personnel are working.
Mr Kubrakov said the Barbados-flagged general cargo ship Fulmar S was in the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk.
He wrote on Facebook: "We are doing [everything] possible to ensure that our ports can receive and handle more vessels. In particular, we plan to reach the level of at least three to five vessels per day in two weeks' [time]."
Putin scrambling for Iran weapon support as US unleashes £828m bombshell
UKRAINE will receive a further $1billon (£828m) injection from the US as Kyiv fends off new drones supplied to Russia by Iran.
The US, which has already funnelled just shy of $7.5bn of military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began in February, is preparing one of its largest donations so far, a US official told Reuters. The package is thought to include armoured medical vehicles and munitions for long-range weapons.
The US recently increased the number of HIMARS, or high mobility artillery rocket systems, it was supplying to the Ukrainian resistance forces.
It is believed the package will be formally announced on Monday, although US President Joe Biden is yet to officially sign off on the amount and contents.
This comes as the Institute for the Study of War reports that Russia has already deployed 46 drones given to Moscow by Iran in the conflict.
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan warned last month that Tehran intended to supply the drones to the Kremlin, in numbers reaching into the hundreds.
During Vladimir Putin's visit to Iran last month, he was warmly received by the country's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei.
UN's nuclear watchdog chief condemns shelling at Zaporizhzhia plant
The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has raised grave concerns about the shelling on Friday at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, saying the action showed the risk of a nuclear disaster.
Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement: "I'm extremely concerned by the shelling yesterday at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which underlines the very real risk of a nuclear disaster that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond."
Mr Grossi, who leads the United Nation's nuclear watchdog, urged all sides in the Ukraine conflict to exercise the "utmost restraint" around the plant.
Shells hit a high-voltage power line on Friday at the plant, prompting its operators to disconnect a reactor despite no radioactive leak being detected. The plant was captured by Russian forces in early March in the opening stage of the war but it is still run by its Ukrainian technicians.
Ukraine's state nuclear power company Energoatom blamed Russia for the damage at the power station. Russia's defence ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant, saying a leak of radiation had been avoided only by luck.
Mr Grossi said military action jeopardising the safety and security of the Zaporizhzhia plant "is completely unacceptable and must be avoided at all costs".
He continued: "Any military firepower directed at or from the facility would amount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences."
Kyiv says it caught two spies who helped destroy infrastructure in Mykolaiv
Ukraine's State Security Service (SBU) said today it has detained two men accused of being Russian spies responsible for identifying targets for Russian missile strikes which wrecked shipbulding infrastructure in the southern port city of Mykolaiv.
The two men "collected and transmitted intelligence to the enemy about important infrastructure facilities, fuel depots, the deployment and movement of personnel and equipment of [Ukraine's] Armed Forces," the SBU said in a post on messaging app Telegram.
As a result, the SBU said several shipbuilding enterprises and fuel depots were damaged or destroyed. The agency said both men were now being held in custody. It did not say when the infrastructure was hit.
Footage emerges of enormous billowing smoke as Ukraine forces 'bomb' Russian occupied area
FOOTAGE has emerged showing clouds of smoke reportedly billowing from a Russian held area of Ukraine.
Claims have been made on social media that the fire struck Skadovsk, a port city on the Black Sea in Ukraine's Kherson region.
A Twitter user shared images which appeared to show smoke and helicopters in the air nearby.
MilitaryLand.net, a blog focused on the war, tweeted from its account: "Locals report several explosions in the vicinity of occupied Skadovsk, Kherson Oblast."
Mykolaiv under curfew to root out Russian 'collaborators'
Ukrainian authorities are imposing a curfew on the southern Black Sea city of Mykolaiv, according to the region's governor.
Vitaly Kim explained that the authorities hoped the curfew would help them track down "collaborators", or people they believe are aiding Russian forces.
He said: "Only last week they (law enforcement officers) arrested four people. And there are more at work. This is one of the reasons why a curfew will be imposed."
Russia using humanitarian aid as 'guise' to push referendum in Luhansk - Ukrainian military governor
Russian-backed forces in the Luhansk region of the Donbas are collecting personal data under the "guise" of humanitarian aid to mount a referendum campaign, the Ukrainian military governor of the region has claimed.
Sergei Gaidai wrote on his Telegram channel: "Under the guise of providing food or construction materials, the occupying power and the collaborating public movement organise meetings with the population of the recently captured territories of the region."
He claimed Russian forces were working to "lure out personal data, urge people to go to the so-called referendum" while "forcing people to exchange their will for food or drinking water", reports the Guardian.
Putin new charm offensive laid bare as Russia courts Turkey in 'secretive' meeting
Putin attempted to tighten bonds with Turkey as he welcomed the country's leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, to the southern Russian resort of Sochi.
Putin heaped praise on Ankara, lauding the country's efforts in resolving the grain export crisis in Ukraine, adding he was hoping to strengthen political and economic ties with Turkey.
Paranoid Putin arrests third hypersonic missile scientist on high treason charges
The Russian FSB security service has detained a third hypersonic missile scientist on suspicion of high treason in Russia's Siberia region, according to state media.
Dr Alexander Shiplyuk headed up the Institute of Theoretical and Applied Mechanics of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Siberian Branch.
It is believed he was transferred to a Moscow detention centre, just weeks after two other hypersonic scientists were arrested by the FSB on the "same charges".
Zaporizhzhia nuclear risk 'serious' after shelling hits power lines
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant poses a "serious risk" to safety and radiation standards, according to Ukraine's state nuclear company.
The Kyiv Independent reported that Energoatom said Russian shelling had damaged a nitrogeon-oxygen unit and "the combined auxiliary building".
The nuclear facility, which is Europe's largest nuclear power plant, is under Russian control, but is still operated by Ukrainian staff.
The UN's nuclear watchdog said earlier this week that the facility was "out of control" and "pleaded" with both sides to allow independent inspections.
Just one fifth of Donetsk's residents remain - regional govenor
Just 350,000 remain in the Donetsk Oblast, according to the region's governor.
Pavlo Kyrylenko said the majority of the 1.7 million people who lived in the Oblast before the war have been forced to relocate.
But some of the region's residents have defied the mandatory evacuation order, put in place at the end of last month, reports the Kyiv Independent.
The Donetsk Oblast, part of Ukraine's eastern Donbas region, has seen some of the war's heaviest fighting
At least 361 killed in Ukraine since war began - 702 injured
At least 361 children have been killed since Russia's invasion of Ukraine began in Febrary, according to the Ukrainian Prosecutor General.
A further 702 children have been injured under new estimates.
The Kyiv Independent reported on Saturday that the Prosecutor General's office expected the number to be higher as the figure did not factor in deaths within Russian-occupied territories.
Putin uses 46 Iranian drones in Ukraine
Russia has deployed dozens of drones donated by Iran in Ukraine, the Institute for the Study of War revealed on Saturday.
Last month, the US warned Tehran planned to furnish Moscow with new drones after Putin travelled to the Iranian capital last month.
New: #Ukrainian officials confirmed on August 5 that #Iran handed 46 drones over to #Russia and that the Ukrainian government has already seen the use of these drones in combat in Ukraine.
\u2014 ISW (@TheStudyofWar) August 6, 2022
Read our latest report w/ @criticalthreats:https://t.co/u68Yqn5HYy pic.twitter.com/wrIweCPDUn
Ukraine leaves Amnesty International after report angers Kyiv
The head of Ukraine's Amnesty International division has left the organisation after Kyiv was criticised for basing troops in residential areas.
An Amnesty International report said the body had "documented a pattern of Ukrainian forces putting civilians at risk and violating the laws of war when they operate in populated areas".
Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky, hit back at the claims, saying the human rights watchdog was "trying to shift the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim" in the Russian invasion.
Oksana Pokalchuk, who heads up the Amnesty office in Ukraine, said she had decided to leave the organisation after "disagreeing" with the report.
She wrote on Facebook: "As a result of this, unwittingly, the organization created material that sounded like support for Russian narratives. In an effort to protect civilians, this study became a tool of Russian propaganda."
She added: "It pains me to admit it, but we disagreed with the leadership of Amnesty International on values. That's why I decided to leave the organization."
MoD issues chilling Ukraine war warning as Putin's bloodbath conflict to 'enter new phase'
The UK Ministry of Defence has warned that Vladimir Putin's war in Ukraine is about to "enter a new phase" as he redirects his efforts towards Kherson.
Ukrainian forces have made a concerted push to retake the southern Kherson Oblast, which fell to Russia early in the invasion.
It described a re-deployment of troops, weapons and vehicles from the eastern Donbas region, the occupied Mariupol, Crimea and mainland Russia towards Kherson.
The MoD tweeted: "Russia’s war on Ukraine is about to enter a new phase, with the heaviest fighting shifting to a roughly 350km front line stretching southwest from near Zaporizhzhia to Kherson, paralleling the Dnieper River."
Shelling hits high-voltage line at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
A high-voltage power line at Europe's biggest nuclear power plant has been hit by shelling, as Ukraine and Russia accuse one another of being responsible.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called the shelling of the Zaporizhzhia facility an "act of terror" and an "open, brazen crime".
He added: "It is a purely a security issue. Those who create nuclear threats to other nations are certainly not capable of using nuclear technologies safely."
The Ukrainian foreign ministry then ominously warned that the "possible consequences of hitting an operating reactor are equivalent to the use of an atomic bomb".
But Moscow laid the blame at Kyiv's door, saying: "Fortunately, the Ukrainian shells did not hit the oil and fuel facility and the oxygen plant nearby, thus avoiding a larger fire and a possible radiation accident."
The nuclear power plant was captured by Russia early in the invasion, but is still operated by Ukrainian technicians and staff.
But the situation was described as "out of control" at the facility by the UN's nuclear watchdog earlier this week, as the body pushed for an inspection visit.
Russia gearing up in east Ukraine as Putin looks to strengthen southern hold
Russian troops are preparing to mount an offensive against Ukrainian forces in eastern Ukraine as they bolster their southern defences, according to Ukraine's military.
Ukraine's General Staff of Armed Forces said on Saturday that Russian pushes westward from the Donbas concentrated on the Bakhmut and Avdiivka regions.