Volodymyr Zelenskyy is in Canada, where he will be guaranteed a warmer reception than he received during yesterday’s Washington visit. The Ukrainian president assured US politicians Kyiv is “winning” – but some sections of Congress are battling against more funding for the war effort.
Pic: https://www.aljazeera.com/
The three major powers have all built new facilities and dug new tunnels at their nuclear test sites, according to CNN.
Satellite images obtained by the broadcaster appear to show expansions at the nuclear sites in recent years.
No evidence suggests any are preparing for imminent nuclear tests.
The sites are in China’s western region of Xinjiang, Russia’s Arctic Ocean archipelago, and America’s Nevada desert.
The images show new tunnels, roads and storage facilities, as well as increased vehicle traffic in and out of the sites.
Jeffrey Lewis, an adjunct professor at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies, there are really a lot of hints that we’re seeing that suggest Russia, China and the United States might resume nuclear testing.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced he plans to replace the current defence minister with Rustem Umerov; two people are injured after Russia launched a drone attack on the Odesa region; Russia’s former president Dmitry Medvedev says efforts are under way to beef up army.
Sacked defence minister could be next UK ambassador
With rumours circulating that Oleksii Reznikov could be tipped as the next ambassador to the UK, his association with the war effort may not be over, said international correspondent John Sparks.
But the end of his career in the defence ministry has not been a “complete surprise” to people in Ukraine, given his department’s association with corruption allegations, he said.
Though he has not been implicated personally, accusations of the ministry have included weapon systems not turning up at the department, and overpayments for eggs and winter coats.
“There is talk in Kyiv that perhaps he might become the next ambassador to the UK,” said Sparks.
“This well known face will still be associated with the war effort but his career as minister of defence is now over.”
Nonetheless, Mr Reznikov has received plaudits for negotiating billions of dollars worth of Western equipment and overseeing the transition of the army from a “post-Soviet” organisation to something “far more dynamic and non-hierarchical”, Sparks said.
EXPLOSIONS rocked Moscow this morning after Russia attempted to stop a suspected kamikaze Ukrainian drone attack that almost hit a top Putin pundit.
The aerial assault strike wreaked havoc in the capital as flight travel was paralysed only hours after Volodymyr Zelenksy vowed revenge following a deadly Russian missile strike.
Russian claims that two Ukrainian drones were shot down over Moscow’s suburbsCredit: East2WestThe aftermath of a Ukrainian drone that was hit and fell close to pro-war fanatic and Putin’s ‘Iron Doll’Credit: East2WestThe UAV attack caused chaos at Moscow’s main airports and disrupted hundreds of flightsCredit: East2West
Russia claimed to have foiled two attacks by Ukrainian drones this morning, which caused chaos at all of Moscow’s major airports and disruptions to hundreds of flights.
The reports stated that Russian air defences had jammed one of the drones in the Ruzsky district west of the capital and later destroyed another one in the Istrinsky district nearby.
At least two were injured when one of the downed drones fell on a house in the Istrinsky suburb, a regional governor said.
The UAV reportedly exploded close to the sprawling mansion of the Russian propagandist and pro-war fanatic Margarita Simonyan.
The head of the RT state media empire – also known as Putin’s “iron Doll” – complained on Telegram that the drone was shot down “on the street next to us” in her wealthy Moscow suburb.
Pictures showed the trail of air defence missiles, while video captured the moment a drone exploded as it was struck by an air defence strike.
Moscow major airports – Sheremetyevo, Vnukovo, Domodedovo and Zhukovsky – were closed for two hours as air space around the capital was shut under the “Carpet regime”, an emergency plan for incoming drones.
One pilot told passengers: “All airports in Moscow are closed.”
At least four planes bound for Domodedovo were diverted as far as Kazan, some 500 miles to the east.
It comes after Ukrainian president Zelensky promised retaliation for Saturday’s Russian missile strike on the city centre of Chernihiv that killed seven, including a 6-year-old girl.
He vowed that his soldiers would give a “notable response” to the “terrorist attack”, which claimed the life of little Sofia and other victims.
At least 15 children were also among the 148 wounded and at least 25 civilians had been treated in hospital after the strike that the UN deplored as “heinous”.
Drone air strikes deep inside Russia, and often targeted at the capital, have increased since two drones were destroyed over the Kremlin in early May.
As August began, two drone strikes hit government buildings in the heart of Moscow in a devastating blow to Putin.
A week later, the capital was enveloped in further chaos as Ukrainian aerial assaults wreaked havoc above Moscow once again.
Only last week, another huge explosion lit up the capital’s skies after a drone blasted through a building only three miles from the Kremlin.
The attack trailed in the short wake of a Ukrainian naval kamikaze drone strike on Putin’s beloved £3billion bridge that connects annexed Crimea to Russia.
Over the weekend, a daring drone attack deep inside Russia destroyed one of Putin’s prized Tu-22 supersonic bombers at Soltsy airbase.
Visuals of missile attack over Crimea bridge. Photograph:(Twitter)
Two Ukrainian missiles were shot down by the Russian air defence forces over a bridge connecting Crimea, which was annexed by Moscow, to the Russian mainland, said an official on Saturday (August 12).
“Air defence forces shot down two enemy missiles over the Kerch Strait. The Crimean bridge was not damaged,” said Sergei Aksyonov, the Russian-installed governor of the Crimean peninsula, on social media.
⚠️BREAKING – Ukrainian drone attack reported in the vicinity of the Crimean bridge. Movement has been halted
“In the area of the Kerch Strait, air defense forces shot down two missiles, the Crimean bridge was not damaged”, the Head of Crimea says – TASS pic.twitter.com/BfcKo6vzeK
Russia on Saturday further claimed that 20 unmanned Ukrainian drones were shot down by his officials near the Crimean peninsula where attacks have been stepped up by Kyiv.
Air defence systems were used to down fourteen drones and six more using electronic warfare, said the defence ministry on the Telegram messaging service. There were no casualties or damage, it added.
Talking to Telegram, Governor Vladislav Shapsha said that they also intercepted a drone in the Kaluga region, which is around 150 kilometres (about 95 miles) southwest of Moscow.
Ukraine appears to have launched a drone attack on Moscow overnight, with Russia claiming to have downed two drones – one near a major airport, and the other near a motorway. Meanwhile, an arms dealer and a European country have agreed to send dozens of second hand tanks to Kyiv.
Ukraine’s counteroffensive tactics
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Senior officials from around 40 countries gathered Sunday in Jeddah for a two-day meeting that aims to agree on key principles about how to end the conflict that has raged for more than 17 months.
But without Russia’s participation and without taking into account Moscow’s interests, the meeting was pointless, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said. (Photo: Reuters)
Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday chided efforts by international officials meeting in Saudi Arabia to find a peaceful settlement for the war in Ukraine, saying the talks don’t have “the slightest added value” because Moscow — unlike Kyiv — wasn’t invited.
Senior officials from around 40 countries gathered Sunday in Jeddah for a two-day meeting that aims to agree on key principles about how to end the conflict that has raged for more than 17 months.
But without Russia’s participation and without taking into account Moscow’s interests, the meeting was pointless, a Russian Foreign Ministry statement said. It repeated previous assurances that Russia is open to a diplomatic solution on its terms that ends the war and is ready to respond to serious proposals.
As Russian troops appeared to stall in their advance on Ukrainian cities, the United States voiced concern on Thursday that China might assist Moscow with military equipment as the war entered its fourth week.
Ukraine’s capital Kyiv came under renewed Russian shelling as rescuers in the besieged port of Mariupol dug survivors from the rubble of bombed buildings. Officials from the two countries met again for peace talks but said their positions remained far apart.
Western sources and Ukrainian officials said Russia’s assault has faltered since its troops invaded on Feb. 24, further dashing Moscow’s expectations of a swift victory and the removal of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government.
Despite battleground setbacks and punitive sanctions by the West, Russian President Vladimir Putin has shown little sign of relenting. His government says it is counting on China to help Russia withstand blows to its economy.
The United States, which this week announced $800 million in new military aid to Kyiv, is concerned that Beijing is “considering directly assisting Russia with military equipment to use in Ukraine,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.
President Joe Biden will make clear to China’s President Xi Jiping in a call Friday that Beijing “will bear responsibility for any actions it takes to support Russia’s aggression, and we will not hesitate to impose costs,” Blinken told reporters.
China has refused to condemn Russia’s action in Ukraine or call it an invasion. It says it recognises Ukraine’s sovereignty but that Russia has legitimate security concerns that should be addressed.
A woman with a child evacuates from a residential building damaged by shelling, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine, in this handout picture released March 16, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
While the United States says it wants to avoid direct confrontation with Russia, Chinese military aid to Moscow would pit Washington and Beijing — the world’s two biggest powers — on opposite sides of the largest assault on a European state since World War Two.
The United States warned China after “intense” talks on Monday against helping Moscow in its invasion of Ukraine, while an anti-war protester interrupted Russian state TV news in an extraordinary act of dissent.
A member of the Emergencies Ministry of the separatist Donetsk People’s Republic inspects the remains of a missile that landed in the street in the separatist-controlled city of Donetsk, Ukraine March 14, 2022. REUTERS/Stringer
Moscow has not captured any of the 10 biggest cities in Ukraine since beginning its incursion on Feb. 24, the most significant attack on a European state since World War Two.
It calls its actions a “special military operation” to “denazify” the country and has asked for military and economic aid from Beijing, according to U.S. officials.
Moscow denies that, saying it has sufficient resources to fulfil all of its aims. China’s foreign ministry labelled the reports on assistance as “disinformation.”
China had signalled willingness to provide aid to Russia, a U.S. official said, as national security adviser Jake Sullivan met with China’s top diplomat Yang Jiechi in Rome.
“We have communicated very clearly to Beijing that we won’t stand by,” State Department spokesperson Ned Price told reporters on Monday. “We will not allow any country to compensate Russia for its losses.”
The seven-hour meeting was “intense” and reflected “the gravity of the moment,” according to a U.S. official.
The West is weighing how to deal with any involvement from China, top global exporter and No.1 foreign supplier of goods to Americans.
In Russia, a rare anti-war protest occurred in a studio during the main news programme on state TV’s Channel One, which is the primary source of news for millions of Russians and closely follows the Kremlin line.
A woman held up a sign in English and Russian that said: “NO WAR. Stop the war. Don’t believe propaganda. They are lying to you here.”
The protester could be seen and heard for several seconds before the channel switched to a different report so she was no longer visible.
