10/08/2022 14:17
The Guardian
Zelenskiy vows to ‘liberate’ Crimea as Kyiv denies responsibility for deadly attack on Russian airbase in the annexed peninsula Without claiming explicit responsibility for an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea on Tuesday, Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said on Wednesday that it had destroyed nine Russian planes within the last 24 hours. It did not specify the locations. The claim follows widely reported explosions at Russia’s Saki air base.Crimea’s regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said some 250 residents were moved to temporary housing after dozens of apartment buildings were damaged, but Russian authorities have generally sought to downplay the explosions. Unverified social media footage purports to show damage to planes on the ground at the airport.Crimea’s regional ministry of health has said that one person died and 13 people were injured as a result of explosions at the air base near Novofedorivka. The Russian military have said that “several aviation munitions detonated” in a storage area at the facility. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.In his nightly address, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, did not discuss who was behind the attacks but vowed to “liberate” Crimea, saying: “This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – with its liberation.” An adviser to the president, Mikhail Podolyak, said Ukraine was not taking responsibility for the explosions, suggesting partisans might have been involved.Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are reorienting the plant’s electricity production to connect to Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, according to Ukrainian operator Energoatom. “To do this, you must first damage the power lines of the plant connected to the Ukrainian energy system. From August 7 to 9, the Russians have already damaged three power lines. At the moment, the plant is operating with only one production line, which is an extremely dangerous way of working,” Energoatom president Petro Kotin told Ukrainian television. The plant, located not far from the Crimean peninsula, has six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors, and is capable of supplying power for four million homes.The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power firm warned of the “very high” risks from shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south and said it was vital Kyiv regains control over the facility in time for winter. Energoatom’s chief, Petro Kotin, told Reuters in an interview that last week’s Russian shelling had damaged three lines that connect the Zaporizhzhia plant to the Ukrainian grid and that Russia wanted to connect the facility to its grid.Russia’s daily military briefing for Wednesday has claimed to have shot down three Ukrainian planes overnight, and to have destroyed German-supplied anti-aircraft systems.The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has said that in the last 24 hours two people have been killed and 25 civilians were injured in the territory it claims to control.At least 13 people have been killed overnight by shelling in Marhanets in Dnipropetrovsk. Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said more than 20 buildings were damaged. Ukraine’s emergency service has distributed images which appear to show a school in Marhanets damaged by an attack. Continue reading...
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