Allowing Russia to bully Ukraine would mean ‘open season’ worldwide, says Blinken
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken speaks to members of the media after meeting visiting the South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation in Pretoria, South Africa, on August 8, 2022.
Andrew Harnik | Afp | Getty Images
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that if Russia were allowed to take territory in Ukraine without being opposed then it would be “open season” around the world.
“If we allow a big country to bully a smaller one, to simply invade it and take its territory, then it’s going to be open season, not just in Europe but around the world,” the U.S.’s top diplomat said Monday during a visit to Africa.
He added that it is important for the U.S. to stand up to Russia because its aggression against Ukraine threatened the foundations of the international system.
— Karen Gilchrist
Ukraine’s ambassador to the IAEA accuses Russia of aiming to cause power blackouts
Ukraine’s ambassador to the IAEA nuclear watchdog said Russian forces want to cause power blackouts in southern Ukraine by shelling its Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex.
Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk called for an international mission to the plant this month, saying it was needed “urgently.”
The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Enerhodar, Zaporizhzhia Region, is seen through barbed wire on the embankment in Nikopol, Dnipropetrovsk Region, central Ukraine.
Future Publishing | Future Publishing | Getty Images
“We will use all possible channels of diplomacy to bring the IAEA and UN closer to conducting this mission,” Tsymbaliuk told reporters in Vienna.
Russia set it is ready to facilitate such a visit, the RIA Novosti news agency quoted Russia’s permanent representative to the IAEA as saying.
— Karen Gilchrist
Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia set for referendum on joining Russia
The Russian-appointed administration of southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region moved ahead with steps to hold a referendum on joining Russia.
Evgeny Balitsky, head of the occupation administration in Zaporizhzhia, signed a decree to kick-start the process, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported.
Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council imposed by pro-Russian secessionists, said the administration was “preparing 100% for the vote,” according to RIA Novosti.
“Everything is working out. We will have a voting format that is quite understandable to people. We will not conduct any experiments,” he said.
It comes as Ukraine and Russia shift blame for shelling over the weekend of the region’s nuclear plant, an attack U.N. chief Antonio Guterres dubbed “suicidal.”
— Karen Gilchrist
Ukraine warns of Chernobyl attack, calls for demilitarized zone around nuclear plant
Giant protective dome built over the sarcophagus covering the destroyed fourth reactor of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant on April 26, 2022.
Sergei Supinsky | AFP | Getty Images
Kyiv warned of the risk of a Chernobyl-style disaster and called for the area around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to be made a demilitarized zone following weekend artillery attacks.
The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, Petro Kotin, called for a team of peacekeepers to be deployed at the nuclear complex, which is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
“The decision that we demand from the world community and all our partners … is to withdraw the invaders from the territory of the station and create a demilitarized zone on the territory of the station,” Kotin said on television.
“The presence of peacekeepers in this zone and the transfer of control of it to them, and then also control of the station to the Ukrainian side would resolve this problem,” he added.
The calls comes hours after U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres dubbed he latest shelling as “suicidal” and called for international inspectors to be given access to the site
The world’s worst civil nuclear disaster occurred in 1986 when a reactor at the Chernobyl complex in northwest Ukraine exploded.
— Karen Gilchrist
Finland registers record number of asylum seekers
Civilians board the evacuation train in Pokorvsk, amid the intensified fighting in the Eastern part of Ukraine.
Sopa Images | Lightrocket | Getty Images
Finland registered a record number of asylum seekers following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the AFP reported, surpassing the previous high set during the 2015 migrant crisis.
More than 37,000 people are currently registered in the reception system, “which is more than ever before,” the Finnish immigration service said in a statement. One third of those fleeing are children, it added.
Over 6.3 million refugees have fled Ukraine for Europe, according to the latest figures from UNHCR, the UN’s refugee agency.
— Karen Gilchrist
Russia strengthens position and numbers on Ukraine’s southern front
Russian forces are enhancing their positions and numbers on Ukraine’s southern front in apparent preparation for a Ukrainian counteroffensive, British and Ukrainian military authorities said.
“Russian troops are almost certainly amassing in the south, either waiting for a Ukrainian counteroffensive or preparing to attack,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said.
It added that long convoys of Russian military trucks, tanks and artillery continue to move from the Donbas to the southwest of the country.
— Karen Gilchrist
No basis for meeting between Putin and Zelenskyy, says Kremlin
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov waits to watch the Victory Day military parade at Red Square in central Moscow on May 9, 2022.
Kirill Kudryavtsev | Afp | Getty Images
The Kremlin said there is currently no basis for a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
In response to a question about Turkish proposals to broker peace talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that the pair would only meet once negotiators from both sides had “done their homework.”
Talks between Moscow and Kyiv have been stalled for months, with each side blaming the other for a lack of progress.
— Karen Gilchrist
UN chief calls attack on Ukraine nuclear plant ‘suicidal’
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after Ukraine and Russia accused each other of shelling Europe’s largest atomic complex over the weekend.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in the Russian-controlled area of Enerhodar, seen from Nikopol in April 27, 2022.
Ed Jones | Afp | Getty Images
“Any attack [on] a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing,” Guterres told a news conference in Japan, where he was attending the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Ceremony on Saturday in commemoration of the 77th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.
Despite the shelling, the nuclear reactor complex was operating on “normal mode,” Interfax news agency quoted Yevgeniy Balitsky, the Russian-installed head of the local administration, as saying.
Russian forces captured the plant in Ukraine’s southeast in early March, shortly after Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion of its neighbor, but it is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
— Karen Gilchrist
Former Russian President Medvedev says Moscow will achieve its aims in Ukraine
Deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev attends a wreath-laying ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Alexandrovsky Garden near the Kremlin wall in Moscow on June 22, 2022.
Yekaterina Shtukina | Afp | Getty Images
Former Russian President and one of President Vladimir Putin’s closest allies, Dmitry Medvedev, said Moscow would achieve its aims in the conflict in Ukraine on its own terms.
“Russia is conducting a special military operation in Ukraine and is attaining peace on our terms,” Medvedev, who serves as deputy chairman of Russia’s security council, told Russian state news agency Tass in an interview.
He also warned that the West has a long-term plan to destroy Russia, citing the enlargement of the NATO military alliance: “The goal is the same: to destroy Russia,” he said.
— Karen Gilchrist
Two grain ships depart from Ukraine as third port opens
The Turkish-flagged ship “Polarnet” carrying grain from Ukraine arrives at Derince Port, Kocaeli, Turkey, on August 8, 2022.
Anadolu Agency | Anadolu Agency | Getty Images
Two more ships carrying corn and soybeans left from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, Ukrainian and Turkish authorities said.
The vessels — one carrying 11,000 tons of soybeans and the other 48,458 tons of corn — were bound for Italy and Turkey, respectively. Meanwhile, a third port, Pivdennyi, opened Monday, increasing the country’s strained export capacity.
Ten shipments have now departed Ukrainian shores since last week under a new deal brokered by Turkey and the United Nations in an effort to alleviate a worsening global food crisis.
So far, around 243,000 tons of corn have been exported from Ukraine on seven ships since the first departure on Aug. 1, according to a Reuters tally of data from Turkey’s Defense Ministry. The other ships carried 11,000 tons of soybeans, 6,000 tons of sunflower oil and 45,000 tons of sunflower meal.
— Karen Gilchrist