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A Russian serviceman guards an area of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in territory under Russian military control, southeastern Ukraine, May 1, 2022 [File: AP Photo]
By Linah Alsaafin and Dalia Hatuqa
Published On 13 Aug 2022
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Updated: 13 Aug 2022 (20:59 GMT)
  • Kyiv and Moscow have accused each other of striking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine, which has been shelled repeatedly in the past week.
  • A new $5bn IMF loan to Ukraine will reassure other creditors, the chief economic adviser of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said.
13 Aug 2022 - 19:23
 (19:23 GMT)

Global rating agencies lower Ukraine’s foreign currency rating

Global rating agencies S&P and Fitch have lowered Ukraine’s foreign currency ratings to selective default and restricted default as they consider the country’s debt restructuring as distressed, Reuters reported.

Earlier this week, Ukraine’s overseas creditors backed the country’s request for a two-year freeze on payments on almost $20bn in international bonds. The move will save Ukraine some $6bn on payments according to Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal.

Battered by Russia’s invasion, which started on February 24, Ukraine faces a 35-45 percent economic contraction in 2022 and a monthly fiscal shortfall of $5bn.

13 Aug 2022 - 18:12
 (18:12 GMT)

Estonia again calls for Schengen zone travel restrictions for Russians

The Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, has again complained that the lack of comprehensive Schengen zone travel restrictions for Russians puts an “unfair” burden on countries neighbouring Russia, reiterating calls on the EU to introduce visa bans for Russian nationals.

In addition to Ukraine, countries like Latvia, Finland and the Czech Republic, have also called for the EU to limit or block short-term Schengen visas for Russians, in protest against their country’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians,” Kallas wrote on Twitter last week. “Visiting #Europe is a privilege, not a human right.”

13 Aug 2022 - 16:58
 (16:58 GMT)

Ukraine warns of new ‘provocations’ at Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukraine’s defence intelligence agency has warned of new “provocations” at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as both sides traded accusations of shelling Europe’s largest nuclear facility, Reuters reports.

The exiled mayor of the town where the plant is located, Dmytro Orlov, who evacuated to Kyiv-controlled territory in April, wrote on Telegram that local residents had informed him of renewed Russian shelling in the direction of the town’s industrial zone and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Saturday. It was not clear if any shells hit the grounds of the plant.

Local Russian-installed official Vladimir Rogov wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were shelling the plant.

“According to witnesses, explosions can be heard again in the town,” Rogov said, adding that shells had landed in the vicinity of the power station, without specifying if it had hit the plant’s territory.

Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over multiple recent incidents of shelling at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, while the G7 group of nations have called on Moscow to withdraw its forces from the power station.

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of “hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that powers the south of Ukraine is generated”.

“The goal is to disconnect us from the [plant] and blame the Ukrainian army for this,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

13 Aug 2022 - 16:14
 (16:14 GMT)

‘Fierce fighting’ continues in Pisky: Ukraine’s military command

Ukraine’s military command has said that “fierce fighting” continued in Pisky, an eastern village which Russia had earlier in the day said it had full control over, Reuters reported.

“The occupiers are trying to break through the defense of our troops in the directions of Oleksandropol, Krasnohorivka, Avdiivka, Maryinka, and Pisky,” Ukraine’s general staff said in its nightly briefing note on Facebook.

“Fierce fighting continues,” it added.

13 Aug 2022 - 14:57
 (14:57 GMT)

Netherlands joins UK-led training programme for Ukrainian military

The Netherlands has joined the UK-led training programme for the Ukrainian military.

“The Netherlands has joined the UK-led program of training servicemembers of the Ukrainian army. Dutch personnel will start their mission this August. The more well-trained fighters we have, the closer our victory.

“Thanks to Kajsa Ollongren for friendship and support,” the Ukrainian minister of defence, Oleksii Reznikov, wrote on Twitter.

In June, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the launch of a major training operation for Ukrainian forces. Johnson said that the UK could provide training for up to 10,000 Ukrainian service members every 120 days.

Finland, Sweden, Canada, Denmark, and Norway also announced their participation in training Ukrainian soldiers.

13 Aug 2022 - 14:19
 (14:19 GMT)

Russia preparing for a prolonged war in Ukraine: Institute for the Study of War

Russia is readying itself for a prolonged war in Ukraine, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a US-based think tank.

The Ukrainian Main Military Intelligence Directorate (GUR) reported that the Kremlin initiated the “industrial mobilisation” of the defence enterprises in early August, banning some employees and the entire leadership at the Russian state industrial conglomerate company Rostec from taking vacations.

The GUR added that the Military-Industrial Commission of the Russian Federation, chaired by Russian President Vladimir Putin, is preparing to change the state budget by early September to boost industrial spending by approximately $10bn to support war efforts.

Putin at the Uralvagonzavod factory in the Urals city of Nizhny Tagil, Russia, November 25, 2015 [File: Alexei Nikolskyi/Sputnik/Kremlin/Reuters]
13 Aug 2022 - 13:53
 (13:53 GMT)

Russians upset by prospect of travel ban should complain to Kremlin: Kuleba

Ukraine has said that those dismayed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy‘s call to Western countries to ban Russian tourists should “direct their complaints to the Kremlin”.

This week, the Ukrainian president said a worldwide travel ban against Russian citizens would be more effective than sanctions. Russia rejected Zelenskyy’s call for a travel ban on its citizens.

“Russians who are upset with the prospect of being banned from tourist travel to Europe can direct their complaints to the Kremlin and over 70 percent of their compatriots who support the war,” said Ukraine’s foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba.

“No one proposes to ban those few Russians who may need an asylum or humanitarian entry.”

13 Aug 2022 - 11:03
 (11:03 GMT)

Russia claims full control of Pisky village in Donetsk region: Report

Russian forces have taken full control of Pisky village in Ukraine’s Donetsk region, the Interfax news agency reports citing the Russian defence ministry.

Reuters and Al Jazeera were not able to immediately verify the report.

Russian and pro-Russian forces had reported that they had taken full control of Pisky more than a week ago.

The ministry also said Russian forces had destroyed a US-supplied HIMARS rocket system near Ukraine’s Kramatorsk and a depot with ammunition for the system, Interfax reported.

Service members of the Ukrainian armed forces are seen at fighting positions on the line of separation from pro-Russian rebels in the village of Pisky in Donetsk region on April 8, 2021 [File: Oleksandr Klymenko/Reuters]
13 Aug 2022 - 10:16
 (10:16 GMT)

End of war means return of Crimea to Ukraine, Zelenskyy’s adviser says

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak says for the war to end, his country would seek the return of Crimea as well as the punishment of Russian leaders who began the war.

“Russia started war against Ukraine in 2014 with Crimea seizure,” Podolyak tweeted. “Obviously, it must end with Crimea liberation and legal punishment of ‘special military operation’ initiators.”

13 Aug 2022 - 08:51
 (08:51 GMT)

Ukrainian minister says Russia blocking access to medicines

Ukraine’s health minister has accused Russian authorities of committing a crime against humanity by blocking access to affordable medicines in areas its forces have occupied since the war began last February.

In an interview with The Associated Press news agency, Viktor Liashko said Russian authorities have repeatedly blocked efforts to provide state-subsidised drugs to people in occupied areas.

“Throughout the entire six months of war, Russia has not [allowed] proper humanitarian corridors so we could provide our own medicines to the patients that need them,” Liashko said.

“We believe that these actions are being taken with intent by Russia, and we consider them to be crimes against humanity and war crimes that will be documented and will be recognised,” the minister said.

The World Health Organization said it recorded 445 attacks on hospitals and other health care facilities as of August 11 that directly resulted in 86 deaths and 105 injuries.

The Ukrainian government has a programme that provides medications to people with cancer and chronic health conditions. The destruction of hospitals and infrastructure along with the displacement of an estimated seven million people inside the country have also interfered with other forms of treatment, according to UN and Ukrainian officials.

A resident injured in a Russian attack sits at a hospital in Pokrovsk, eastern Ukraine on May 25, 2022 [File: Francisco Seco/AP Photo]
13 Aug 2022 - 07:37
 (07:37 GMT)

Moscow warns of end to Russia-US relations if assets seized

Any possible seizure of Russian assets by the United States will completely destroy Moscow’s bilateral relations with Washington, said a senior foreign ministry official.

“We warn the Americans of the detrimental consequences of such actions that will permanently damage bilateral relations, which is neither in their nor in our interests,” Alexander Darchiev, the head of the North American Department at the Russian foreign ministry, told TASS.

It was not immediately clear which assets he was referring to.

Darchiev also said the US influence on Ukraine had increased to the degree that “Americans are increasingly becoming more and more a direct party in the conflict”.

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13 Aug 2022 - 07:00
 (07:00 GMT)

Two more ships carrying 15,000 tonnes of grain leave Ukraine

Two more ships carrying sunflower seed and corn sailed from Ukrainian ports, Turkey’s national defence ministry said.

The Barbados-flagged ship Fulmar S, carrying 12,000 tonnes of corn, left the Chornomorsk port for Iskenderun, Turkey.

The other ship, Marshal Islands-flagged Thoe, sailed from the Chornomorsk port with 3,000 tonnes of sunflower seed for Tekirdag in northwestern Turkey.

On July 22, Turkey, the UN, Russia, and Ukraine signed a deal in Istanbul to reopen three Ukrainian Black Sea ports for exporting Ukrainian grain stuck due to the Russia-Ukraine war, which is now in its sixth month.

13 Aug 2022 - 06:21
 (06:21 GMT)

Two bridges to Russian-occupied territory in Kherson out of use: UK

The two primary road bridges giving access to the pocket of Russian-occupied territory on the west bank of the Dnieper in Kherson Oblast are now probably out of use for the purposes of substantial military resupply, the British military intelligence has said.

Even if Russia manages to make significant repairs to the bridges, they will remain a key vulnerability, the UK’s Ministry of Defence said.

“Ground resupply for the several thousand Russian troops on the west bank is almost certainly reliant on just two pontoon ferry crossing points,” the ministry said in an intelligence update.

With their supply chain constrained, the size of any stockpiles Russia has managed to establish on the west bank is likely to be a key factor in the forces’ endurance, according to the update.

13 Aug 2022 - 06:10
 (06:10 GMT)

Key Ukrainian adviser says new $5bn IMF loan would reassure other creditors

Securing a new $5bn loan from the IMF would help reassure Ukraine’s other creditors that the war-torn country’s macroeconomic situation was under control, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief economic adviser has told Reuters news agency.

Additional financing from the IMF for about 18 months could serve as the anchor for a larger package of $15-20bn to help Ukraine weather the economic crisis caused by Russia’s war, the adviser, Oleg Ustenko, said.

He said Ukrainian officials were in touch with the global lender about the potential request, adding that the goal should be to move forward as quickly as possible.

The IMF declined to comment.

13 Aug 2022 - 06:08
 (06:08 GMT)

Russian proxies must respect rights of foreign POWs: Blinken

The United States is concerned by reports that British, Swedish and Croatian nationals were being charged by “illegitimate authorities in eastern Ukraine”, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said.

“Russia and its proxies have an obligation to respect international humanitarian law, including the rights & protections afforded to prisoners of war,” Blinken wrote on Twitter on Friday.