Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of risking disaster by bombing Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is held by Russian forces in a region expected to be one of the next big front lines.

The main thing for Saturday, the 171st day of the war in Ukraine:

A brief summary of recent events:

• Russia has informed the United States that diplomatic relations will be seriously damaged and may even be severed if the US Senate recognizes Russia as a “state sponsor of terrorism”, TASS reports citing a high-ranking official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
• Zelenskyy again called on EU countries to ban visas for Russian citizens so that the bloc does not turn into a “supermarket” open to anyone with the means to enter.
• Dmytro Medvedev expressed a veiled threat to Ukraine’s Western allies: “Let’s not forget that the EU also has nuclear power plants. And accidents can happen there, too.”
• The United States is concerned by reports that citizens of Britain, Sweden and Croatia have been charged by “illegitimate authorities in eastern Ukraine,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Friday.
• Getting a new $5 billion loan from the IMF would help reassure Ukraine’s other creditors that its macroeconomic situation is under control, Zelenskyi’s chief economic adviser said.
• The international rating agencies S&P and Fitch downgraded Ukraine’s ratings to “selective default” and “limited default” because they believe that the restructuring of its debt is difficult.
• According to an official statistical estimate, Russia’s economy shrank by 4% in the second quarter compared to the same period in 2021
• Flows of Russian oil to the Czech Republic via the Druzhba oil pipeline resumed more than a week later, as transit payments were unblocked.
• Ukrainian troops struck the fourth and last bridge over the Dnipro River in Kherson region, which is mostly controlled by Russia, regional official Serhii Khlan wrote on Facebook. The Ukrainian military said that now they can strike almost all supply lines from Moscow to Kherson.
• The General Staff of Ukraine reported on mass shelling and airstrikes by Russian troops on dozens of cities and military bases, in particular in the east of the country.
• Almost a third of the territory of Ukraine needs to be cleared of mines and explosives, according to the latest estimates of the Ministry of Ecology.

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• Friday’s events were broadcast LIVE on HotNews.ro