On the 172nd day of Russia’s large-scale military invasion of Ukraine on Sunday, August 14, Russian troops continue their attempts to capture the neighboring country’s settlements. Ukraine’s Armed Forces and their territorial defense units are resisting the aggression. It is impossible to verify the statements of representatives of both sides of the conflict from independent sources. According to the UN, about 14 million Ukrainians have already left their homes.

military actions

The fierce fighting continues near the village of Sands, not far from Donetsk airport, as determined by the British Ministry of Defence. The area has been at the forefront of the Donbass clash since 2014, the department recalled. The purpose of the Russian offensive is likely to protect the M04 highway – the main approach to Donetsk from the west, British intelligence suggests.

The Russian military may prioritize efforts in the northeast Donetsk region to divert Ukraine’s attention from the counteroffensive on the Southern Front, say analysts at the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

Military experts note that Russian forces had already reduced offensive operations east of Seversk in the Donetsk region and carried out only limited ground attacks since August 6, but since August 11 their numbers in the Seversk region, on the contrary, have increased.

Russian forces continued their attacks east and south of Bakhmut, the ISW said. At the same time, according to analysts, Russia is trying to deal with compensation for large losses of personnel, as well as defection on the fronts and solving the logistical problems of the RF Armed Forces. Serious supply problems with the Russian troop group on the west bank of the Dnieper will likely make it vulnerable even in the event of some Ukrainian counterattacks, the American Institute for the Study of War believes.

Meanwhile, Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security and Defense supported the bills introduced by President Volodymyr Zelensky on extending the martial law regime and general mobilization for 90 days.

More than 40 countries have asked the Russian Federation to withdraw troops from the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

Representatives from 42 countries, including Japan, the US, Canada, Turkey and the UK, as well as the EU, in a joint statement, called on Russia to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP). “The presence of Russian military forces at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant prevents the operator and the Ukrainian authorities from fulfilling their nuclear and radiation safety obligations in accordance with international conventions and safety standards of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), and also prevents the IAEA from fulfilling its safeguards mandate”, – emphasized in the document.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russian army soldiers who bomb the station or use it as a shield will face retribution, they will become a “special target” for the country’s intelligence, special services and armed forces.

As Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s representative to international organizations in Vienna, previously pointed out, the Russian side would like the IAEA mission’s visit to the ZNPP to take place in late August or early September. The agency has not yet announced the exact timing of the mission.

Debate on the visa ban for citizens of the Russian Federation

The Finnish government meeting, which will consider the issue of restriction on issuing Schengen tourist visas to Russian citizens, will be held on August 16. This was reported by Finnish state broadcaster Yle.

Finland’s Cabinet of Ministers does not yet have a definitive position on the issue of restricting the rest of Russians, Yle said. The country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has studied several options, one of which is to make it difficult in practice to grant tourist visas. The government will assess possible solutions at an informal meeting on 16 August.

For her part, Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin expressed her hope that tourist travel by Russian citizens will be limited as a result of expanding EU sanctions. The Cabinet chief expects the issue to be considered in the format of EU summits – in particular, in October 2022.

Poland’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs is developing a concept that will allow Russian citizens to be denied visas. Decisions on this issue can be expected in the coming weeks, Polish Vice Chancellor Piotr Wawrzyk said on the air of Radio Polskie. Wawrzyk stressed that Warsaw is in favor of suspending the visa facilitation agreement with the Russian Federation. At the same time, he acknowledged that not all EU states agree with this. “The main EU member states, including Germany, France and the Netherlands, are opposed,” said the Polish diplomat.

Latvian President Egils Levits also supported the idea of ​​banning the issuance of tourist visas to Russians. “Latvia has not issued tourist visas since the first day of the war – February 24. However, other countries continue,” he said.

RND: Ten Russian aircraft remain in Germany due to sanctions

Ten Russian-owned or Russian Federation-controlled aircraft remain at German airfields, reports from the Redaktionsnetzwerk Deutschland (RND) group, citing Germany’s Federal Transport Ministry. Ocean liners cannot leave the country due to sanctions. Germany closed its skies to Russian aviation on February 27, three days after the start of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. Basically, we are talking about small cars: business jets or aircraft used for charter flights.

Slovakia’s Defense Minister has denied reports of the transfer of MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine

Slovak Defense Minister Yaroslav Nagy denied publications on the transfer of several MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine. “No friends, our MiG-29 fighters are not in Ukraine. This is false information. They are still in Sliac (the Slovak city where the military airfield is located. – Red.). They will guard our airspace until the end of August, you will see them on August 27 at the SIAF (Slovak International Aviation Festival – Ed.), where they will officially say goodbye,” Nagy said on Facebook. According to him, Slovakia is negotiating with allies on the fighter issue. A final decision on this matter has not yet been taken.

A ship was loaded in the Odessa region as part of the UN World Food Program

The Brave Commander ship was loaded with 23,000 tonnes of wheat at the port in the city of Yuzhny, in the Odessa region, Ukraine’s Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Facebook. He noted that the shipment was carried out under the UN World Food Program (WFP). “We continue to work with the UN WFP to make these flights regular and are clearly focused on humanitarian assistance to the regions of the world that need it most,” said Kubrakov. According to the head of the Odessa Regional State Administration, Maxim Marchenko, the ship with wheat has already left the sea port. At the same time, Kubrakov stated that the Brave Commander was due to leave port on 15 August.

Since the ports were unblocked, 16 grain ships have left Ukraine, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. These data were confirmed by the Turkish Ministry of Defense. Zelensky added that in less than two weeks, three Ukrainian ports – Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny – managed to withdraw a volume equal to all agricultural exports by road and more than two-thirds of exports by rail in July. “There are about half a million tons of agricultural products on board: corn, wheat, sunflower oil, soybeans and other products absolutely necessary for the world market,” Zelensky said.

McLaren spoke out against withdrawing athletes from the Russian Federation and Belarus from the competition

Canadian law professor Richard McLaren, former head of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) commission investigating the Russian government’s allegations of doping fraud at the 2014 Olympics in Sochi, spoke out against the current exclusion of athletes from Russia and the United States. Belarus to participate in international competitions. Excerpts from an interview with a lawyer, the program Sportschau, produced by the editors of the sports broadcast of the German legal public television channel ARD, quoted on its website. “The way with them (athletes. – Ed.) are being treated unfairly,” believes McLaren. The Canadian criticized the fact that athletes are called to be responsible for the policies of their countries: “Athletes were not the initiators of this conflict and they are not responsible for its course. Those are two good reasons to allow them to participate again.”