On the 173rd day of Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops continue their attempts to capture the neighboring country’s settlements. Ukraine’s armed forces and territorial defense units resist 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. DW continues to monitor developments on Monday, August 15 (Moscow time).

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German network of construction hypermarkets OBI sold all its 27 Russian stores for 600 rubles. This figure was confirmed in an interview with the Russian edition of Forbes magazine by the new owner of the OBI business in the Russian Federation, Josef Liokumovich, who owns 60% of the company. “You can’t say that this business came to nothing. Now circumstances have arisen that have changed a lot. We need to invest a lot in this business, put things in order. This is an economically healthy, wonderful company, but it needs 2.5 billion rubles”, said Liokumovich. According to him, the new owners settled the debt with the parent company – OBI GmbH – for more than 30 million euros.

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Latvia delivered four helicopters to Ukraine – two Mi-17s and two Mi-2s, said the Ministry of Defense in Riga. According to him, Latvia has already provided Ukraine with weapons and other military assistance worth more than 200 million euros. The head of the ministry, Artis Pabriks, called on Western countries to step up military assistance to Kyiv.

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The issue of visas for Russians entering the European Union “must be discussed”, moreover, at the level of individual EU states “there is room for discussion”. This was stated by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, commenting on proposals to ban the issuance of visas to citizens of the Russian Federation. At the same time, he recalled that many refugees were forced to leave Russia. “It’s important for us to understand that many people are fleeing Russia because they don’t agree with the Russian regime. Every decision we make must not complicate the escape from Russian authorities and the dictatorship,” Scholz said, according to Reuters. “This is Putin’s war, not the Russian people’s,” stressed the chancellor.

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Three people died as a result of a mine explosion on the beach in the urban-type settlement of Zatoka, near Odessa., said the spokesman for the Regional Military Administration of Odessa Sergei Bratchuk. Two more people were hospitalized with injuries. Bratchuk recalled that in the Odessa region it is forbidden to go to the beaches and coast, as well as to swim in the sea.

The explosion occurred the day before, authorities the same day reported two dead, the body of another person was found on August 15 using a quadrocopter. The local department of the National Police specified that men aged 25, 32 and 53 from the regions of Chernihiv, Zaporozhye and Zhytomyr were killed.

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Electricity tariffs next year in Germany grew by 3.7% – up to 477.50 euros per megawatt hour, writes Bloomberg with reference to data from the European Energy Exchange AG. That’s nearly six times more than at the same time in 2021, the agency notes. Bloomberg points to the energy crisis caused by the war in Ukraine and record heat in Europe as the main reasons for the rise in prices.

Dusseldorf froze partnership with Moscow

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in Dusseldorf remove all signs indicating your status as a Moscow partner, said Mayor Stefan Keller. Five of these signs, including at the entrance to Düsseldorf, have already been dismantled, the remaining three will be removed in the near future. The partnership between the two cities was suspended shortly after Russia’s military attack on Ukraine, and now the Ukrainian regional center Chernivtsi will take the place of the Russian capital.

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Ruslan Leviev, founder of the Conflict Intelligence Team, does not rule out that the publication by the Russian military commander of photographs of the Wagner PMC headquarters could be a provocation by the Russian military, as these photos, according to Leviev, look “very staged and ostentatious”. “Pro-Russian military correspondents know about the ban on filming military installations, locations, know about the possibility of getting to coordinates, etc. And here they are posing directly near the headquarters, and even with someone similar to Prigozhin the PMC Wagner. – Ed.)?” wrote the expert.

One of the possible purposes of such a publication, in his opinion, could be to provoke the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack from the HIMARS MLRS. “We know that HIMARS will hit this object with a 90% probability, we place a counter-battery radar nearby, we place artillery, we wait for Hymars’ shot, we find the coordinates – we fight back,” explained Leviev.

Earlier, on August 15, the head of the Lugansk OVA, Serhiy Gaidai, confirmed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine attacked the PMC Wagner headquarters near the town of Popasnaya. According to him, as a result of the bombing, Wagner’s headquarters were destroyed and members of the PMC were killed – Gaidai did not give his exact number. It was possible to reach the headquarters thanks to “one of the representatives of the Russian media”, he wrote. It was possible to discover the whereabouts of the military thanks to photographs published on August 8 by war correspondent Sergei Sreda. Wednesday later he deleted his post.

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As a result of the morning bombing of the Saltovsky district of Kharkov 75-year-old woman died, Kharkiv OVA reported. In all, 9 people were injured. Earlier, local authorities reported that a residential courtyard was bombed, where cars, a playground were damaged and house windows were smashed. “There were and could not be military installations there,” said Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov.

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Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada passed a bill on Forced seizure of property under martial law. Local military administrations will have the right to transfer private defense companies to the property of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. This is necessary to “prevent its destruction or capture by the enemy”, as well as “the transition of the industry to a military base”, reads the explanatory note of the document. “The proposed procedure will make it possible to make decisions in this extremely important area with speed, competence and responsibility, and will help the State to maintain and increase its defense potential”, write the authors of the draft.

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The president of the regional military administration of Kherson, Yaroslav Yanushevich, claims that about 50 Russian FSB employees live on the territory of the local reception center for children of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and interrogations of kidnapped Ukrainians are carried out in basements with the use of torture. Searches continue in the occupied areas – people are stopped on the street or taken from their homes, writes Yanushevich. “Russians can rob and take away Kherson residents in an unknown direction, even for Ukrainian symbols,” he says. In addition, occupation authorities continue to actively collect passport data from people living in the region who turn to them for any queries, Yanushevich said.

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Schools in nine districts of the Belgorod region, located in a five-kilometer border zone, in the new academic year they will switch to a distance learning format, said the regional government press service. We are talking about the Krasnoyaruzhsky, Belgorod, Borisov, Rovensky, Veydelevsky and Volokonovsky regions that border the Sumy and Kharkiv regions of Ukraine, as well as the urban districts of Graivoronsky, Shebekinsky and Valuysky. “The possibility of taking the children to other schools located further away from the border will be considered, if necessary. On-call groups will work in kindergartens,” officials in the region said.

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Advisor to the Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak convened the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and its President Peter Maurer pay attention to the situation with the “trial” of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol. “All prisoners of war, including the defenders of Azovstal, are combatants who have legally defended their country. Therefore, the “Mariupol cages” are a Russian war crime. It’s time for the Red Cross and Peter Maurer to finally remember their mission and think about their reputation,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

Previously, the Mariupol city council reported that the city’s occupation authorities were setting up prison cells on the stage of the Mariupol Philharmonic Society and planned to hold a demonstrative “trial” of the Ukrainian military in September.

The Verkhovna Rada supported the extension of martial law until November 21

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Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada supported extension of martial law and mobilization in the country for another 90 days – until November 21st.

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Latvia resumed treatment and rehabilitation program for Ukrainian military on the country’s territory, the Latvian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Twelve Ukrainian servicemen will begin a three-week course of treatment at the Vaivari National Rehabilitation Center. The country’s government has earmarked 280,000 euros for these purposes. The program has been running since the start of the war in Donbass in 2014 and until 2019. During this time, 58 wounded Ukrainians were treated in Latvian medical institutions.

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Due to rising gas prices and looking for alternative suppliers instead of Russia surcharge for all gas consumers in Germany will be 2.419 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to gas grid operator Trading Hub Europe. This means that an average family of four with a consumption of 20,000 kilowatt-hours will have to pay around 480 euros more per year, excluding VAT. The new rate will take effect from October.

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The Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security, Defense and Intelligence recommends to Parliament extend martial law and general mobilization from August 23 to 90 days, that is, until November 21. Yaroslav Zheleznyak, deputy from the Holos faction, wrote about this on his Telegram channel.

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