On the 179th 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 is following developments on Sunday, August 21 (Moscow time).

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Russian Defense Ministry stated that in the Odessa region, near the village of Maiorskoye, Kalibr missiles destroyed a missile ammunition depot for US MLRS HIMARS and Western-made anti-aircraft systems. The fuel depot of the 102nd Territorial Defense Brigade was also destroyed in the Pole Gulyai area of ​​the Zaporozhye region, where, according to the agency, more than 100 tons of diesel for military equipment were stored, the Russian Defense Ministry said. in a daily briefing. In addition, two American M777 howitzers were destroyed in combat positions near the village of Knyazevka, Kherson region, the department added.

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Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine confirmed information about death of the head of the SBU department in the Kirovograd region Alexander Nakonechny. “According to the investigation, on August 20, 2022, around 10:25 pm, while in her own apartment, the wife of the lieutenant colonel heard the sound of a gunshot and found in one of the rooms the body of a wounded man. by firearm with no signs of life,” the ministry said in a statement. After Nakonechny’s death, a criminal case was started under the article on premeditated murder.

Podolyak: Ukraine is not involved in the death of Dugin’s daughter

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Adviser to the Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak assured that Kyiv was not involved in the death of Daria Dugina. “I emphasize that Ukraine, of course, has nothing to do with this, because we are not a criminal state, which is the Russian Federation, let alone a terrorist state,” he said on the air of the national marathon, adding that the murder of daughter of the ideologue of Alexander Dugin’s “Russian world” concept is evidence of the struggle for power and influence of various groups within the Russian Federation.

About that Russia’s Investigative Committee reported that the murder of Darya Dugina was ordered by unknown persons. Department head Alexander Bastrykin has taken the investigation of the case under his personal control.

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According to British military experts, the ranks of the Russian armed forces are critical of holding military competitions and festivals during the war in Ukraine. “A significant portion of the Russian military and security professionals likely consider it inappropriate to continue to deploy forces to participate in peacetime military ceremonial events while Russian troops suffer heavy losses in Ukraine,” the report reads. british defense ministry on twitter. The agency notes that former Defense Minister of the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Donetsk” Igor Girkin has become an increasingly outspoken critic of the way the Kremlin has been waging the war in Ukraine since the full-scale invasion began. . In particular, Girkin is quoted as saying that in Russia at the end of the sixth month of the war “they still play tank biathlon and hold military band festivals”. The tank biathlon is a high-profile event of the International Army Games, which, as in regular years, took place near Moscow last week.

Media: The head of the SBU department in the Kirovograd region was found dead

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In Kropyvnytskyi on the night of August 20 he was found dead Head of the Department of the Security Service of Ukraine in the Kirovograd region Alexander Nakonechny, according to Ukrainian media. The SBU and the State Bureau of Investigation are investigating the circumstances of the death. “Once the information has been collected in full and analyzed, we will inform the public,” writes the publication “Grechka” in reference to the head of the SBU press service, Yulia Tkach.

Andrei Lavrus, deputy of the Kropyvnytsky District Council, citing sources in law enforcement agencies, said that Nakonechny had committed suicide. “According to the preliminary version, the colonel was at the place of residence and shot himself in the head with a pistol. He died on the spot from the gunshot wound,” Lavrus wrote on Telegram.

According to the publication Obozrevatel, Nakonechny’s body was found at home by his wife. “According to preliminary data, he committed suicide using a premium firearm – a pistol,” the sources said.

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four ships of agricultural products left the Ukrainian ports of Odessa, Chornomorsk and Yuzhny on the morning of August 21, are exporting 33,300 tonnes of food, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

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Behind the explosion of the car she was in daughter of the ideologue of the concept of the “Russian world” Alexander Dugin – Daria, Kyiv can stay. This was stated by the head of the self-proclaimed “DPR” Denis Pushilin and a member of the Russian occupational “administration” of the Zaporozhye region Vladimir Rogov. Daria Dugina died in the Moscow region as a result of a car explosion.

Kherson’s “administration” occupation forces citizens to cooperate

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The “administration” of the Kherson region appointed by the occupation forces continues to take measures to forcing local citizens to cooperate, according to the Ukrainian National Resistance Center. Threats of confiscation of property from companies that do not submit tax documents to the occupation “administration” by September 1 have become a common means of coercion. Parents who do not send their children to Russian schools are threatened with fines and property confiscation, and Kherson residents who have debts on utility bills are forced to write explanatory notes, despite earlier assurances made by the “administration” that the new “authorities” will forgive all utility bills.

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Russia will likely need to withdraw some of the troops from the front line to ensure the security of facilities in the annexed Crimea, according to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The Russian Federation’s inability to prevent attacks on facilities on the peninsula causes concern in Russian society, and this is evident in social media materials, which depict traffic jams formed in recent days on the way out of Crimea’s territory, experts say. This could indicate “a growing public concern about the effectiveness of measures taken by Russia to maintain security” on the peninsula.

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Kharkiv authorities On the eve of Ukraine’s Independence Day, the curfew in the city will be extended, Oleg Sinegubov, head of the Kharkiv OVA, said on his Telegram channel. On August 22, the movement restriction will take effect from 7pm to 7am the following morning, and on August 23, a curfew will be introduced in the city, which will last the entirety of Independence Day and will not be lifted until August 25 at 07:00 in the morning. According to Sinegubov, these measures should be introduced to “not give the enemy the chance of any provocation”.

The US will buy grain from Ukraine

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Despite gas supply problems, Germany should not consider opening the “Nord Stream – 2” as its solution, Prime Minister of the federal state of Saxony Michael Kretschmer (Michael Kretschmer) said in an interview with Tagesspiegel. According to the politician, the fuel supply could also be guaranteed with the help of Nord Stream 1, as the pipeline is working, and its reduction is just a reaction to EU sanctions. Therefore, Putin’s proposal to use Nord Stream 2 should be treated as a “poisoned proposal”.

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US will buy from Ukraine part of the grain at the blocked ports and redirect it to countries in need as part of the UN World Food Program, reports the Associated Press. For the moment, the beneficiary countries have not been identified, but under the initiative it is planned to purchase around 150,000 tonnes of cereals.

Food Program Director David Beasley noted that in 2021, grain from Ukraine accounted for half of the UN’s supply to countries in need, but the current situation, in which ships are forced to export grain from Ukrainian ports with restrictions, does not allow solving the problem. problem of the world food crisis.

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APU with the help of destroyed artillery warehouses and command post of Russian troops at Chernobaevka and Staritsy, informs the operational command “South”. During the day, rocket and artillery units of the Ukrainian army completed more than 230 “fire missions”, as a result of which the occupying forces lost 75 people, the Hyacinth-S self-propelled gun, two T-72 tanks and six more vehicles. armored, says the report.

Podolyak denied the use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian Armed Forces

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Cause mass poisoning of the Russian military in the area of ​​​​the village of Vasilyevka, in the Zaporozhye region, there can be alcohol intoxication and expired dry rations, the adviser to the head of the Cabinet of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podolyak said on his Telegram channel.

This is how the official reacted to the Russian Defense Ministry’s accusations of the use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian army – allegedly, precisely for this reason, at the end of July, soldiers who were in the Vasilyevka area were hospitalized with signs of poisoning. Podolyak compared the chemical weapons version with an explanation taken from “provincial tabloids.”

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captured Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), the Russian military sent for an indefinite period on “weekends” the ZNPP operational service officers and brought Rosatom representatives to the station, reports the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. As all of the station’s main Ukrainian personnel were previously suspended from work, this may indicate an intention to disconnect the ZNPP from the main power supply. A power outage will increase the likelihood of critical situations, “which, it seems, is the main objective of the deliberate actions of the Russian occupiers at the Ukrainian nuclear facility,” the department notes.

Zelensky warned of new “cruel” actions by the Russian Federation

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In the week of August 22-28, Russia “may try to make something especially nasty and something especially cruel“, declared President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky in the traditional night treatment. The politician connects this with important events for Ukraine – on August 24, the country celebrates Independence Day.

At the same time, Zelensky noted that during the six months of the war, the Russian Federation repeatedly committed “nasty and cruel things”, since one of its “main tasks” is to humiliate the Ukrainians, devalue their capabilities, heroes, and also ” spread disbelief, fear and conflict”.

Chronicle of events August 20 2:00 pm – 11:59 pm >>>

Chronicle of events August 20 00:00 – 13:59 >>>