On the 180th day of Russia’s large-scale military invasion of Russia on Monday, August 22, 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.

The course of hostilities

Russian offensives in eastern Ukraine appear to have exhausted the limited momentum they gained in late July and culminated in a daily report by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). According to experts, Russian troops “show a persistent inability to turn small tactical successes into operational ones”, and this could prevent them from making significant territorial advances in the coming months unless other significant changes take place on the battlefield.

According to the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Russian forces are still trying to establish full control over the Luhansk and Donetsk regions, restore the combat capability of the affected units and prevent a possible counter-offensive by Ukrainian forces in the south. . Troops of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation made unsuccessful attempts to advance in the Slavyansk, Bakhmut and Avdeevsky directions.

In turn, the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that Russian troops destroyed eight Ukrainian army command posts and six ammunition depots in one day.

The head of the Joint Press Coordination Center of the Defense Forces of Southern Ukraine, Natalya Humenyuk, confirmed the information about the attacks on the Antonovsky Bridge in the Kherson region, saying that the Armed Forces of Ukraine continue to maintain fire control over o transport arteries in the occupied territories. At the same time, as the Interfax agency stated in reference to the deputy head of the occupation “administration” of the Kherson region, Kirill Stremousov, as a result of the attack by Ukrainian troops on the Antonovsky bridge, two people were killed and 16 others were wounded.

On the night of August 22, the Russian army fired on three districts of the Dnepropetrovsk region – Nikopol, Krivorozh and Sinelnikovsky, said the head of the regional military administration Valentin Reznichenko. As a result of the bombing, according to preliminary data, four residents of Nikopol were injured, two of them were hospitalized. In addition, a Russian Su-35 aircraft attacked one of the infrastructure facilities in the Odessa region with a Kh-59 missile. There were no casualties, said regional military administration spokesman Sergei Bratchuk.

Ukraine named the number of soldiers killed

About 9,000 Ukrainian servicemen died in the war unleashed by Russia, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny told the Defenders forum. “Not only the military and not only those who took up arms participate in this war, but also our little children, who are not to blame for anything, except for the fact that they were born here and at this time. they are really nothing they do not understand what is going on, but they definitely need protection both near Soledar, Bakhmut, Velika Novoselka, and here, because their father went to the front and, perhaps, is one of those nearly 9,000 heroes who died,” takes Zaluzhny’s words “Interfax -Ukraine”.

At the same time, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced further Russian losses during the invasion of Ukraine. In the last 24 hours, the number of Russian military personnel killed has increased by 200 to approximately 45,400, the number of Russian tanks destroyed – from 7 to 1919, armored fighting vehicles – from 6 to 4230, artillery systems – from 4 to 1032, defense – by 4 to 145, drones – by 9 to 815, cruise missiles – by 4 to 194.

additional sanctions

Estonia has asked the European Union to impose additional sanctions against Russia for the invasion of Ukraine. “We must raise the price of aggression before winter sets in. Seven packages were not enough to pressure Putin to end the war against Ukraine,” Estonian Foreign Minister Urmas Reinsalu told Vikerraadio. He listed the proposed measures to be included in the new EU sanctions package. Among them are a comprehensive embargo on energy carriers, further restrictions on certain groups of goods and people, the final separation of Russian banks from the SWIFT settlement system, as well as a ban on Russian citizens from entering the EU.

New Zealand will introduce new sanctions against officials appointed by the Kremlin to administer Ukraine’s occupied territories, said the country’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta. “These sanctions build on previous measures against political and military figures in the separatist administrations of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Today’s measures affect 48 officials and one organization,” the minister said in a statement posted on the country’s government website. The names of those to be included in the sanctions list are not specified.

The FSB of the Russian Federation announced the disclosure of the murder of Daria Dugina

The Federal Security Service (FSB) of the Russian Federation announced that it had solved the murder of the daughter of Russian ideologue Alexander Dugin, journalist Daria Dugin, and blamed Kyiv for it. “The crime was prepared and committed by the Ukrainian special services,” said the FSB’s Center for Public Affairs (CSP).

According to the CSO, the perpetrator of the crime is a citizen of Ukraine Natalia Vovk. She is said to have arrived in Russia on July 23, accompanied by her minor daughter and, after the murder, left for Estonia via the Pskov region. In order to obtain information about Dugina and prepare the assassination attempt, Vovk installed himself in the house where the journalist lived, according to the FSB.

In the “DPR” confirmed the holding of a court on the “Azov”

Action in support of Ukrainian prisoners of war

The “head” of the self-proclaimed “People’s Republic of Donetsk”, Denis Pushilin, once again confirmed his intention to hold a “court” on Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol (Donetsk region). According to him, it can start before the end of the summer. On August 21, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned the Kremlin that any negotiations with the Russian Federation would be impossible if the occupiers held a demonstrative “trial” of captured Azovstal defenders in Mariupol.

The price of gas in Europe has exceeded $3,000

The price of gas in Europe for the first time since early March exceeded $3,000 per thousand cubic meters amid news about the suspension of Russian gas supplies through the Nord Stream pipeline. Late last week, Russian company Gazprom announced that it would suspend gas supply via Nord Stream for 3 days from August 31 to September 2, due to the need to carry out scheduled maintenance and preventive maintenance of the Trent 60 unit gas compressor. in the compression station (COP) “Porto”, responsible for pumping raw material through the pipeline. The Trent 60 is currently the only unit in operation, the company said.