On the 173rd day of Russia’s large-scale military invasion of Russia on Monday, August 15, 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.

The Ukrainian side confirmed the attack on the PMC headquarters “Wagner”

On the morning of August 15, the head of Lugansk’s regional military-civilian administration, Serhiy Gaidai, confirmed that the Armed Forces of Ukraine had attacked the headquarters of the Russian private military company (PMC) Wagner near the city of Popasna the previous day. . 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 on his Telegram channel.

Earlier, Russian military correspondent Yuri Kotenok and Telegram channels associated with the PMC reported on the attack “on one of the sites” by Wagner PMC in the city of Popasnaya. As Radio Liberty noted, it was possible to determine the whereabouts of the military thanks to photographs published on August 8 by war correspondent Sergei Sreda. He later deleted his post.

Leviev: The strike at Wagner’s headquarters could have been staged

The founder of the investigation group Conflict Intelligence Team Ruslan Leviev does not exclude that the publication by the Russian military commander of photographs of the PMC Wagner headquarters could be a provocation of the Russian military, since these photos, according to Leviev, seem “very staged and ostentatious.” “Pro-Russian military correspondents are aware of the ban on filming military installations, locations, are aware of the possibility of arriving by coordinates, etc. from PMC Wagner. – Ed.)?” the expert wrote on Twitter.

One of the possible purposes of such a publication, according to Leviev, could be to provoke the Armed Forces of Ukraine to attack from multiple launch systems of HIMARS rockets. “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 a Haymars shot, we find the coordinates – we fight back,” explained Leviev.

Armed Forces of Ukraine: Russian military command leaves Kherson

Russian military command in the occupied Kherson is moving from the right bank to the left bank of the Dnieper, leaving the city, Natalya Gumenyuk, representative of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Ground Forces “South” operational command, said during a briefing at the Media Center Ukraine. . “After the Ukrainian Armed Forces attacks on enemy command posts, their command moves very quickly to the left bank of the Dnieper so as not to be isolated from safer territory,” Gumenyuk said.

Earlier, Yury Sobolevsky, the first deputy head of the Kherson Regional Council, also spoke about leaving the military command. Speaking on Ukrainian TV, he confirmed that artillery from the Armed Forces of Ukraine had destroyed all bridges over the Dnieper in the Kherson region, and now the Russian Armed Forces “do not have a single secure logistical route” that would allow them to supply the Kherson group.

Verkhovna Rada extended martial law and mobilization until November 21

Ukraine’s Verkhovna Rada supported the extension of martial law and mobilization in the country for another 90 days – until November 21, Yaroslav Zheleznyak, a deputy for the Holos faction, said on his Telegram channel. “For” voted 328 people’s deputies. On August 12, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky proposed to Parliament to extend martial law and the period of mobilization.

Under martial law, the Verkhovna Rada passed a bill on the forced seizure of property. 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.

The UN will support the IAEA mission in the ZNPP with the consent of Ukraine and Russia

The United Nations stands ready to support the deployment of any International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission to the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) if Russia and Ukraine agree to such a mission, UN Secretary-General Stéphane Dujarric said. , in a statement. Furthermore, Dujarric objected to Russian officials who accused the UN Secretariat of obstructing the visit of IAEA representatives to the ZNPP, emphasizing that the Secretariat does not have the authority to block or cancel IAEA activities.

Representatives from 42 countries, including Japan, the US, Canada, Turkey and the UK, as well as the EU, in a joint statement published on Aug. 14, called on Russia to withdraw troops from ZNPP territory. “The presence of the Russian armed 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 IAEA safety standards, and also prevents the IAEA from complying its safeguard mandate,” he said. the document emphasized.

Scholz: EU visa issue for Russians must be discussed

The issue of visas for Russians entering the European Union “must be discussed”, and at the level of individual EU states “there is room for discussion”, said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, commenting on proposals to ban the issuance of visas to Russians. . citizens. 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 a war for Putin, not for the Russian people,” stressed the head of the German government.

Last week, Scholz spoke out against a total ban on issuing visas to Russian citizens, calling it unfair to introduce penalties against all Russians. According to the chancellor, the European Union has already imposed extensive sanctions against members of the Russian leadership, and “this will continue”.