On the 189th day of the war, the escalation of tensions continues, the militants are concentrated in the Kherson area. Ukraine’s counteroffensive to capture Kherson will be a “slow operation to wear down the enemy,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said.

Highlights of Wednesday, the 189th day of the Ukrainian war, LIVETEXT:

06:50According to Ukrainian mass media, strong explosions were heard in Kherson since dawn

06:24The IAEA mission left Kyiv for the Zaporizhzhia NPP

23:33 Mikhail Gorbachev, who ended the Cold War without bloodshed but failed to prevent the collapse of the Soviet Union, has died at the age of 91, Russian news agencies reported on Tuesday, citing hospital officials, Reuters and AFP reported.

23:20The planned visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency to the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine will last one day, the head of the local administration established by Russia told Interfax on Tuesday, Reuters writes.

Evgeny Balytskyi, who said on Monday that he did not expect much from the IAEA’s visit, told the agency that inspectors “need to see the plant’s operations in one day.”

10:55 in the evening Sijarto: “If the war in Ukraine does not end soon, the consequences will be unpredictable”

Europe will face “unforeseen risks” if the war in Ukraine does not end soon, and the continent will see new waves of migration in addition to the direct consequences of the war, Hungary’s foreign minister said ahead of an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Prague on Tuesday, MTI news agency reported. .

Briefly about the last 24 hours of the war:

• Ukraine’s counteroffensive to capture Kherson will be a “slow operation to wear down the enemy,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said. “Many, of course, would like a full-scale offensive with news of the capture of a settlement by our army within an hour,” he wrote. “But we don’t fight like that… Funds are limited.

• The ex-head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service MI6 has hailed Ukraine’s counterattacks in Kherson, saying it was a key moment in the war. Sir Alex Younger told the BBC that Kyiv’s reaction confirmed that the two powers had “reached a certain balance, which is an unexpected and frankly welcome situation”.

• Ukraine is using wooden decoys that imitate modern US missile systems to force Russia to spend its missiles on them, The Washington Post reports. The fake missile systems attracted at least 10 Russian Kalibr cruise missiles.

• The UN cultural agency said it supports Ukraine’s request to include the port city of Odesa in the UNESCO World Heritage List. The UN agency also said it wants to add Odesa, Kyiv and Lviv to the list of world heritage sites that are “under threat”. Ukrainian officials have said Moscow’s troops are closing in on Odessa, and analysts believe Russia may soon target the city to completely block Ukraine’s access to the Black Sea.

• The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on Tuesday approved a number of laws and ratifications to bring the country closer to the European Union, Volodymyr Zelenskyi reported. “We are moving step by step towards full membership in the EU,” he added.

• This week, Zelenskyi met with the head of a group of experts on the inspection of the Russian-owned Zaporizhzhia NPP in southern Ukraine. “This is an important mission and we are doing everything we can to make it safe and at full capacity,” he said during a meeting with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi on Tuesday. Yevgeny Balytskyi, head of the Russian-appointed local administration, said he did not expect much from the IAEA’s visit, and told Interfax that inspectors “must complete the inspection within 24 hours.”

• Ukraine accuses Russia of deliberately bombing corridors through which IAEA inspectors pass. Presidential adviser Andriy Yermak said that Russia wants to push the UN team through Crimea and parts of Luhansk and Donetsk regions temporarily occupied by Moscow forces. “Russia is trying to disrupt the visit of the IAEA mission to the NPP by simulating combat operations in Energodar and bombing the area near the NPP,” he said.

• At least five people were killed and 12 wounded as a result of Russia’s shelling of Kharkiv, Zelenskyi said. “Only one Russian explosion in Kharkiv today claimed the lives of five people, another 12