Russia may launch an offensive in southern Ukraine’s Kherson region as it seizes large swaths of southern Ukraine, which it captured in the early stages of the invasion launched on February 24, but Kyiv has vowed a major counteroffensive and used modern Western weapons to strike Russian supply lines and ammunition depots . Three new ships with grain will leave Ukraine on Friday, Turkish Defense Minister Hulusi Akar said.

The main thing, 163 day of the war, LIVETEXT:

09:31The actions of Russian troops in Zaporizhzhia undermined the security of the nuclear power plant (Great Britain)

09:10Explosions in Mykolaiv

The mayor of the city Oleksandr Sienkovych reported that around 6:58 loud explosions rang out in Mykolaiv, Sienkovych called on residents to stay away from windows, Kyiv Independent writes.

08:42On Friday, Vladimir Putin will meet with the President of Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in the center of which will be talks about the war in Ukraine and Syria, The Guardian reports.

08:38A team of Turkish inspectors on Friday began checking a cargo ship before it was sent to collect grain from the Ukrainian port of Chornomorsk as part of an agreement on the resumption of Ukrainian grain exports, the Turkish Ministry of Defense reported.

The ministry released photos showing an inspection team boarding a boat to head to a Barbadian-flagged cargo ship anchored in the Black Sea, north of Istanbul’s Bosphorus.

08:08The dead bodies of civilians are still lying on the streets of Mariupol, Mayor’s adviser Petro Andryushchenko reports to Nexta.

07:37The Institute for the Study of War reports that as a result of the counteroffensive, Ukraine is likely to force Russia to reconsider its priorities.

On August 4, the American analytical center reported that Russian troops, probably in response to Ukraine’s counteroffensive operations in the Kherson region, are redeploying their troops and equipment to the Kherson region and west of Zaporizhzhia. According to experts, the threat of a Ukrainian counteroffensive and the weakening of Russian forces “for the first time allow Ukraine to actively shape the course of the war.”

07:27Russia will launch a reconnaissance satellite.

Next week, Russia will launch the Khayyam satellite on behalf of Iran to allow Tehran to monitor sensitive sites in the Middle East under a four-year deal. However, in the coming months, Moscow is expected to use the satellite for its own military interests in Ukraine, boosting its surveillance capabilities, two officials told The Washington Post.

07:17 Russian missiles hit Zaporozhye. The governor of the Zaporizhia region, Oleksandr Starukh, said that the outskirts of the city of Zaporizhia were hit by rocket fire on Friday around 3:05 am. According to preliminary information, there are no casualties, Kyiv Independent reports.

A summary of the most important news

• The Russians are preparing for an offensive in the Kherson region – “They seized a large amount of weapons and equipment”
• Russia burns gas intended for export to the EU on the border with Finland (press)
• Three new ships with grain will leave Ukraine on Friday, the Turkish Defense Minister reports
• VIDEO REPORT The horrors of war in Ukraine: How life goes on in a quarter destroyed by bombing
• Finland wants to limit Russian tourist visas
• Russia and Ukraine claim heavy losses in Donetsk
• How a colonel of the Russian special forces, a terrible special forces, sees the war in Ukraine: “The customer is not the United States”
• Bulgaria admits that it secretly sent weapons to Ukraine through Poland
• The Nobel laureate in economics says that the sanctions against Russia are working in an unexpected way
• Amnesty International: Ukraine endangers civilians by locating military bases in residential areas
• The Russian car market is in free fall. In July, car sales fell by 75%.
• Vladimir Putin posthumously made Olga “Korsa” Kachura, heroine of Donbas separatists, “Hero of Russia”