Zelensky warned that Russia’s attacks “could multiply” before Independence Day

First modification: 08/22/2022 – 03:10

“Moscow could try something especially ugly in the next few days.” This is the warning issued by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a speech broadcast on national television. The announcement is made in the days leading up to August 24, the date on which the sixth month of war against Russia will be celebrated and the 31st anniversary of Ukraine’s independence.

This announcement came in a context in which the attacks in the east and south of the country seem to continue. The bombings registered in the town of Nikopol, a town located in the surroundings of the Zaporihia nuclear power plant, which in recent hours has reported the explosion of up to 25 missiles, are of particular concern.

Fighting around what is Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has raised fears of another Chernobyl-like nuclear disaster. Given this, the political leaders of the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany called for the launch of a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.

This plant has been under Russian power since March, a few weeks after the war began. According to Elysee sources, Joe Biden, Emmanuel Macron, Boris Johnson and Olaf Scholz held a telematic meeting in which they highlighted “the importance of allowing an IAEA mission on the ground to be possible with the necessary security guarantees”.

For this to be possible, it is necessary for Vladimir Putin to give the go-ahead for a possible inspection of this organization. That is why Emmanuel Macron has held talks with the Russian president on the subject. Although the negotiations come at a particularly tense moment after the assassination of the daughter of Alexander Dugin, one of Putin’s closest allies and a theoretician with great influence over the Kremlin.

The shelling also continues over Odessa

The situation is reproduced in the south of Ukraine. The city of Odessa, the main exit port for the country’s raw materials through the Black Sea, came under missile attack throughout the night. All this at a time when attempts are being made to carry out the negotiated plan of the United Nations to get various types of grain out of Ukraine to different destinations.

Apparently these attacks have taken place from the Russian fleet located in the Black Sea and occurred at a time when up to seven different ships are being loaded to leave in the coming days. The launched missiles were a total of five, of which three hit the ground, although they only damaged agricultural areas, so there were no fatalities. The other two missiles were detected by the Ukrainian military and neutralized before causing any damage.

Russia, for its part, claimed on Sunday that the missiles had destroyed an ammunition depot containing US-made HIMARS rocket missiles, something fully denied by Ukraine.

The control of the south of the country, the only access that this nation has to the sea, is a fundamental issue for kyiv in the course of the conflict. In recent months, this nation has lost almost half of its coastline due to the Russian campaign in cities like Mariupol. Now, the main thing for Ukraine is to protect Odessa, one of its largest cities and its main port.

Together with the southern campaign, the eastern one is the other most significant. In the Donbass region, Russian troops have made small advances on some localities, although the war, in general, is in a phase of stagnation in which progress is minimal on the part of both sides.

With Reuters and EFE