US Expects Bigger Russian Attacks on Flag Day, Issues Security Alert

National Flag Day and commemoration of independence from the Russian empire. Two commemorations in Ukraine between this Tuesday August 23 and Wednesday 24 that are far from the celebrations of the past and today are cause for fear.

The US government reinforced kyiv’s concerns in recent hours when its embassy in the Ukrainian capital issued a security alert and ordered its diplomatic staff and any of its citizens on Ukrainian soil to leave the country immediately.

“The State Department has information that Russia is intensifying its efforts to launch attacks against civilian infrastructure and government facilities in Ukraine in the coming days,” he noted.

In addition to Moscow’s blows to the sovereignty of its former ally in the former Soviet Union, Washington’s warning gains strength just after the FSB, the main Russian security service, accused the Ukrainian special services of the death of Daria Dúguina , daughter of who is considered by the West as the “ideologue” of President Vladimir Putin, Alexander Dugin.

kyiv rejects any link to the car bomb attack that killed him and the National Republican Army (NRA), a group made up of “activists, military and politicians” who opposes the Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, claimed responsibility for the act. .

It is feared that the Russian attacks will intensify, but in any case the Moscow troops have not stopped attacking. This Tuesday, Ukrainian sources reported that the Russian Army raided a boiler plant in the city of Mariupol, in the east of the nation.

In Dnipro, in the center-east, several explosions were recorded and a series of Russian projectiles fell on houses, according to the mayor, Borys Filatov.

“Please keep yourselves covered. There are already rockets falling on private houses,” he warned the population in a message posted on his Telegram account.

The sense of fear that pervades the war is also focused with particular attention on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in southeastern Ukraine and the largest in Europe. A new bombardment was registered in its surroundings in the morning hours. Air strikes and constant fighting in the area are raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe, with the UN calling the situation there “critical.”

Zelensky: The Ukrainian flag will fly again in the occupied areas

On the occasion of the National Flag Day, the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, delivered a speech in which he emphasized that your country will not give up until you recover all the areas that the Russians have occupied during the six months that the war has been going on. Among them, Donetsk, Lugansk or Melitopol, and even the province of Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014.

“The blue and yellow flag of Ukraine will fly again where it should be. In all the temporarily occupied cities and towns of Ukraine (…) No matter how anyone tries to twist history, these colors are historically associated with Crimea, ”she maintained.

In recent days, Zelensky has also warned that a greater threat from Moscow is looming. “We must be aware that this week Russia may try to do something particularly nasty, something particularly cruel,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian president is meeting in the capital with his Polish counterpart, Andrzej Duda, who arrived on Tuesday to hold talks on the current war situation, economic and humanitarian support, and bilateral cooperation, according to the office of the Presidency. polish

UN: Russia will commit war crimes if it illegally tries Ukrainian prisoners

The United Nations Organization (UN) said it is “very concerned” about the planned trials against Ukrainian soldiers captured in Mariupol, a port city whose control was proclaimed by Moscow last April.

The agency indicated that such a process in itself could constitute a “war crime.”

“There are videos and photos in the press and social networks of the construction of huge cages in the Mariupol Philharmonic compound, and the idea would be to put the prisoners in those cages during the hearings and this is not acceptable, it is an act of humiliation,” said UN Human Rights Office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani.

Shamdasani insisted that International Humanitarian Law “prohibits the creation of courts with the sole purpose of judging prisoners of war, which deprives the accused of their right to an ordinary and fair trial, and which amounts to a war crime.”

Added to this panorama are the accusations of Ukrainian soldiers who became captives after the battle of Mariupol, who accused the Russian forces of torture during their captivity.

The soldiers, who belonged to the Azov regiment and were released as part of a prisoner exchange, said they saw comrades beaten until their bones broke.

“Some had needles inserted into their wounds, others were tortured with water (…) They stripped us naked, forced us to squat while naked. If one of the boys raised his head, they would immediately start beating him,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg.

According to international norms, which establish the minimum rules in times of war, combatants with prisoner of war status have immunity and cannot be prosecuted for participating in conflicts.

Yet Russia continues these and other violations while justifying a “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine.

With Reuters, AP, EFE and local media