The daughter of Putin “whisperer” Alexander Dugin was killed by a car bomb. Russia apparently wants to disconnect the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from electricity. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
09:23: The Russian propagandist Darya Dugina has fallen victim to a car bomb attack in Moscow. The journalist and political scientist is an advocate of the Ukraine war. Her father is the Russian right-wing nationalist Alexander Dugin: He is considered one of the most influential figures of neo-racism and shares the conviction that Russia must once again become a great empire that stretches as far as Western Europe. Dugin is said to have given the Kremlin impetus for the invasion of Ukraine. He is repeatedly dubbed “Putin’s brain” or “whisperer” in the media.
According to investigators, his daughter’s car exploded while driving near Moscow. A video shows the work of the experts on site. According to initial findings, an explosive device was mounted on the vehicle, which detonated. There were videos of the burning vehicle on social networks. It will be determined in different directions, it said in the statement of the investigators.
According to initial estimates, the attack was aimed at Dugin himself. However, after visiting a patriotic festival together on Saturday, he changed his mind at short notice and did not drive the car. Dugina was on the British sanctions list for her propaganda crimes.
The attack sparked horror among Russian nationalists and pro-Russian forces in Ukraine. “The terrorists of the Ukrainian regime tried to liquidate Alexander Dugin and blew up his daughter… in the car,” wrote the leader of the separatist stronghold of Donetsk, Denis Pushilin, on the Telegram news channel. Darya will be remembered – as a “real Russian girl”. Some commentators in Ukraine doubted that forces in the country attacked by Russia are currently capable of carrying out such an assassination.
Sunday, August 21, 8:21 a.m .: Two Russians and a Ukrainian citizen were arrested near a military facility in Albania, a NATO country. As the Ministry of Defense announced on Saturday evening, one of the men tried to take photos of the Gramsh factory, where disused weapons are dismantled.
One of the two Russians used a sedative spray against two guards to resist an inspection, the ministry said. Two other suspects, a Russian and a Ukrainian citizen, were arrested near the factory. The two soldiers were taken to a hospital in Tirana with eye injuries.
Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama said the three men were suspected of espionage. Military police, secret services and anti-terrorist experts began investigations on site. Albania has been a NATO member since 2009.
10.12 a.m .: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj has accused Russia of wanting to disconnect the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant from the Ukrainian power grid. In a video speech, Zelenskyy said Russia was planning to connect it to the Russian power grid in a “large-scale provocation.” That could interrupt the supply, according to the fears of the British “Guardian”. If the reactor cooling system stops working, the safety of the power plant is threatened, they say.
On Friday, the Ukrainian state energy supplier Energoatom announced that there were indications of appropriate preparations. French President Emmanuel Macron also confirmed the warnings: Russia may be planning to disconnect from the Ukrainian power grid. A failure of electricity supplies from Zaporizhia would hit southern Ukraine in particular.
The nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine, which has been under Russian control since March, is the largest in Europe. It has already been shot at several times. Moscow and Kyiv blame each other for the attacks.
Saturday, August 20, 7:35 a.m.: Due to the upcoming short supply stop for Russian gas through the Baltic Sea, Ukraine is offering its pipelines as a replacement. “The capacities of the Ukrainian gas transmission system and the route through Poland are more than sufficient to ensure the fulfillment of the delivery obligations of Russian gas to European countries.” This was announced by the operator of the Ukrainian gas pipeline network in Kyiv on Friday evening.
The alternative route is “in view of chronic interruptions to the work of Nord Stream 1”. The Russian gas giant Gazprom announced on Friday that it would stop the flow of gas through the Nord Stream 1 Baltic Sea pipeline for maintenance work from August 31 to September 2. In any case, only 20 percent of the pipeline’s capacity is currently being used.
Russia ignores this alternative delivery option, the Ukrainian operator said. There are no objective reasons for limiting gas supplies to the EU. Gazprom is trying to put pressure on European countries to stop supporting Ukraine. Despite the Russian war of aggression, some countries, especially in south-eastern Europe, continue to receive their gas in transit through Ukraine.
5.10 p.m .: Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French colleague Emmanuel Macron have spoken out in favor of an inspection of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine by international experts. In a telephone call, the two heads of state confirmed that representatives of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) should assess the situation on site, the Kremlin said on Friday.
Russia assured the “necessary assistance”, it said. The Élysée Palace also said that Macron “stressed his concern about the risks that the situation at the Zaporizhia power plant poses for nuclear safety and security”.
For days, the Russian and Ukrainian leaders have been blaming each other for the shelling of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. Russia also rejects international demands to withdraw its own troops from the nuclear power plant site, which they have seized in the course of the war against Ukraine that has been going on for around six months. With a view to a visit by international nuclear experts, there had recently been disagreements about the travel arrangements.
According to the Kremlin, Putin and Macron also spoke about the planned reconnaissance mission to Olenivka in the part of eastern Ukraine occupied by Russia, where around 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in a camp at the end of July. Here, too, Moscow emphasized that it was willing to cooperate. However, the United Nations recently said that the necessary assurances that would guarantee safe access still had to be worked on. Moscow and Kyiv also blame each other for the attack on Olenivka.
3:42 p.m .: In the past few days there have been increasing Ukrainian attacks on Crimea. In a press briefing, Western secret services have now shown how concerned the Russian army is with these attacks.
US journalist Emma Burrows reported on the briefing on Twitter. A secret service official explained there that more than half of the Russian air force stationed on the Black Sea was paralyzed by the attack on an airfield near Saky. “The Russian system is busy finding someone to blame for the debacle.”
Another problem for Putin’s soldiers: “The Russian army is slowly running out of ammunition,” Burrows quoted the intelligence official as saying. There is a “long series of evidence for this.” According to the secret service, these shortcomings will sooner or later limit Russian attack options.
The war in Ukraine is now in a “different phase. The conflict is not at a peak with sustained shelling,” it said. This is mainly because both sides are aware that the war is “a marathon, not a sprint,” Burrow continues.
10:17 a.m .: According to a report by “Welt”, the federal government has been blocking requests from Ukraine for further arms deliveries for months. These have been brought up repeatedly by Ukrainian diplomats in the Federal Ministry of Defense over the past ten weeks, it said on Friday. There, as well as in Olaf Scholz’s (SPD) chancellery, the inquiries were obviously put on hold.
According to the report, there have been high-level meetings in the Ministry of Defense several times a month since June, in which Minister Christine Lambrecht (SPD) also took part. The Ukrainian side has always asked for more deliveries of those types of weapons that Germany has already provided, namely the self-propelled howitzer 2000 and the Mars II multiple rocket launcher. So far, Germany has delivered ten self-propelled howitzers and three of the rocket launchers.
In addition, the Ukrainian side pushed for approval of the export of battle tanks and armored personnel carriers requested by the industry. In April, Ukraine had already received offers from the armaments group Rheinmetall to buy 100 Marder infantry fighting vehicles and 88 Leopard 1 main battle tanks, including training and ammunition, for a total of 268 million euros. According to the manufacturer, the device would be “quickly available”, but there was no reaction from the Chancellery.
Last week, the Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov also raised the concerns in a personal phone call with Lambrecht, according to “Welt”. The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, had previously done so in a telephone conversation with the foreign policy adviser to the chancellor, Jens Plötner. “Our requests were always taken down and written down,” according to Ukrainian government circles, “but that has had no effect so far”.
According to “Welt”, the Ministry of Defense said on request that the Ministry was “in contact with the Ukrainian side on many levels”. The aim is “the best possible support for Ukraine in its fight against the Russian aggressor”. However, no further details could be given.
In the West, Putin’s participation in the summit is considered problematic, especially since Volodymyr Zelenskyj, the president of Ukraine attacked by Russia, is also invited. Because of the war of aggression against the neighboring country, Russia is to be politically isolated. Several states have questioned their participation should Putin appear in person.
Tensions between the USA and China had recently increased again due to the visit of the Chairperson of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, to Taiwan.
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