Ukraine war must end with liberation of Crimea – Zelensky

The war in Ukraine began with Crimea and must end with its liberation, President Volodymyr Zelensky has said.

Ukraine's president was speaking after a string of explosions hit a Russian airbase there, killing one person.

Mr Zelensky did not mention Tuesday's blasts but said: "Crimea is Ukrainian and we will never give it up."

Russia's defence ministry said ammunition detonated at the base. Meanwhile, Ukraine denied any responsibility for the explosions.

In a separate development, Ukrainian officials say 13 people were killed in overnight Russian strikes in the central Dnipropetrovsk region, and another one in the Zaporizhzhia region in the south.

Crimea is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine - but the Black Sea peninsula was annexed by Russia in 2014 after a referendum which the global community sees as illegitimate. Many Ukrainians see this as the start of their war with Russia.

Its still not clear what caused the explosions on the Russian air base on Crimea peninsula, whether it were missiles, sabotage, or tehcncila accident. Clear seems to be that the pattern of explosions indicate that ammunition went up. On videos known, there is no sign of incomig fire or counter fire.


I think sabotage or partisan acitvity - an attack from the ground - is more likely than missile fire. But that is just my guts feeling, not more.

Agreed :yep:

G7 nations call on Russia "immediately hand back full control" of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Ukraine.

The actions of Russia's armed forces are significantly raising the risk of a nuclear accident or incident, the G7 says.

Russian shelling in central Ukraine kills at least 16 people - the governor of Dnipropetrovsk region says 13 died in the town of Marhanets.

Two civilians died in the Donetsk region, while a woman was killed in Zaporizhzhia.

The US will provide $89m (£73m) to Ukraine for removing land mines put in place by Russian forces.

The war in Ukraine began with Crimea and must end with its liberation, President Volodymyr Zelensky says.

The UK's Ministry of Defence has posted its daily defence intelligence update and says these are the latest developments from Ukraine:

Russian commanders are highly likely to face competing priorities with reinforcing their offensive, and strengthening their defences, in the eastern Ukrainian Donbas region.

Russia has almost certainly established a major new ground forces formation - 3rd Army Corps (3 AC) - based at Mulino in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, east of Moscow. Russia likely plans to get resources from newly-formed "volunteer" battalions, which are being raised across the country, the MoD says.

Regional politicians in Russia have confirmed potential 3 AC recruits are being offered lucrative cash bonuses once they deploy to Ukraine. Recruitment is open for men up to 50 years of age and with only middle-school education.

It will probably be difficult for Russia to bring 3 AC up to strength given very limited levels of popular enthusiasm for volunteering for combat in Ukraine.

https://i.postimg.cc/sx1GGXG6/0be455...ddf2b925cf.jpg

Ukrainian special forces are behind attack on airfield in occupied Crimea, - Washington Post

Ukrainian special forces struck the Russian air base in occupied Crimea.

The Washington Post writes about this with reference to an unnamed Ukrainian official, Censor.NET reports.

The authors of the material believe that this event will lead to an escalation of the conflict.

At the same time, the publication writes, the attack on occupied Crimea demonstrates that Ukraine can strike at the rear of the Russians and strike from a greater distance.

On August 9, loud explosions rang out in the occupied Crimea from the Russian air base in Novofedorivka.

Russia said that an aviation munition had exploded and that there was allegedly no fire damage. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine "cannot determine the cause of the fire" at the airfield of the occupiers in the Ukrainian Crimea, but strongly recommends that they study the rules of fire safety and do not smoke where it does not belong.

President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that Ukraine will definitely return the occupied Crimea, and the Russian war must end on the peninsula, where it began in 2014.

Ukraine’s long-awaited southern counteroffensive begins with a bang in Crimea
 

While careful not to confirm — or deny — that Ukrainian forces were responsible for the explosions that rocked a Russian airbase, two government officials said the blast marks the start of a major counterattack. Blasts that rocked a Russian military airfield in forcibly annexed Crimea signal the start of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the south and a critical new phase of the war that could shape its ultimate outcome, two Ukrainian officials told POLITICO.

The series of explosions Tuesday sent huge fireballs and mushroom clouds of black smoke into the sky, scattering terrified Russian vacationers who were seen in videos shared on social media scrambling for safety on a beach and fleeing by car over the Crimea bridge to Russia. https://www.politico.eu/article/ukra...n-bang-crimea/

Does Ukraine Have A Stash Of Domestically Developed Ballistic Missiles?
 

Much about what caused a series of explosions earlier today that tore through Russia's Saki Airbase, situated near the village of Novofedorivka on the occupied Crimean Peninsula, remains murky. Russia had claimed what happened was an accident, and that the resulting damage was minimal and caused no casualties, but provided no hard evidence to substantiate this and ordered an evacuation of surrounding areas. Some Ukrainian officials claimed that the incident was a strike, with a subset of them further saying it was carried out using unspecified domestically-developed stand-off weapons. If it was indeed a standoff strike from outside Crimea, it would have had to involve a weapon that Ukraine doesn't officially possess, but they certainly were close to in recent years. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...istic-missiles

Russian air base in occupied Crimea is absolutely legal target for Armed Forces, - Wallace

Great Britain still does not know the cause of the explosions at the Russian airbase in the occupied Crimea, but it certainly does not consider Russia’s explanation plausible.

British Defense Minister Ben Wallace said this to the ВВС when he arrived in Denmark for a conference dedicated to helping Ukraine, Censor.NET reports.

"This obviously does not happen because of a thrown butt," said the British minister.

At the same time, he called the "unlikely" version that these explosions could be the result of the impact of missiles given to Ukraine by the West.

In any case, Wallace believes, the Russian air base in Crimea is a perfectly legitimate target for the Ukrainian military.

Conflicting Claims Swirl Around Russian Airbase Blasts
 

What happened at a Russian base in Crimea remains murky, with some officials claiming it was the work of a special operations unit. Claims continue to swirl surrounding a series of explosions that rocked Russia's Saki Air Base on the occupied Crimean Peninsula yesterday. Various Ukrainian officials have offered conflicting explanations about what happened. Statements from them, on and off the record, now include flat denials that their country was involved at all, as well as that it was an attack carried out by pro-Ukraine guerrillas or Ukrainian special operations forces, or a strike involving a domestically-developed weapon system. Even reported details about the exact scope and scale of the damage, as well as fatalities and injuries, have varied greatly. https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zon...airbase-blasts

Russians Moving Air Defense Systems to Front Lines
 

The movement of Russian military equipment has been recorded in Mariupol, a southern Ukrainian port city temporarily occupied by Russian troops.

Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to Mariupol’s mayor, said this in a Telegram post, Ukrinform reports.

“Mariupol. We record the movement of military equipment. Yesterday, between 08:00 and 08:20, four tractor units loaded with S-300 systems with ‘V’ markings drove along Metalurhiv Avenue and Nikopolsky Avenue in the Donetsk direction. Since there is no confirmation that these systems were moved to Mariupol today, it looks like the air defense systems were moved closer to the front lines,” he said.

Between February 24 and August 10, Ukraine’s Armed Forces eliminated about 42,800 Russian troops, including 160 in the past day alone.

https://www.kyivpost.com/russias-war...pol-mayor.html

re Crimea, keep them guessing.
Just get the message through that no invading russian soldier or depot is safe.

Was it Goebbels who said something with you can call me(some woman name) if the allied drop one bomb on Berlin.

Lets jump some decades forward to yesterdays Crimea.

Could it be so that the Russian is angry/disappointed that Ukraine manage to hit one of their well protected Airbase in Crimea, that they refuse to admit it and instead come with the explanation it was due to open fire.

Markus

German media refer to the WP that it were Ukrainian commandos carrying out the attack on Saki airbase. Special forces.


P.S. Ooops, Jim beat me to it.