WAR IN UKRAINE: August 11, 2022
On Day 168 of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, eloquent defiance on Mykhailivska Square in Kyiv. Nearby is a display of captured Russian military equipment & civilian cars fired upon by Russian forces
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 169
Britain’s SKY News, citing a senior Ukrainian official, reported that Ukrainian Special Forces carried out the operation on a Russian airbase in Crimea. Sky hasn’t identified the source. If true, it represents a huge blow to Russia and will likely invite massive retaliation. Although as of late Wednesday evening, there were no air raid sirens in Kyiv or Lviv. Satellite images appear to show extensive damage and several destroyed Russian warplanes at the base, BBC reports. The base's main runways seem to be intact, but at least eight aircraft appear to be damaged and destroyed, with several craters clearly visible.
Foreign ministers from the G7 group of nations say Russia must immediately hand back control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Ukraine, BBC reported. The demand will fall on deaf ears in Moscow as it slides more towards rogue state status. The informal group of the world’s wealthiest nations accused Moscow's forces of putting the entire region in danger. The staff of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant is said to be under Russian command, and the Russian Armed Forces are said to be parking ammunition and equipment on the site of the plant.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has called on Western countries to ban all Russian visitors - and the Kremlin has responded with scorn. Russians should "live in their own world until they change their philosophy", Mr Zelensky told The Washington Post. Such a ban, he argued, would be more effective than the current sanctions, which bar Russian airlines and officials linked to the Kremlin - BBC
In response, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba called upon all EU and G7 states to stop issuing visas to Russians. In a Tweet he said: “Russians overwhelmingly support the war on Ukraine. They must be deprived of the right to cross international borders until they learn to respect them.”
At a round table discussion today at the Ukraine Media Center in Kyiv, a senior member of the Ukraine Armed Forces slammed reporting by Amnesty International on the war in Ukraine. Without naming them directly he said: “They’ve lost their sense of reality.” A controversial report accused Ukrainian forces of putting civilians in harm's way by setting up military bases in residential areas, including schools and other civilian infrastructure
Swedish co-founder leaves Amnesty Internationaldue to controversial report on Ukraine. “I have now been a member for almost sixty years. It is with a heavy heart that I, in view of Amnesty's statements on the war in Ukraine, end a long and rewarding commitment,” Per Wästberg, a co-founder of the organization, said. Amnesty International triggered a scandal by publishing a report on Aug. 4 claiming that Ukrainian troops are endangering civilians by deploying weapons in residential areas. Shortly after the report was published, Oksana Pokalchuk, head of Amnesty International's Ukrainian branch, also resigned in protest - Kyiv Independent
Russian authorities on Wednesday raided the home of a former state TV journalist who quit after making an on-air protest against Moscow’s war in Ukraine, and launched a criminal case against her on the charge of spreading false information about the Russian armed forces, her lawyer said on social media. The case against Marina Ovsyannikova was launched under a law, enacted after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, that penalizes statements against the military, lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov said. A conviction is punishable by up to 15 years in prison.
