Ukraine Daily

Monday, August 22

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Russia’s war against Ukraine

A boy wrapped in Ukrainian national flag holds a Ukrainian national flag as he stands on top of a Russian military vehicles displayed in the downtown area on August 21, 2022 in Kyiv, Ukraine. On August 24, Ukraine celebrates its 1991 declaration of independence from the USSR. Wednesday also marks six months since Russia launched its large-scale invasion of Ukraine. Scores of burnt-out Russian military vehicles were left around Kyiv after its failed attempt to seize the Ukrainian capital in the first month of the war. (Photo by Alexey Furman/Getty Images)

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Zelensky: No negotiations possible if Russia tries Ukrainian soldiers in Mariupol. In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelensky said that if “absurd and disgusting trial” of Ukrainian soldiers takes place in Mariupol it will eliminate the possibility of talks with Russia. “Russia will shut itself out of the negotiations table. There will be no talks. Our country said everything it wanted,” Zelensky said.

Kyiv School of Economics: Russian invasion of Ukraine has caused direct losses worth $113 billion since Feb. 24. Maksym Nefyodov, head of reform support projects at the Kyiv School of Economics, said that the team is actively collecting satellite images to analyze the destruction caused by the Russian military and using those in the “Russia will pay” project to assess needs for future recovery.

Intelligence: Russia lacks volunteers to set up new units. Ukraine’s Defense Ministry’s Intelligence Directorate said that in one Russian region the formation of a tank battalion, which started in early July, has been put on hold after only 30 people signed contracts to serve in the battalion out of the 180 needed.

Ukraine’s municipalities update air raid sirens with chemical, radiation hazards sounds. The Center for Countering Disinformation said that some municipalities have set up chemical hazard signals through Ukraine’s Air Alert app for air raid alerts. Chemical hazards will sound like church bells, radiation danger is an alarm bell, and the alarm to signal evacuation from the city sounds like a train horn.

Russia partially closes sky over 3 regions near Ukraine. According to the General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces, the Russian command has closed the sky in certain sections of the Lipetsk, Voronezh, and Belgorod regions from Aug. 22 until Aug. 25. All three Russian regions are close to Ukraine’s Kharkiv and Luhansk oblasts.

Deputy PM: Ukraine wants ‘political clarity’ from EU leaders by end of this year on joining the bloс. Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister for European integration, said that the country had fulfilled 70% of its EU accession obligations. “We need to understand how long and difficult our path to EU membership will be,” Stefanishyna said. The EU granted Ukraine candidate status on June 23, the first step on its path towards full-fledged membership

General Staff: Russian forces have partial success in some areas but Ukraine repels most offensives. The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported on Aug. 21 that Ukraine repelled Russian offensives in Kharkiv and Donetsk oblasts. Russian forces conducted airstrikes north and west of occupied Donetsk, near Mariinka, Vodyane, Krasnohorivka, Novomykhailivka, and in southern Ukraine, north of Mykolaiv, the General Staff said. In the east, Russia had partial success in the direction of Pisky, and in the south, in the Vasylki-Blahodatne direction east of Mykolaiv.

Russian official confirms explosions in Crimea. Mikhail Razvozhaev, head of the Russian occupation government in Ukraine’s Sevastopol, said Russian air defense had hit targets approaching the Belbek military airfield near Sevastopol on the evening of Aug. 21.

Russian forces kidnap two college directors in Kherson Oblast. Nova Kakhovka Mayor Volodymyr Kovalenko said Iryna Dubas and Oksana Yakubova were kidnapped after complaints from a Russian-appointed college director.

Daughter of Alexander Dugin, ideologist behind Kremlin’s war in Ukraine, killed near Moscow. Daria Dugina, 29, an active supporter of Russia’s war against Ukraine, sanctioned by U.S., was killed by a car bomb on Aug. 20. Dugin is a Russian political philosopher and ultranationalist who backs the idea of dismemberment of Ukraine and other former Soviet countries and making them part of Russia. In the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has called for killings of Ukrainians.

Unknown Russian group claims responsibility for murder of imperialist ideologue’s daughter. The National Republican Army, a group that had not been known before Aug. 21, is responsible for the murder of Daria, the daughter of Russian imperialist Alexander Dugin, former Russian lawmaker Ilya Ponomaryov said. He claimed that the group had authorized him to issue the statement. “We… (are outlawing) the initiators of the war and those who rob and oppress the peoples of Russia,” the group allegedly said. “We declare President Putin a usurper of power and a war criminal who amended the Constitution, unleashed a fratricidal war between Slavic peoples, and sent Russian soldiers to certain and senseless death.” Daria Dugina, who actively supported Russia’s war against Ukraine, was killed by a car bomb on Aug. 20.

Russian forces shell cemetery in Marhanets from Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Yevhen Yevtushenko, head of the administration of the Nikopol district, said Russian troops shelled the cemetery with artillery from across the Dnipro River on Aug. 21.

Read our exclusive stories

As Ukrainian soldiers fight Russia on the front lines, workers at Ukraine’s state employment centers are fighting their own battle: finding jobs for the hundreds of thousands of people who are now unemployed as a result of Russia’s war. Ukraine’s unemployment rate remains record high amid war, but labor market is recovering in some regions. Read our analysis here.

The human cost of Russia’s war

Woman killed in Russian attack on Dnipropetrovsk Oblast. Valentyn Reznichenko, the region’s governor, said that a 59-year-old woman was killed as a result of Russian shelling of the Zelenodolsk community south of Kryvyi Rih. Six other civilians, including a 9-year-old boy, were injured. All the wounded were hospitalized, and one person is in critical condition.

International response

Sweden opposes total ban on Russian tourist visas. Swedish Minister for Integration and Migration Anders Ygeman said his country supports strict limitations on visas for Russians, such as eliminating the simplified visa applications. Ygeman said he believes that a complete ban would prevent Russian dissidents and researchers from coming into EU, which is “an exchange we still want to have with Russia.”

Minister: If Germany stops supplying arms to Ukraine, millions of people will be left to their fate. German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin refuses to talk “even about the simplest issues,” making it impossible to end the war through negotiations. The German government had been previously accused of delaying and blocking arms supplies to Ukraine.

In other news

Ukrainian athlete wins gold in high jump at European Championships. Yaroslava Mahuchikh, 20, became Ukraine’s first female athlete to get gold in the high jump with a result of 1.95 meters on the last day of the multi-sport European Championships in Munich.

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Today’s Ukraine Daily was brought to you by Alisa Soboleva, Alexander Khrebet, Natalia Datskevych, Oleg Sukhov, Lili Bivings, Oga Rudenko, Olena Goncharova, and Anastasiia Malenko.

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