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Russia-Ukraine war: Kyiv says nine Russian planes destroyed in past 24 hours – as it happened

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The claim by Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces comes after widely reported explosions at Russia’s Saki air base. This live blog is now closed

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Wed 10 Aug 2022 14.00 EDTFirst published on Wed 10 Aug 2022 00.31 EDT
Ukraine: Zelenskiy vows to 'liberate' Crimea from Russia – video

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Ukraine claims to have destroyed nine Russian planes following Crimea airport explosions

Without claiming explicit responsibility for an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea on Tuesday, Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said on Wednesday that it had destroyed nine Russian planes within the last 24 hours. It did not specify the locations. The claim follows widely reported explosions at Russia’s Saki air base.

Crimea’s regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said some 250 residents were moved to temporary housing after dozens of apartment buildings were damaged, but Russian authorities have generally sought to downplay the explosions. Unverified social media footage purports to show damage to planes on the ground at the airport.

Ukraine has not directly taken credit for the strike, but few seem to give much credence to a Russian explanation that it was an accidental explosion. In its daily update, Ukraine’s army increased the number of planes it had claimed to have destroyed to 232 from 223.

A graphic produced by the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine indicating an increase by nine of the number of aircraft it claims to have destroyed.
A graphic produced by the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine indicating an increase by nine of the number of aircraft it claims to have destroyed. Photograph: General staff of the armed forces of Ukraine / Facebook

The Associated Press has spoken with Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov about the explosions. He said President Vladimir Putin has long insisted Crimea is Russian and warned that any attempts to take it back would trigger massive retaliation. He claimed Moscow’s apparent swallowing of the strike showed Putin’s weakness.

“He’s expected to protect Crimea as Russia proper. Now he’s afraid to recognise that it was done by the Ukrainian armed forces,” he added.

Russian warplanes have used Saki to strike at areas in Ukraine’s south.

“Official Kyiv has kept mum about it, but unofficially the military acknowledges that it was a Ukrainian strike,” Zhdanov said.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said it couldn’t independently assess what caused the explosions, but noted that simultaneous explosions in two places at the base likely ruled out an accidental fire – but not the possibility of sabotage or a missile attack.

But, it added: “The Kremlin has little incentive to accuse Ukraine of conducting strikes that caused the damage since such strikes would demonstrate the ineffectiveness of Russian air defence systems.”

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Key events

Summary

The time in Kyiv is 9pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s main headlines:

  • The EU has been urged to introduce a travel ban on Russian tourists with some member states saying visiting Europe was “a privilege, not a human right” for holidaymakers. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with the Washington Post that the “most important sanction” was to “close the borders, because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land”.

  • China, which Russia has sought as an ally since being cold-shouldered by the west over its invasion of Ukraine, has called the US the “main instigator” of the crisis, Reuters reported. In an interview with the Russian state news agency Tass published on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, accused Washington of backing Russia into a corner with repeated expansions of the Nato defence alliance

  • Without claiming explicit responsibility for an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea on Tuesday, Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said on Wednesday that it had destroyed nine Russian planes within the last 24 hours. It did not specify the locations. The claim follows widely reported explosions at Russia’s Saki air base.

  • Crimea’s regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said some 250 residents were moved to temporary housing after dozens of apartment buildings were damaged, but Russian authorities have generally sought to downplay the explosions. Unverified social media footage purports to show damage to planes on the ground at the airport.

  • Crimea’s regional ministry of health has said that one person died and 13 people were injured as a result of explosions at the air base near Novofedorivka. The Russian military have said that “several aviation munitions detonated” in a storage area at the facility. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.

  • The British defence secretary Ben Wallace said the UK has “pretty much dismissed” most of the Russian “excuses” for explosions at an air base in Crimea, and said he thinks the site would be a “legitimate target” for the Ukrainians.

  • The United Nations expects to see a “big uptick” in applications for ships to export Ukraine grain after transit procedures were agreed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, a senior UN official said on Wednesday. The number of inbound vessels is expected to “grow in the near future” as grain deals are made, said Frederick Kenney, interim UN co-ordinator at the Joint Co-ordination Centre in Istanbul.

  • Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador and formally protested about the violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter on Tuesday, its foreign ministry said. “Estonia considers this an extremely serious and regrettable incident that is completely unacceptable,” the ministry said in a release, saying the helicopter had flown over a point in the southeast of the small Baltic nation without permission.

  • In his nightly address, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, did not discuss who was behind the attacks but vowed to “liberate” Crimea, saying: “This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – with its liberation.” An adviser to the president, Mikhail Podolyak, said Ukraine was not taking responsibility for the explosions, suggesting partisans might have been involved.

  • Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are reorienting the plant’s electricity production to connect to Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, according to Ukrainian operator Energoatom. “To do this, you must first damage the power lines of the plant connected to the Ukrainian energy system. From August 7 to 9, the Russians have already damaged three power lines. At the moment, the plant is operating with only one production line, which is an extremely dangerous way of working,” Energoatom president Petro Kotin told Ukrainian television. The plant, located not far from the Crimean peninsula, has six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors, and is capable of supplying power for four million homes.

  • The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power firm warned of the “very high” risks from shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south and said it was vital Kyiv regains control over the facility in time for winter. Energoatom’s chief, Petro Kotin, told Reuters in an interview that last week’s Russian shelling had damaged three lines that connect the Zaporizhzhia plant to the Ukrainian grid and that Russia wanted to connect the facility to its grid.

  • Ukraine’s overseas creditors have backed its request for a two-year freeze on payments on almost $20 billion in international bonds, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday, a move that will allow the war-torn country to avoid a debt default. With no sign of peace or a ceasefire on the horizon nearly six months after Russia’s invasion began, bondholders have agreed to postpone sovereign interest and capital payments for thirteen Ukrainian sovereign bonds maturing between 2022 and 2033.

  • Seven in 10 previous or current UK sponsors of Ukrainian refugees say their ability to provide support has been hindered by the cost of living crisis, figures have suggested. Some 21% of people who have hosted or are currently hosting Ukrainians in their homes said the rising cost of living has affected their ability to provide support “quite a lot”, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

  • Russia’s daily military briefing for Wednesday has claimed to have shot down three Ukrainian planes overnight, and to have destroyed German-supplied anti-aircraft systems.

  • The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has said that in the last 24 hours two people have been killed and 25 civilians were injured in the territory it claims to control.

That’s it from the Ukraine live blog for today. I’ll be back tomorrow morning but, for now, good night.

The British defence secretary Ben Wallace said the UK has “pretty much dismissed” most of the Russian “excuses” for explosions at an air base in Crimea, and said he thinks the site would be a “legitimate target” for the Ukrainians.

He told the BBC:

I think when you just look at the footage of two simultaneous explosions not quite next to each other, and some of the reported damage even by the Russian authorities, I think it’s clear that that’s not something that happens by someone dropping a cigarette.

Asked if the base was a legitimate target for the Ukrainians to strike, he said:

First and foremost, Russia has illegally invaded, not just in 2014, but now Ukrainian territory.

Ukraine, under United Nations articles, is perfectly entitled to defend its territory and take what action it needs to against an invading force.

So, is it legitimate? It’s absolutely legitimate for Ukraine to take lethal force, if necessary, but take force in order to regain not only its territory, but also to push back its invader.

And that air force base has been used by Russian air forces to bomb Ukrainian targets. So I think in anybody’s sort of manual of war it would be a legitimate target.

Estonia has summoned the Russian ambassador and formally protested about the violation of its airspace by a Russian helicopter on Tuesday, its foreign ministry said.

“Estonia considers this an extremely serious and regrettable incident that is completely unacceptable,” the ministry said in a release, saying the helicopter had flown over a point in the southeast of the small Baltic nation without permission.

Estonia made an identical complaint to Moscow in June, Reuters reported.

The United Nations expects to see a “big uptick” in applications for ships to export Ukraine grain after transit procedures were agreed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, a senior UN official said on Wednesday.

The number of inbound vessels is expected to “grow in the near future” as grain deals are made, said Frederick Kenney, interim UN co-ordinator at the Joint Co-ordination Centre in Istanbul, which oversees a deal between Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations to resume Ukraine grain exports.

EU under pressure to ban Russian tourists from Europe

Jon Henley
Jon Henley

The EU has been urged to introduce a travel ban on Russian tourists with some member states saying visiting Europe was “a privilege, not a human right” for holidaymakers.

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in an interview with the Washington Post that the “most important sanction” was to “close the borders, because the Russians are taking away someone else’s land”. Russians should “live in their own world until they change their philosophy”, he said.

The Ukrainian president’s call was backed by Estonia’s prime minister, Kaja Kallas, who tweeted that visiting Europe was “a privilege, not a human right”, adding: “Time to end tourism from Russia. Stop issuing tourist visas to Russians.”

Finland’s prime minister, Sanna Marin, has aired the same frustrations, telling public broadcaster YLE that it was “not right that while Russia is waging an aggressive, brutal war of aggression in Europe, Russians can live a normal life, travel in Europe, be tourists.”

Finland has previously said that increasing numbers of Russians have begun crossing the 830-mile border between the two countries to shop in border stores and travel onwards to other EU destinations since Covid restrictions were lifted.

Dan Sabbagh
Dan Sabbagh

Ukraine’s air force said it believed that up to a dozen Russian aircraft were destroyed on the ground following Tuesday’s dramatic explosions at the Saky airbase in Crimea, which killed one, wounded 13 and damaged dozens of nearby houses.

Political sources in Ukraine indicated the country had carried out the attack – but no public claim of responsibility was made by Kyiv of a dramatic incident that one expert believed may have been the product of a daring raid rather than a missile strike.

Yuriy Ignat, a spokesperson for the Ukrainian air force, told national television that from studying video footage of the incident, it was clear “the aircraft weapons depot was hit”. He added: “And if additionally a dozen planes are destroyed there, it will be a real small victory.”

Ukraine’s overseas creditors have backed its request for a two-year freeze on payments on almost $20 billion in international bonds, according to a regulatory filing on Wednesday, a move that will allow the war-torn country to avoid a debt default.

With no sign of peace or a ceasefire on the horizon nearly six months after Russia’s invasion began, bondholders have agreed to postpone sovereign interest and capital payments for thirteen Ukrainian sovereign bonds maturing between 2022 and 2033.

The government in Kyiv launched a consent solicitation, which is a formal request to agree with creditors on changes to sovereign debt contracts, on 20 July, Reuters reported.

Ukraine on Wednesday called on the European Union and G7 countries to stop issuing visas to Russian citizens, citing what he said was their support for the invasion of Ukraine.

“Russians overwhelmingly support the war on Ukraine. They must be deprived of the right to cross international borders until they learn to respect them,” Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba wrote on Twitter.

The tweet echoed earlier calls by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy for a one-year travel ban and the apparent expulsion of Russians living in the West so they can live “in their own world until they change their philosophy”, Reuters reported.

China, which Russia has sought as an ally since being cold-shouldered by the west over its invasion of Ukraine, has called the US the “main instigator” of the crisis, Reuters reported.

In an interview with the Russian state news agency Tass published on Wednesday, China’s ambassador to Moscow, Zhang Hanhui, accused Washington of backing Russia into a corner with repeated expansions of the Nato defence alliance and support for forces seeking to align Ukraine with the European Union rather than Moscow.

“As the initiator and main instigator of the Ukrainian crisis, Washington, while imposing unprecedented comprehensive sanctions on Russia, continues to supply arms and military equipment to Ukraine,” Zhang was quoted as saying.

“Their ultimate goal is to exhaust and crush Russia with a protracted war and the cudgel of sanctions.”

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In case you missed it earlier today …

Ukraine: Zelenskiy vows to 'liberate' Crimea from Russia – video
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Here are some of the latest images that have been sent to us from Ukraine over the newswires.

People stand next to a house destroyed by a Russian missile strike in the settlement of Kushuhum in Zaporizhzhia. Photograph: Reuters
Smoke rises after shelling in the city of Donetsk. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
Ukrainian service personnel shoot from an anti-aircraft gun in the early morning in Kharkiv. Photograph: Vasiliy Zhlobsky/EPA
A Ukrainian man at a refugee camp in Dnipro shows his injured arm. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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Ukraine claims to have destroyed nine Russian planes following Crimea airport explosions

Without claiming explicit responsibility for an attack on a Russian airfield in Crimea on Tuesday, Ukraine’s general staff of the armed forces said on Wednesday that it had destroyed nine Russian planes within the last 24 hours. It did not specify the locations. The claim follows widely reported explosions at Russia’s Saki air base.

Crimea’s regional leader, Sergei Aksyonov, said some 250 residents were moved to temporary housing after dozens of apartment buildings were damaged, but Russian authorities have generally sought to downplay the explosions. Unverified social media footage purports to show damage to planes on the ground at the airport.

Ukraine has not directly taken credit for the strike, but few seem to give much credence to a Russian explanation that it was an accidental explosion. In its daily update, Ukraine’s army increased the number of planes it had claimed to have destroyed to 232 from 223.

A graphic produced by the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine indicating an increase by nine of the number of aircraft it claims to have destroyed. Photograph: General staff of the armed forces of Ukraine / Facebook

The Associated Press has spoken with Ukrainian military analyst Oleh Zhdanov about the explosions. He said President Vladimir Putin has long insisted Crimea is Russian and warned that any attempts to take it back would trigger massive retaliation. He claimed Moscow’s apparent swallowing of the strike showed Putin’s weakness.

“He’s expected to protect Crimea as Russia proper. Now he’s afraid to recognise that it was done by the Ukrainian armed forces,” he added.

Russian warplanes have used Saki to strike at areas in Ukraine’s south.

“Official Kyiv has kept mum about it, but unofficially the military acknowledges that it was a Ukrainian strike,” Zhdanov said.

The Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said it couldn’t independently assess what caused the explosions, but noted that simultaneous explosions in two places at the base likely ruled out an accidental fire – but not the possibility of sabotage or a missile attack.

But, it added: “The Kremlin has little incentive to accuse Ukraine of conducting strikes that caused the damage since such strikes would demonstrate the ineffectiveness of Russian air defence systems.”

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Seven in 10 previous or current UK sponsors of Ukrainian refugees say their ability to provide support has been hindered by the cost of living crisis, figures have suggested.

Some 21% of people who have hosted or are currently hosting Ukrainians in their homes said the rising cost of living has affected their ability to provide support “quite a lot”, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.

A further 9% said it affected their ability to help “very much” while 41% said it had been affected “a little”, PA Media reported.

Twenty-six per cent said it had not affected their ability to help at all while 3% replied “don’t know”.

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Four Russian missiles hit a village on the southern outskirts of Ukraine’s city of Zaporizhzhia early on Wednesday, killing a 52-year-old woman, whose body was found in the rubble, the regional governor said.

“Four private buildings have been totally destroyed. Several dozen houses have been left without windows and roofs,” governor Oleksandr Starukh wrote on Telegram.

Rescue workers were still digging through the rubble hours later, the governor said. Electricity and gas supply to the village of Kushuhum were also disrupted, he added.

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A Ukrainian mother and her son prepare to leave Lisbon, where they went to flee the war two and a half months ago.

Despite ongoing conflict with Russian forces in the south and east of the country, the UN Refugee Agency has reported more than 4.4m border crossings back into Ukraine since 28 February.

Many of those crossing are thought to be Ukrainians heading back to parts of the country now considered relatively safe, hoping to reunite with family, rebuild their country and restart their lives.

Katya and Nazar set off for Kyiv hoping to make it in time to celebrate Nazar’s ninth birthday.

I fled Ukraine with my son. Now we're going back home – video

Russian authorities have raided the home of a former state TV journalist who quit after making an on-air protest against Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

They have also launched a criminal case against her on the charge of spreading false information about Russian armed forces, her lawyer said on social media.

The case against Marina Ovsyannikova was launched under a law, enacted after the 24 February invasion of Ukraine, that penalises statements against the military, lawyer Dmitry Zakhvatov said. If convicted, she faces up to 15 years in prison, the Associated Press reported.

Zakhvatov told the independent news site Meduza the case is probably linked to a protest Ovsyannikova staged last month, holding a banner that said “Putin is a killer, his soldiers are fascists”.

After the raid, Ovsyannikova is expected to be brought into the Investigative Committee for questioning, he said on Telegram. Ovsyannikova previously worked as a producer with the Russian state-funded Channel One.

She made international headlines on 14 March when she appeared behind the anchor of an evening news broadcast holding a poster that said “stop the war, don’t believe the propaganda, they are lying to you here”.

She was charged with disparaging the Russian military and fined 30,000 roubles (around £223.40 at the time).

Russian Channel One editor Marina Ovsyannikova holding a poster reading ‘Stop the war. Don’t believe the propaganda. Here they are lying to you’ during Russia’s most-watched evening news broadcast in Moscow in March. Photograph: AFP/Getty Images
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Summary of today so far …

  • Russian forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are reorienting the plant’s electricity production to connect to Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014, according to Ukrainian operator Energoatom. “To do this, you must first damage the power lines of the plant connected to the Ukrainian energy system. From 7-9 August , the Russians have already damaged three power lines. At the moment, the plant is operating with only one production line, which is an extremely dangerous way of working,” Energoatom president Petro Kotin told Ukrainian television. The plant, located not far from the Crimean peninsula, has six of Ukraine’s 15 reactors, and is capable of supplying power for four million homes.

  • The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power firm warned of the “very high” risks from shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-occupied south and said it was vital Kyiv regains control over the facility in time for winter. Energoatom’s chief, Petro Kotin, told Reuters in an interview that last week’s Russian shelling had damaged three lines that connect the Zaporizhzhia plant to the Ukrainian grid and that Russia wanted to connect the facility to its grid.

  • Russia’s daily military briefing for Wednesday has claimed to have shot down three Ukrainian planes overnight, and to have destroyed German-supplied anti-aircraft systems.

  • A Russian airbase deep behind the frontline in Crimea has been damaged by several large explosions that occurred on Tuesday, killing at least one person. It was not immediately clear whether it had been targeted by a long-range Ukrainian missile strike. Crimea’s regional ministry of health has said that, additionally 13 people were injured as a result of explosions at the airport in Novofedorivka. Ukraine’s army claims to have destroyed nine Russian planes in the last 24 hours. It did not specify the locations. The Russian military have said that “several aviation munitions detonated” in a storage area at the facility.

  • In his nightly address, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, did not discuss who was behind the attacks but vowed to “liberate” Crimea, saying: “This Russian war against Ukraine and against the entire free Europe began with Crimea and must end with Crimea – with its liberation.” An adviser to the president, Mikhail Podolyak, said Ukraine was not taking responsibility for the explosions, suggesting partisans might have been involved.

Ukraine: Zelenskiy vows to 'liberate' Crimea from Russia – video
  • The self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has said that in the last 24 hours two people have been killed and 25 civilians were injured in the territory it claims to control.

  • At least 13 people have been killed overnight by shelling in Marhanets in Dnipropetrovsk. Regional governor Valentyn Reznichenko said more than 20 buildings were damaged. Ukraine’s emergency service has distributed images which appear to show a school in Marhanets damaged by an attack.

  • Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, said that as a result of shelling at around 1.40am Wednesday morning, three people, including a 13-year-old girl, were injured in the city of Mykolaiv. He said residential buildings were damaged as a result of shelling.

  • The leaders of Estonia and Finland want fellow European countries to stop issuing tourist visas to Russian citizens, saying they should not be able to take holidays in Europe while the Russian government carries out a war in Ukraine. The Estonian prime minister, Kaja Kallas, wrote on Tuesday on Twitter that “visiting Europe is a privilege, not a human right” and that it was “time to end tourism from Russia now”, the Associated Press reported.

  • Denmark will send military instructors to Britain to train Ukrainian soldiers and also aims to train Ukrainian officers in Denmark, the Danish defence minister said in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published Wednesday.

  • The US state department has approved $89m-worth of assistance to help Ukraine equip and train 100 teams to clear landmines and unexploded ordnance for a year, Reuters reported.

That is it from me, Martin Belam, for now. I will be back later. Tom Ambrose will be here shortly to continue our coverage of Russia’s war on Ukraine.

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Denmark will send military instructors to Britain to train Ukrainian soldiers and also aims to train Ukrainian officers in Denmark, the Danish defence minister said in an interview with the Jyllands-Posten newspaper published today.

Reuters reports the interview precedes a conference in Copenhagen on Thursday when British, Danish and Ukrainian defence ministers are expected to discuss long-term support for Ukraine, including military training, mine clearance and weapon supplies.

“Within a short time, Denmark is sending 130 military instructors to a British training project,” defence minister Morten Bodskov told the newspaper.

The Danish defence ministry had no immediate comment.

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