Kyiv announced that it is preparing for Russian missile attacks next week, as an adviser to the Ukrainian president threatened to destroy a strategic bridge in Crimea opened by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While the city of Lviv, western Ukraine, is preparing for the arrival of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who will join United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
Ukraine's presidential adviser, Oleksiy Aristovich, said on Wednesday that Ukraine is preparing for Russian missile attacks on the capital, Kyiv, on its independence day on August 24.
But he said this would not change the military situation, but would be "a purely emotional gesture by killing more civilians and spoiling our holiday."
He stressed, however, that Ukraine could also spoil the day for the Russians, recalling the recent series of explosions in Crimea, annexed by Moscow in 2014. "In the event of an attack, the situation would be much worse for them there."
Meanwhile, Russian forces have made small gains in eastern Ukraine's Donetsk region, Ukraine's General Staff said Wednesday.
dead in Kharkiv
At least 6 people were killed and 16 wounded Wednesday in a Russian bombing of Kharkiv, Ukraine's second largest city, local authorities said, while President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced the "disgraceful attack".
Kharkiv Mayor Igor Terekhov had previously indicated on Telegram that 3 people had been killed and 10 wounded, before the regional governor, Oleg Senegubov, spoke about a higher toll.
"There is a huge fire in the place that was bombed in an apartment building," Igor Terekhov added.
For his part, President Zelensky spoke of the "complete destruction" of an apartment building as a result of the bombing.
He wrote on Telegram: "A disgraceful attack on civilians with no justification that proves the impotence of the aggressor. We will not forgive, we will avenge."
Kharkiv is located 40 km from the Russian border in northeastern Ukraine, and has been subjected to regular bombardment by the Russian army since the start of its attack on Ukraine at the end of February, but the Russian forces did not succeed in controlling the city.
Ukrainian threat
Ukraine threatened Wednesday to destroy the costly Moscow-built Kerch Bridge that the Russian president opened in 2018 to connect Russia to Crimea, where several explosions have occurred at Russian military bases.
And Mikhailo Podolyak, adviser to the director of the Ukrainian president's office, said that the bridge linking Russia and the Crimea must be destroyed, in light of Moscow's recent announcement of the explosion of an ammunition depot in the region.
Podolyak added, in an interview with the British Guardian newspaper, that the bridge "is illegal and is the main gateway to supply the Russian army in Crimea, and it must be destroyed."
The Kerch Bridge, which was inaugurated by Russian President Vladimir Putin in May 2018, extends over 19 kilometers, and is a huge and expensive project that took two years to build to connect Russia with the Crimea, and aims to reduce the isolation of the peninsula after 4 years of its annexation.
This veiled threat from Podolyak follows a series of explosions in Crimea, which Russia is using as a rear base for its invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24.
On Tuesday, an attack targeted an ammunition depot at a military site near the village of Dzhangoy in northern Crimea, which Moscow said was the result of an act of "sabotage", without accusing anyone of being behind it.
On August 9, Moscow reported an explosion of munitions at a military air base in Crimea, killing one person and wounding others.
Ukraine has not officially claimed any attack on the Crimean peninsula, but officials have made comments on more than one occasion that lead to the suspicion that Ukrainian forces may be involved in these attacks.
trio meeting
On the political front, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres arrived Wednesday in Lviv, western Ukraine, where he is scheduled to meet with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.
Erdogan (centre) has been seeking since the beginning of the Ukraine war to mediate and hold a meeting between Zelensky (right) and Putin (agencies)
According to the Turkish side, "(the participants in the meeting) will discuss ending the war between Ukraine and Russia through diplomatic channels."
While the United Nations announced that its Secretary-General will discuss with the Turkish and Ukrainian presidents, on Thursday, "concerning issues" about Ukraine.
"The Secretary-General will discuss issues including the movement of ships, the issue of food and grain, and concerns about the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (southern Ukraine)," UN spokesman Farhan Haq said at a press conference in New York, in response to journalists' questions about the topics expected to be discussed in the meeting.
The agreement, signed by Ukraine and Russia under the auspices of Turkey and the United Nations in Istanbul last July, allowed the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine's ports on the Black Sea after a 5-month hiatus due to the war.