Russia delivers hypersonic missiles to Kaliningrad
270 regions of Donetsk under Russian control
Ukrainian soldiers in the Donetsk region.
AFP
Moscow announced the transfer of three military aircraft armed with hypersonic missiles to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad overlooking the Baltic Sea, while fighting continued in the Donbass region, a strategic goal that Moscow considers a priority, and pro-Russian separatists announced the control of more lands in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, and they mentioned That the Zaitsev and Dacha regions were captured north of the town of Horlivka, which means that a total of 270 Donetsk regions are now under Russian control.
After capturing the neighboring Luhansk region in early July, Russian forces in eastern Ukraine have been focused on Donetsk for weeks.
Last Monday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced again that his country's goal is to fully control the Donbass region, nearly six months after the start of the Russian war on Ukraine.
The Donbass region includes the self-proclaimed People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk, which were recognized by Russia last February.
In addition, Russia announced the transfer of three MiG-31 military aircraft armed with hypersonic missiles to the Russian enclave of Kaliningrad on the Baltic Sea, in a show of force in the Russian region bordering the European Union.
The Russian Defense Ministry stated that aircraft carrying Kinzhal "air-to-surface" missiles are stationed at the Chkalovsk Air Base in an additional measure of strategic deterrence.
Kaliningrad is located between Poland and Lithuania, members of the European Union, and according to Russia, the Kinzhal cruise missiles fly at a speed equivalent to 10 times the speed of sound, while remaining steerable and flying at a range of 2,000 km.
It can be armed conventionally or with a nuclear warhead.
The missile is one of the advanced weapons systems that Putin has praised.
Russia said in March that it had fired a Kinzhal missile at a military target in western Ukraine.
Two Russian villages were evacuated, the day before yesterday, due to a fire that broke out in an ammunition depot near the border with Ukraine, according to local authorities.
This fire comes a few days after explosions occurred at a military base and munitions depot in the Crimea, which Moscow annexed in 2014. Russia considered what happened in the munitions depot in Crimea an act of sabotage by Kyiv.
On the other hand, the Ukrainian nuclear company Energoatom said yesterday that the Russian forces intend to shut down the power units operating at the Zaporizhia nuclear plant and disconnect them from the Ukrainian electricity grid.
And the company expressed in a statement its belief that "Russia, which controls the station in southern Ukraine, is preparing for a large-scale provocation there," a day after Moscow accused Kiev of "preparing a provocation at the station's site."
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Russia not to cut off the Zaporizhia nuclear plant from the Ukrainian electricity grid.
European intelligence officials have said it is likely that Russia is using the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine to protect its forces and equipment, undermining the safety of operations at the plant, according to Bloomberg News.
Officials said there appeared to be a deliberate effort by Russia to use the protective status imposed on the station to provide cover for its forces and prevent them from being attacked by Ukrainian forces.
For his part, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced that he would discuss the issue of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant with Russian President Vladimir Putin, after talks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
He said in an interview with journalists, while returning from the Ukrainian city of Lviv, that Zelensky said that Moscow should remove all mines in the region.
"We will discuss this issue with Putin and specifically ask him that Russia do what it must as an important step for world peace," Erdogan added.
• Ukraine confirms that the Russian forces intend to shut down the power units operating at the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant.
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