“Fierce fighting” continued both in the Donbass in eastern Ukraine and in the south of the country, said Zelenskiy.
(Photo: IMAGO/ZUMA Wire)
Kyiv According to the Ukrainian army, its counter-offensive in the east of the country has been successful. President Volodymyr Zelensky spoke on Friday evening of more than 30 recaptured settlements in the Kharkiv region.
“Everywhere we bring back the Ukrainian flag and protection for our people,” he said in his evening video address. However, “fierce fighting” continued in both Donbass in eastern Ukraine and in the south of the country, the president said.
After more than half a year of war, the Ukrainian troops have recently advanced in their counter-offensives in the Kharkiv region and in the Cherson region in the south. Only on Thursday did Selensky confirm the recapture of the district town of Balaklija in the Kharkiv region. Advances continue to target the city of Kupyansk, which is crossed by several railway and road lines. The small town is therefore considered strategically important for the supply of Russian troops marching towards the Donbass in the north.
Meanwhile, the Russian occupiers announced the evacuation of other places in the Kharkiv region. First, Izyum and Kupyansk are to be cleared, as the head of the military administration deployed by Russia, Vitaly Ganchev, said, according to the state news agency TASS. The town of Welykyj Burluk is also under fire, where the civilian population is also to be taken to safe places.
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During the night there were air strikes in regions in the south and east of Ukraine.
Foreign Minister Baerbock arrived in Kyiv
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock has arrived in Kyiv for her second visit to Ukraine since the beginning of the war. With the trip, she wanted to show “that we will continue to support Ukraine for as long as it is necessary – with the delivery of weapons, with humanitarian and financial support,” she said on Saturday morning when she arrived.
According to her assessment, Russian President Vladimir Putin is counting on “that we will tire of sympathizing with the suffering of Ukraine”.
Putin believes that he can divide societies with lies and blackmail them with energy supplies. “This calculation must not and will not work out. Because all of Europe knows that Ukraine is defending our peace order.”
The Greens politician traveled on Saturday night with a special train and a small delegation from Poland to Kyiv.
(Photo: dpa)
Baerbock named two specific topics that are important to her during the visit: German help in clearing mines and support in dealing with war crimes that have been committed.
Your Ukrainian interlocutors are likely to reiterate their calls for heavy weapons. During his visit to Germany last week, Prime Minister Denys Schmyhal demanded the delivery of German Leopard 2 main battle tanks from Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
EU countries approve more billions in aid for Ukraine
Ukraine may soon receive another five billion euros in loans from the EU. On Friday, the finance and economics ministers of the EU countries approved the billions in aid, as announced by the Czech Council Presidency.
The new loan will be used for the day-to-day operations of the state and to ensure that the country’s critical infrastructure such as schools and hospitals can keep running, Czech Finance Minister Zbynek Stanjura said.
The money is part of an aid package announced in May totaling nine billion euros. Before the five billion euros can be paid out, the European Parliament still has to agree, which, however, is considered a formality.
One billion euros was already paid out at the beginning of August.
Ukrainian gas company sues Gazprom
The Ukrainian state-owned company Naftogaz has sued the Russian gas company Gazprom for abolished transit fees.
“We demand that Gazprom pay in full,” Naftogaz CEO Yuriy Vitrenko wrote on Facebook on Friday. The Russian company has reduced its transit since May and has therefore transferred less.
This is how the Handelsblatt reports on the Ukraine war and the consequences:
However, the contract signed in 2019 provides for a minimum transit volume in a clause. This must be paid independently of the real physical transport.
The place of jurisdiction is Zurich. In 2019, Naftogaz had already won the equivalent of more than three billion euros from Gazprom before a Swedish arbitration court in a similar case.
Poland is interested in more nuclear power from Ukraine
In view of the high electricity prices in Europe, Poland could soon be purchasing significantly more nuclear power from neighboring Ukraine.
Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki thanked Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv on Friday for his willingness to supply energy from the Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant. Selenski has shown that he understands Poland’s situation very well, he said, according to the PAP agency.
The EU and NATO member state Poland with its more than 38 million inhabitants does not have an active nuclear power plant itself.
(Photo: IMAGO/Ukrinform)
Ukraine has been connected to the European power grid since mid-March and, according to Ukrenergo, should deliver 210 megawatt hours of electricity to Poland on Friday. The EU and NATO member state Poland with its more than 38 million inhabitants does not have an active nuclear power plant itself.
That will be important on Saturday
In the Kharkiv regions in the east of Ukraine and Cherson in the south, Ukrainian troops are still trying to recapture towns and regions with counter-offensives. In particular, the focus is on the strategically important small town of Kupjansk in the Cherson region.
More: Don’t miss any development – Everything new in our news blog about the Ukraine war