Ukraine updates: Moscow admits sabotage caused Crimea blast

The Russian Defense Ministry on Tuesday said sabotage was behind an explosion at a military depot in the Dzhankoy region of Crimea, the RIA news agency reported.

The ministry said damage was done to civilian facilities — including power lines, power plants, railway tracks and residential buildings — but said no one was hurt in the incident on Tuesday morning.

"The necessary measures are being taken to eliminate the consequences of sabotage," it said.

The ministry had earlier said that fire was the cause of the blast, at around 6:15 a.m. local time (0315 GMT/UTC) in the village of Mayskoye, causing ammunition to detonate. 

Images posted on social media showed large fireballs erupting at the site and clouds of black smoke rising. 

Plumes of black smoke were also seen later on Tuesday at a Russian military airbase near the settlement of Gvardeyskoye in occupied Crimea, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported.

Earlier this month, major damage at a Crimean military airfield drew international attention. Russia attributed that explosion to ammunition detonating. Some experts argued that an attack was more likely, judging by available satellite imagery of the damage. Ukraine did not claim responsibility but did seek to cast doubt on Russia's version of events. 

Russia annexed Crimea early in 2014, soon after a pro-Russian government in Kyiv was toppled in a popular uprising. 

Here are the other main headlines from the war in Ukraine on August 16. 

US to buy Ukrainian wheat for World Food Program

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that the United States will contribute $68 million to the World Food Program to buy Ukrainian wheat to address the world’s pressing food crisis.

"We’re committed to supporting global food security for the most vulnerable and call on all countries to follow suit," Blinken wrote on Twitter.

At the end of July, Russia and Ukraine had reached an agreement with Turkey and the United Nations to export grains via the Ukrainian Black Sea routes. Prior to that, the ports had been blocked by Russian troops.

Russian hackers accused of attacking Ukrainian nuclear operator's website

Ukraine's nuclear operator Energoatom reported that Russian-based hackers launched a major three-hour attack on its website on Tuesday but had not caused significant problems.

"On August 16, 2022, the most powerful cyberattack since the start of the Russian invasion occurred against Energoatom's website," the operator said. Its website "was attacked from Russian territory."

Energoatom accused the Russian group 'People's Cyber Army' of conducting a cyberattack using 7.25 million bot users, who simulated hundreds of millions of views of the company's main page.

The cyberattack comes as tensions flare over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which Russian forces occupied in March.

Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the nuclear installation, which is the largest in Europe, sparking fears of a nuclear accident.

Latvia to toughen rules on residence permits for Russians

Latvia is set to tighten its requirements for extending residence permits to Russian and Belarusian citizens.

Citizens of both countries will in general no longer be granted renewals of temporary residence permits, Prime Minister Krisjanis Karins stated on Tuesday. He added that there could be some rare exceptions. 

The government will have to decide on the proposed changes to the regulations soon.

Interior Minister Kristaps Eklons suggested that permanent residence permits should only be granted to those who pass a Latvian language test. 

Latvia already put a halt to issuing residence permits to Russian and Belarusian citizens amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The country has also withdrawn close to 1,000 permits. 

Latvia neighbors Russia and is home to a large Russian minority, with more than 9,000 Russian citizens holding temporary residence permits and a further 37,000 permanent residence permits, according to official data. 

France's Macron stresses concerns over nuclear risk in southern Ukraine

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed risks to nuclear facilities in Ukraine in a phone call with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Macron's aides said on Tuesday.

Macron said he was backing a proposal by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for a mission to be sent to Ukraine, aiming to investigate the situation around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

Shelling close to the plant in southern Ukraine had been ongoing for the past couple of days. 

Both sides have blamed each other for risks to Europe's largest nuclear facility. Russia has occupied the plant although Ukrainian technicians continue to operate it.

Zelenskiy said earlier on that he had discussed "Russia's nuclear terrorism" during the call with Macron. 

UN chief Guterres to travel to Ukraine later this week

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is scheduled to travel to Lviv in Ukraine to meet with President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

Afterwards, he will visit Ukraine's Black Sea port of Odesa on Friday, a UN spokesman said.

Before returning to New York, the UN chief will travel to Istanbul to examine a joint coordination center to oversee the export of grain across the Black Sea.

Ukrainian farmers under severe pressure 

Ukrainian farmers are in a difficult situation despite an agreement to export grain across the Black Sea.

The wheat harvest is only supposed to amount to about 20 million tons this year, about two-thirds of last year's yield, Ukrainian Deputy Agriculture Minister Taras Vysozkyj said. 

"So far, at least 20 farmers have been killed in their work because they have driven over mines," he described. 

At the end of July, Russia and Ukraine had reached an agreement with Turkey and the United Nations to export grains via the Ukrainian Black Sea routes.

Prior to that, the ports had been blocked by Russian troops. 

But experts believe that it is the drought and not the war that is the main reason for the decrease in harvest. 

Estonia removes Soviet memorials in Russian-speaking city

Estonia on Tuesday removed a Soviet-era World War II memorial from Narva, a city with a large Russian-speaking minority. 

The country accused Russia of using such monuments to stir up tensions.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in a statement that the move was a response to "increasing tensions and confusion around memorials in Narva". 

"We must act quickly to ensure public order and internal security," she said.

In 2007, riots had broken out in Tallinn after the removal of a similar Soviet monument. Opposition to the removal in Narva sparked fears that there could be another outbreak of riots. 

The World War II era tank will be taken to the Estonian War Museum and a mass grave of wartime victims will instead be given a "neutral grave marker".

Estonia and Latvia both have large Russian-speaking minorities that sometimes clash with the national governments. Concerns over Moscow seeking to exploit these differences to destabilize the two countries, which are both EU and NATO members, have been growing.

Finland to limit EU visas for Russian citizens

Helsinki is planning to limit the allocation of EU visas to Russian citizens. 

In future, only ten percent of the previous number of such entry permits will be issued, Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto explained. 

From September onwards, the foreign ministry will limit available dates to submit visa applications, in a bid to curb demand.

Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin and Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had said on Monday that a visa ban would have to be discussed amid growing public pressure from Ukraine.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz questioned the efforts to ban ordinary Russians from entering Europe.

During a visit to Norway, Scholz said many Russian nationals were attempting to flee Russia due to Vladimir Putin's war. Their escape should not be made more difficult, according to the German chancellor.

Russia says British request to fly spy plane over its territory a 'provocation'

Russia's Defense Ministry said on Tuesday that Britain has requested permission for its RC-135 spy plane to fly over its territory.

The ministry said that Moscow's air force had been tasked with preventing any violations of Russian airspace.

"The UK has applied for a for a reconnaissance aircraft to fly along a route which includes over the territory of the Russian Federation," the ministry said. "We consider this action as a conscious provocation."

"The Russian Aerospace Forces have been tasked with preventing the violation of Russian airspace. All possible consequences of this deliberate provocation will lie solely on the side of Great Britain," the ministry added.

Russian defense minister says no need to use nuclear weapons 

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu says Moscow has "no need" to use nuclear weapons — or chemical ones — in Ukraine.

He described speculation that Moscow might deploy battlefield nuclear or chemical weapons in the conflict as "absolute lies."

"From a military point of view, there is no need to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine to achieve the set goals. The main purpose of Russian nuclear weapons is to deter a nuclear attack," Shoigu told an international security conference in Moscow.

"The media are spreading speculation about the alleged use of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in the course of the special military operation, or about the readiness to use chemical weapons. All these informational attacks are absolute lies."

Shoigu also alleged that the West was strongly involved in counter-offensives mounted by Ukrainian forces. 

"Not only are the coordinates of attack targets provided by Western intelligence services, but the input of this data into weapons systems is done under the full control of Western specialists," he said.

Putin accuses US of extending war 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has accused Washington of making the war in Ukraine more protracted.

"The situation in Ukraine shows that the US is trying to prolong this conflict," Putin said at a security conference in Moscow.
After failing to capture the capital, Kyiv, to end the war quickly, Russia's military instead has become entrenched in a lengthy bout of attrition in the east and south.

The United States has led the provision of key economic and military backing to Kyiv, in particular supplying Ukraine with long-range, precision artillery.

Zelenskyy says nuclear plant is threat to whole of Europe

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned in his overnight video address that a "catastrophe" at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine could threaten the whole of Europe. 

"Under the cover of the plant, the occupiers are shelling nearby cities and communities," Zelenskyy said. "Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions. Everything depends solely on the direction and speed off the wind." 

Zelenskyy called for "new tough sanctions" against Russia and told the West it shouldn't give in to what he called "nuclear blackmail." 

"All Russian troops must immediately be withdrawn from the plant and neighboring areas without any conditions," he said. 

Russia took control of the area surrounding the site early in its invasion of Ukraine, in March. 

Since late July, though, the area has been the target of several military strikes, with Russia and Ukraine blaming each other for these.

The fighting was the subject of an emergency UN Security Council meeting last week, and the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency is urgently seeking to secure access to inspect the site. 

Both Russia and Ukraine claim to be willing to cooperate with this. However, both object to the route the observers might take to get there. Ukraine says it won't accept an IAEA team visiting via Russia and Russian-controlled areas. Russia says it would not be safe for an IAEA team to cross the front lines in order to reach Zaporizhzhia from the Ukrainian side. 

When and if an IAEA team will be able to visit, and by what route, remains unclear. The UN has said it has the logistics and security capacity to arrange such a visit if both sides can agree. 

First grain ship bound for Africa departs

The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain to Africa via the Black Sea departed from the port of Pivdennyi early on Tuesday morning. 

Russia and Ukraine are both major food exporters, and the war has helped keep already-elevated prices for food at unusually high levels. For months, it was not possible for Ukraine to export grain via the Black Sea, given the presence of Russia's navy off its coastline. 

Turkey and the UN were able to broker an agreement with Kyiv and Moscow on this issue last month and facilitate a restart of grain exports from Ukraine.

The joint coordination center set up by the four parties had earlier announced that the latest ship, called Brave Commander, had been approved to set sail. 

The ship, carrying 23,000 metric tons of wheat, was bound for Djibouti, Ukraine's Infrastructure Ministry said, also saying: "The ministry and the United Nations are working on ways to increase food supplies for the socially vulnerable sections of the African population." 

UK MoD: Russian Black Sea Fleet in 'defensive posture'

Meanwhile, the UK has said in its daily intelligence update that the surface vessels of Russia's Black Sea Fleet "continue to pursue an extremely defensive posture, with patrols generally limited to waters within sight of the Crimean coast."

It said this contrasted with "heightened Russian naval activity in other seas, as is typical for this time of year." 

The Ministry of Defense (MoD) suggested three possible contributing factors explaining why Russia was "struggling to exercise effective sea control." These included the sinking of its "Moskva" flagship early in the conflict, the naval aviation combat jets Russia has lost, and no longer controlling Snake Island off the Ukrainian coast. 

This "currently limited effectiveness" of the fleet "undermines Russia's overall invasion strategy, in part because the amphibious threat to Odesa has now been largely neutralized," the ministry wrote.

jsi, msh/aw (AFP, dpa, Reuters)