UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Lviv on Thursday. For the United Nations and Turkey, it is an attempt to explore a negotiated solution almost six months after the Russian attack on Ukraine. In addition, the situation in the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops, and the possibilities of an international expert mission. On Wednesday evening, Zelenskyy again called for Russian soldiers to be withdrawn from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.
In the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov, Russian rockets repeatedly fell at night and, according to preliminary information, killed seven people. According to its own statements, the Ukrainian army was able to fend off several attacks in fierce fighting in the Donbass. However, the enemy had gained ground in two places near the city of Donetsk. Thursday marks the 176th day of Ukraine’s defense against the Russian invasion. Exactly on the Ukrainian national holiday next week, August 24, the war lasted half a year.
As a mediation success in the war, the UN and Turkey have the agreement that has allowed grain exports from Ukrainian ports again since the beginning of August. Before the meeting, Erdogan announced that the “end of the war between Ukraine and Russia should also be discussed through diplomatic channels” in Lviv.
UN circles see this more skeptically. They believe that negotiations on a ceasefire are only possible when Russia or Ukraine can no longer gain ground and abandon the goal of victory. However, Ukraine wants to reconquer lost territories so as not to leave its compatriots at the mercy of the Russian occupation. Ukrainian military expert Oleh Zhdanov warned Zelenskyy that agreeing to a ceasefire now is a Russian trap.
Russia’s war aims continue to boil down to extensive subjugation of Ukraine. Talks between Kyiv and Moscow had therefore already been broken off in the first weeks of the war without any result.
For Zelenskyy, the trip to western Ukraine to Lviv is the first publicly announced trip since February 24. Since then he has been to Ukraine several times and has also visited the front, but the travel plans have been kept secret. Selenskyj received international guests in the capital Kyiv, and their arrival was also kept secret, as was the case with Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD).
The tug-of-war over an expert visit to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant continues between the United Nations, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Russia and Ukraine. Moscow diplomats said on Wednesday that Russia supported the visit. However, the Russian side assumes that the IAEA experts will travel to Ukraine via Russia and Russian-controlled territory. A trip via Kyiv is too dangerous.
For reasons of international law, the IAEA and its director Rafael Grossi value the journey via Kyiv. They are supported in this by more than 40 western countries. The situation in Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian troops, has been worrying the international community for weeks. Projectiles kept falling on the power plant site, with the two warring factions blaming each other for the shelling. Also on Wednesday, the Russian occupation administration reported twice about alleged Ukrainian shelling of the nuclear power plant.
Chancellor Scholz expressed “serious concern” about the situation in Zaporizhia. It is not acceptable to endanger the power plant, he said during a visit to Neuruppin in Brandenburg. The federal government will continue to work towards averting a dramatic situation on the ground. Zelenskyy said: “Only absolute transparency and a controlled situation in and around the nuclear power plant guarantee a return to normal nuclear safety for the Ukrainian state, the international community and the IAEA”.
At least 7 people were killed and another 16 injured by Russian shelling on the eastern Ukrainian city of Kharkov on Wednesday evening. Mayor Ihor Terekhov said a skyscraper was hit. Media reported that a cruise missile had struck and set the house on fire. Zelenskyj spoke on Telegram of a “mean and cynical attack on civilians for which there is no justification and which only shows the helplessness of the aggressor”. Kharkiv had been heavily shelled by Russian artillery the night before.
As reported by the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian troops in the Donbass gained territory near Opytne in the north of Donetsk and near Novomykhaylivka in the south-west. Attacks were repelled on other sections. Villages north of Sloviansk and to the east and south of the cities of Soledar and Bakhmut were mentioned.
According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Russian Air Force is attempting to evacuate warplanes and helicopters to safety in Crimea after several explosions. Some of the aircraft would be transferred to the interior of the peninsula annexed in 2014, and some would be withdrawn to the Russian mainland. The transfer of at least 24 aircraft and 14 helicopters was observed. This information from Kyiv could not be checked.
