Heading towards World War III?

Ukraine is doing its best to “kill as many Russians” as possible, the nation’s ambassador to Kazakhstan, Pyotr Vrublevsky, told local media outlets on Monday.

Speaking to a local blogger, Vrublevsky was asked to comment on the ongoing Ukraine conflict. “What can I say … We are trying to kill as many [Russians] as possible. The more Russians we kill now, the fewer our children will have to. That’s it,” he said.

The Ukrainian envoy’s remarks sparked anger in Russia, with Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova accusing Kiev of ‘terrorist’ policies.

“Only an ambassador of a terrorist regime can say such things. The Kiev Nazis have been killing people for eight years silently and blaming Moscow for everything, but now they are openly talking about their ethnic cleansing plans,” she wrote on Telegram.

Earlier this month, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev accused Ukrainian leader Vladimir Zelensky of taking a page out of Adolf Hitler’s playbook by calling for the collective punishment of all Russians. Medvedev was referring to a previous statement by Zelensky in which he suggested deporting all Russians – regardless of their political leanings or circumstances – from Western countries.

“Adolf Hitler tried to implement such ideas about an entire people,” the Russian official remarked. “Any more questions about the nature of the Ukrainian authorities?”

www.rt.com/russia/561314-kill-russians-ukraine-ambassador

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is concerned he is being taken advantage of by someone close to him, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, citing their conversation during the meeting in Lviv on Thursday.

Asked by a farmer about the Ukrainian leader’s “situation” on Monday during a visit to local vineyards, Erdogan claimed Zelensky was “very worried. There are people around him who deceive him a lot.”

Erdogan had not mentioned this confession during earlier public statements about the negotiations in western Ukraine, and he did not elaborate further on who Zelensky believed was deceiving him. The two men met with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and signed an agreement on restoring Ukrainian infrastructure destroyed during the conflict.

The Ukrainian president has been firing high-ranking members of his administration at a fast clip since Russia’s military operation began in February. Special forces commander Grigory Galagan was removed last month.

First Deputy Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council Ruslan Demchenko was also let go last month, though for apparent health reasons, while Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova and Intelligence Bureau chief Ivan Bakanov were suspended and placed under investigation on suspicion of working with Russia.

Not content to merely behead the Ukrainian security service (SBU), Zelensky announced a personnel audit in the agency and fired several regional heads as well. He had apparently been planning to audit the SBU for some time, claiming that on February 24, the day Russia launched its offensive in the Donbass, some representatives of a law enforcement agency were “somewhere [else], instead of protecting their people.”

www.rt.com/news/561328-erdogan-zelensky-betrayal-cabinet-firings

The US diplomatic mission in Ukraine’s capital has advised Americans to leave the country, warning that the security situation could deteriorate rapidly.

“The US Embassy urges US citizens to depart Ukraine now using privately available ground transportation options if it is safe to do so,” the embassy said on its website on Tuesday.

“The Department of State has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days,” the embassy stated, instructing American nationals to stay vigilant, listen to air raid sirens, and seek cover in case of missile or drone attacks.

“The security situation throughout Ukraine is highly volatile and conditions may deteriorate without warning.”

The Russian Defense Ministry maintains that Russian aircraft only strike military targets in Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine, such as radar stations, weapons depots, and armored vehicle repair sites.

The State Department evacuated US diplomats from Kiev in February. The embassy in the Ukrainian capital was then formally reopened in May.

www.rt.com/russia/561351-americans-urged-leave-ukraine

A contract to supply ten ‘kamikaze drones’ to Ukraine, which was announced months ago, is expected within 30 days, Defense News reported on Monday, citing a Pentagon spokesperson.

The actual delivery date for the weapons, Switchblade 600 loitering munitions, also known as ‘kamikaze drones’, will be set after the contract is finalized, the representative, Jessica Maxwell, said in an email, the military news website said.

A loitering munition is a type of drone that has integrated explosive payloads. They conduct reconnaissance to find a target and then crash into it to inflict damage.

The US sent the smaller, lighter Switchblade 300 drones produced by AeroVironment to Ukraine in a number of weapons packages. The Pentagon also said in early April that it wanted to deliver ten of the heavier, longer-range models, but no shipments have been made so far.

According to Defense News, the delay was partially due to the fact that the Switchblade 600 is still in the prototype phase and needs to undergo evaluation before being fielded.

Last month, Ukrainian Defense Minister Aleksey Reznikov called on nations arming his country to send new advanced weapon systems so they can be put to the test in live combat.

“We are sharing all the information and experience with our partners. We are interested in testing modern systems in the fight against the enemy and we are inviting the arms manufacturers to test their new products here,” Reznikov said at the time.

The Switchblade 300 is considered an anti-personnel weapon, has a range of 10km and endurance of ten minutes, according to the producer. The heavier 600 version was designed for use against armored targets, can travel up to 40km, and stay in the air for up to 20 minutes.

The drones were touted as a portable tool for US patrols ambushed in Afghanistan, an affordable and more rapid alternative to calling for air support.

www.rt.com/news/561349-switchblade-drones-ukraine-contract

The EU is considering establishing a major program to train Ukrainian troops in neighboring nations, the bloc’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, has said. EU defense ministers will discuss the matter during a meeting in Prague on August 29.

“I hope it will be approved,” Borrell stated on the sidelines of a forum in Santander, Spain on Monday. “Of course, it would be a big mission,” he said, adding that the training program “has to be up to the level of the conflict.”

"It seems reasonable that a war that is lasting and looks set to last requires an effort not only in terms of supplies of material but also training and help to organize the army," he said.

The US and Britain are already training Ukrainian soldiers in the use of Western-supplied weapons and are also teaching them battle tactics. The news agency Euractiv quoted EU sources as saying that Ukraine’s foreign and defense ministers wrote a letter to Borrell last summer asking for a training program, and the bloc has since “drawn up several options.”

www.rt.com/news/561316-eu-ukraine-training-program

RT has visited the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, seeing first-hand the aftermath of the shelling of the facility by Kiev's forces.

The largest nuclear power plant in Europe was seized by Russian troops in late February. Since then, National Guard and Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Defense Troops have been defending the facility as the plant continues to operate with local staff.

Kiev’s troops have been firing at the plant and the nearby city of Energodar from the opposite site of the large Kakhovka water reservoir, the Russian Defense Ministry has consistently claimed.

The falling shells damaged the facades of some buildings, while missile parts are still stuck in the ground. One of the water pumping stations was hit, but continues to operate as most of the equipment is hidden underground.

“This [impact] crater within the vicinity of the cleaning facilities was created last Saturday due to shelling by Ukrainian forces,” RT’s Alexey Repin reports. “Literally 150 meters from here in the plant’s fifth power unit, and it’s still working, just around the corner.”

“At the moment, the radiation at the station, as well as the surrounding areas, is within the norms. The shelling hit mostly auxiliary equipment, hydrogen, and oxygen facilities,” a member of the Russian nuclear defense troops told RT. “We’re trying to repair the damage as soon as possible, so that the nuclear plant will not have to halt its operations.”

Nevertheless, Moscow has repeatedly warned that the shelling could make the plant inoperable or cause a nuclear disaster similar to the one in Chernobyl in 1986. The shelling had already caused several fires and power outages at the plant this month, according to the Russian Defense Ministry.

Russian officials have urged the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to send inspectors to the facility as soon as possible.

Ukrainian and US officials have accused Russia of shelling the plant and using it as cover for its soldiers.

www.rt.com/russia/561428-rt-vists-zaporozhye-plant

Russian forces have detained two employees of the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in southern Ukraine, who have been providing information on troops and hardware locations to Kiev’s forces, the Russian National Guard (Rosgvardiya) said on Wednesday.

“Apart from that, a violator of access control [to the plant], an accomplice of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who transmitted the coordinates of the movement of columns of Russian military hardware, has been detained,” they added.

After seizing control of the power station on March 4, Russian forces have detained 26 violators of access control to the plant – the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the National Guard revealed. The facility continues to operate with local staff, while Russian troops patrol the premises and check for explosive devices and unexploded munitions, the National Guard said.

www.rt.com/russia/561487-nuclear-power-plant-spies

Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were briefly cut off from power grid on Thursday. Three out of four power lines from plant have been damaged in recent days and disconnection from power grid led to large scale outages.

Europe faced the prospect of a radiation disaster on Thursday when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine's power grid, President Volodomyr Zelensky has said.

It was only due to back-up electricity kicking in that the Zaporizhzhia plant was able to operate safely, he added.

Fires had earlier damaged overhead power lines, cutting the plant off.

There is growing concern over fighting near the complex, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe.

"If the diesel generators hadn't turned on, if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already be forced to overcome the consequences of the radiation accident," President Zelensky warned on Thursday night.

The damage was caused by fires which Ukraine's state nuclear agency said had interfered with power lines connecting the plant on Thursday, temporarily cutting Zaporizhzhia off from the national grid for the first time in its history.

"As a result, the station's two working power units were disconnected from the network," Kyiv officials said.

The state nuclear company said work was under way on Friday to try to reconnect the reactors to the grid. Zaporizhzhia's other four reactors have been out of action for most of the war.

Satellite images taken on Wednesday showed an extensive fire burning in the immediate vicinity of the nuclear complex.

President Zelensky blamed the damage on Russian shelling, and in his nightly address accused Moscow of putting Ukraine and Europe "one step away" from disaster.

But local Russian-appointed governor Yevgeny Balitsky blamed the Ukrainian military for the strikes, accusing them of causing power outages to the region as a result.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62679066