Russian ammunition dump in flames – Erdogan assumes the end of the war “at the negotiating table”.

Created: 08/19/2022, 04:57

By: Stephanie Munk, Fabian Müller

In the Ukraine war, Russia is apparently becoming increasingly nervous due to attacks on Crimea.

An ammunition depot is on fire in Russia.

The news ticker.

• Erdogan

  assumes the end of the

  war

  "at the negotiating table" in talks with Selenskyj and Guterres.

• Russian

  ammunition dump

  in flames: Villages near the border evacuated.

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  news ticker on military events in the

  Ukraine war

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Update from June 18, 10:10 p.m .:

The Russian air defense fired on unnamed objects on Thursday evening over the city of Kerch in Crimea.

This was announced by an advisor to the leadership of the peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014 after initial assessments.

"There is no danger to the city and the bridge," adviser Oleg Kryuchkov wrote on Telegram.

Kerch residents reported on social networks that they heard two explosions.

The 18-kilometer bridge between Crimea and the Russian mainland begins in the port city.

Ukraine sees the structure, which opened in 2018, as a legitimate military target.

Russia has threatened massive retaliation if the rail and road bridge is attacked.

Traffic on the bridge is running normally, according to the responsible road administration agency Tass.

Russian ammunition dump on Ukraine border caught fire

Update from June 18, 8:43 p.m .:

A Russian ammunition depot in the Belgorod area close to the border with Ukraine went up in flames on Thursday, according to local authorities.

No one was injured, Belgorod governor Vyacheslav Gladkov wrote on Telegram.

According to the information, the depot was near the village of Timonowo, about 4.5 kilometers from the border with Ukraine.

The residents of the villages of Timonowo and Soloti were brought to safety.

"The cause of the fire is being sought," wrote Gladkow.

A thick column of black smoke was seen again on Thursday over the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Russia in 2014.

Unverified videos of it could be seen on the internet.

According to the Ria Novosti agency, Crimea's civil protection agency said that only an area of ​​dry grass burned near Mezhvodnoye in the west.

Heavy explosions have occurred several times in Russian military installations on the peninsula in recent days.

The cause was unclear but suggested Ukrainian attacks.

Erdogan assumes the end of the war "at the negotiating table" - UN warns of "suicide" due to nuclear attacks

Update from June 18, 7:50 p.m .:

As a threatening gesture against the West, Russia says it has moved fighter jets with the new Kinschal (Dagger) hypersonic missiles to its Baltic Sea exclave of Kaliningrad.

Three MiG-31 interceptors with the air-to-surface missiles were stationed at the Chkalovsk air base as an "additional measure for strategic deterrence".

According to the Interfax agency, the Russian Defense Ministry in Moscow announced this on Thursday.

Kaliningrad lies between the EU countries Poland and Lithuania around 500 kilometers from Berlin, but more than 1000 kilometers from Moscow.

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According to Russian data, the cruise missiles Kinzhal fly up to ten times faster than sound, are still steerable and have a range of 2,000 kilometers.

They can be conventionally or nuclear equipped.

It is one of several cutting-edge weapons systems that President Vladimir Putin is particularly proud of.

In March, Russia said it fired a Kinzhal missile at a military target in western Ukraine.

Update from June 18, 7:11 p.m .:

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan continues to rely on a diplomatic solution to the war in Ukraine.

“I continue to believe that the war will eventually end at the negotiating table.

In fact, Mr. Zelenskyj and Mr. Guterres also see it that way," Erdogan said, according to the Turkish presidential palace on Thursday in Lviv in western Ukraine.

Erdogan, UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj met there for talks.

According to Erdogan, the results of the talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin will be evaluated.

Ukraine nuclear plant Zaporizhia: UN warns of "suicide" - Russia speaks of "catastrophic consequences" 

Update from June 18, 6:28 p.m.:

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has again called for the withdrawal of all troops around the endangered Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia.

"The area must be demilitarized," Guterres said Thursday after a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv.

The facility should not be used for military operations, Guterres said.

"Instead, an agreement is urgently needed to restore Zaporizhia as a purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the security of the area." Any possible damage to the nuclear power plant is "suicide".

Ukraine nuclear power plant Zaporizhia: Russia warns of "catastrophic consequences" - with Chernobyl comparison

Update from August 18, 12:52 p.m .:

The Russian occupiers of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant accuse Ukraine of dangerous attacks.

There is a risk that the shelling will damage the cooling system of the reactors and the storage facilities for nuclear waste, said the region's occupation chief, Yevgeny Balitsky, on Russian state television.

"The cooling system guarantees the reliable operation of the nuclear power plant," he said, warning of a catastrophe like that in 1986 at the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Chernobyl.

The reactor facilities could be destroyed, which would allow radioactive substances to enter the atmosphere and spread hundreds of kilometers, said the head of Russia's Radiation, Chemical and Biological Defense Forces, Igor Kirillov.

Using a graphic, he warned of the "catastrophic consequences" that were even worse than the gas crisis in Europe.

Under fire in the Ukraine war: a Russian soldier guards the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia.

© Konstantin Mihalchevskiy/imago

The Russian military claims to only secure the nuclear power plant and not to have stationed any heavy weapons there.

According to information from Moscow, the Russian air defense repeatedly intercepts attacks on the nuclear power plant.

So far, no increased radioactivity is said to have been measured.

The information was not officially verified.

Ukraine war: dead and injured after Russian attacks in Kharkiv - including children

Update from August 18, 12:40 p.m .:

According to Ukrainian information, four people were killed in Russian attacks on the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv and nearby Krasnograd.

According to regional governor Oleg Synegubov, 20 other people were injured in the artillery shelling early Thursday morning (18 August), including children.

Several residential buildings were badly damaged.

The attack came just hours before UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were expected for talks in western Ukraine.

Crimean explosions: Ukraine now targets Putin's prestige project and threatens Russia

Kyiv - Soon after Russian President Vladimir Putin annexed the Crimean Peninsula in violation of international law in 2014, he had a bridge built from Russian territory to the peninsula.

In 2018, Putin personally inaugurated the bridge across the Kerch Strait: the Russian president was the first to drive across it in a truck at the head of a convoy of vehicles.

The structure is strategically and symbolically extremely important for Russia, not least the most important road and rail link between mainland Russia and Crimea.

After the Crimean bridge to Russia was officially opened in 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin (left) had Transport Minister Yevgeny Ditrikh explain the project to him.

© Aleksey Nikolskyi/Kremlin Pool/Imago

Several explosions in Crimea - now Ukraine is apparently targeting a bridge

But Ukraine does not want to cede the peninsula, which originally belongs to its territory, to Russia without a fight: in the past few days there have been several explosions in Crimea, the origin of which has not been clarified, but can probably be traced back to Ukrainian attacks.

Russia, which uses the peninsula as a logistical base for the Ukraine war, reacted with uncertainty and started a partial withdrawal of its warplanes.

In addition, Putin apparently had the fleet commander in Crimea recalled: As the London Institute for the Study of War reports, Admiral Igor Osipov was replaced by his previous deputy Viktor Sokolov.

The 19-kilometer bridge connecting Russia to the Crimean Peninsula opened in 2018.

© Sergei Malgavko/TASS/Imago

Ukraine calls on Russia to 'dismantle' bridge - 'voluntarily or not'

Ukraine has now called for the bridge from Russia to Crimea to be “dismantled”, indirectly threatening a military attack.

The bridge is an "illegal object" and must be dismantled - "no matter how: voluntarily or not," said Advisor to the President of Ukraine, Mykhailo Podoliak, on Wednesday (August 17) in the messenger service Telegram.

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Explosions in Crimea: Russia speaks of "sabotage"

An ammunition depot at a military base in the north of the peninsula exploded on Tuesday (August 16).

Moscow spoke of an "act of sabotage", but without naming those directly responsible.

The head of the Ukrainian presidential office, Andriy Yermak, praised a "masterpiece of the Ukrainian armed forces".

In addition to the ammunition depot, a high-voltage power line, a power plant, a railway line and several houses were also damaged.

Smoke billows from an explosion on Saky Beach.

Ammunition exploded at a Russian airbase on Russia's annexed Crimea peninsula in the Black Sea.

© Uncredited/dpa

A week earlier, explosions had already occurred at the Russian military airfield at Saki in western Crimea, killing one and injuring several.

Tourists fled from the resort popular with Russians, there were long traffic jams over the Kerch bridge.

The detonations also gave rise to speculation about a new weapon that Ukraine is said to have in its possession.