The Russian invasion of Ukraine lasts on the 177th day. On Thursday evening, there were reports of several explosions in Kerch in Russian-occupied Crimea and at the Russian military airport Belbek north of Sevastopol. Earlier that day, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres met in Lviv. Among other things, they talked about the situation around the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant. In the morning, however, there was another shelling of Kharkiv in the north-east of the country.
> W. Sevastopol in the Crimea annexed by the Russians at least four explosions have been heard, local Reuters sources said. The agency added that the explosions took place near the Belbek military airport north of the largest city of Crimea. In a separate communiqué, the pro-Kremlin governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev, said that the Russian anti-aircraft defense had shot down a drone belonging to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
> Ukrainian media reported that in Kerch in the east of Crimea, explosions were heard. The Russian propaganda agency TASS, citing an advisor to the so-called Sergei Aksyonov, the Prime Minister of Crimea, informed that “air defense was active in Kerch” and that “there is no threat to the city and the Crimean Bridge”.
A firefighter on the ruins of a residential building in Kharkiv, destroyed by Russian shelling (18/08/2022)PAP / Mykola Kalyeniak
> Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres stayed on Thursday with a visit to Lviv. There, they held bilateral meetings with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, as well as trialogues. After the meetings, Erdogan expressed his concern about the situation around the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, warning against “a repeat of the Chernobyl disaster”. Guterres also assessed that Russian soldiers and military equipment should be withdrawn from the facility.
> The Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) announced the detention of a man who showed the aggressor’s soldiers a safe route to Kiev at the beginning of the Russian invasion. Surveillance cameras have captured a spy driving in front of a Russian column of military vehicles. The man is suspected of high treason, including – as reported by the SBU – about bringing over 120 units of military equipment from Russian troops to the Ukrainian capital.
> A total of 17 people were killed and 42 injured in the two most recent Russian attacks on Kharkiv, the largest city in northeast Ukraine, the head of the regional administration, Oleh Synegubov, announced on Thursday. The last shelling was on Thursday morning, the previous one was on Wednesday.
Main photo source: PAP / Mykola Kalyeniak