Pentagon estimates Russian losses at up to 80,000 soldiers dead or injured
“A very dangerous development”
Heinz Smital, nuclear physicist and nuclear power expert from Greenpeace, views the situation in Zaporizhia with great concern. He warns that the Russians would have left a minefield in Chernobyl when they left. The radioactive releases in Zaporizhia could be significantly larger than in Fukushima.
The situation on the front line in eastern Ukraine remains tense. The governor of the Donetsk region reports air strikes. The US Department of Defense assumes that the Russian army has suffered extraordinary losses. An overview.
Im Ukraine war are, according to estimates by US Department of Defense on the Russian side 70,000 to 80,000 people been killed or injured. The Russian army has suffered extraordinary losses because the Ukrainian military is functioning well and has received a lot of support, Pentagon top official Colin Kahl said Monday. He described the war as the “most intense conventional conflict in Europe since World War II”. There is no current information from the official bodies in Russia on the number of victims.
He currently sees the Ukrainians at a clear advantage, especially because they are superior to the Russian armed forces in terms of their morale and willingness to fight, said Kahl. “There is a lot at stake for them. They are fighting for the survival of their country.” Kahl further said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had not achieved any of his goals. “His overarching goal was to overrun the entire country, bring about regime change in Kyiv, and wipe out Ukraine as an independent, sovereign, and democratic nation. None of that happened.”
“There is constant shooting all along the front line”
The Ukrainian side reports massive Russian shelling on the front line in the east. There is heavy fighting in places near the city Donetsksaid the governor of the region of the same name, Pavlo Kyrylenko, on Ukrainian television.
“The situation is tense – there is constant shooting along the entire front line.” There are also many air raids. “The enemy is unsuccessful. The Donetsk region is holding up.”
The current situation in Ukraine
Source: Infographic WORLD
After the attacks on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned of a nuclear catastrophe and drew comparisons to the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. “The world should not forget Chernobyl and remember that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe,” said the Ukrainian head of state on Monday. “The Chernobyl disaster was a reactor explosion. Zaporizhia has six reactors.”
At the same time, Zelenskyj called for new sanctions against Russia. “New sanctions are needed against the terrorist state and the entire Russian nuclear industry for creating the threat of a nuclear catastrophe.”
The Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine has come under fire twice in the past few days. Parts of the plant were damaged and a reactor had to be shut down. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the attacks.
There is still no evidence of released radioactivity, as the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) announced. The White House in Washington made a similar statement. But the fear of possible damage is growing. UN Secretary-General António Guterres warned: “Any attack on a nuclear power plant is a suicidal affair.” Ukraine is demanding that a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visit the power plant as a matter of urgency.
Ukrainian grain exports by ship are starting
Meanwhile, several foreign ships with grain have been on board in the past few days Ukrainian Black Sea ports being able to leave. However, the first freighter, named “Razoni”, was diverted from the destination port of Tripoli in Lebanon to Turkey and was anchored off the Turkish coast early Tuesday morning, according to the Marine Traffic information service.
In Lebanon, the customer did not want to accept the corn freight that had been delayed since the outbreak of war, Ukrainian media reported, citing diplomats.
The “Razoni” on their way to Istanbul (archive image)
Source: REUTERS
Federal Development Minister Svenja Schulze (SPD) warned against too much euphoria after the first transports. “Grain prices have fallen slightly, but are still at a high level,” she told the Düsseldorf “Rheinische Post” and the Bonn “General-Anzeiger”. However, one cannot be sure whether Putin will “continue to use grain as a weapon”. The war had blocked Ukrainian ports since February. In July, the UN and Turkey brokered an agreement on safe exports of the important producer.
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