Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature Agence France-Presse reports that Finland has registered a record number of asylum seekers since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, surpassing a previous high during the 2015 migrant crisis. “Until August 4, those who fled Ukraine due to the Russian military offensive had submitted 35,074 applications for temporary protection,” the Finnish migration service said in a statement. More than 37,000 people are registered in the reception system, “which is more than ever”. “A third of those leaving Ukraine are children,” the migration service said. The latest figures from UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, show that over 6.3 million refugees from Ukraine have been registered across Europe. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is operating normally according to reports from Yevgeniy Balitsky, head of the Russian administration of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region. Reuters reports that he told Interfax: “We have information from the military and representatives of Russia’s Rosatom, who are here, they are just monitoring the situation. We have information from them that everything is working normally.” Updated at 09.47 BST Ukraine carried out long-range raids on Russian troop bases and two key bridges on the Dnieper River overnight, Ukrainian officials said. The strikes hit Russia’s only two crossings into the enclave of southern Ukrainian territory it has seized on the west bank of the river, said Natalia Khomenyuk, a spokeswoman for Ukraine’s southern military command. “The results are rather respectable, hits on the Antonivskyi and Kakhovskyi bridges,” reports Reuters TV. The claims have not been independently verified, but earlier Kirill Stremusov, the deputy head of the pro-Russian command imposed on occupied Kherson, told the Interfax news agency that the Antonivskyi bridge had been hit again. Updated at 09.27 BST Here’s a selection of images sent to us today via the news from Sloviansk, in the Donetsk region of Ukraine. Residents gather to draw water from a well outside an apartment complex in Sloviansk. Photo: David Goldman/APA A taxi drives along a road damaged by shrapnel from a rocket attack in May in Sloviansk on Saturday. Photo: David Goldman/APLyubov Mahlii, 76, drags a crate of water bottles up the stairs to her fifth-floor apartment after filling them at a nearby park in Sloviansk. The city’s lack of running water means residents have to fill bottles by hand at public pumps. Photo: David Goldman/APIda Svystunova, 89, looks out of the damaged room next to her apartment. Svistonova is one of only four people living on the block and spends most of her day looking out the window. “I sit and wait for the end of this war or maybe the end of ourselves,” he said. Photo: David Goldman/APA Couple embrace after cooling off at a lake in Sloviansk. While the rest of the city’s population has adapted to a new lifestyle without running water, local officials warn that the coming of winter could set the stage for a humanitarian crisis. Photo: David Goldman/AP Updated at 09.28 BST Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, appeared to confirm on Telegram that at least one person was killed in a strike this morning, posting “Unfortunately, as a result of the morning shelling, one person was killed, another was injured. The information is updated. Emergency medical personnel are on the scene.” In the last few minutes the mayor of Kharkiv, Ihor Terekhov, posted on Telegram: Now Pavlovo Polo is already being bombed in the morning… a few minutes ago there was an explosion. There is certainly no military infrastructure in this peaceful and densely populated area. I am asking everyone to take shelter – the bombing may resume. Updated at 08.53 BST Here is a picture sent to us from Turkey of the Polarnet ship arriving at Derince port. It carries 12,000 tons of Ukrainian corn. The Turkish-flagged ship Polarnet arrives in Derince. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Oleh Synyehubov, Kharkiv’s governor, said two people had been killed in shelling in the area in the past 24 hours. He claimed that during the night the roof of the administrative building in Kharkiv’s Kiev district had caught fire due to the shelling. His message ended: As you can see, the Russians, due to their lack of success at the front, are hitting peaceful towns and villages in the area. But we are stronger than their pathetic attempts to intimidate us. Victory is ours! In recent minutes he has issued a broad warning to citizens in Kharkiv, posting on Telegram saying: “Residents of Kharkiv and the region, stay in shelters as much as possible. Russian conquerors hit Kharkiv. Don’t leave safe places.” Updated at 08.36 BST In his daily status update, Maksym Kozytskyi, governor of Lviv, warned residents about the sources of information they use, saying overnight that rumors had spread of a malfunction of the air warning system. He wrote on Telegram: On August 8, at 2.57 am, one of the Telegram channels spread information that there was an air alert in Lviv, but for technical reasons, the city and phone applications did not activate the alert. This information is not true! There was no threat. Follow and trust only official sources of information. The claim has not been independently verified. Elsewhere in his daily briefing, Kozicki said there was a real air raid alert overnight but that “the danger did not materialize” and that 270 people had arrived in his area on two evacuation trains from the east of the country. Seven hundred and 68 people departed from Lviv region to Przemyśl, Poland on four trains. Updated at 08.24 BST My colleague Shaun Walker recently wrote a lengthy profile of Dmitry Medvedev about the former Russian leader’s journey from liberal to anti-Western hawk. Medvedev gave an interview to Tass, published this morning, which contains plenty of Medvedev’s anti-Western rhetoric. The interview is timed to coincide with the anniversary of Russia’s 2008 attack on Georgia, which took place while he was in power. In his interview today, Medvedev says: The criminal policy of the United States is aggressively pursued in Ukraine. True, with much more active support from the European Union, which eventually lost its independence. The goal is the same – the destruction of Russia. This is the root cause of the highly aggressive, Russophobic geopolitical process initiated by the West. Our response is harsh, but carefully considered. If there is an opportunity to resolve the problem peacefully, at the negotiating table, that should be done. But when there is no way out, you have to react with violence. Unfortunately, in both Georgia and Ukraine, the authorities of these countries left Russia with no other choice, disrupting the processes of political settlement of these conflicts. And we deliberately went for military intervention. As for NATO, its relentless desire to expand along Russia’s borders like a cancerous tumor has become a global problem. It makes all sane people sick. You can read Medvedev’s full Tass interview here. Read Sean Walker’s profile of Medvedev here: ‘I hate them’: Dmitry Medvedev’s journey from liberal to anti-Western hawk Updated at 08.25 BST The self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic, an entity recognized as legitimate and official by only three UN member states, issued an update on the day in which they said they had killed “up to 53 people” by Ukrainian forces in the past 24 hours. and destroyed four armored personnel carriers and “seven units of special vehicles”. The announcement on Telegram also claims that as a result of shelling by Ukrainian forces in the city of Alchevsk in occupied Luhansk, one civilian was killed and 19 people were injured, including five children. They claim that 13 apartment buildings, four kindergartens and a school were damaged. They claim that “peaceful life is being restored in the territories of the Luhansk People’s Republic liberated from Ukrainian nationalists” and report that more than five hectares have been cleared of explosive devices. They also claim to offer humanitarian aid. None of the claims have been independently verified.
Pro-Russian forces say Ukraine hit Antonivskiy bridge in occupied Kherson again
A key Russian-controlled bridge to the occupied southern city of Kherson was hit again overnight by Ukrainian forces, according to reports from the Russian government there. Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the pro-Russian administration imposed on occupied Kherson, told the Interfax news agency: The strike took place on the Antonivskiy bridge. The equipment of the builders repairing the bridge was burnt, there is no critical damage. But the opening of the bridge is slightly delayed. Ukrainian forces have repeatedly targeted the bridge with precision weapons as it is one of two permanent supply routes over the Dnieper river, linking the occupied city to the rest of the Kherson region and to annexed Crimea in the south. The claims have not been independently verified. Updated at 07.35 BST Ivan Fedorov, the elected mayor of Melitopol in Ukraine, posted on Telegram overnight about the situation in the occupied city, from which he is in exile. He told his supporters on Telegram: Himars high-precision missiles today hit the temporary deployment points of the occupation forces at industrial sites in various districts of the city of Melitopolis. Last week, the invaders deployed a significant part of the air defense from Melitopolis to Kherson. Tonight is the most effective and shows that the existing enemy air defense units are no longer able to resist Heimaris. The weakening of the air defense system…
