Latest news, headlines and top stories you need to know RIGHT NOW about Russia, the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
As NATO’s summit approaches, former NATO Secretary-General Anders Rasmussen has warned that some of the alliance’s Eastern European states are considering sending their troops to Ukraine if NATO does not make substantial pledges to Ukraine during the summit.
Russia has accused Ukraine of sabotaging the Tolyatti-Odesa pipeline, which runs some 2,500km and is the longest ammonia pipeline in the world. It is utilized by Russia to export the chemical for industrial use as it is a core component of fertilizers. According to a Wednesday statement by the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD), “A Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance group blew up the Tolyatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline” near the village of Masyutovka in Kharkiv in northeastern Ukraine.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the Nova Kakhovka dam sabotage for the first time in public comments blaming the Ukrainian government and military for the “barbaric act.” Putin’s comments came after the Russian defense and foreign ministries had accused Ukraine of the “catastrophic” attack.
On Tuesday, an explosion at the Nova Kakhovka dam, which sits on the Dnipro River in the Russian-controlled Kherson region of southern Ukraine, unleashed a massive wall of water flooding Kherson city, Kakhovka, and 80 villages located downstream of the dam. Upstream, many residents have suddenly found themselves with an unstable water supply The apocalyptic event has also led to the loss of power for some 12,000 residents in the area as the Ministry of Energy has proactively been cutting power to customers as there are concerns about maintaining the water levels in the cooling pools for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest.
At the request of Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Parliament canceled a major public holiday to financially support its commitments to NATO and the war in Ukraine. The decision was widely criticized and resulted in public protests against the move.
On Monday, the Russian Defense Ministry (MoD) suggested that Ukraine launched its highly-anticipated counter-offensive on Sunday only to have it immediately quashed within hours by Russian forces. According to the MoD, Ukraine began a “large-scale offensive” when it attacked 5 sections of the frontlines in the Donbas region. Russia has said that it stopped the major attack before it got off the ground and killed some 250 Ukrainian troops in the process. As part of the offensive, Ukraine sent 6 mechanized and 2 tank battalions to Russian-controlled Donetsk in the south.
According to the Governor of Russia’s Belgorod oblast Viacheslav Gladkov, another cross-border attack by Ukraine has occurred on Russian territory. It is the third such instance in the past 2 weeks. The governor also noted that FSB security services and Russian forces are engaged in an ongoing fight with the “saboteurs,” although little additional information has been provided.