Ukraine is once again taking the initiative on the front, amid the Kakhovka dam disaster

This Thursday, Ukraine continued the initiative on the front, where Russia and the Western media reported the beginning of their counter-offensive, as well as in the area of ​​the disaster caused by the destruction Kakhovka Damwhich was visited by its president, Vladimir Zelensky. “The evacuation continues. Under fire! The Russian artillery continues to fire, no matter what. Savages!” said Zelenski, who once again described the demolition of the hydropower plant on the Dnieper River as a Russian “terrorist act”, which caused serious floods.

Russia, which controls the Kherson region most affected by the floods, responded before the International Court of Justice in The Hague by accusing Kiev of blowing up the dam with “artillery strikes”.

Zelensky appeared unannounced on Thursday in the Kherson region to coordinate rescue and emergency aid operations after the flood area of ​​600 square kilometers. “Our task is to save lives and help as many people as possible. It is important to calculate the damage and allocate funds to compensate the residents affected by the accident”, he pointed out.

Zelenski admitted it The situation in the occupied part of Kherson is “absolutely catastrophic” and accused Moscow of abandoning people to their fate without water, food or medical care on the rooftops of flooded cities. “And this is another deliberate crime of Russia: after the terrorist state has caused a disaster, it also maximizes the damage,” he complained, according to Efe. The neighboring Mykolaiv region was also affected, where Zelensky then went, condemning the flooding of the main pumping station of the Inhulets River channel and 3,000 hectares of forests.

The floods have caused at least a dozen deaths, which could rise as the number of missing is unknown, while 6,700 people have been rescued, although water levels have already begun to recede in some places.

Meanwhile, on the front, American media, citing sources close to Zelensky, are talking about the start of the long-awaited Ukrainian counter-offensive. According to these sources, operations are taking place in the southeast with the participation of special assault units equipped with Western weapons.

The main goal would be to reach the administrative border of the annexed Crimea, but first it will be necessary to liberate the cities of Melitopol and Energodar, which gives access to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, under Russian control for more than a year.

The Ukrainian army only publicly admitted that it had managed to advance more than a kilometer in the Bakhmut area, a stronghold controlled by Russian troops.

For his part, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu reported that the Ukrainian army tried in vain to break the Russian defense lines on four sectors of the front in Zaporozhye. “It is the beginning of a counter-offensive, which will undoubtedly continue”Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, said on Telegram.

Moscow warns that the attack on the ammonia pipeline puts the grain trade at risk

The blowing up of Russia’s Tolyati-Odesa ammonia pipeline in Ukraine’s Kharkiv region, which Russia attributes to Ukrainian saboteurs, will negatively affect the possibility of a future extension of the Black Sea grain agreement, a Kremlin spokesman said on Thursday. , Dmitry Peskov. “It can only have a negative effect,” he said.

Peskov pointed out that the Kremlin does not know the extent of the damage to the gas pipeline and what plans the Ukrainian authorities have in this regard. “But you know that this topic was an integral part of the agreement [del grano] which included us So, let’s say, it is another moment that extremely complicates the situation regarding its extension”, he explained.

The Russian Ministry of Defense condemned this Wednesday the blowing up of a Russian ammonia pipeline that must go to the port of Odesa, whose operation depends on compliance with the Russian part of the grain agreement, in which Russia demands an unblocking of Russian food and fertilizer exports.

The spokeswoman for Russian foreign affairs, Maria Zajárova, warned for her part that this Ukrainian attack “not only eliminated the physical possibility of transporting ammonia, but also harmed joint efforts to fight the threat of hunger and help countries in need.” He also destroyed, added the representative of Russian diplomacy, “the personal efforts of the UN Secretary General.” [António] Guterres, who presented a concrete initiative with this gas pipeline” and defended the grain agreement, “whose humanitarian meaning is losing value before our eyes”.

Kremlin postpones Putin’s annual meeting with Russians over lack of military success

The Kremlin has decided to postpone until the end of the year what is known as President Vladimir Putin’s annual hotline due to a lack of success on the front, according to the newspaper. Kommersant. The speech, in which he answers the questions of the Russians for several hours, was supposed to take place in June or July, but it was postponed to November or December, waiting for the situation on the frontline to become much clearer.

Presidential spokesman Dmitri Peskov said Thursday there was no date yet for the event, which has not been held since 2021. Kommersantciting official sources, explains that the aim is to celebrate it just before the presidential campaign in March 2024.