Ukraine war: Ex-US general criticizes calls for negotiations with Putin

Former US General Hogdes has criticized calls for talks with Putin

1:41 p.m.: Ben Hodges, former commander-in-chief of the US Army in Europe, has no understanding for the repeated calls for a ceasefire and negotiations with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin.

“Crimea is the crucial piece of land in this war. As long as Russia keeps them occupied, it can block all Ukrainian ports,” Hodges told FAZ. And further: “Anyone who says: ‘Dear Ukrainians, you will have to cede Crimea’ has no idea about economics and geography. I would like to ask these people: ‘Why don’t you just give up Lower Saxony or Mecklenburg-West Pomerania?’ Germany would never do that, but that is exactly what we are asking of Ukraine.”

The general justifies this comparison with the situation in Crimea: For him, it is a decisive factor in the reconstruction of Ukraine. As long as the Russians blockade the Sea of ​​Azov, this is simply not possible.

London: Thousands of Russian paratroopers killed or wounded

10:43 am: According to the British Ministry of Defense, thousands of Russian paratroopers may have been injured or killed in the war of aggression against Ukraine. The British announced this in their daily update on Twitter on Sunday. They referred to statements by the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, Colonel-General Mikhail Teplinsky.

The British pointed out that in a speech recorded on August 2 at the annual celebration of the Russian Airborne Forces, Teplinsky said that 8,500 injured paratroopers later returned to the front or refused to leave the front line. A little later, the speech was deleted from the page of the Russian military television station Zvezda.

“He did not comment on how many troops were killed or too badly injured to return to action,” the British wrote. However, Teplinski’s figures supported the assumption that at least 50 percent of the 30,000 paratroopers deployed in Ukraine in 2022 were killed or injured.

The British Ministry of Defense has published daily information on the course of the war since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine. Moscow accuses London of disinformation.

Zelenskyy: Dead in Russian rocket attack on blood transfusion center

10:23 p.m.: According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Russia has once again launched rocket attacks on the country. In Kupyansk in the Kharkiv region in eastern Ukraine, a blood transfusion center was bombed, the head of state said on Saturday evening on the Telegram news channel. There are reports of dead and injured. Rescue workers extinguished the fire. “This war crime alone says everything about Russian aggression,” he wrote. “Beating the terrorists is a matter of honor for all who value life.”

In Zaporizhia, a blow was struck against the Motor Sich plant, Selenskyj reported earlier in his evening video message. There had previously been another air alert in Ukraine. Zelenskyj did not say if there was any damage. Motor Sich is considered the country’s most important manufacturer of engines for airplanes and helicopters as well as gas turbines. According to Zelenskyj, the Khmelnytskyi region was also hit. Russia has been waging a war of aggression against its neighbor for more than 17 months.

“Some of the rockets were shot down. Thank you to our air defense fighters,” said the head of state. Russia once again fired Kinzhal (Dagger) rockets and Kalibr cruise missiles. Zelenskyy assured that Ukraine will defend its freedom. “And Russia will not manage to replace international law with terror or crises or any intimidation.”

In his address, Zelenskyy praised the meeting at the conference in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, which is about his formula for a future peace. 42 states from different continents are represented there, united by international law. A key point of Zelenskyy’s “peace formula” is the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. Important bilateral meetings are also planned in Jeddah, Zelenskyy said. Russia is not invited.

Zelenskyj once again thanked Germany for the latest defense packages. Ukraine is expecting new aid package commitments from allies in the coming week. “The greater the world’s consolidation in restoring a just peace, the faster the bombs and missiles that Moscow wants to use to replace the norms of international law will be put to an end.”

Ukraine wants to expand drone attacks on Russian targets

7:57 p.m.: According to its national security secretary Oleksiy Danilov, Ukraine wants to expand its drone attacks on Russian targets after several successful hits. “Russian targets are the best training ground for Ukrainian weapons and advertising in the world arms market,” the secretary of the National Council for Security and Defense wrote on Twitter, now renamed X, on Saturday. August has been a successful month so far, he said, referring to hits against Russian ships.

“With each new combat mission, Ukrainian combat and naval drones are becoming more and more precise, the operators are becoming more experienced, and combat coordination is becoming more effective. Manufacturers are given opportunities to improve tactical and technical characteristics,” said Danilov. He announced more missions further away. Meanwhile, Kiev declared the Russian Black Sea ports of Anapa, Novorossiysk, Gelendzhik, Tuapse, Sochi and Taman as military danger zones. Details were not given.

On the night of Saturday, a Russian tanker between Russia and the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea annexed by Moscow was hit by a sea drone in the engine room. According to Russian information, emergency services pumped water out of the ship so that it would not sink. According to the media, a sea drone hit a Black Sea Fleet ship in Novorossiysk on Friday. Pictures showed that it had a list. According to Russian sources, a Ukrainian sea drone was destroyed off the Crimean metropolis of Sevastopol.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of attacking its border regions and cities with drones, including the capital Moscow. However, the attacks bear no relation to the Russian attacks with drones, cruise missiles and missiles on the neighboring country since the war began more than 17 months ago. Many people die or are injured in the process.

Russia sends fighter jet over US drone over Black Sea

6:07 p.m.: According to information from Moscow, Russia let a fighter jet fly over the Black Sea on Saturday because of a US drone. The Defense Ministry announced that the unmanned aerial vehicle had approached the Russian state border. A Su-30 fighter plane then took off to identify it and not allow the border to be violated. After the maneuver, the MQ-9A “Reaper” drone turned away and the fighter jet returned to its base.

“The flight of the Russian fighter jet was carried out in strict accordance with international rules on the use of airspace over neutral waters and in compliance with safety measures,” the ministry said. No information was given on the exact location of the incident. Initially, there was no comment from Washington.

After the illegal annexation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014, Russia considers significantly larger parts of the waters in the Black Sea to be its territory than the international community. That’s why incidents happen all the time.

In mid-March, an unmanned US drone collided with a Russian fighter jet over the Black Sea, according to Washington. The US blamed “unsafe and unprofessional” actions on the part of the Russian side. US forces should have brought down the drone. At the same time, the US government tried to avoid an escalation.

In view of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine since February last year, there are great concerns about a direct military confrontation between the USA and Russia. The Americans are supporting Kiev on a large scale with military equipment, but rule out participating with their own soldiers.

Explosions near Crimean bridge were apparently attack on Russian tankers

3:51 p.m.: A Russian tanker has been hit by a Ukrainian naval drone in the Kerch Strait on the Black Sea. The tanker “SIG”, which according to Ukrainian information “transported fuel for Russian troops”, was attacked on Saturday night off Crimea. According to Russia’s Federal Waterways and Shipping Service, the ship is still afloat despite a hole in it.

The “successful special operation” against the Russian tanker was carried out together with the Navy in Ukrainian territorial waters, Ukrainian security circles told the AFP news agency. A naval drone and explosives were used. The ship was “well loaded with fuel so the ‘fireworks’ could be seen from afar,” it said.

The tanker “SIG” was hit on Friday at around 10:20 p.m. German time south of the straits off the Crimean peninsula, Russia’s Federal Service for Waterways and Shipping said on Saturday in the online service Telegram. The “SIG” now has a hole at the level of the waterline in the area of ​​the engine room, “probably as a result of an attack with a naval drone”, the authority said.

The ship is still swimming, the Russian side said. An oil barrier had been erected around the ship and the repairs were being prepared. The chemical tanker SIG is under US sanctions for supplying fuel to Russian forces in Syria.

Traffic on the strategically important bridge over the Kerch Strait, which connects Moscow-annexed Crimea to Russia, came to a standstill for about three hours, the Highway Information Center announced on its Telegram channel. Operations on the bridge connecting the Black Sea and the Sea of ​​Azov resumed early on Saturday.

An explosion on the ship could be seen from the peninsula and local residents believed it to be an explosion near the Yakovenkovo ​​settlement near the bridge, Vladimir Rogov, a representative of the Russian occupation authorities in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhia region, wrote in the online service Telegram.

According to Rogow, several crew members were injured by broken glass. The Russian news agency Ria Novosti, citing the coordination center for sea rescue in Novorossiysk, reported that there were no fatalities.

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