Here are the key events on Friday, August 12.
Fighting
- The scale of damage from explosions at an airbase in Russian-annexed Crimea on Tuesday and the apparent precision of an attack suggested a new capability with potential implications for the course of the war, Western military experts said. Russia said the explosions were detonations of stored ammunition.
- President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told government officials to stop talking to reporters about Ukraine’s military tactics against Russia, saying such remarks were “frankly irresponsible”. He was reacting to newspaper reports citing unidentified officials as saying Ukrainian forces were responsible for the explosions in Crimea.
- Russia has doubled the number of air raids on Ukraine’s military positions and civilian infrastructure compared with the previous week, according to a Ukrainian brigadier general.
- Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary, said Russia was unlikely to succeed in occupying Ukraine.
- Western countries committed more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.55bn) in cash, equipment and training to boost Ukraine’s military capabilities.
- Ukraine aims to evacuate two-thirds of residents from areas it controls in the eastern battleground region of Donetsk before winter.
- Russian officials trained in Iran in recent weeks as part of a drone deal, the United States alleged. US officials previously said Iran would provide up to several hundred drones, including some that are weapons capable, to Russia. The claim raised concerns that Iran was supporting Russia in its war in Ukraine.
- The head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog told the Security Council that fighting near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has sparked a “grave crisis”.
Economy
- The overseas creditors of Ukraine backed its request for a two-year freeze on payments on almost $20bn in international bonds, helping it avoid a default.
- Ukraine expects a ship to arrive on Friday to load grain for delivery to Ethiopia under a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey.
