Moscow had blamed “sabotage” for the bombings, like the one that destroyed ten planes at Saki airfield
The commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian army, Valeri Zaluzni, acknowledged on Tuesday what was an open secret: that it was the kyiv troops that carried out a series of attacks against Russian positions in the Crimean peninsula throughout the month. of August. In one of them, which took place on the 9th, a Russian soldier was killed and a dozen planes were destroyed at the Saki air base. Until now, the government headed by Volodymyr Zelensky had not openly declared responsibility for the attacks, for which Moscow had blamed “saboteurs.”
Zaluzni claimed responsibility for the bombing in an article published in the state news agency ‘Ukrinform’. In the text, he points out that “there is no reason to believe” that the war will end in 2022. For the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian forces, “the center of gravity of the war for Russia lies in its remote nature for the majority of Russians». “They don’t perceive so painfully the losses, failures, and, most importantly, the costs of this war, in every way. (…) Our task is to make the experience something harder and more tangible for the Russians».
The bombings in Crimea were a significant achievement for the Ukrainian troops. On the one hand, they reached Russian territory with a civilian presence for the first time – there were many tourists enjoying the summer holidays. On the other hand, it meant a change in the paradigm of the war, since it was the first time that kyiv set targets in the rear of the Russian troops, as well as supply infrastructures.
The danger of Zaporizhia
On the other hand, Ukraine on Tuesday called for a UN blue helmet mission at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of bombing. It did so just one day after the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN nuclear agency, called for a “security zone” around the plant in the 52-page report prepared after its visit to the installations last week.
“Deploying the peacekeeping contingent and removing the Russian military may be one of the means of creating the security zone at the Zaporizhia plant,” said Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, the Ukrainian state nuclear operator.
For his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin denied that his Army deployed military equipment at the nuclear power plant, as the IAEA report pointed out. Numerous videos broadcast on social networks also show the presence of military trucks with a ‘Z’ painted on them, a symbol of support for the Russian invasion.
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