While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that Russia “might do something particularly cruel” next week, during Ukraine’s Independence Day celebrations, the daughter of a Russian intellectual close to the Kremlin was killed in a car bombing, and a local official in the Ukrainian service security found dead in a house in central Ukraine.
“Russia may be looking to do something especially horrific, especially cruel,” Zelensky said in his daily speech.
“One of the main goals of the enemy is to humiliate us,” he added, “to sow despair, fear and conflict,” but “we must be strong enough to resist any provocation” and “make the occupiers pay the price for their actions.” horror”.
On August 24, Ukraine celebrates its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. But this year, the date marks six months since the Russian invasion, which claimed the lives of thousands and caused massive destruction in the country.
In this regard, the governor of the Kharkiv region (center-east) announced a curfew on Saturday until the morning of August 25.
The governor of the Donetsk region (east), Pavel Kirilenko, said yesterday that four civilians were killed and two wounded at the hands of Russians in the region the day before.
In the Kharkiv region (center-east), two civilians were injured as a result of night shelling by the Russian Federation, the State Emergency Service reports.
Odessa region (south) was hit by five Russian cruise missiles “Caliber”, launched from the Black Sea, said the representative of the regional administration Sergei Brachuk.
He added that air defense systems shot down two missiles, and the remaining three missiles hit the mine, no one was injured.
In addition, a local official of the Security Service of Ukraine was found dead in his home in central Ukraine, the Prosecutor General’s Office said yesterday.
The prosecutor’s office reported via Telegram that Alexander Nakonichny’s wife heard the sound of bullets from her apartment in Kropyvnytskyi late on Saturday before finding her husband’s body with a gunshot wound in one of the rooms.
The prosecution added that the police had launched an investigation to determine the cause of death, without adding any comments about the hypotheses investigators are exploring.
For his part, Andrey Lavros, a local elected official, confirmed on Telegram that the official committed suicide by shooting himself in the head.
Nakonichny has been in charge of the local branch of the SBU in the Kirovograd region since January 2021.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky fired Ivan Bakanov, head of the state security service, in July, accusing him of not doing enough to fight Moscow’s spies and collaborators who invaded Ukraine in February.
Zelenskiy then announced a “review of the administrative staff” of the Security Service of Ukraine, along with which several high-ranking officials have been fired in recent months.
In Moscow, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, a Russian writer close to the Kremlin, a defender of the Russian military operation in Ukraine, was killed on Saturday evening as a result of an explosion in his car in the Moscow region, according to the Russian Investigative Committee. .
Daria Dugin, a journalist and political commentator who has also publicly expressed support for the Russian attack on Ukraine, was driving a Toyota Land Cruiser when it exploded before it burst into flames on a highway near the village of Bolshoy Vyaziumi, 40 kilometers from Moscow. by application. .
The statement states that the girl, born in 1992, was “killed on the spot.”
Investigators said that an explosive device was planted in the car and there is reason to believe that “the crime was planned in advance.” A “murder” case was opened, and a commission was set up to deal with the country’s main criminal investigations.
Russian news agencies, citing close relatives, reported that the victim of the explosion was the radical nationalist thinker and writer Alexander Dugin (60), explaining that this time Daria borrowed her father’s car for transportation.
Since 2014, the European Union has imposed sanctions against the propagandist of the Eurasian Movement (a coalition between Europe and Asia led by Russia) Alexander Dugin, who influences part of the French far right after the annexation of Crimea by Russia.
In recent years, many of his books have been banned in Ukraine, including “Ukraine. my fight. Geopolitical Diaries” and “Eurasian Revenge of Russia”.
Daria Dugin has been under British sanctions since July, accusing her of spreading “false information about Ukraine” online.
Denis Pushilin, head of the “Donetsk Republic” of pro-Russian Ukrainian separatists, has accused Ukrainian forces of involvement in the murder of Daria Dugina.
“The terrorists of the Ukrainian regime tried to eliminate Alexander Dugin, but they blew up his daughter,” Pushilin wrote on Telegram.
“If Ukraine’s involvement is confirmed and needs to be verified by the relevant authorities, it will be related to the policy of state terrorism pursued by the Kyiv regime,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
US Treasury » Russian organizations violate sanctions through Turkey
The US Treasury Department said that Deputy Treasury Secretary Vali Ademo told Deputy Treasury Secretary Yunus Ilitash that Russian entities and individuals are trying to use Turkey to circumvent Western sanctions imposed on Moscow because of the war it is waging against Ukraine.
The ministry added that officials also discussed in the phone call ongoing efforts to implement sanctions against Russia.
In a statement regarding the call, Turkey’s finance ministry said Elitas stressed the depth of Turkey’s economic and political relations with Russia and Ukraine, but also assured Adimo that Ankara would not allow sanctions violations.
The ministry said that “Elitash stressed that Turkey’s position regarding the current procedures and sanctions has not changed, but it will not allow any institution or person to violate the sanctions.”
Moscow: 130 “extremist” nationalists killed
The Russian Defense Ministry announced the destruction of more than 130 “Ukrainian ultra-nationalists” during the operations of Russian troops in the Donetsk People’s Republic and Ukraine over the past day.
“Strikes (of the Russian Aerospace Forces) were carried out by the 2nd battalion of the 28th mechanized brigade near Novohrygorovka in the Nikolaev region and the 18th battalion of the 35th marine brigade of Ukraine near Tokarevo in the Nikolaev region,” the report says. This was announced yesterday at a briefing by the press secretary of the ministry, Major General Igor Konashenkov in Kherson, as a result of which more than 100 people were killed and 7 armored vehicles and special equipment were destroyed.
As a result of the shelling of the positions of the 2nd battalion of the 66th mechanized brigade in the Novomikhailovka area of the Donetsk People’s Republic, more than 30 people died, a tank and 5 special-purpose vehicles were destroyed.
“High-precision and long-range naval missiles of the Kalibr class destroyed an ammunition depot with American-made HIMAR missiles and Western-made air defense systems near Maiorskoye, Odessa region,” Konashenkov added.