August 23, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Darya Dugina’s death was organized by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) and is the “first in the row” of expected attacks on civilians, the Secretary of Ukraine's National Security and Defense Council Oleksiy Danilov tweeted on Tuesday.

“Support for the war is falling in Russia. The Kremlin needs public mobilization. The FSB is expected to organize a series of terrorist attacks in Russian cities with mass civilian casualties. Dugina is the first in the row,” he said.

“Unlike Russia, Ukraine is not at war with civilians,” he added.

Dugina, the editor of a Russian disinformation website, died after a bomb planted in a car she was driving went off in the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday evening.

Russia has blamed Ukrainian special services for Dugina's murder, TASS reported on Monday. Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina's killing, calling Russia's FSB claims fiction.

Officials have warned Ukrainians to avoid mass gatherings around the Day of the National Flag on Tuesday and Independence Day on Wednesday amid concerns that Russian forces could target them with missile attacks. The UN has raised concerns that Russia could carry out illegal trials for prisoners of war in Mariupol in the next few days.

Here are the latest headlines:

For the first time since Russia's invasion of the country, Ukraine's footballing stars will be taking to the field as the Ukrainian Premier League begins again.

On Tuesday, Shakhtar Donetsk and Metalist 1925 Kharkiv kick off the new season in Kyiv at the Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex.

Although the stadium has a capacity of around 70,000, there will be no fans in attendance as the league takes safety measures to protect its civilians from Russia's ongoing attacks.

It is one of many precautions implemented to attempt to keep both players and staff as safe as possible, including bomb shelters and air raid sirens.

But, having been forced to cancel last season's league campaign on February 24 due to the invasion, it is a little slice of normality for the besieged Ukrainian population.

Read the full story here.

Russia maintains a dialogue with the United States via diplomatic communication channels, deputy foreign minister Sergei Ryabkov has said in an interview with RT Arabic, quoted by state news agency RIA Novosti.  

"The dialogue [with the US] has never stopped, we are conducting it on an ongoing basis. We are committed to contacts through our embassies, and, of course, through telephone contacts," Ryabkov said, as quoted by RIA Novosti. 

Ryabkov also said "the role of diplomacy, unfortunately, is not at the proper level now."

"These circumstances we are in now and the dynamics of Washington, its desire to punish Russia will fail and will not change anything. We are always fighting for a more just world," he said.

The new school year is a day of celebration in Ukraine, where children dress up and give bouquets of flowers to their teachers.

But Russia's invasion has cast a shadow on the happy day. Now educational facilities across the country are racing to build bunkers and bomb shelters for returning students.

As schools prepare to open their doors in September, many educators are grappling with the fact that they don't have the ability to provide safety to pupils, or peace of mind to parents, should their schools come under attack. "Our schools are not designed to be used as defensive facilities," Serhii Horbachov, Ukraine's education ombudsman, told CNN.

In Irpin, a leafy suburb of the capital Kyiv, fighting has wrecked parts of School Number 17, one of the largest in the city that teaches more than 2,400 children aged six to 17. Shrapnel has damaged the school's roof and broken all its windows.

The gaping holes in bright-colored walls and floors of the school have since been fixed with concrete and plaster. With the help of the United Nations children's agency, UNICEF, the school is rebuilding its bomb shelter. "We make it so that it is safe and comfortable there, and that children are not afraid, and that parents are calm," the school's headteacher, Ivan Ptashnyk, told CNN.

Read the full story here.

The southern city of Nikopol suffered shelling on Ukraine’s Day of the National Flag on Tuesday, a local official said, adding that people should avoid mass gatherings on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.

Yevhen Yevtushenko, the head of the district military administration in Nikopol, which is across the Dnipro River from the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (NPP), said people should stay away from open areas and infrastructure facilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and other officials have warned that Moscow may carry out intense attacks, including missile strikes, to coincide with Ukraine's Independence Day on Wednesday.

Russian forces "congratulated the city of Nikopol on Flag Day by shelling its territory with barrel artillery and MLRS [Multiple Launch Rocket Systems]," Yevtushenko said.

Bolstered Russian presence: Meanwhile, Energoatom, Ukraine's state-run nuclear power operator, claimed the amount of Russian soldiers and equipment at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is increasing.

"Yesterday, August 22, 2022, the occupiers additionally brought two armored personnel carriers and six special trucks to the repair zone of the NPP," Energoatom said Tuesday.

"In total, over 40 units of military equipment are now stationed on the territory of the plant. There are 16 military vehicles near the first power unit, and seven near the second. The occupiers drove another 12 pieces of equipment under the overpass," it added.

"In addition, the Russians have added a considerable number of "strong" orcs [soldiers] to their ranks, some of them wearing masks," added the agency.

Some background: Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russian forces, which seized the plant in March, of storing heavy weaponry inside the complex and using it as cover to launch attacks, knowing that Ukraine can't return fire without risking hitting one of the plant's six reactors, which would spell disaster.

Moscow, meanwhile, has claimed Ukrainian troops are targeting the site, which is the largest complex of its kind in Europe.

Both sides have accused the other of threatening nuclear terrorism.

On Friday, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that electricity generated at Zaporizhzhia belonged to Ukraine, following reports that the Kremlin could divert electricity produced at the plant to Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine. 

The United Nations has warned that Russia and affiliated groups could be planning trials for Ukrainian prisoners of war around the country's independence day on Wednesday.

"We are concerned by reports that the Russian Federation and affiliated armed groups in Donetsk are planning — possibly in the coming days — to try Ukrainian prisoners of war in what is being labelled an 'international tribunal' in Mariupol," said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani on Tuesday.

Shamdasani said that willfully depriving prisoners of war a fair trial is a war crime, and international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of courts solely to judge prisoners of war.

Some context: On August 12, Ukrainian officials said they expect Russia to start the trials in Mariupol.

"The occupiers are turning the Mariupol Philharmonic Hall, the pearl of the city, where only festive events took place, into a place of trial for our prisoners of war and civilians," said city mayor Vadym Boichenko.

A correspondent working for Zvezda, the Russian Defense Ministry's channel, reported from outside the philharmonic hall in the same week, noting that a "huge metal frame is being built next to the philharmonic. This is a future hangar, where prison wagons with Azov prisoners of war will presumably come by."

On Tuesday, Ukraine’s Ministry of Justice and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement they had submitted a number of new urgent demands to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) regarding ensuring the right to life and the prohibition of torture in relation to the Ukrainian fighters at Azovstal steel plant who were captured by Russian soldiers.

Ukraine demanded that urgent measures be taken to prevent the use of Ukrainian defense lawyers in any kind of so-called "tribunals" or trials, the statement said.

"Conducting any trials of prisoners of war for propaganda purposes is prohibited and equated to war crimes. We appeal to the world with the demand to use all available mechanisms to protect our prisoners of war and bring the Russian Federation and specific individuals to justice for their crimes," said Ukraine’s foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba.

Deputy minister of justice Iryna Mudra said that trials cannot be held for prisoners of war.

"We expect that the ECHR will carefully consider and grant Ukraine's request," she said.

Alexander Dugin, a prominent Russian ultranationalist, said his daughter Darya Dugina died for her country, as he delivered an emotional speech at a memorial service in Moscow Tuesday.

Dugina, the editor of a Russian disinformation website, was killed by a car bomb on the outskirts of Moscow on Saturday.

"Since childhood, her first words, which of course we taught her, were Russia: Our state, our people, our empire," Dugin said at his daughter's memorial.

"She had no fear, and the last thing she said, when we talked at the Festival of Tradition, she said to me: 'Dad, I feel like a warrior, I feel like a hero. I want to be like this, I don't want any other fate. I want to be with my people, with my country,'" Dugin said. 

"At my last lecture, we were next to each other and I told her that our history is a constant battle of light and darkness. God and his adversary, and that we are now in this and our political situation and our war in Ukraine, but not with Ukraine. This is also part of this war: Light and darkness," he added. 

Dugin said he "could feel how happy she was" after the Russian Federation awarded Dugina a posthumous order of courage in a decree signed by Putin on Monday. 

The Russian President sent his condolences to Dugina’s family on Monday.

"A vile, cruel crime cut short the life of Darya Dugina, a bright, talented person with a real Russian heart – kind, loving, sympathetic and open. A journalist, scientist, philosopher, war correspondent, she honestly served the people, the Fatherland, she proved by deed what it means to be a patriot of Russia," Putin said in a statement published on the Kremlin's Telegram channel. 

Denis Pushilin, head of the Donetsk People's Republic, also extended his condolences and praised Dugina's support for the Donbas region, saying she "fearlessly came to the burning cities of the republic to tell the world the truth about what is happening in our country," in remarks delivered on his behalf during the service. 

Russia has blamed Ukrainian special services for the murder of Dugina, TASS reported on Monday. 

Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina's killing, calling Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) claims fiction.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed that the Ukrainian flag will fly "where it’s supposed to be" in all currently occupied parts of Ukraine.

"Today I'd like to talk not only about the past of our flag but also about its future," said Zelensky on Tuesday in a speech to mark Ukraine's Day of the National Flag.

It comes ahead of the country's independence day on Wednesday, which will mark 31 years since Ukraine broke its ties with the Soviet Union.

Events to mark the day have been banned in Kyiv as officials warn that Russia may carry out missile attacks against the Ukrainian capital. In the city of Kharkiv, authorities have announced a curfew from 7 p.m. on the eve of Independence Day to 7 a.m. on the day after.

Wednesday also marks six months since the start of Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24.