August 25, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

There are growing concerns over the trials of prisoners of war scheduled to take place in Russian-occupied Mariupol, with Washington and Moscow trading barbs over the plans.

"Show trials": On Wednesday, the US State Department said the Kremlin was using the trials as an attempt "to deflect responsibility for President Putin’s war of aggression and distract from overwhelming evidence of the atrocities Russian forces have committed in Ukraine."

"All members of Ukraine’s armed forces, including domestic and foreign volunteers incorporated into the armed forces, are entitled to prisoner of war status if they are captured and must be afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, according to the Geneva Conventions," the State Department said.

Russian reaction: The Russian Embassy in Washington responded early Thursday, accusing the US of "groundless accusations" against Russia.

It added that the "upcoming trial is aimed at bringing justice to war criminals, among which there are Nazis from the Azov Regiment."

The embassy added that Washington was "clearly afraid of making public the evidence of the inhumane acts committed by members of this terrorist organization," referring to Russia's claims that it launched a "special mission" to protect itself from genocide at the hands of ​"neo-Nazis."

No start date: Denis Pushilin, leader of the self-declared Donetsk People's Republic (DPR), said that the trials will include soldiers from Ukraine's "regular army" as well as members of the Azov Regiment.

Speaking on Russian television Thursday, Pushilin said that "all war criminals will be court-martialed at the tribunal."

However Ukrainian official Petro Andriushchenko, an adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, said that the DPR has not announced a start date for the trials.

"Most likely, this is due to the lack of 'confessions' of our Heroes themselves," said Andriushchenko, who is not in Mariupol himself, on his Telegram channel Thursday.

The area around the building slated to host the trials remains closed, he added.

Some context: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights this week expressed concern about the trials, saying 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.

Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and French counterpart Sébastien Lecornu discussed the situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during a call on Thursday, according to the Russian Defense Ministry

Shoigu shared his assessments of the actions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the call, which was initiated by the French side, said the ministry.

The Russian minister also stressed the importance of an International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) visit to the plant, and said Russia is ready to provide the necessary assistance to the organization's inspectors.

Kyiv and Moscow have made a barrage of accusations against each other about security and military action at and around the plant, the largest nuclear complex in Europe.

But the lack of independent access to the plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March, makes it impossible to verify what is happening there.

Outgoing UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has blamed a spike in the cost of living on Russia's invasion of Ukraine, amid criticism of his government's lack of response to the growing crisis.

Speaking alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a visit to Kyiv on Tuesday, Johnson said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had underestimated Ukraine, as well as "the price the world was willing to pay to support Ukraine."

"And I've come from the United Kingdom where we're battling inflation that is being driven by the spike in energy prices that is caused by Putin's war," said Johnson.

"And we also know that if we're paying in our energy bills for the evils of Vladimir Putin, the people of Ukraine are paying in their blood," he added.

Wholesale natural gas prices started increasing last year as countries reopened from their pandemic lockdowns, causing a global spike in demand.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine in late February, and the resulting energy crunch, has also pushed prices further up.

But Johnson's government has also come in for heavy criticism for a lack of action in helping people to deal with the cost of living crisis in the UK, where energy bills have risen 54% so far this year and are expected to increase further.

"It is going to be truly, truly horrific for a large number of people," Keith Anderson, CEO of Scottish Power told STV, a Scottish TV station, on Monday, referring to the price increases.

"This is bigger than the pandemic. It's a big national crisis," he added.

So far this year, the government has offered about £33 billion ($39 billion) in support to households to help with energy costs, through a mix of tax cuts, energy bill rebates and direct payments, the Institute for Government said in its report published Tuesday.

But experts say more is needed.

Leaders of the UK National Health Service warned last week of a "humanitarian crisis."

Many people could fall sick this winter as they "face the awful choice between skipping meals to heat their homes and having to live in in cold, damp and very unpleasant conditions," they said.

CNN's Anna Cooban contributed to this report.

Spain will send Ukraine an anti-aircraft battery and missiles for the first time since Russia’s invasion began in February, Spain's Ministry of Defense said Wednesday.

Madrid's latest shipment of military aid will also include 1,000 rounds of field artillery munitions, a thousand tons of diesel fuel, various armored vehicles and 30,000 winter uniforms, the Defense Ministry said in a statement.

Spain will train Ukrainian troops in the operation of the anti-aircraft battery, and also provide training for Ukrainian air force personnel “in an allied country,” which was not specified, the statement said. 

Spain last April announced the shipment of 200 tons of ammunition and other military aid to Ukraine.

The death toll from a Russian attack Wednesday on a train station in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region has risen to 25, according to Ukrainian officials.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the President's office said search and rescue operations had been completed at the station in the village of Chaplyne.

Independence Day strikes: The attack was one of several Russian strikes carried out around Ukraine on Wednesday as the country marked Ukrainian Independence Day, officials said.

Yuri Sak, an adviser to Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov, told CNN that Russia conducted "missile strikes across Ukrainian territory."

"In other major cities of Ukraine, even those which are far away from the battlefield, there have been explosions, there have been missile strikes," Sak said, adding that Kyiv had at least eight air raid sirens on Wednesday.

Two Russian rockets hit communities near Ukraine's capital Kyiv overnight into Thursday, according to Oleksiy Kuleba, head of Kyiv's regional state administration. 

No injuries or destruction of infrastructure was reported, he added.

Kuleba said an assessment of the areas impacted continues and that other explosions heard by those in the area were from Ukraine's air defense. 

The Russian military has killed three Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant workers and detained 26 more during its occupation of the facility, Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets said on Wednesday.

According to Lubinets, the three workers were killed from beatings or shelling, while Russia accuses the detainees of “passing on information about the movement and location of Russian military equipment” in the region.

US President Joe Biden and Western leaders have stressed the need for the United Nations nuclear watchdog to visit the plant in southeastern Ukraine, where shelling has sparked fears of a disaster.

Kyiv and Moscow have made a barrage of accusations against each other about security and military action at and around the plant, the largest nuclear complex in Europe. But the lack of independent access to the plant, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March, makes it impossible to verify what is happening there.

Lubinets also called on the UN and the International Atomic Energy Agency to expedite the establishment of the demilitarized zone around the plant and add protections for its personnel to ensure maintenance of the facility.

The US will provide Ukraine VAMPIRE counter-unmanned aerial system, or counter-drone system that uses "small missiles essentially to shoot missiles out of the sky," Department of Defense undersecretary for policy Dr. Colin Kahl told reporters on Wednesday.

The VAPIRE counter-UAS systems are included in the latest $3 billion US security assistance package for Ukraine announced Wednesday. 

For training on systems included in the latest package of security assistance, the US believes there is "time to train the Ukrainians on whatever system they are not familiar with," Kahl said.

Because the latest security assistance comes from Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative funding — meaning it will be sourced and produced by industry partners and not directly from DoD stockpiles of weapons — it could take "months to get on contract and one, two, three years in some instances to arrive in Ukraine," Kahl said. 

Ukraine's Independence Day, which on Wednesday marked the 31st anniversary of when the country voted to break with the Soviet Union, was a more somber affair this year, with officials attending memorials. The day was darkened by a missile strike on an eastern Ukrainian train station which killed at least 22 people — fulfilling warnings by Ukrainian officials.

While previous years have been marked by celebrations and parades, Wednesday's commemoration came exactly six months after Russia's invasion of the country began.

President Volodymyr Zelensky marked the day with an emotional address that spoke of the Russian invasion as a new independence day — the day Ukraine had to fight for its freedom, rather than simply voting for it at the ballot box.

Across the country, Ukrainians paid tribute to those who have been killed in military action since the invasion began. Foreign leaders, such as UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, also visited Kyiv.

In the capital, Zelensky and first lady Olena Zelenska visited the Memory Wall of Fallen Defenders of Ukraine. In the Western city of Lviv, visibly emotional family members of fallen soldiers attended a ceremony at the memorial, the Field of Mars.

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