The Kremlin issued a decree ordering the expansion of the army. Moscow claims hundreds of soldiers were killed in a rocket attack on a train station, and Kyiv says dozens of civilians have died. In this country, Chancellor Scholz visits the training of Ukrainian soldiers on German weapons.

Kremlin builds up army

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree ordering an increase in the army. From next year, the number of soldiers is expected to increase by 137,000 to around 1.15 million. This brings the total number of army personnel to more than two million.

Cluster bombs used in hundreds of cases

Ukraine and international experts have repeatedly accused Russia of attacks on civilians and war crimes. Russia has also used internationally banned cluster munitions in hundreds of cases since the beginning of the war, as reported by the international cluster munitions coalition in Geneva. By the end of June, at least 215 people had been killed and another 474 injured by cluster munitions. The use of this ammunition was also registered in three cases on the Ukrainian side. These are containers that are fired from airplanes or rocket launchers and distribute many small explosive devices over a large area. A 2008 convention bans the use of cluster munitions, but neither Russia nor Ukraine are part of it.

Scholz visits military training center

Chancellor Olaf Scholz visited Ukrainian soldiers in the training program on the “Gepard” anti-aircraft tank in Schleswig-Holstein for the first time. The training is part of the German-funded delivery of 30 “Gepard” tanks to Ukraine. “The men who are here will defend their country,” said the SPD politician. “They will defend it against the terrible threat posed to Ukraine by Russia’s brutal war of aggression.” Germany will “continue to support us with our financial resources, but also with the weapons that we can provide from Germany.” In the evening, the Chancellor assured citizens in Magdeburg that he would continue to act “prudently and carefully” when making decisions about arms deliveries to Ukraine. They will “never go it alone, but always orientate ourselves on what our allies are doing.”

The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is going offline – at least temporarily

The operator has taken the last two blocks of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant off the grid. The reason is damaged lines. This does not jeopardize the safety of the facility. The power supply to the nuclear power plant itself will continue to be ensured via a line to the neighboring thermal power plant from the Ukrainian energy system. Russia occupied the plant at the beginning of March, and since then there has been repeated shelling. Russia and Ukraine blame each other for this.

The Russian occupiers later announced that one of the two power plant blocks currently in operation was back on the grid. The two blocks only needed to be shut down temporarily after a fire broke out due to Ukrainian shelling, the region’s occupation chief, Yevgeny Balitsky, wrote on Telegram. Here, too, it is not possible to check the information.

Rocket attack on Ukrainian train station kills 25

The day after the Russian rocket attack on a train station in the town of Chaplyne, the Russian Defense Ministry confirmed the attack, but gave a different version: the hit with an “Iskander” rocket killed more than 200 Ukrainian soldiers who were fighting in the Donbass were determined, said spokesman Igor Konashenkov. The rocket hit the military part of the train station. Military technology was also destroyed. There was no evidence for this.

At least 25 people, including two children, died in the attack, according to Ukrainian sources. In addition, 31 people were injured, said the deputy head of the presidential office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, on Telegram. The information could not initially be verified independently. The EU condemned the attack as “Russian rocket terror”.

Demolished Soviet monument in Riga

Accompanied by protests by the Russian minority, a monument from the Soviet era was demolished in the Latvian capital Riga. The 79 meter high “victor monument” was removed with the help of demolition machines. The Russian embassy in Riga condemned the action as “treacherous and unjustified”.

The monument had become the meeting place for Kremlin supporters living in Latvia. The Russian minority, which makes up about 30 percent of Latvia’s population, had been protesting the removal of the monument for days. The “victor’s monument” has stood in the Latvian capital since 1985. It consists of several soldier sculptures surrounding an obelisk. While Russians there celebrate Victory Day over Nazi Germany on May 9, most Latvians see this date as the beginning of nearly 50 years of Soviet occupation. According to a parliamentary decision, all remaining relics from the Soviet era must be removed by mid-November.

UN: 6.8 million Ukrainians have fled the country

The UN human rights commissioner Michelle Bachelet appealed to Russian President Putin to end the war. “Six unimaginably terrible months lay behind the Ukrainians,” she said in Geneva. 6.8 million people would have had to leave their country. According to the UN, 5,587 civilians were killed and 7,890 others injured in Ukraine. However, according to the UN, the actual numbers are likely to be higher.

Frontex: One million Russians have left the country

According to the EU border protection agency Frontex, almost a million Russian citizens have entered the EU since the beginning of the war. From the day of the invasion on February 24 to August 22, there were exactly 998,085 Russian citizens, according to a Frontex spokesman. In the week from August 16 to August 22, the number of entries fell slightly compared to the previous week.

More and more EU countries are single-handedly restricting the issuing of Schengen visas to Russians. These include Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic. Finland wants to follow from September. Poland has not issued tourist visas for some time and is considering a general visa freeze. Denmark is pushing for an EU solution and otherwise also wants to act itself. Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently rejected proposals for stricter visa rules.

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