Occupied Melitopol has been under Ukrainian fire for days. Now the mayor in exile reports the destruction of a Russian military base. There are also explosions in Kherson and Luhansk. On Twitter, a Kremlin mercenary explains Moscow’s bloody strategy that NATO is arming itself in the Arctic. The 186th day of the war at a glance.

Fired on Kremlin commando in Kherson

According to Ukrainian troops, they attacked three Russian command posts and at least two ammunition depots in the Cherson region in the south of the country. Eleven Russian soldiers were killed in the attack, the southern command of the Ukrainian army in Kyiv said. In addition, according to initial findings, eleven rocket launchers, three armored vehicles and a self-propelled howitzer were destroyed. The head of administration appointed by Russia, Vladimir Leontiev, confirmed Ukrainian attacks to the Russian state agency Ria Novosti. The city of Nowa Kachowka was shelled four times. A hydroelectric power station with a strategically important crossing over the Dnipro River was also hit.

Explosions in Luhansk

The Ukrainian governor of the Russian-occupied Luhansk province, Serhiy Hajday, reported loud explosions in the small town of Svatov. According to the Kyiv Independent, the Ukrainian attacks targeted a farm used by the Russians as a military base.

Ukrainian attacks on Melitopol

The mayor of Melitopol announced this morning that Ukrainian forces had destroyed a large Russian military base in the occupied city in the Zaporizhia district. The base was located in a former car factory. Mayor Ivan Fedorov, who fled to Zaporizhia, wrote on Telegram: “Last night explosions were heard in the village of Myrne, Melitopol district. One of the buildings where preparations for a pseudo-referendum were underway was destroyed.”

Strong explosions had been reported from both Melitopol and Myrne the day before. According to Ukrainian media reports, the Russian base and a bridge near Melitopol have been repeatedly attacked since Monday.

541 fallen transferred to Kyiv

So far, Russia has transferred hundreds of bodies of fallen Ukrainian soldiers to Kyiv. Missing Persons Officer Oleh Kotenko gave the number 541. It was possible to contact the Russian side via the International Committee of the Red Cross. “Negotiations with the aggressor are difficult,” he wrote in a statement published on a government portal. 428 bodies alone were taken from the long-fought city of Mariupol in the east of the country. He did not give figures on how many dead were transferred to the Russian side.

Defense Ministry admits another “Moskva” victim

Meanwhile, the Russian Ministry of Defense confirmed the death of another crew member of the “Moskva”. As the Belarusian opposition medium Nexta reported, the authority had officially confirmed only five deaths of sailors from the sunken flagship of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. Media had reported more than 100 dead sailors.

“We kill your families”: Söldner outlines Moscow’s war strategy

A video has been circulating on Twitter of a Russian mercenary and supporter of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin holding up a skull and claiming the dead man was a Ukrainian soldier killed in Mariupol. According to Ukrainian journalist Denys Kazanskyy, the name of the mercenary is Igor Mangushev. In the video, Mangushev goes on to say that Russia is not at war with people of flesh and blood, but with the “idea” of Ukraine as an anti-Russian state. “There can be no peace. We must de-Ukrainize Ukraine.” If Russia were at war with people, there could be peace. “But we are at war against an idea, so all the bearers of the idea must be killed.” According to the Daily Mail, Mangushev describes the Russian war strategy on his Telegram channel: “We will burn down your houses, we will kill your families, take your children away from you and raise them as Russians.”

London doubts growing Russian clout

Great Britain’s military doubted that the announced increase in the Russian army by almost 140,000 troops would increase the effectiveness of the Kremlin’s troops. In any case, the order is unlikely to bring any significant progress in strengthening Russia’s combat capability in Ukraine, the Ministry of Defense said in London. “That’s because Russia has lost tens of thousands of soldiers,” it says, citing intelligence findings. In addition, very few new contract soldiers are currently being hired and conscripts are not required to serve outside Russian territory. On August 25, Putin ordered an increase in the coming year by 137,000 soldiers to around 1.15 million.

NATO targets Arctic

In view of possible new threats from Russia, NATO would like to become more active in the Arctic in the future. “NATO must increase its presence in the Arctic,” NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told Welt am Sonntag. The defense alliance is “already investing in maritime reconnaissance aircraft to get a clear picture of what’s going on in the far north. But we will continue to increase our efforts.” According to Stoltenberg, Russia has recently intensified its activities in the resource-rich region. “We are seeing a significant increase in Russia’s military presence in the Arctic.” Moscow is “in the process of reopening Soviet-era bases and stationing and testing new, state-of-the-art weapons such as hypersonic missiles there.” China is also showing increasing interest in the Arctic.

EU foreign ministers want to make it more difficult to issue visas

At their meeting in Prague this week, the foreign ministers of the European Union want to speak out in favor of suspending the agreement on visa facilitation with Russia. This is reported by the “Financial Times”. The aim is to reduce the number of travel permits issued. Some eastern EU members have already stopped issuing visas to Russian tourists. “It is inappropriate for Russian tourists to stroll around our cities and marinas,” the newspaper quoted a senior EU official involved in the talks as saying. “We must signal to the Russian people that this war is unacceptable.” Chancellor Scholz had rejected a general visa freeze for Russians just a few days ago.

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