Ukraine Update….171 days into the Russian move on the Ukraine…Six Months

• The FSB claimed that “Ukrainian special services” killed Dugina outside Moscow. It said Saturday’s attack was carried out by a Ukrainian woman before she fled to Estonia with her young daughter. Ukrainian officials previously denied any involvement in the blast and suggested it could be the result of an internal dispute within Russia. The Washington Post could not confirm the claims, which could lead to an escalation in the war as Kyiv warned about a spike in Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities ahead of the country’s Independence Day.
• Dugin called the bombing that killed his daughter “a terrorist attack carried out by the Nazi Ukrainian regime.” In a statement released Monday, Dugin portrayed Russians as victims rather than the aggressor-invaders perpetrating a war. “Our hearts yearn for more than just revenge or retribution,” Dugin said. “It’s too small, not the Russian style. We only need our Victory. My daughter laid her maiden life on its altar. So win, please!”
• This week marks six months since the Russian invasion, with no end in sight.
• Despite a request by Zelensky, the United States won’t impose a total ban on Russian visas, a State Department spokesperson said Monday. “The U.S. wouldn’t want to close off pathways to refuge and safety for Russia’s dissidents or others who are vulnerable to human rights abuses,” the spokesperson said, adding that the United States has been clear about the need to “draw a line” between the actions of the Russian government and Russian people.
• Zelensky drew another red line in potential negotiations with Moscow to end the war. Russian-backed authorities are reportedly planning to hold a trial on Aug. 24 — Ukraine’s Independence Day — for fighters captured during their final defense of the Azovstal steel plant in the battle for Mariupol. If this “absurd show trial” goes ahead, “this will be the line beyond which any negotiations are impossible,” Zelensky said.
• Russia’s State Duma is set to hold a special meeting on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant Thursday. Sergei Mironov, head of the pro-Kremlin A Just Russia party in the parliament, said the council would adopt a tough stance over Kyiv’s actions regarding the plant and would call on the United Nations and other international bodies to intervene, according to Reuters.
• Russia’s ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov visited the U.S. State Department on Thursday, where he was warned against any further Russian war escalation, a State Department spokesperson said Monday. The United States also asked for the return of full control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to Ukraine.
• Nearly 1,000 children have been confirmed killed or injured since the war began in Ukraine, UNICEF Director Catherine Russell said. In a statement issued Monday, Russell said the figure reflects what the United Nations was able to verify, but that the true number is probably “much higher.” Beyond the physical attacks, Russell said that “almost every child in Ukraine has been exposed to deeply distressing events.” The United Nations estimates that 1 in 10 schools across Ukraine have been damaged or destroyed.

• Russian missiles rained down on southern and southeastern Ukraine overnight and into Monday, local authorities said, as they warned residents not to ignore air raid sirens. Three districts of the Dnipropetrovsk region around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant were shelled, Valentyn Reznichenko, the regional governor, wrote on Telegram, and at least four people were injured in the strikes, Reznichenko said. A spokesperson for Ukraine’s military administration in Odessa warned residents to observe a curfew and respond to sirens.
• Authorities in areas occupied by Kremlin forces have “intensified filtration measures and abductions” in the lead-up to Ukraine’s Independence Day, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a D.C.-based think tank.
• Russian offensive operations in eastern Ukraine have probably exhausted the momentum they had at the end of July, said analysts from the Institute for the Study of War. The British Defense Ministry also saidMonday that “Russia is likely increasingly struggling to motivate the auxiliary forces it is using to augment its regular troops in the Donbas.” Military authorities are resorting to paying auxiliary forces to ensure continual support for Russia’s offensive operations in the east. However, they are limited in their powers of legal coercion by the Kremlin’s designation of its invasion of Ukraine as a “special military operation” and not a war, the ministry said.
• Russia and Belarus have reached an “urgent” agreement for Belarus to repair damaged Russian combat planes, according to Ukrainian intelligence officials, in a deal that was probably sought to bypass Western sanctions, which are less severe against Minsk than Moscow, analysts say….

More….

Here’s what we know:

Ukraine has denied involvement in a car bombing that killed a Russian ultranationalist. The attack has raised fears of an escalation in the war.

• Russia’s claim: A Ukrainian woman carried out the bombing, which killed Daria Dugina, then went to Estonia.

• Her father, an ultranationalist, calls for Russia to punish Ukraine for her death.

• The death of Dugina opens a new chapter in the history of political assassinations in Russia.

• There will be no talks with Russia if it holds show trials, Zelensky says.

• Strikes on Russian ammunition sites help Ukraine, but may not change the course of the war.

• People are paying to have personal messages painted on Ukrainian artillery shells.

• For the first time, a Russian superyacht seized under war-related sanctions will be auctioned….

More…

Note…

I’m waiting to hear if the US will send Patriot anti-missile systems or the Israeli’s send their ‘Iron Dome’ system to counter Russian missile strikes…