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Russia announced its vision to resolve the Ukrainian crisis and the conditions under which it could use its nuclear weapons, while Ukraine confirmed that it had regained control of about 100 square kilometers of its territory.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the use of nuclear weapons by Russia is possible only for defensive purposes.
She added, in a press conference, that Ukraine’s accession to NATO or the application of what is known as the Israeli model of cooperation between the two sides cannot help settle the situation in Ukraine.
And she talked about what could be described as Moscow’s conditions for resolving the crisis, saying that the settlement of the crisis in Ukraine would be by returning to what he described as a position of neutrality, confirming its non-nuclear status, recognizing new regions in accordance with current realities, and Kiev guaranteeing the basic rights of its citizens, the Russian-speaking population and representatives of minorities, including This gave the Russian language an official status, the cessation of hostilities, and the Western countries should stop supplying weapons to Kiev.
Ukraine: We liberated 7 residential communities
In the developments of the Ukrainian counterattack; A senior Ukrainian military commander said on Thursday that Ukraine has regained control of more than 100 square kilometers of territory in its counter-attack against Russian forces.
A spokesman for the Ukrainian General Staff, General Oleksiy Khrumov, confirmed in a press statement that in the first stages of the offensive, which Ukraine said began last week, 7 residential communities were liberated in Donetsk in the east of the country and in Zaporizhia in the south.
“We are ready to continue fighting to liberate our lands with our hands only,” he added.
Military officials stated that the Ukrainian army advanced up to 3 kilometers near the village of Mala Tokmachka in the Zaporizhia sector, and up to 7 kilometers near a village in the south of Velika Novoselka in the Donetsk sector.
Russia did not recognize the Ukrainian progress. Each side says the other has suffered heavy losses since the counterattack began, and Moscow or Kiev rarely comment on their losses.
Air attacks and shooting down drones
On the other hand, the Russian authorities in Crimea announced the downing of 9 Ukrainian drones over the peninsula.
The Russian authorities said that three of them were destroyed by electronic equipment, while the rest were shot down by air defense forces.
It indicated that one of the drones exploded in the village of Dokuchayevo, without causing any casualties.
The Russian state information agency also quoted the Russian Ministry of Defense as saying today, Thursday, that Russian forces succeeded in bombing drone manufacturing facilities in Ukraine using high-precision and long-range weapons.
The agency quoted the Ministry of Defense as saying that the Russian air defenses intercepted 5 missiles launched using the US-made HIMARS system, and shot down 25 drones.
For its part, the Kiev Air Defense Authority said that Ukrainian territory was attacked by cruise missiles and drones today, Thursday.
According to the Ukrainian authorities, industrial targets in the Dnepropetrovsk region were attacked by 3 cruise missiles, and added that Ukrainian air defenses shot down more than 20 drones, 13 of them over Odessa on the Black Sea.
The head of the military department in Kryvyi Rih said that explosions were heard in the city in southeastern Ukraine.
In turn, the spokesman for the forces of the Tavria region in southeastern Ukraine, Valery Shershin, said that the Ukrainian forces continue their combat operations in the region and carry out offensive operations and achieve successes, according to him.
He stressed that the progress of his forces comes in light of what he described as fierce battles and the intensity of artillery shelling and Russian air raids.
In Russia, the RIA Novosti agency published pictures of military equipment, which it said belonged to what it described as Ukrainian saboteurs inside Belgorod, Russia.
The pictures broadcast by the agency showed destroyed military vehicles and tanks, which RIA Novosti said belonged to the Ukrainian forces that tried to enter the Russian territory of Belgorod.
Kiev denies carrying out any attacks inside Russia, and says that Russian military personnel who reject Putin’s administration are launching such attacks inside Russia.
Thousands of shells for Ukraine
On the level of Western support for Ukraine; The Norwegian Ministry of Defense said in a statement today, Thursday, that Norway and Denmark have agreed to donate 9,000 additional artillery shells to Ukraine.
She added that Norway would provide the missiles, while Denmark would donate the fuses and propellant charges.
Norway will also donate 7,000 shells from its own stocks, which have already been sent to Ukraine, according to the ministry.
The ministry stated that the shells can be used in several types of cannons, including the M109 cannons donated by Norway before that.
In the same context, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin said that Canada pledged to provide 500 million dollars in military aid to Ukraine, including surface-to-air missiles.
He added, “Our most important priority now is to provide Ukraine’s needs for air defense systems,” noting that his country has provided “distinguished training and great capabilities for the Ukrainian army in its war against Russia.”
Director of the International Energy Agency visits the Zaporozhye plant
In a related matter, the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Grossi, arrived at the Ukrainian Zaporizhia nuclear plant, which is under Moscow’s control, according to a Russian official announced Thursday.
Grossi was supposed to tour the station on Wednesday to assess potential dangers after the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam, the source of cooling water for its reactors, but the visit was postponed to Thursday for security reasons.
Grossi’s visit follows a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in Kiev on Tuesday.
Russian elections in Ukrainian regions
On the other hand, the Russian Elections Commission announced Thursday that it will organize local elections on September 10 in 4 Ukrainian regions that it annexed last year.
“Elections will be held in the new regions of the Russian Federation on one polling day, September 10, 2023,” the Election Commission said on the Telegram platform.
According to her, these elections aim to elect local and municipal councils, noting that Moscow controls only part of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions in the east, and Zaporizhia and Kherson in the south.
These areas are still witnessing fighting, and Ukraine is currently carrying out a counter-attack aimed at liberating them.
And in September 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the annexation of the regions of Kherson, Zaporizhia, Luhansk and Donetsk after organizing a referendum that was not recognized by Kiev or the international community.
Putin presents these areas as historical Russian lands, and stresses that Kiev will have to agree to give them up to achieve peace, but Kiev excludes any compromise on its territorial integrity.
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