Ukraine war, Biden will ask Congress for 13 billion Kiev. Zaporozhye, new power outages and steam leaks

President Joe Biden will ask the US Congress for $13 billion to support Ukraine. This was reported by sources who told the Associated Press. The last request of this kind from the White House, in November, was met, but this time congressional approval of Kiev’s aid diminished, especially from Republicans. The president will also ask for $12 billion to replenish the disaster fund.

One thing is certainly true in the extensive interview with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Kuleba that appeared today in the Italian press: time is on their side as Zelensky’s military capabilities gradually increase while Russia’s capabilities are equally weakened. What is not clear, or perhaps it is not clear but the Ukrainians do not want to ask the question, is the understanding of how long the rebalancing process will take and the possibility of a reversal of forces, if anything happens one day, certainly not in sight. This is confirmed by General Leonardo Tricarico, former Chief of Staff of the Air Force and current head of the ICSA Foundation, who, together with Adnkronos, assesses the war in Ukraine. «Another certainty, from the very beginning of the conflict, is the sufficient competence of the Ukrainian special forces, comparable to NATO standards. The Atlantic and endorsed by none other than General John Abizaid, one of the leading experts circulating for assessments of this kind..so we should not be surprised if from time to time we witness events very much like major coups by special departments, whether they are called Shaman Battalion or something else “. For Tricarico, “another Ukrainian power in the process of consolidation, long-range and high-potential weapons such as the Storm Shadow cruise missiles presented to her by Her Britannic Majesty. More than legitimate, there should have been skepticism about the fact that only the Ukrainian Air Force was able to install these systems on its aircraft due to the technical complexity of the modifications that had to be made to the “Soviet” aircraft; Even the most attentive observers have deviated from these ambiguities. However, reliable sources finally noted that today Ukrainian pilots are finally able to hit “hard” and well-protected targets even at a great distance. A result obtained also thanks to the fact that in war you always learn a lot while operating a train, as it has already happened to always install Harm anti-radiation missiles on board which are very useful for weakening the enemy’s air defense. The supply and possible entry into the Russian-Ukrainian scenario of the F16 would certainly allow one jump to bypass the technical compatibility problems of Western weapons, provided that the United States would allow Zelensky to be supplied with the correct variants of the aircraft practically capable of carrying out any type of mission.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is considering attending the G-20 meeting in September in India in his first face-to-face meeting with Western leaders since his forces invaded Ukraine in 2022. NBC News quoted a source in the Kremlin. Putin – writes American Broadcasting – has not yet ruled out the possibility of appearing personally at the meeting of major economies on September 9-10 in New Delhi, according to the Russian official. Attending may involve great risks for the leader, as he is used to dealing with media appearances at home and summits abroad with friendly countries such as Belarus, China and Central Asian countries, as he rarely addresses difficult issues in public. Traveling to India is a risky decision for the belligerent Russian leader.

Adviser to the Ukrainian President Mykhailo Podolyak Once again he rules out any negotiations with the regime of Russian President Vladimir Putin, asking on Twitter why a war criminal should voluntarily decide to start respecting international law. «Rhetoric .. For lovers of the subject of negotiations with Russia. Why on earth, after organizing a large-scale war, mass killings of Ukrainians, daily attacks on civilian infrastructure, disregarding the law and international agreements, blowing up and undermining vital facilities, organizing a network of torture in the occupied territories and other war crimes without having lost the war and being convicted before an international court, Should Russia suddenly voluntarily abide by international law? Podolak asks: Why does the unpunished murderer and rapist, who also received a pardon, change instead of becoming more resolute in his crimes against humanity?

The pro-Russian administration of Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has announced that reactor No. 4 of the Moscow-controlled plant has been moved from a “hot” to a “cold” reactor due to a steam leak, Interfax reports. A statement read: “The plant’s employees discovered a leak in the pipes of the third steam generator during the operation of the fourth unit of the Zaporizhia NPP.” “It was decided to shut down the reactor in cold weather to ensure smooth operation during the fall and winter seasons and to operate the equipment.”

The Zaporozhye NPP was again cut off from the external power grid and had to resort to a reserve line. This was announced by Energoatom, the energy company that operates the Russian-occupied Ukraine’s nuclear plant, warning that there is a risk of blackouts because this backup line has a capacity of less than half that of the power grid. “Such a system is hard on the reactor, has a limited lifespan and can cause the main equipment of the power unit to fail,” Energoatom announces on Telegram.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant lost its connection to the main high-voltage line last night and “is about to be another Blackouts»: writes on Telegram the Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom. «On August 10, the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP lost contact with the main external power transmission line with a voltage of 750 kV. Later, the station had to switch to the only available backup power line at 330 kV, the disconnection of which threatens the loss of external power (blackouts), a note states.

The death toll from yesterday’s Russian bombing of Zaporizhia rose to three dead and nine wounded, including a child: the head of the regional military administration, Yuri Malashko, announced on Telegram, Ukrinform reports. “Three dead and nine wounded, including an 11-month-old infant, as a result of an attack on a regional center. A Russian missile killed a 43-year-old man and a young woman between the ages of 19 and 21.” Yesterday evening, Ukraine’s Interior Minister, Igor Klimenko, revised the death toll in the attack downward – from three to two.

Explosions and a massive fire rocked the Russian town of Domodedovo, 37 kilometers south of Moscow, in the early hours of the day: several Russian telegram channels wrote it, citing eyewitnesses, as reported by Ukrinform. Today’s explosions come on the heels of Russian air defense systems shooting down two drones in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday: one in the Domodedovo region and the other near the Minskoye highway, the capital’s mayor announced yesterday morning, Sergey Sobyanin.

The Russian air defense shot down 13 Russian drones in the direction of Moscow and Sevastopol last night. This was announced by the Russian defense ministry, citing tass. According to the agency, the two drones in the direction of Moscow destroyed the air defense forces in the sky over the Maloyaroslavsky district of the Kaluga region and over the territory of the Odintsovo district of the Moscow region. Two more drones were shot down as they approached Sevastopol, and nine more were shot down before reaching their target and crashing into the Black Sea. The Russian ministry said there were no casualties or damage.