Picture shows an explosion in a field area in Avdiivka, Ukraine in undated footage. DPR battalion 1539 named after the Archangel Michael strikes at the territory of the fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the former military unit of air defense A-1428. (@nm_dnr/Zenger)
This footage allegedly shows the pro-Russian, so-called Donetsk People’s Republic carrying out attacks on Ukrainian forces in the Avdiivka area.
The images were obtained from the People’s Militia of the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) on Thursday, September 1, along with a statement claiming that they show “combat work of the battalion 1539 on a fortified area of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Avdiivka area.”
The DPR also claimed: “The fighters of the battalion caught the enemy’s manpower when it was maneuvering and hit it.”
We have not been able to independently verify the claims or the footage.
Zenger News contacted the DPR for further comment, as well as the Ukrainian and Russian Ministries of Defense, but had not received a reply at the time of writing.
Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24 in what the Kremlin is still calling a “special military operation”. Friday marks the 191st day of the war.
The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that between February 24 and September 2, Russia had lost about 48,700 personnel, 2,009 tanks, 4,366 armored combat vehicles, 1,126 artillery units, 289 multiple launch rocket systems, 153 air defense systems, 234 warplanes, 205 helicopters, 853 drones, 198 cruise missiles, 15 warships, 3,247 motor vehicles and fuel tankers, and 105 units of special equipment.
Russia has claimed that its casualties have been much lower, but provides infrequent updates on its latest figures.
A team of experts from the United Nations’ nuclear energy agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has arrived at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, with its head, Rafael Grossi, saying: “We are not going anywhere. The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there.”
Grossi added: “It is obvious that the plant and physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times.” He also said: “I worried, I worry and I will continue to be worried about the plant until we have a situation which is more stable, which is more predictable.”
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov has warned Moldova that any actions that could be seen as endangering Russian troops in the Transnistria breakaway region, which lies on Ukraine’s south-western border, would be considered an attack on Russia.
Lavrov said: “Everyone should understand that any action that would threaten the security of our troops would be considered under international law as an attack on Russia.”
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is reportedly investigating allegations that two unnamed senior civil servants might have been spying for Moscow.
The international NGO Human Rights Watch has said that Russian forces have been forcibly transferring Ukrainian citizens to Russia or to parts of Ukraine that they currently occupy, calling the moves “a serious violation of the laws of war that constitute war crimes and potential crimes against humanity”.
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