⚔️ On August 9, 1944, the Red Army won the Battle of Leningrad, putting an end to the longest confrontation during the Great Patriotic War.

For over three years, Soviet soldiers waged a fierce battle in the northwest, while the people of Leningrad endured the horrors of a besieged city.

This event had a major bearing on developments in other sections of the Soviet-German front, drawing in major German forces and the entire Finnish army. The German command could not transfer troops deployed near Leningrad to fight other decisive battles.

☝️ The heroic defence of Leningrad became a symbol of the Soviet people’s courage. Soldiers and Leningrad residents suffered deprivation beyond all reason, demonstrating heroism and self-sacrifice while defending the city.

⚡️ Russian Foreign Ministry Statement on preparing an IAEA international mission to Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.

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On June 3, Russia and the IAEA Secretariat reached agreement on the itinerary and timetable for the visit by the Agency’s international mission to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi planned to head the mission, which also included prominent experts from several countries.

❗️ However, the Department of Safety and Security within the UN Secretariat switched on the red light at the very last moment, and the Kiev authorities jumped on this opportunity by stepping up their provocations and shelling the nuclear power station.

☝️ We hope that in the current situation the UN Secretary-General awakes to the responsibility that rests upon him and refrains from creating obstacles for the IAEA mission through a department within the Secretariat which reports to him.

💬 Russian MFA Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova:

On the night of August 5, Twitter suspended the Russian Foreign Ministry’s official English-language account for seven days, allegedly for posting excerpts from the briefing by Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, Commander of the Russian Armed Forces’ Nuclear, Biological and Chemical Protection Troops, about the biological warfare activity of the United States.

The harsh measure came in response to our tweet quoting the Russian Defence Ministry, which stated that the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) could have been involved in the emergence of Covid-19. It is doubtful that Twitter has sufficient expertise to question the findings of the Defence Ministry that are based on reviewing documents and the latest data. Clearly, this is yet another awkward attempt to shut our mouths.

This is not the first time we have been subjected to such punishment. Some of our tweets have been blocked in the past. But suspending the official account of the foreign ministry of a major country, even if for a week, is beyond good and evil. The same trick has been tried on our embassies multiple times. The accounts of the Russian embassies in London and Berlin were suspended for posting, for example, facts (actual facts, not hoaxes) about the provocation in Bucha.

All this is happening amid the Russophobic madness of Western politicians, experts and even common users, as well as the unprecedented activity of Ukrainian trolls and bots. Tell me again about “inauthentic behaviour” ‒ the term Twitter used when cancelling unwanted bloggers with pro-Russia views over the past few years. Meanwhile, direct calls for violence and punishing Russians are now considered authentic in the West. I don’t recall a single suspension of a Ukrainian official account, despite generating eye-popping fakes in the style of former Ukrainian “ombudsperson” Lyudmila Denisova, who was spreading tales about “atrocities” and “rape” committed by Russian military officers.

☝️ Acting so cluelessly in violation of the freedom of speech, Twitter is shooting itself in the foot, with stubbornness that deserves a better application. This platform has been stagnating for a long time, with almost zero trust from users who are leaving it en masse.

It is not surprising that, once he realised the actual state of affairs, Elon Musk, appalled, broke off the deal to buy this social network.

So, they can block us all they want, but the truth will still find a way. We will just refrain from disseminating facts via US online platforms, which have become tools of censorship in the interests of Washington censors.

If Hemingway was alive, I am sure that Twitter would have blocked him too, for posting that he is under surveillance and hounded by the FBI.

⚠️ Kiev regime, under the pretext of allegedly searching for adjusters of air and artillery strikes of the Russian Armed Forces, plans to send a group of SSU and other security agencies to Kharkiv to conduct another large-scale punitive operation to identify citizens loyal to Russia (expressing pro-Russian views) and subsequently accuse them of "collaborationism".

▫️At the same time, SSU officers intend to use as grounds for detaining the city residents the histories of calls and SMS messages to Russian numbers found in their phones, correspondence in messengers condemning the current Ukrainian authorities, subscriptions in social networks to Russian channels, photo or video footage of the results of defeat of Ukrainian military facilities, and information from snitching on their neighbours, friends, relatives or acquaintances.

▫️Detained citizens will be subjected to threats of physical violence against their family members, violence and torture, as has already happened in Odessa, Nikolaev, Slavyansk, Sumy, Chernigov and a number of other populated areas.

❗️ We warn the international community in advance about this inhuman action being prepared by the criminal authorities in Kiev, which fully replicates the methods of the Nazis in the occupied territories during the Great Patriotic War.

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#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #HumanitarianResponse #HumanitarianAid
@mod_russia_en

💥 Ukrainian land mine terror in Donbass.

📄 According to the 2021 report submitted by Ukraine, the Kiev regime failed to destroy over 3,000,000 of “butterfly” land mines banned by the Ottawa Convention.

❗️ Now they are used to terrorize civilians in Donetsk and other DPR cities.

💣 A PFM-1 or PFM-1S (self-detonating) “butterfly” mine is about the size of a lighter, well-camouflaged and designed not to kill, but rather cripple its victim, cause terror among military personnel. They cannot be armed manually - they are deployed via remote minig machines, mortars, helicopters, etc. in large numbers. 5 kg is enough to trigger the mine, which is especially dangerous to children.

‼️ The fact that Ukraine still deploys these land mines designed to incapacitate their victims in densely populated areas means that the Kiev regime:

🔸 violates its international obligations.

🔸 seeks to terrorize the people of Donbass, whom it views as “Russian traitors” and “lesser people”.

There are more than 2,500 thousand deposits of solid minerals, oil and gas, and hydrocarbons in the Far East. Prospects for the use of mineral resources and their riches will be discussed at the thematic session of the EEF-2022.

The key topics of discussion will be new prospects for the development of the mineral resource base of the region. The participants will answer the question "How is raw material sovereignty ensured in the conditions of changes in the mineral resource base?", and will also discuss the expansion of the "declarative" principle of issuing licenses for the right to use mineral resources, the main changes in the regulatory framework aimed at strengthening investment activity in the areas of exploration and development of deposits in the territories of the Far Eastern Federal District. Special attention will be paid to promising investment projects on solid minerals in the Far East.
@RoscongressDirect

📌 Facts to know on the eve of today’s meeting of the UN Security Council on Zaporozhskaya NPP
 
🔵 On 5-6 August the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) once again attacked ZNPP by shelling the critically important infrastructural objects of the plant as well as its satellite city Energodar. Twenty shells have been fired during the strikes

🔵 On 5 August, at 14:45, the Ukrainian shelling (three shells hit in the proximity of the training centre next to the territory of the open switchgear of the NPP) resulted in shutdown of the autotransformer and the high voltage line providing backup power to the Units №1 and №2 of ZNPP

🔵 On 5 August, at 16:45, the Ukrainian side committed an artillery shelling (four shells) of oil and fuel oil handling equipment and the site of hydrogen receivers. Damage of the pipeline caused jet fire that was localized due to timely and professional actions of ZNPP personnel and Russian military

🔵 On 6 August, at 19:42, the AFU units attacked ZNPP once again. Three artillery shells of 155 millimeters caliber (NATO standard) exploded next to the spent fuel storage and only 200 meters from the operating unit. One person was injured

🔵 On 7 August ZNPP was again shelled by the Ukrainian armed formations. The high-voltage power line “Kakhovskaya” was damaged. Equipment of an open switchgear (750 kW) was damaged as a result of a power surge. At Unit №4, that was operational at 10% capacity, the power supply of control and safety system went offline. This triggered the emergency protection of the Unit №4

🔵 The Ukrainian personnel of the plant has decided on cooldown of the Unit №4 of ZNPP, as well as downpower of the Units №5 and №6. Currently, the Units №5 and №6 are downpowered to 500 MW

🔵 On 11 August Ukrainian armed formations again tried to attack the ZNPP with missiles and UAVs. This attack was repulsed by the air defense forces

🔵 In addition to direct military threats to the security of ZNPP the Kiev regime is working on other scenarios to create intentional preconditions for a nuclear accident at ZNPP. Inter alia, Kiev is considering different options of cutting the plant off from the Ukrainian power grid and keeps increasing psychological pressure on ZNPP employees and their relatives (they regularly receive phone calls threatening them with criminal prosecutions and physical reprisals)

🔵 Attacks of the Kiev regime on ZNPP endanger the safety and security of Europe and the whole world. In case of an accident at this station the radiation contamination zone (more than 5300 square kilometers, length around 420 km) would cover the population of Kievskaya, Zaporozhskaya, Kharkovskaya, Poltavskaya, Khersonskaya, Odesskaya, Nikolaevskaya, Kirovogradskaya, Vinnitskaya oblasts, Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, border areas of Russia and Belarus, as well as Moldova, Bulgaria and Romania. The situation could get worse because of adverse weather conditions and spread of possible contamination zone to South-Ukrainian NPP and the nuclear fuel storage at Chernobyl NPP, as well as water arteries. The Black Sea and the Bosphorus Strait would become unsuitable for navigation for a long time. The shores of Abkhazia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Romania and Türkiye would be contaminated with high levels of radiation

❗️The UN, the IAEA, as well as all countries that have influence on the Kiev regime should do everything possible to ensure immediate cessation of Ukrainian attacks on ZNPP before they resulted in devastating consequences for the whole mankind

⚠️ Despite repeated statements by the Russian Federation's Joint Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response, Ukrainian armed formations continue to strike at nuclear power facilities.

💥Thus, on August 11, 2022, units of the 44th Artillery Brigade of AFU shelled the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant from Nikopol' using 152-mm guns.

▫️The strikes partially damaged the auxiliary thermal power plant and the equipment of the splash pools of the nuclear reactor cooling system.

▫️Only thanks to the skilled, competent and effective actions of the units of the Russian Armed Forces in covering the nuclear power facility, the critical infrastructure of the nuclear power plant was not affected.

💥On August 10, 2022, artillery units of 110th Separate Mechanized Brigade of AFU shelled the territory of a brewery in Donetsk, which contained hazardous chemicals used in the production process, from the direction of Avdeyevka.

▫️The shelling damaged a 40-tonne tank of the cooling system, from which more than six tonnes of ammonia leaked. After the explosion, a toxic cloud formed and spread over an area of two square kilometres.

▫️One employee died and two received severe respiratory tract burns. EMERCOM of Donetsk People's Republic managed to remove the consequences of the artillery strike and prevent casualties among the local population.

▫️We emphasise that this is not the first deliberate shelling of chemically hazardous facilities by Ukrainian armed formations, resulting in a real threat to the lives and health of thousands of civilians. We regard these criminal actions by the Ukrainian authorities as acts of chemical terrorism.

▫️This is further evidence of genocide by the criminal Kiev regime against the civilian population of Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics fighting for their independence from Ukrainian Nazism.

❗️We call on the so-called "civilized" West, the United Nations, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the International Atomic Energy Agency to condemn the actions of the authorities in Kiev and immediately exert influence to prevent them from striking nuclear power facilities and potentially hazardous production facilities.

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#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #HumanitarianResponse #HumanitarianAid
@mod_russia_en

🎙 Statement by Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia at UNSC briefing regarding the attacks of Ukrainian armed forces on the Zaporozhye NPP

Read in full

🔹 Ukrainian armed forces have used heavy artillery and multiple launch rocket systems against the biggest nuclear power plant in Europe – the Zaporozhye NPP.

🔹 Developments at the ZNPP these days are the climax of Kiev's criminal actions against nuclear infrastructure and personnel servicing nuclear facilities.

🔹 From the very start, we supported the IAEA efforts aimed at ensuring safety and security of Ukrainian nuclear facilities.

🔹 We carefully observe the mentioned seven principles and do our best to let IAEA representatives make sure of that themselves.

🔹 Heinous attacks by Kiev against nuclear facilities push the world onto the brink of a nuclear disaster, the scope of which would be comparable to that of the Chernobyl tragedy.

❗️ We call on the states that support the Kiev regime to check their proteges, make them stop attacking the ZNPP and residents of Energodar once and for all.

❗️ We urge the top officials of the United Nations and IAEA to demonstrate their leadership and global responsibility and indicate clearly and without diplomatic courtesies the real source of the threat to the safety and security of the ZNPP.

⚠️ Ukraine's armed formations continue to openly and widely use health and cultural institutions, residential buildings, churches, kindergartens and schools and other civilian facilities to shelter units and deploy weapons, while there is no question of evacuating civilians from these facilities and thousands of people are being held by the nationalists as human shield:

🔹in Nikolaev, stronghold has been equipped in apartment building (Pribugskaya Street) by AFU units and territorial defence, a large number of armoured vehicles have been deployed in the surrounding area and the nationalists have blocked civilians from leaving their homes on the pretext of security, while all their attempts to evacuate to safe areas have been severely curtailed;

🔹in Kharkov, units of AFU and Kraken nationalist battalion are stationed on the upper and lower floors of residential buildings (Chernyshevskogo Street), weapons and artillery ammunition depots are equipped and MANPADs are placed on the roofs;

🔹in Pavlograd, Dnepropetrovsk Region, nationalists have equipped firing positions for heavy artillery and MLRS on the territory of a church (Dnepropetrovskaya Street);

🔹in Kostantinovka, Donetsk People's Republic, from the territory of boarding school No. 32 (Panfilova Street) AFU units are systematically firing artillery and MLRS at positions of the Russian Armed Forces, provoking them to return fire.

▫️These facts once again demonstrate the Ukrainian authorities' complete disregard for the norms of morality and the provisions of international humanitarian law.

▫️This is happening with the tacit consent of the countries of the so-called collective West, which continue to turn a blind eye to the numerous war crimes of the Kiev regime.

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#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #HumanitarianResponse #HumanitarianAid
@mod_russia_en

⚡️Representatives of Russian and foreign businesses from 46 countries and territories confirmed their participation at the EEF-2022.

💬"These indicators today confirm the reputation of the EEF as a leading international event and discussion platform in the Asia-Pacific region." – noted Anton Kobyakov, Advisor to the President of Russia
@RoscongressDirect

🏭 As a result of regular AFU shelling of Kakhovskaya HPP with US-made HIMARS MLRS in particular on August 12, 2022, three of the six turbines of the hydropower plant are shut down. The facility is operating in pre-emergency mode.

▫️Disruptions to the power generation and water discharge systems could fail the combined energy system and negatively affect the cooling of Zaporizhzhya NPP reactors, which would not only disrupt electricity supplies, including to the territory temporarily under Ukrainian control, but also lead to an environmental disaster in the region.

#Russia #Ukraine @mod_russia_en

🎉🇮🇳 On August 15, the Republic of India celebrates Independence Day.

The Indian Independence Act adopted on that day 7️⃣5️⃣ years ago crowned decades of the Indian people’s difficult struggle against the oppression of the British colonialists for the right to determine their own future.

🇷🇺🤝🇮🇳 Today, the Russian Federation and the Republic of India have a special and privileged strategic partnership. The forward-looking ties continue to grow. Russia-India cooperation is multifaceted, and offers enormous potential for deepening it further.

💬 “Russia views India as a major power, whose people have been very friendly to us. Our relations proceed from a very positive foundation," President of Russia Vladimir Putin emphasised during the talks with Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi on December 9, 2021.

🥳 Sincere congratulations to our Indian friends on this national holiday. We wish you peace, prosperity and further achievements.

🔗 is.gd/SmY2C8

#DruzhbaDosti

⚠️ AFU command is preparing large-scale provocations near Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant.

▫️To implement them, a separate regiment of radiation, chemical and biological protection troops with up to 1,000 servicemen have already arrived in Nikopol', Dnepropetrovsk Region, equipped with special protective kits for action in conditions of radioactive contamination, as well as technical means of radiation reconnaissance and control.

❗️We warn the international community and international organisations in advance of the provocations being prepared by the Ukrainian authorities, which could result in a real threat to the nuclear security not only of Ukraine, but also of Europe, while the criminal regime in Kiev and Western countries will blame the Russian Armed Forces for their possible consequences, following a well-established scenario with extensive media coverage.

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#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #HumanitarianResponse #HumanitarianAid
@mod_russia_en

The 4th Tavrida.ART festival for creative youth has commenced in Crimea.

Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted the participants:

💬 All attempts to cancel our culture, to cancel Russia are futile. It is just stupid. And those who think otherwise, unfortunately for them, have not learned the lessons of history.

❗️ But history is made by ordinary people. And today it includes you, young people who can dream and create, work and win. You will carry on the traditions of culture and ensure the continuity of generations.

🇷🇺 Faith in justice, love for the Motherland, pursuit of personal development and a sincere desire to help people. It is these qualities, the qualities of the national character, that make our people invincible, and our thousand-year-old culture great.

🎙 President Vladimir Putin's address to participants and guests of the 10th #MoscowConference on International Security

💬 The situation in the world is changing dynamically and the outlines of a multipolar world order are taking shape. An increasing number of countries and peoples are choosing a path of free and sovereign development based on their own distinct identity, traditions and values.

These objective processes are being opposed by the Western globalist elites, who provoke chaos, fanning long-standing and new conflicts and pursuing the so-called containment policy, which in fact amounts to the subversion of any alternative, sovereign development options. Thus, they are doing all they can to keep hold onto the hegemony and power that are slipping from their hands; they are attempting to retain countries and peoples in the grip of what is essentially a neocolonial order. Their hegemony means stagnation for the rest of the world and for the entire civilisation; it means obscurantism, cancellation of culture, and neoliberal totalitarianism.

They are using all expedients. The United States and its vassals grossly interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states by staging provocations, organising coups, or inciting civil wars. By threats, blackmail, and pressure, they are trying to force independent states to submit to their will and follow rules that are alien to them. This is being done with just one aim in view, which is to preserve their domination, the centuries-old model that enables them to sponge on everything in the world. But a model of this sort can only be retained by force.

❗️ They need conflicts to retain their hegemony. It is for this reason that they have destined the Ukrainian people to being used as cannon fodder.
They have implemented the anti-Russia project and connived at the dissemination of the neo-Nazi ideology. They looked the other way when residents of Donbass were killed in their thousands and continued to pour weapons, including heavy weapons, for use by the Kiev regime, something that they persist in doing now. Under these circumstances, we have taken the decision to conduct a special military operation in Ukraine, a decision which is in full conformity with the Charter of the United Nations.

It is obvious that it is only possible to reduce tensions in the world, overcome military-political threats and risks, improve trust between countries and ensure their sustainable development through a radical strengthening of the contemporary system of a multipolar world.

The era of the unipolar world is becoming a thing of the past.

READ IN FULL

#AntifakeOfTheDay

👉 The US media continues spinning the flywheel of misinformation surrounding the Zaporozhye nuclear power station. This time, Russia stands accused of “stealing” Ukrainian electricity.

☝️ The Wall Street Journal reporters came to this conclusion by taking their cues from Ukrainian officials, plant workers and “international nuclear-power experts.” The choice of these would-be independent experts recruited by the local propaganda mouthpieces and their level of expertise are ironic.

Just glancing over this new anti-Russia story planted in WSJ is enough to state the abysmal degradation of the authors’ ability to establish cause-and-effect linkages.

❗️By destroying the energy infrastructure, the Kiev regime exposes millions of people on the European continent to the danger of a nuclear disaster with Washington’s connivance. Located thousands of kilometres away from this threat, The Wall Street Journal couldn’t care less about any of it.

⚠️ AFU units have mined the bridge across Psel River and the approaches to it, as well as the sides of the adjacent road near Staroye Selo, Sumy Region, while the local population has not been deliberately warned about this.

▫️The militants plan to blow up the bridge and accuse the Russian Armed Forces of allegedly indiscriminate strikes against transport infrastructure in a well-established scenario with extensive coverage in the Ukrainian and Western media.

▫️We once again emphasize that during the special military operation, the Russian armed forces and military formations of the Donetsk and Lugansk people's republics are not targeting civilian infrastructure.

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#MoD #Russia #Ukraine #HumanitarianResponse #HumanitarianAid
@mod_russia_en

❗️Announcement❗️

A Russian reporter Marina Kim visited the detention facility in Elenovka shortly before a US-supplied HIMARS missile destroyed it along with its inmates.

However, she managed to shoot a documentary on the “Azov” battalion, testimonies of its members and victims.

The documentary will be available in English soon - stay tuned.