⚡️ Russian MoD: Kiev preparing provocation at Zaporozhye NPP during UN Secretary General's visit

❗️ On August 19, the Kiev regime is preparing a resonant provocation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant during a visit to Ukraine by the UN Secretary General, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports.

▪️ Ukrainian troops are planning to launch artillery strikes at the territory of the ZNPP from firing positions in Nikopol, and plan to blame Russia.

▪️ The Ministry of Defense emphasizes that Russian troops do not have heavy weapons either on the territory of the ZNPP or in the areas adjacent to it.

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📹 Footage showing the combat operation of the Western Military District’s Uragan multiple rocket launchers during the course of their missions destroying AFU positions during Russia's special military operation.

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📹 “They could arrest her at any moment”: German journalist Alina Lipp on how her reporting on Donbass has seen her family’s accounts frozen and her mother threatened with arrest.

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⚡️ Shelling of Energodar and Zaporozhye NPP continues, there is threat of damage to NPP's cooling system: regional administration

❗️ Beijing 'resolutely' opposes US-Taiwan trade talks, will take measures to 'safeguard sovereignty'

📊 Annual inflation in 19 eurozone countries in July is expected to accelerate to 8.9% from 8.6% a month earlier, marking a record high since the beginning of maintaining statistics, an analyst of the DailyFX portal said.

▪️ "Tomorrow brings European inflation numbers and the expectation is for another jump, this time to 8.9% from last month’s 8.6% headline read with Core CPI expected to increase to 4% from last month’s 3.7% print," senior strategist James Stanley said on Wednesday.

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🇺🇸 🇹🇼 Washington and Taipei have “reached a consensus on the negotiating mandate” for bilateral trade initiative to bolster economic ties, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

▪️ In a statement on Wednesday, the USTR said that the first round of talks pertaining to the US-Taiwan Initiative on 21st-Century Trade is expected to take place early this autumn.

▪️ The negotiations “will deepen our trade and investment relationship, advance mutual trade priorities based on shared values, and promote innovation and inclusive economic growth for our workers and businesses,” the statement pointed out.

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⚡️ Goal of Ukraine’s provocation at ZNPP is to create 18 mile exclusion zone, accusing Russia of nuclear terrorism, launching international mission - Moscow

🤔 A blanket ban on Russian tourists wishing to travel to the European Union’s Schengen area may bring an end to freedom of movement and result in a new Iron Curtain, the co-leader of the German opposition AfD party told Sputnik.

🗯 "Freedom of movement and thus freedom to travel is considered a human right. One cannot simply exempt Russian citizens from this right. Such entry bans can quickly go beyond the cause of the war and result in a new Iron Curtain. We cannot permit that," Tino Chrupalla, who heads the AfD faction in the German Bundestag, said.

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⚡️ Annual inflation in eurozone in July accelerated to 8.9% from 8.6% in June - Eurostat

⚡️The Russian Ministry of Defense warned how the emergency situation at the Zaporozhye NPP could develop and presented a map of possible consequences:

▪️ If the standby diesel generators and mobile pumps fail, in the event of an emergency, the core will overheat and the reactor plants at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe will be destroyed, releasing radioactive substances into the atmosphere and spreading them over hundreds of kilometers.

▪️ Such an emergency would cause the population to evacuate en masse and would have more catastrophic consequences than the impending gas energy crisis in Europe, which has been confirmed in forecasts provided by a number of European specialized organizations.

▪️ The map shows which countries will be at risk in the worst case scenario of a radiation accident. The potential disaster threatens, in addition to Ukraine itself, such countries as Romania, Moldova, Poland, Slovakia, Belarus and even Germany.

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❗️ The Russian MoD’s latest update on the situation at the Zaporozhye NPP:

▪️ The Ukrainians, together with their US handlers, are trying to cause, in their opinion, a minor accident at the nuclear power plant and, thereby, disrupt the normal and safe operation of the nuclear power plant by blaming Russia.

▪️ Ukraine’s ultimate goal in staging the false flag attack within the next few days at the Zaporozhye NPP is to create an exclusion zone of up to 30 km, introduce of international forces and foreign observers to the plant, and accuse the Russian military of nuclear terrorism.

▪️ If the Ukrainian shelling continues, specialists at the plant may consider putting the 5th and 6th power units into cold reserve, which would lead to the shutdown of the Zaporozhye NPP.

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⚡️ President Putin spoke by phone with Indonesia's president, discussed food security - Kremlin

📹 Dramatic footage showing a powerful tornado hitting the Florida coast.

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✊🏼 On August 18, workers of Network Rail, several train companies, the London Underground and buses in the capital will begin the latest round of strike due to disputes over pay, jobs and conditions.

▪️ Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will strike on both Thursday and Saturday. Meanwhile, London Tube workers will strike on Friday and London United bus drivers plan to strike from Friday to Saturday.

▪️ Amid the strike, travel will be hampered as rail and bus services will be substantially reduced.

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⚡️ More than 622,000 metric tons of grain shipped from Ukrainian ports in August - Turkish Ministry of Defense

🤪 Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin is once again at the center of a party scandal - a video from a private party has leaked online.

▪️ The chairman of the Finnish Social Democratic Party and the country's prime minister, for the second time in her term, has criticized for her wild behavior. Sanna Marin (in a black top in the video) is having fun in the company of her friends, who are discussing cocaine in the background.

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⚡️🇷🇺 Lavrov will hold talks with his Syrian counterpart in Moscow on August 23, Russian Foreign Ministry said.

🇷🇺 🇹🇷 Russia has started the supplies of the second regiment of its S-400 anti-aircraft missile systems to Turkey after the signing of a relevant contract, Russian Federal Service for Military-Technical Cooperation (FSMTC) Director Dmitry Shugaev told Sputnik on Thursday.

🗣 "The relevant contract document [on the supply of the second S-400 regiment to Turkey] has already been signed, which, among other things, provides for the localization of the production of the system's individual components," Shugaev said, adding that the implementation of the contract has already began.

▪️ Turkey remains Russia's important partner, and the two countries have close trade and economic relations with bilateral collaboration actively developing in many areas, including military-technical cooperation, he said.

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📹 On August 18, 2022, 3 MiG-31i warplanes loaded with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles were redeployed to Chkalovsk airfield in Kaliningrad Region as part of additional strategic deterrence measures.

▪️ During the course of the flight, interaction with the fighter aviation of the 6th Air Force and Air Defense Army, as well as the naval aviation of the Baltic Fleet, was practiced.

▪️ MiG-31i warplanes with Kinzhal hypersonic missiles will be on round-the-clock combat duty at Chkalovsk airfield.

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