The invading Russian army has again shelled objectives in several regions of Ukraine. The southern city of Mykolaiv has been struck by several S-300 missiles and the region of Odessa has been attacked with rockets fired from vessels in the Black Sea. The city of Nikopol close to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia has been hit by scores of artillery shells amid growing fears of a potential nuclear disaster in the region. US president Joe Biden on Sunday held talks with French president Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and German chancellor Olaf Scholz about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear power plants and the support they can provide to this country. In Kyiv, president Zelensky has cautioned against potential large-scale attacks by Russian troops around Ukraine’s Independence Day, which marks the country’s breaking ties with the former USSR. The event takes place on August 24, six months from the onset of the Russian invasion. In another development, another two ships loaded with Ukrainian grain bound for Istanbul have been authorized to leave the Ukrainian Black Sea ports under the UN-brokered agreement signed by Ukraine, Turkey and Russia.
