August 16, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

An explosion at an ammunition depot in annexed Crimea injured at least two people on Tuesday, the head of the Russian-controlled Crimea administration Sergei Aksyonov said on his Telegram channel. 

Aksyonov said the explosion in the village of Maiskoye, near the town of Dzhankoi, was caused by a fire, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense. Detonations were ongoing, he added.

Earlier on Tuesday, Russian state news agency Ria Novosti said about 2,000 residents had been evacuated. 

What Ukraine says: Kyiv has not claimed any responsibility for the incident, but commenting on the explosions on Twitter, Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhaylo Podolyak said it was "demilitarization in action."

Some context: The explosion Tuesday is the second security incident at a military installation in Crimea in a week. Last Tuesday, a series of explosions rocked a Russian air base at Novofedorivka, on Crimea's west coast, destroying at least eight Russian military aircraft, satellite imagery reviewed by CNN showed. The explosions also killed one person and injured 14, according to the Crimean Health Ministry. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said the incident was caused by the accidental detonation of ammunition. Ukraine would not definitively confirm it was responsible for an attack on the air base. 

A cargo ship loaded with more than 23,000 metric tons of wheat destined for Ethiopia has departed from Ukraine, Kyiv's Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Tuesday.

The vessel is headed for Djibouti in the Horn of Africa, with the wheat ultimately destined for neighboring Ethiopia under the UN World Food Programme's response to a drought in the East African country. It is expected to reach its destination in two weeks.

The UN has said the "ripple effect" of the war in Ukraine threatens to worsen a food crisis in Ethiopia sparked by conflict and water shortages.

Some context: Since a deal was struck in Istanbul last month to unlock Ukrainian exports of grain via the country’s Black Sea ports, 17 ships carrying more than 475,000 tons of agricultural exports have departed, according to the Ukrainian Infrastructure Ministry.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday called for tougher sanctions in response to what he described as Russia's "nuclear blackmail" around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

Zelensky claimed that Russia “ignores” the security demands of the EU and 42 countries that have called on it to withdraw its forces from the station.

Some context: Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russian forces, which seized the plant in March, of storing heavy weaponry inside the complex and using it as cover to launch attacks, knowing that Ukraine can't return fire without risking hitting one of the plant's six reactors — a mistake that would spell disaster. Moscow, meanwhile, has claimed Ukrainian troops are targeting the site. Both sides have tried to point the finger at the other for threatening nuclear terrorism.

Russia is ready to supply military equipment to its allies and Moscow is open to training foreign fighters, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at the opening ceremony of a military expo on Monday.

Putin also stressed the advantages of training foreign soldiers in Russia and said Moscow invites allies to do joint military exercises.

“We also see great prospects in the training of foreign servicemen and their advanced training. Thousands of military professionals from around the world are proud alumnus of the military universities and academies of our country,” Putin said.

Russia will continue to work energetically in this important area, he said.

Russia's presence in parts of southern Ukraine is becoming more tenuous as Ukrainian long-range systems — many of them supplied by Western allies — target their supply lines, Ukrainian officials said.

Ivan Fedorov, mayor of occupied Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region, said the destruction of a railway bridge southwest of the city at the weekend had further complicated Russian resupply routes.

The Russians had stepped up security in Melitopol, checking the local population, he added. "Mass filtering of local civilians continues in Melitopol, in people's homes, on the streets," he said.

Fedorov said the Russian security service (FSB), Russian reserve guards and special Chechen units were present in the city.

Up to 6,000 people were waiting in line for evacuation, he said. "People wait for five to seven days, spend the night on the roadsides. It is faster to leave through Crimea, people use this route as well," he said.

Kherson attacks: Meanwhile, Serhii Khlan, adviser to the head of Kherson Civil Military Administration, told Ukrainian television on Monday that persistent attacks by Ukrainian forces on bridges across the Dnipro River had caused serious difficulties for Russian forces.

A substantial part of the Russian occupying force is on the right (northern) bank of the Dnipro, in Kherson city and further upstream. Khlan claimed the Russians had moved their command headquarters to the southern bank of the Dnipro.

A base used by Russian mercenary group Wagner in eastern Ukraine was hit by artillery or rocket fire at the weekend, according to social media videos geolocated to the occupied town of Popasna.

The Wagner group of private military contractors has played an active role in the fighting in Donbas, often deployed as infantry to advance on towns from which Ukrainian forces have withdrawn. The paramilitary group is sponsored by Russia.

Serhiy Hayday, the Ukrainian official who is head of the Luhansk regional military administration, said on his Telegram channel Monday that "the Armed Forces of Ukraine once more successfully worked on the enemy headquarters."

Over the weekend, pro-Russian Telegram accounts associated with the Wagner group showed extensive damage to a building in Popasna and said there had been casualties.