Top stories about the Russia-Ukraine war and other international affairs on Channel One from August 14 through August 21, 2022

By Madeline Roache

What follows is NewsGuard’s summary and translation of top news stories from Russia’s state TV Channel One. NewsGuard presents these stories in the order that they appear on the program. NewsGuard shares this summary as part of our mission to monitor and report all categories of misinformation, including Russian disinformation. Please note that these summaries of Russian state TV broadcasts may well contain falsehoods or propaganda, and NewsGuard does not vet them for accuracy or balance.

Journalist and political scientist Darya Dugina died in the Moscow region

Darya Dugina, a well-known journalist and political scientist, has died. This tragedy came as a shock to millions of people. She was only 29 years old, beautiful, ambitious and successful. Just three days ago she acted as an expert on a political talk show on Channel One.

In the late evening, on the Mozhaisk highway, there was a powerful explosion. The car flew into the air, right in front of Darya’s father, the philosopher Alexander Dugin. He owned the SUV that contained a bomb.

Svetlana Petrenko, representative of the Investigative Committee of Russia said, “At the moment, it has already been established that an explosive device was planted under the bottom of the car on the driver’s side. Darya Dugina, who was driving, died on the spot. Given the data already received, the investigation believes that the crime was pre-planned and was ordered.”

Maria Zakharova, representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry said, “If the Ukrainian trace is confirmed – and this version was voiced by the head of the Donetsk People’s Republic Denis Pushilin, and it must be verified by the competent authorities – then we should talk about the policy of state terrorism implemented by the Kyiv regime. There have been many facts accumulated over the years: from political calls for violence to the leadership and participation of Ukrainian state structures in crimes.”

Kyiv attacks the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, threatening the world with a second Chernobyl

Terror is the basis of Kyiv’s policy, including chemical terror. Russia will soon hand over the evidence to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Militants used botulinum toxin B, an organic poison of artificial origin, against our military in the Zaporozhye region.

What Kyiv is doing in the area of ​​​​the largest Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in Europe can best be described as follows: a monkey with a grenade near a nuclear reactor. This week, the sane world once again became convinced that the Ukrainian authorities are dangerously insane.

If not for our military, August 19 could have become the day in world history when the second Chernobyl happened, affecting Germany, Poland, Slovakia, and all of Scandinavia.

This time it worked out, but the insane do not let up. There are constant reports of shelling. At the same time, the IAEA [International Atomic Energy Agency] delegation is in no hurry to visit the Zaporozhye NPP [Nuclear Power Plant]. According to the latest information, the visit may take place in early September.

In the meantime, the UN Secretary General [Antonio Guterres] and Turkish President Erdogan went to Lviv. They spoke with Zelensky, who was half alive. The outcome of this tripartite meeting hardly matters. As you know, the Ukrainian president does not make independent decisions anyway.

The situation around the Zaporozhye plant was the focus of telephone conversations between the leaders of Russia and France

French President Emmanuel Macron called Moscow for the first time in almost three months. The presidents agreed that the IAEA mission should arrive at the station as soon as possible. In addition, Russian President Vladimir Putin recalled the invitation of experts from the UN Secretariat and the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the pre-trial detention center in Yelenovka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war died from a missile attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. 

They also talked about how the Istanbul deal to export Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea ports and export Russian products and fertilizers to world markets is being implemented. Vladimir Putin stressed that obstacles still remain.

Allied forces liberated the village of Oleksandrivka in the Kherson region

There are new points on the map of the liberation of Donbas. Another milestone is the village of Aleksandrovka in the Kherson region. Ukrainian nationalists have been kicked out of there for months. The main battles are now taking place near Soledar. An important springboard is the Knauf plant in the Donetsk People’s Republic. It is necessary to keep control of the plant in order to build on the offensive.

Soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine complain that commanders deliberately send them to be slaughtered

Without being prepared, and most importantly, against their own will, they are immediately sent into hell. This is exactly how, vilely, cynically, mercilessly Kyiv treats its own citizens. Men, including the elderly, are simply taken from the street, forcibly mobilized and used as cannon fodder. There are hundreds of monstrous stories, told by those who miraculously survived and who managed to escape from the hell that is called the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Commanders betray and soldiers are executed for deserting the missions.

The segment played a video clip, which purportedly showed a Ukrainian soldier, saying, “We’re not cannon fodder. We can’t go in without connection, without maps, without weapons… and carry on losing two hundred or three hundred men every day. Every day!”

Ukrainian radicals continue to use anti-personnel mines

Insidious anti-personnel mines that are synonymous with the sadistic, savage nature of Ukrainian radicals line the streets of Donbas cities. It’s very difficult to notice these mines. But the injuries that a person receives are terrible.

Eighteen victims were admitted to the Donetsk Republic Trauma Center this week. Among them are children and old people. To attract the attention of the West, which prefers not to notice Ukraine’s war crimes against civilians, pictures of mines were scattered at the Ukrainian embassies in the U.S., Canada, and other countries.

How the U.S. drove nails into the world order

“A good Indian is a dead Indian” is a well-known statement in American history. If you apply it to modern state policy, it means that countries that are submissive and weak, countries that defend their own interests, and countries that can surpass the U.S. are automatically enemies that need to be destroyed. We have heard American leaders speak innumerable times about their country’s exclusivity, greatness, and total superiority. And between the lines it reads: we do what we want and we can get away with it.

For decades, a huge army, like a sledgehammer, destroyed the entire world order with impunity. But the situation has changed. The world is no longer the same but American politicians are still stuck in this mentality.

India has become the largest importer of Russian oil. Supply has tripled this year. U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken suggested that the values of the free world are under threat in India. … The U.S. is trying to create in the east an analogue of NATO against Beijing. If one link falls out, the whole chain will fall apart.

The segment quoted from an article in Inquirer.net, which said: “A closer security partnership with India has become a vital part of America’s China policy. Specifically, the Quad — an informal security grouping comprising the US, Japan, Australia, and India — has emerged as a cornerstone of US Indo-Pacific strategy, and would not survive if the US sanctioned one of its members. India is playing this multifaceted game.”

A monument to the legendary T-34 tank was dismantled in the Estonian Narva

A dozen Soviet monuments have fallen victim to the war on historical memory unleashed by the Baltics this week. The latest battle was the legendary T-34 tank in Estonia’s Narva, a city where 90% of the inhabitants speak Russian. Tallinn has gone even further and has begun taking away Schengen visas from the Russians at the border, which it itself had issued.

The Riga authorities decided to demolish the monument to Soviet soldiers in Victory Park. They do not even feel bad about the two million euros that they will spend on dismantling it. Russophobia, it turns out, is expensive. Who will pay for this shameful war? And what is wrong with the Baltic politicians?

Channel One correspondent Alena Germanova said, “Calls to cancel visas for Russians are not only happening in Estonia. There is also visa hysteria in Latvia, Lithuania, and the Czech Republic. It will supposedly help Kyiv if Russians are not allowed to travel to Europe.”

London staged two provocations with its reconnaissance aircraft 

London tried to test the boundaries of what was allowed this week, arranging two provocations with its reconnaissance aircraft. One of them flew into our airspace over the Barents Sea. The Russian crew of the MiG-31 fighter of the Air Defense Forces on duty quickly ousted the uninvited guest.

Less than a day later, London submitted an application for the flight of its reconnaissance RC-135 along the route that passes over the territory of Russia. It’s not clear what answer they expected, but, as people say, it didn’t work. 

As part of additional strategic deterrence measures, three MiG 31-I aircraft with Dagger hypersonic missiles were relocated to the Kaliningrad region to the Chkalovsk airfield. This formidable weapon is able to hit any target at a distance of up to two thousand kilometers. It flies 10 times faster than the speed of sound and is almost invisible to air defense systems. And also, as the Minister of Defense said today, during the special operation the Russian Armed Forces used “Daggers” three times and three times these hypersonic missiles showed their brilliant results.

The German chancellor was booed at one of his speeches 

That’s how Europe would deal with its problems. Turn off the lights, turn off the refrigerators, and save water by wiping yourself with a cloth. This is only part of the recommendations that ordinary Europeans receive from their politicians. Life is in a deep pit. There are soaring prices, from food to utilities. There was also abnormal heat, which dried the main European waterway, the Rhine River, making it almost unsuitable for navigation. 

The entire European economy is affected. … And citizens do not hide their discontent. German Chancellor Scholz was booed by the people at one of the speeches and called him a traitor. We will not give obscene epithets. And in this situation, the question is: What or who do the European authorities hope for?

Klaus Ernst, a member of the Bundestag and the head of the Committee on Climate Protection and Energy said, “We need to increase the supplies of gas to our country. I wish it were different, but the fact is this is only possible with Russia, we should speak with Russia.”