The United States is now very close to being part of the conflict in Ukraine, “there is only a very thin line” that separates them. This was stated by Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Serghei Ryabkov, warning Washington against carrying out “provocative actions, such as supplying more aggressive and longer-range weapons” to the Ukrainian army. “There is a very fine line that separates the United States from becoming an active party in the conflict in Ukraine,” he said. Read also In the meantime, the mission of the Aiea inspectors in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant continues. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu warned today that the provocations by the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the plant constitute a “real threat” of nuclear catastrophe in Europe, for which he warned that “all responsibility” will fall on Kiev in the event of a possible accident. Shoigu pointed out that despite the arrival at the establishment of the 14-member International Atomic Energy Agency (Aiea) mission, Ukrainian forces bombed both the location and path of the UN agency’s members. Likewise, he specified that the silence of the United States and the European Union on the situation around the plant encourages the “provocations” of Kiev. “We hope that the objective results of the activities of the IAEA mission will attract the attention of the world community”, he said again, adding that Russia “does not have heavy weapons” in the territory of the Zaporizhia plant and in the surrounding areas: “I hope that the IAEA commission is convinced of it “.” Since mid-July – he continued – the Ukrainian armed forces, using Western weapons, have regularly attacked the infrastructure of the nuclear power plant. Since July 18, 29 attacks have been recorded and fired 120 artillery shells and 16 kamikaze drones used Lastly, the defense minister told Interfax that the Russian authorities are doing “everything necessary” to ensure the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Russian forces allegedly suffered “significant losses” in the southern region of Kherson following the counter-offensive launched by Kiev at the beginning of the week, while the Ukrainian successes would have been “convincing enough”. “The enemy suffers quite significant losses, the losses of men have gone from tens to hundreds. The equipment is also burning,” said Natalia Humeniuk, spokeswoman for the southern Ukrainian military command. According to Humeniuk, more “positive news” is likely to follow “very soon”. “We continue to destroy the enemy in terms of logistics, capabilities, skills. Ammunition warehouses explode, pontoons explode”. And a new exchange of prisoners between Russia and Ukraine took place in the Donetsk region, which together with that of Luhansk makes up the Donbass. This was reported by the Ukrainian authorities, specifying that the exchange involved 14 Ukrainian soldiers and an unknown number of Russians. The released Kiev soldiers were taken prisoner last spring and belonged to two motorized brigades. Among them is an officer and a doctor. The Russian side has not confirmed the news. Instead, 100 Russians have been accused or convicted of spreading “false news” about the war in Ukraine, a crime that can cost up to 15 years in prison. To do the math, reports Moscow Times, is the lawyer and human rights defender Pavel Chikov. At the moment only nine people have been sentenced. Between them, two received prison sentences, two received fines of up to 3 million rubles ($ 50,000), two were sent to social services and two others benefited from suspended sentences. The heaviest sentence was imposed on former Moscow city councilor Alexei Gorinov, sentenced to seven years in prison in July. Another 28 people are awaiting trial in prison, including well-known dissidents Ilya Yashin and Vladimir Kara-Murza. The tally includes 32 people who fled Russia, including investigative journalists Andrei Soldatov and Ruslan Leviyev. As many as 55 of the accused face sentences of between five and ten years, while another 24 for a maximum of three. For the first time this week, soldiers, Ilya Karpenko and Valery Kotovich, appear among the new accused. According to the OVd-Info observatory, there are a total of 200 Russians who will face a trial on various charges related to the protests against the war in Ukraine.