Zelensky warns of 'cruel' Russian action

MOSCOW, Aug 21 (AP/AFP): Russia could do something particularly "cruel" during the upcoming week as Ukraine marks 31 years of independence, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has warned.
"Russia could try to do something particularly disgusting, particularly cruel," Zelensky said in his nightly address late Saturday.
"One of the key objectives of the enemy is to humiliate us," and "to sow despondency, fear and conflict" but "we have to be strong enough to resist all provocation" and "make the occupiers pay for their terror," he said.
Ukraine's Independence Day on Wednesday, August 24, will also mark six months since Russia invaded the former Soviet republic.
There has been speculation that Russia will put Ukrainian fighters captured during the siege of Mariupol on trial to coincide with the independence anniversary.
In the northeastern city of Kharkiv, the governor announced a curfew from the evening of August 23 to the morning of August 25.
"We will not allow any provocation by the enemy. Be as vigilant as possible during our independence holiday," Oleg Synegubov wrote on Telegram.
Russians down Ukrainian drones in Crimea
Russian authorities reported shooting down Ukrainian drones Saturday in Crimea, while Ukrainian officials said Russian forces pressed ahead with efforts to seize one of the few cities in eastern Ukraine not already under their control. The Russian military also kept up its strikes in Ukraine's north and south.
In Crimea, which Russia annexed from Ukraine in 2014, Russian authorities said local air defenses shot down a drone above the headquarters of the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol. It was the second drone incident at the headquarters in three weeks and followed explosions at a Russian airfield and ammunition depot on the peninsula this month.
Oleg Kryuchkov, an aide to Crimea's governor, also said Saturday that "attacks by small drones" triggered air-defense systems in western Crimea.
"Air defense systems successfully hit all targets over the territory over Crimea on Saturday morning. There are no casualties or material damage," his boss, Sergei Aksyonov, said on Telegram.
Sevastopol governor Mikhail Razvozhaev said on Telegram that the city's air-defense systems were called into action again late Saturday.
The incidents underlined Russian forces' vulnerability in Crimea. A drone attack on Russia's Black Sea naval headquarters on July 31 injured five people and forced the cancellation of observances of Russia's Navy Day.