The UN’s nuclear watchdog leader criticized Ukraine for using a drone to attack one of the six nuclear reactors at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. He said that this kind of attack could cause a big nuclear accident.
On social media, Rafael Mariano Grossi said that at least three direct hits happened on the main reactor buildings at ZNPP. “He said it can’t happen. ”
He said it was the first attack like this since November 2022. This is when he made five important rules to prevent a dangerous nuclear accident.
Officials at the plant said that Ukrainian military drones attacked the site on Sunday. They hit the dome of the plant’s sixth power unit.
The plant officials said that there was no serious damage or injuries and the radiation levels at the plant were normal after the attacks. On Sunday, the Russian nuclear agency Rosatom said three people were hurt in an unusual drone attack near the site’s canteen.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Sunday that its experts were told about the drone attack, and that the explosion matches what the agency has noticed.
In another statement, the IAEA said that drone attacks caused damage to the nuclear plant, including one of its six reactors. One person was injured, it was reported.
The damage at unit 6 is very serious and could cause the reactor’s containment system to become weaker, but it hasn’t affected the safety of the nuclear power plant.
The power plant got caught in the middle when Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in 2022 and took over the facility. The IAEA has said many times that they are worried about the big nuclear power plant in Europe. They are afraid there might be a big nuclear disaster. Ukraine and Russia both say the other is attacking the plant, which is still near the battle area.
The plant’s six reactors are not running for a long time, but it still needs electricity and skilled workers to run important cooling systems and safety features.
On Sunday, three people died when a Russian bomb hit their house in the town of Huliaipole in southeastern Ukraine. Ivan Fedorov spoke. Two people got hurt in Huliaipole from shelling on Sunday.
Three individuals were injured in Russia’s attack in Ukraine’s northeast Kharkiv region, according to the governor of the region.
Tag: Zaporizhzhia
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Ukrainian prone to nuclear accident after recent Russian attacks – IAEA head
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Ukraine launches a counter offensive as thousands of soldiers rushed to front lines
Thousands of Ukrainian soldiers and armoured vehicles have gotten closer to the front lines in anticipation of the long-awaited counteroffensive against Russia.
Volodymyr Zelensky, president of Ukraine, made a commitment in June to start a counteroffensive against the illegal Russian invasion; it appears to have started this week.
Soldiers were sent to the front lines of Zaporizhzhia yesterday, the Telegraph reports, and Mr. Zelensky lauded their “very good results.”
This operation, which might last up to three weeks, will see the Ukrainian force move south and cut off a land route to Crimea.
Along the front line, artillery skirmishes broke out, and it was believed that the Ukrainians had over 100 armoured vehicles, including Bradley Fighting Vehicles and Leopards produced in Germany and the United States.
The forces of Mr. Zelensky are already launching counterattacks in Bakhmut and Donetsk.
The disagreement between the local Russian leadership, according to US security forces, is the reason Ukrainian officials are concentrating on Zaporizhzhia.
Major General Ivan Popov, the regional Russian commander, allegedly said he was fired after bringing up battlefield concerns with his superiors, according to a US official.
The official remarked, “The Russians are overworked.” They continue to have issues with supplies, personnel, logistics, and weapons. They can sense the pressure.
Russian minefields, shelling, and air attacks have prevented Ukrainian troops from making much progress in driving the Russians back along the southern front.
The offensive in the country’s east and southeast that are under Russian control is moving more slowly than Mr. Zelensky would prefer, he previously acknowledged.
However, Mr. Zelensky stated in a video address on Wednesday night that “our boys had very good results at the front today.” Well done to them. Details will be provided.
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Evacuation from Zaporizhzhia has raised questions about safety of nuclear power reactors
After Moscow ordered the evacuation of civilians from Russian-occupied districts near to the facility, the UN’s nuclear inspector expressed worries about the safety of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and labeled the situation as “increasingly unpredictable.”
According to Yevgeniy Balitskiy, the acting director of the Zaporizhzhia region administration, who has been nominated by Russia, more than 1,600 people, including 660 children, have been evacuated from Russian-occupied towns along the front lines in Zaporizhzhia.
Despite being occupied by Russian soldiers, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest nuclear power station, is mostly run by a Ukrainian workforce.
The town of Enerhodar was among 18 settlements whose residents were evacuated over the weekend. Most of the plant’s staff live in the town, the International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said in a statement.
Grossi said he was deeply concerned about the “increasingly tense, stressful, and challenging conditions” for personnel and their families and about “the very real nuclear safety and security risks facing the plant.”
“We must act now to prevent the threat of a severe nuclear accident and its associated consequences for the population and the environment,” Grossi warned.
The evacuation of the town come amid rumors of an anticipated Ukrainian counteroffensive, with the southern region likely to be a major target as Kyiv seeks to push back Moscow’s invasion.
The site director Yuri Chernichuk said operating staff are not being evacuated and “are doing everything necessary to ensure nuclear safety and security at the plant.”
Chernichuk said the plant’s six reactors are all in shutdown mode and its equipment is being maintained, “in accordance with all necessary nuclear safety and security regulations,” according to Grossi.
The plant’s position on the front lines – located on the eastern bank of the Dnipro river – means shelling in the surrounding towns and near the facility is common, according to local reports.
It has frequently been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid due to intense Russian shelling in the area, repeatedly raising fears across Europe of a nuclear accident.
The plant is also significant because Ukraine relies heavily on nuclear power. Should Russia keep it, Ukraine would lose 20% of its domestic electricity generating capacity. Analysts have said Russia would want to capture the plant undamaged, with hopes of serving its own electricity market.
The IAEA said experts at the site continue to hear shelling on a regular basis, including late on Friday.
The evacuations, which began in Zaporizhzhia on Friday, were a “necessary measure” due to “intensified shelling of settlements” close to the front line, said Yevgeny Balitsky, the Russian-appointed acting governor of the partially occupied region.
Local Telegram channels reported sightings of evacuation buses and authorities telling residents to pack their bags and take their children out of kindergartens.
Evacuated residents were being placed in temporary accommodation and included children of elementary school age, Balitskiy said. He claimed the evacuees “have everything they need: food, a place to sleep, constant contact and consultation with specialists.”
Ukrainian officials have charged that Russian forces have used evacuations as a means to forcibly deport Ukrainians.
Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for Ukraine’s Operational Command South, told local media the evacuations were “an imitation of care for the local residents.”
She said this was a standard practice previously used by the Russians.
“They are trying to evacuate the people to the places where they set up their own defense lines and where they are setting their units in order to use local civilians as a cover,” Humeniuk said.
Her comments came as the exiled Ukrainian mayor of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, claimed Russian soldiers are trying to leave Zaporizhzhia disguised as civilians.
“There are soldiers who try to escape from the temporarily occupied territories,” Fedorov said in an interview with Ukrainian media Sunday.
“Our residents report some cases of Russian soldiers dressing up in civilian clothes. One of the purposes why they do this is to run from the temporarily occupied territory.”
However, Fedorov also said Russian troops “are moving more and more to the Zaporizhzhia frontline.”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian military officials reported Sunday that Russian forces continued to shell the region, but with no casualties in the past 24 hours.
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Operation Command South spokeswoman said Russian forces were trying to exhaust Ukraine’s air defense system.
“They are trying to find a way around it. And they are also expanding their tactics because they do not have a stable stock of the means that they can operate with,” Humeniuk said, adding the Russians are also trying “to test and find out where the air defense systems are located.”
Early Monday, five people were wounded in Kyiv following Russian drone attacks on districts of the Ukrainian capital overnight, according to Serhiy Popko, the head of Kyiv City Military Administration (KCMA).
In the south, Russia launched eight missiles at the port city of Odesa overnight Sunday, Ukraine’s air force said.
Russian missile attacks were also recorded in Kharkiv, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions, according to Ukraine’s military.
And in Ukraine’s east, the head of the Wagner mercenary group claimed its troops have advanced in the embattled city of Bakhmut.
Wagner chief Yevgeny Prigozhin said Sunday his forces have advanced in “different directions so far,” though the Ukrainians still control 2.37 square kilometers.
Prigozhin has now suggested his forces will stay in Bakhmut after Russia’s Ministry of Defense promised to provide them with more ammunition, apparently backtracking on a threat to withdraw.
Bakhmut has been the site of a months-long assault by Russian forces that has driven thousands from their homes and left the area devastated.
But, despite the vast amounts of manpower and resources Russia has poured into capturing Bakhmut, Moscow’s forces have suffered high casualties and been unable to take total control of the city.
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Zaporizhzhia: Missile strike kills newborn baby at Ukraine hospital
According to emergency services, a newborn baby was killed in a Russian missile strike on a maternity unit in Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region.
The only woman in the facility at the time, the baby’s mother, and a doctor were rescued from the rubble.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, has accused Russia of instilling “terror and murder” in his country.
The Zaporizhzhia region, which contains a critical nuclear plant, has been the target of repeated Russian attacks.
Russian missiles struck the maternity ward of a hospital in the Ukraine-held town of Vilnyansk, close to the frontline, according to Ukrainian emergency services.
Although the area is held by Ukraine, the whole Zaporizhzhia region is claimed by Russia after self-styled referendums in September.
Elsewhere on Wednesday, Ukrainian officials said two people were killed in shelling on a residential building in Kupiansk – a town in the Kharkiv region which was retaken by Ukrainian forces in September.
Speaking after both attacks, President Zelensky accused Russia of trying “to achieve with terror and murder what it wasn’t able to achieve for nine months” on the battlefield.
Several medical facilities have come under Russian attack during the nine-month war, including a strike on a maternity hospital in Mariupol in March which left three dead, including a child.
Russia at the time said the attack had been staged.
The World Health Organization has documented 703 attacks on health infrastructure since Russia’s invasion began on 24 February – it defines an attack as involving violence as well as threatened violence against hospitals, ambulances and medical supplies.
The UK Ministry of Defence said on Wednesday that Russian commanders were likely using Iranian-made unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) to “prioritise medical facilities as targets of opportunity and strike them with guided munitions if identified”.
Parts of the wider Zaporizhzhia region are occupied by Russia, including the nuclear plant, which was overrun by Russian forces weeks after the invasion began.
Russia annexed Zaporizhzhia and other Ukrainian territory in September but has been pushed back on the battlefield in the south, notably in Kherson region. The two armies face each other across the River Dnipro.
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Russian-Ukraine war: British man dies fighting in Ukraine
Simon Lingard’s family says, the Ukrainian military has offered to transport his body back to the UK. He is thought to be the third British national to be killed in Ukraine.
“My Dad was an inspiration to all who knew him, a real life hero who died fighting for what he believed in,” they wrote on a fundraising page for him.
“He was loved and adored by so many a true representation of what a soldier should be.
“The Ukrainian Military have offered to bring him home to England but we need help to show him the respect and adoration he deserves by giving him THE greatest well deserved send off.”
He is believed to be the third British national to die so far in the conflict.
Jordan Gatley, 24, died in June after leaving the British Army in March. Scott Sibley, 36, died in late April, and was also a former member of the Armed Forces.
A further five Britons were released from Russian detention in Ukraine after a successful prisoner swap in September.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed Shaun Pinner, Aiden Aslin, John Harding, Dylan Healy and Andrew Hill had arrived safely back on UK soil.
Image:Jordan Gatley died in June. Pic: Dean Gatley/Facebook 
Image:Scott Sibley was reported dead in late April Tributes to ‘warrior’ and ‘top bloke’
Paying tribute to Mr Lingard on Facebook, friends described him as a “warrior” and a “real man”
Another posted: “Ohh it’s with a very heavy heart I write this but Si Lingard you were a top bloke.”
It comes after Russian troops announced they are withdrawing from the annexed region of Kherson.
Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered his troops to withdraw from the west bank of the Dnipro River in the face of Ukrainian attacks near the southwestern city of the same name.
In televised comments, the general said it was no longer possible to supply Kherson city and proposed taking up defensive lines on the eastern bank of the river.
It marks one of Russia’s most significant retreats and a potential turning point in the war, now nearing the end of its ninth month.
Kherson was annexed along with three other regions – Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia – in September.
Sky News has contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office for further comment.
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The EU is ‘exploring’ ways to increase assistance to Ukraine’s energy sector
The European Union is looking into ways to help Ukraine’s energy sector, which has been harmed by Russian attacks for weeks.
During a visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson confirmed the move.
“I am in Kyiv today to help scale up support to the Ukraine energy sector,” she said.
“I have witnessed the scale of destruction in Ukraine first hand and am making all efforts to increase financial, technical, and practical help.”
Ms Simson called Russia’s attacks “a cruel and inhumane tactic to cause human suffering as the winter is approaching”.
The European Union is looking into ways to help Ukraine’s energy sector, which has been harmed by Russian attacks for weeks.
During a visit to the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv on Tuesday, Energy Commissioner Kadri Simson confirmed the move.
The additional help will have to come from EU institutions, member states, international partners, and private donors, she said.
The commissioner travelled to Kyiv following weeks of Russian attacks that focused on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, in particular power stations.
Ms Simson plans to meet Ukrainian energy companies to talk about how the EU, international partners, and the private sector can help.
She will also discuss the situation at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the security of supply, and the future reconstruction of the energy system.
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Ukraine war: ‘Massive’ wave of strikes hits major cities, including Kyiv
Ukrainian officials have reported that Russia has launched massive missile strikes across Ukraine, including the capital Kyiv, causing power and water outages.
At least two explosions have been reported in Kyiv. One resident told the BBC that his neighbourhood was now without power.
According to local authorities, critical infrastructure facilities in the northeastern city of Kharkiv were hit.
The strikes follow Russia’s accusation that Ukraine was responsible for a drone attack on its Black Sea Fleet in annexed Crimea.
On Monday morning, missile strikes were also reported in the central Vinnytsia region, as well as Dnipropetrovsk and Zaporizhzhia in the southeast, and Lviv in western Ukraine.
A facility at the Dnipro hydroelectric power plant in the Zaporizhzhia region was also reportedly hit.
In Kyiv, a facility that powers 350,000 apartments was damaged, with engineers urgently deployed to restore the supply.
Residents in the regions under attack were urged to remain in shelters, amid fears more strikes could follow.
Ukraine’s Air Force spokesman Yuriy Ihnat told Ukrainian TV that Russia had used its strategic bombers to carry out its “massive” strikes.
Andriy Yermak, the head of President Volodymyr Zelensky’s office, said that “Russian losers are continuing to fight against peaceful objects”.
IMAGE SOURCE, UKRAINE’S DIGITALISATION MINISTRY Image caption, All of Ukraine’s regions – except for the annexed Crimea in the south – were marked in red as being under air attack on Monday morning Russia has so far made no public comments on the reported latest strikes.
On Saturday, one Russian warship was damaged in the port city of Sevastopol in a drone attack, the Russian defence ministry said. It also accused British specialists of having trained the Ukrainian soldiers who then carried out the strikes in Crimea – Ukraine’s southern peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
Moscow provided no evidence to back its claims.
Ukraine has not commented on the issue, while the UK defence ministry said Russia was “peddling false claims on an epic scale“.
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Oleksandr Starukh: Zaporizhzhia region governor says three people injured in early attacks
The territory was targeted by S300 missiles, according to Oleksandr Starukh, governor of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.
He said: “A residential building and infrastructure facilities were destroyed.
“According to preliminary information, there are no casualties.
“There are three wounded.
“The data is being verified.
“As a result of the attack, the gas system was damaged in a residential high-rise building, there was a fire, and a wall was destroyed.
“Specialised services are already working in the city of events.
“The occupier also targeted a school in one of Zaporizhzhia’s districts.
“The roof of the school was damaged and the windows were broken.
“There were also hits on infrastructure facilities and open areas.“
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Kyiv advised to conserve electricity after Russian missile attack
Residents of Kyiv have been asked to reduce their evening electricity use after a Russian missile strike knocked out a power plant near the capital.
Power was restored earlier in Ukraine, according to officials, after Russian missiles struck the electricity infrastructure.
But Ukraine’s state energy operator Ukrenergo has still called for the reduction between 17:00 and 23:00 (15:00 – 21:00 GMT), warning of possible power cuts.
The request was not confined to Kyiv.
The deputy head of Ukraine’s presidential administration, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, said the populations of Zhytomyr, Cherkasy, and Chernihiv should also save electricity.
“If this advice is ignored, we will have difficulties and it will be necessary to take out the candles,” he warned on Telegram.
Ukrenergo has urged residents to save electricity in the evening by not using energy-guzzling appliances, switching off unnecessary lighting, and doing their washing at night.
However, the BBC’s Paul Adams reports that Kyiv streets are already darker than usual at night, but “life very much goes on”.
The energy warning comes as more heavy fighting is reported north of Russian-held Kherson.
Kirill Stremousov, a Russian-appointed leader in the southern region, said Ukrainian shelling was coming from the Dudchany area, on the west bank of the Dnieper river (called Dnipro by Ukrainians).
Advancing Ukrainian forces have repeatedly bombarded bridges over the river, aiming to cut off Russian troops in Kherson city.
Russian-installed officials in the city have urged Moscow to help transfer Kherson families to Russian cities as Ukrainian shelling intensifies.
President Vladimir Putin has declared Kherson and three other Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia – a move condemned internationally, after hastily-organized so-called referendums in the regions.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian prosecutors have accused Russian soldiers of shooting and killing the chief conductor of the Kherson Music and Drama Theatre, Yuri Kerpatenko, in his home. It is widely reported in Ukrainian media, but there are few details. He is said to have refused to cooperate with the occupation authorities.
Russian oil depot fire
For two days running the governor of Belgorod, a Russian city 40km (25 miles) north of Ukraine, has reported Ukrainian cross-border shelling. One shell caused a major fire at an oil depot near the city on Saturday, Vyacheslav Gladkov said, adding later that firefighters had extinguished it.
Ukrainian shelling set fire to an electricity substation in Belgorod on Friday, he reported on Telegram. In that case, too the fire was contained. Kyiv has not commented on the Russian claims, but there have been explosions in the Belgorod region previously, which Russia blamed on Ukrainian shelling.
IMAGE SOURCE,VVGLADKOV/TELEGRAM Image caption, Oil depot fire near Belgorod – pic from Governor Gladkov (Telegram) On Friday President Putin said he saw no need for further massive missile strikes against Ukraine “for now”, on the scale of last Monday’s, which hit Kyiv and other cities, killing at least 20 civilians. Mr Putin said those strikes were retaliation for the attack that damaged Russia’s huge Kerch bridge – a key strategic link to annexed Crimea.
Another focus of fighting in the south is Zaporizhzhia – Ukrainian officials in the city say it was hit by more Russian missiles and Iranian-made Shahed “kamikaze” drones overnight. There was damage to energy facilities and industrial infrastructure there.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant – Europe’s largest – lies just south of the city, under Russian control, and repeated shelling in the area has raised fears of a nuclear disaster.
The US has announced $725m (£649m) of further military aid for Ukraine, including ammunition for Himars rocket systems, artillery rounds, anti-tank weapons and Humvee armoured vehicles. The US has provided more than $17bn of military aid since Russia’s 24 February invasion – by far the largest contribution among Ukraine’s Western allies.
On Ukraine’s northern border, Belarus says a new Russian military contingent has arrived – part of what it describes as a regional border protection force. Belarus has hosted Russian forces involved in the war in Ukraine, including those who launched an abortive assault on Kyiv. But so far it has not sent its own troops across the border.
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Zaporizhzhia and Nikopol morning attacks – as kamikaze drones shot down overnight, say governors
Governor Valentyn Reznichenko, five kamikaze drones were shot down overnight in the Dnipropetrovsk region of central-eastern Ukraine.
He reported on Telegram that Russia launched more than 50 shells into the city of Nikopol, injuring two persons.
Ten high-rise and private buildings, a transport company, several shops, a garage, cars, and several offices were destroyed.
He said more strikes had hit residential areas of Nikopol on Saturday morning and that details were still coming through.
Ten rockets were also launched this morning at Zaporizhzhia, about 38 miles (61km) to the east, said the region’s governor.
Oleksandr Starukh said on Telegram that a number of energy and industrial infrastructure facilities were destroyed. Information on casualties is so far unclear.
There were also four overnight airstrikes on the city by drones, Mr Starukh added. Fires broke out but no one was injured.
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Ukraine war: Russia planning to evacuate residents from Kherson
Vladimir Saldo, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, has urged citizens to flee, alleging daily rocket assaults by advancing Ukrainian soldiers.
He advised them to “save themselves” by going to Russia for “leisure and study,” and he requested assistance from Moscow.
His call was later backed up by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Marat Khusnullin in a message on state television.
Ukraine rejects accusations that it targets its own civilians.
Its troops have recently retaken some areas of north-western Kherson, closing in on the regional capital, Kherson city.
“The government took the decision to organise assistance for the departure of residents of the [Kherson] region to other regions of the country,” said Mr Khusnullin, who has special responsibility for southern Russia and Crimea.
“We will provide everyone with free accommodation and everything necessary.”
The first group of people from Kherson would arrive on Friday in Russia’s Rostov region, said its governor Vasily Golubev, according to Russian state news agency Tass.
“The Rostov region will accept and accommodate everyone who wants to come to us from the Kherson region,” he added.
Kyiv has been using US-supplied Himars rocket systems Among other weaponry to great effect.
It has targeted key Russian-held military targets and threatened to cut off the bulk of the occupying forces on the west bank of the Dnieper river (known as Dnipro in Ukraine).
Kherson is the only regional capital seized by Russian forces since Moscow’s invasion began on 24 February.
Ukraine’s military has been tight-lipped about its troop advances in the key region that borders Crimea – the southern Ukrainian peninsula annexed by Moscow in 2014.
In other major developments on Thursday:
- All of Ukraine – with the exception of Crimea – was for some time under air raid alert, and Russian missile strikes were reported on energy and military targets in the Kyiv region and Lviv, in the west
- Two people were killed in shelling in the southern city of Mykolaiv, and dramatic footage showed a young boy being rescued from the rubble of a destroyed house, although he later died, officials said
- Both Kyiv and Moscow confirmed that 20 Ukrainian service personnel were exchanged for 20 Russian soldiers – in the latest such swap
- Russia accused Ukraine of hitting a residential building in the Russian border city of Belgorod
- Russian President Vladimir Putin met his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan and proposed building a gas hub in Turkey as an alternative supply route to Europe following problems with the Nord Stream pipelines
- Nato said it would provide Ukraine with dozens of jammers – transmitters used to disrupt signals – to counteract Russian and Iranian drones. The head of the military alliance, Jens Stoltenberg, also said members had agreed to increase the protection of critical infrastructure after what he called the “sabotage” of the Nord Stream pipelines
Speaking on Thursday, Mr Saldo said many towns in the region – including the two major cities of Kherson and Nova Kakhovka – were now under daily rocket attacks by Ukrainian troops.
“Such strikes are causing serious damage,” he said, urging residents across the whole region – and especially those on the west bank of the Dnieper river – to evacuate to Russia or Crimea.
And he appealed to the government in Moscow to help organise the process. “Russia is not abandoning its people,” he stressed, using a popular saying.
Earlier this month, President Putin declared the annexation of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions in Ukraine’s south, as well as Donetsk and Luhansk in the east.
Ukraine and its Western allies condemned the move, saying it had no legal power. The Kremlin does not fully control any of the four regions.
On Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly voted overwhelmingly to condemn the Russian annexation attempt.
The assembly’s resolution was supported by 143 countries, while 35 states – including China and India – abstained. As well to Russia, four countries rejected the resolution – Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Nicaragua.
Although symbolic, it was the highest number of votes against Russia since the invasion.
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Elon Musk refutes claims he spoke to Putin about Ukraine war
Elon Musk has refuted claims that he communicated with Vladimir Putin before putting his recommendations for stopping Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a Twitter poll.
Ian Bremmer, head of the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy, alleged that Mr Musk had personally told him about the conversation with Mr Putin.
But Mr Musk has now refuted this.
“I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space,” Mr Musk tweeted.
Last week, the Tesla CEO asked his 107.7 million followers to vote on ways to resolve the Ukraine war.
The suggestions included a proposal to hold votes in parts of Ukraine occupied by Russia that the Kremlin says it has annexed. His comments were welcomed by Moscow.
The multi-billionaire said: “Russia leaves if that is the will of the people.”
President Putin has already declared four Ukrainian regions to be part of Russia, following so-called referendums denounced as fraudulent by Kyiv and its Western allies. Russia does not fully control any of the four regions.
Mr Musk also suggested the world should “formally” recognise Crimea – illegally annexed by Moscow in 2014 – as part of Russia.
In a newsletter, Mr Bremmer wrote that Mr Musk told him the Russian president was “prepared to negotiate”, but only if Crimea remained under Russian control if Ukraine accepted a form of permanent neutrality, and if Kyiv recognised Russia’s annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.
Mr Bremmer said the SpaceX boss told him that Mr Putin said these goals would be accomplished “no matter what” and that there was the potential of a nuclear strike if Ukraine invaded Crimea.
But Mr Musk has since denied the reports.
No, it is not. I have spoken to Putin only once and that was about 18 months ago. The subject matter was space.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 11, 2022
Mr Musk’s initial poll caused widespread controversy.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said people proposing Ukraine give up on its people and land “must stop using the word ‘peace’ as a euphemism to ‘let Russians murder and rape thousands more innocent Ukrainians, and grab more land’”.
Russian chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov called Mr Musk’s tweet “moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage & sacrifice”.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov welcomed Mr Musk’s suggestions, stating: “It is very positive that somebody like Elon Musk is looking for a peaceful way out of this situation.”
Early in the war, the billionaire gained widespread popularity in Ukraine after sending a number of his Starlink internet terminals to the country. He was subsequently invited to visit by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
But his recent tweets have seen that relationship sour, with Mr Zelensky last week hitting out at his Twitter polls.
US federal law prevents private citizens from conducting foreign affairs without the permission or involvement of the US government.
The Logan Act was signed into law by President John Adams in 1799, but nobody has ever been prosecuted under it.
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Crimea bridge attack arrests made as more explosions heard
In connection to the explosion that occurred on a crucial bridge connecting Russia and Crimea on Saturday, Russia claims to have apprehended eight persons.
Five of those detained, according to its FSB security force, were Russians, while the others were Ukrainian and Armenian.
The FSB has accused the Ukrainian security services of being behind the attack on the bridge.
The news came as explosions were reported in the Ukrainian cities of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and Nikopol.
The BBC’s Hugo Bachega in Kyiv said five explosions had been heard in Kherson, one of the largest cities under Russian occupation, while there were unconfirmed reports that the air defence system in the city had been activated.
He said it was not clear what had triggered the explosions.
The blast on the Crimea Bridge was a powerful symbolic blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who opened the bridge in 2018, four years after Russia’s annexation of Crimea.
President Putin called it an “act of terrorism”, saying Ukraine’s intelligence forces had aimed to destroy a critically important piece of Russia’s civil infrastructure.
Russian forces retaliated on Monday with a wave of missile strikes across the country, including central Kyiv, killing 19 people.
Following more strikes on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has urged countries to hit Russia with more sanctions in response to “a new wave of terror“.
He called on the West to find new ways to apply political pressure to Russia and support Ukraine.
The calls came after he met the G7 group of nations for emergency virtual talks on Tuesday.
The bloc – which consists of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the UK, and the US – promised to continue providing “financial, humanitarian, military, diplomatic and legal” support to his country “for as long as it takes”.
Nato also said it would stand with Ukraine for as long as necessary.
In another development, Polish pipeline operator Pern said it had detected a leak in one pipeline in the Druzhba system that carries oil from Russia to Europe.
The discovery follows leaks in the Nord Stream undersea gas pipelines that transport Russian gas to Europe, which have been widely blamed on sabotage.
Europe is facing a severe energy crisis in the aftermath of Moscow‘s invasion of Ukraine as it tries to wean itself off Russian gas and oil.
The continent has imposed tough sanctions on Russia in an effort to put economic pressure on the Kremlin.
Pern said that at this point, the causes of the leak were unknown. It was detected in a section of the pipe about 70km from the central Polish city of Plock.
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Tracking the war with Russia : Ukraine in maps
Two days after the only bridge connecting Russia with the annexed Crimea was broken in an explosion, Russia fired missiles at various Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv.
Here are the latest developments:
- Missile strikes have been reported in cities including Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, and Zaporizhzhia, in what appears to be the most widespread set of Russian attacks since the early weeks of the war
- Russia has partially reopened the bridge linking it to Crimea, which is an important supply route for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine
- Ukrainian troops have continued to progress after breaking through Russian defences in the southern Kherson region
- In Donetsk, Ukrainian forces are pushing east, having taken the town of Lyman
Ukrainian cities hit in missile strikes
At least 12 Ukrainian cities have been hit in missile strikes two days after a strategically important bridge linking Russia with Crimea was damaged in a blast.
Kyiv has been targeted for the first time in months, but explosions have also been reported in Ternopil and Lviv in the west, which has so far escaped the worst of the war.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky says Russia has targeted energy infrastructure across the country and that energy facilities in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Zaporizhzhia, and Kharkiv are among the places hit.
Ukraine’s military commander says Russia launched 83 missiles in total.
It comes a day after Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Ukraine’s security services of attacking the Kerch bridge – although Ukrainian officials have not indicated whether their forces were behind the attack.
The 19km (12-mile) bridge, the longest in Europe, is an important supply route for Russian forces fighting in Ukraine.
Russia has used the bridge to move military equipment, ammunition, and personnel from Russia to battlefields in southern Ukraine.
Mr Putin described the blast as an “an act of terrorism aimed at destroying Russia’s critical civilian infrastructure”.
Russian authorities partially reopened the roadway part of the bridge hours after the attack but for light traffic only.
The railway part of the bridge – where oil tankers caught fire – has also reopened.
Ukrainian breakthrough in the south
Ukrainian troops have continued to advance after breaking through Russia’s defences on the west bank of the Dnieper River in Kherson.
They have retaken the village of Dudchany and the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) says Ukrainian sources report that Russian occupation authorities are moving their families from the Kherson region to Crimea.
Ukrainian troops have been attacking bridges, ferries and pontoons in recent weeks, attempting to make Russian positions on the west side of the river unsustainable, and thereby force a withdrawal.
Also in the south, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called for the demilitarisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Russian and Ukrainian sources have accused each other of shelling close to the plant, which is Europe’s biggest nuclear facility.
Russia’s military took over the power station in early March, but it is still being operated by Ukrainian staff.
Intense fighting in the east
Ukrainian troops took control of the key logistical hub of Lyman in Donetsk more than a week ago and have continued to push further east towards the region of Luhansk.
The ISW says they have “made substantial gains” in the area.
Russian reports suggests their next target may be the city of Kreminna.
Analysts say the loss of Lyman is a major set-back for Russia.
Russian forces have been trying to push forward in Bakhmut, but reports suggest they have been repelled by Ukrainian troops.
The latest fighting follows a major Russian defeat in the east.
Ukraine says it recaptured 6,000 sq km (2,317 sq miles) of territory from Russia in early September, when it forced back Russian units in the Kharkiv region.
Russian troops withdrew from the key towns of Izyum and Kupiansk, saying that the retreat would allow its troops to “regroup”.
Both towns were major logistical hubs for Russian forces in Donbas.
Annexation of four regions
Four regions of Ukraine, that are partially or almost completely occupied by Russia are being annexed by the Russian Federation.
It follows self-styled referendums in Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, held between 23 and 27 September.
President Vladimir Putin has said that Russia will use “all the forces and resources” it has to “liberate” the four regions.
In an address to the Russian people, Mr Putin said his country had “various weapons of destruction”, adding: “I’m not bluffing.”
The annexations follow a “partial mobilisation” of about 300,000 Russian reservists.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, but Ukrainian forces retook large areas around Kyiv in early April after Russia abandoned its push towards the capital.
Areas in the west of the country, including Lviv, have seen missile attacks but no attempt by Russian forces to take and occupy ground.
The Russians have suffered heavy losses since the invasion began and significant quantities of Russian weaponry have also been destroyed or captured.
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Zaporizhzhia attack: Russian shelling in ‘annexed’ city kills 17
At least 17 people have been killed by Russian missile strikes on the south-eastern city of Zaporizhzhia, the Ukraine defence ministry has said.
Dozens more were wounded, and several residential buildings destroyed.
The city is under Ukrainian control, but it is part of a region that Russia claimed it annexed last month.
Zaporizhzhia has been hit repeatedly in recent weeks, as Russia hits back at urban areas after suffering defeats in the south and north-east of Ukraine.
Parts of the Zaporizhzhia region, including its nuclear power plant – which is around 30 miles (52km) from the city – have been under Russian control since early in the invasion.
The Ukrainian regional governor in Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, said 12 Russian missiles partially destroyed a nine-storey building, and levelled five other residential buildings.
“There may be more people under the rubble. A rescue operation is under way at the scene. Eight people have already been rescued,” he said on Telegram.
Ukrainian President Zelensky called the shelling “merciless strikes on peaceful people again”.
“Absolute meanness,” he said. “Absolute evil. Savages and terrorists. From the one who gave this order to everyone who fulfilled this order. They will bear responsibility. For sure. Before the law and before people.”
At the plant itself, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, said on Saturday the security situation had deteriorated further after overnight shelling the previous night cut all external power.
The plant now relies on diesel generators for the electricity it needs for reactor cooling and other essential nuclear safety, Mr Grossi said.
The IAEA is pushing for a protection zone to prevent further damage to the site. Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for the shelling.
Image caption, A map showing the four areas of Ukraine that Russia claimed it annexed last month, plus Crimea, which it has occupied since 2014 Meanwhile, Russian divers are beginning a fuller examination of the damage done by Saturday’s explosion on the road and rail bridge linking occupied Crimea with Russia.
Though limited traffic has resumed along one lane, a section of the bridge was brought down by the blast.
Security has been tightened and Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a full investigation.
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Zaporizhzhia missile strike: Death toll rises to11
The death toll from a Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s southeastern city of Zaporizhzhia this week has risen to 11, it has been reported.
The emergency services of Ukraine said the toll of Russian S-300 missile strikes on the city had now risen to 11 and a further 21 people had been rescued from the rubble of destroyed apartments.
In a Telegram message, regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said: “This was not a random hit, but a series of missiles aimed at multi-storey buildings.”
For context: Zaporizhzhia is one of the four regions of Ukraine that Russian President Vladimir Putin has illegally claimed as Russian territory.
The region is home to a sprawling nuclear power plant under Russian occupation while the city of the same name remains under Ukrainian control.
Russia is reported to have converted the S-300 from its original use as a long-range anti-aircraft weapon into a missile for ground attacks because of a shortage of other, more suitable weapons.
The Ukrainian military said most of the drones it shot down on Thursday and Friday were the Iranian-made Shahed-136.
The weapons are unlikely to significantly affect the course of the war, the Washington-based Institute for the Study of War said.
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Ukraine war: Putinn passes laws annexing Ukraine despite military losses
Even as his troops faced more blows, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the necessary documents to seize four regions of Ukraine.
The documents state that the Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson areas have been “admitted into the Russian Federation.”
But in two of those areas – Luhansk and Kherson – Ukraine said it has been retaking more villages.
Mr Putin also signed a decree to formalise Russia’s seizure of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia.
Last Friday, the Russian leader held a grand ceremony in the Kremlin, where he signed agreements with the Moscow-installed leaders of the four regions.
The move followed self-proclaimed referendums in the areas, denounced as a “sham” by the West.
But on the ground there appears to be a different reality, with Ukrainian forces making gains in both the south and the east.
Serhiy Haidai, Ukrainian governor of Luhansk, told the BBC on Wednesday that six villages in the region had been recaptured.
And President Zelensky later said Ukraine had liberated three more villages in the southern region of Kherson.
That followed a series of gains in Kherson the previous day, including the strategically key village of Davydiv Brid.
Meanwhile, the southern city of Zaporizhzhia was rocked by a series of huge explosions an hour or so before dawn.
Local authorities say seven Russian missiles hit residential buildings and that people are under the rubble. There has been no information on casualties so far.
The BBC’s Paul Adams, who is in the city, says rescue workers are combing through the shattered remains of an elegant five storey apartment building in the middle of the city.
Image caption, Zaporizhzhia was rocked by a series of huge explosions an hour or so before dawn on Thursday Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia would retake any territory that had been lost to Ukrainian forces.
Facing questions over the recent losses, he told reporters: “There is no contradiction here. They will be with Russia forever, they will be returned.”
In a speech to teachers on Russian teachers’ day, Mr Putin said he would “calmly develop” the annexed territories.
But Andrey Kartopolov, the chairman of the State Duma defence committee, told state media that Russia needed to stop lying about what was happening on the battlefield, saying that Russians were not stupid.
Russia is still working to mobilise reservists, after Mr Putin announced a call-up last month of 300,000 people who had completed compulsory military service.
But Mr Putin has rowed back on which groups will be affected, after strong opposition and protests in Russia against the move.
He has signed a decree exempting several categories of students, including first-time students at accredited institutions, and certain types of postgraduate students – such as those in the field of science.
In another move, President Putin has signed a decree to formalise Russia’s seizure of the nuclear power plant in one of the annexed regions – Zaporizhzhia – which has been occupied by Russian troops since the early days of the war.
Russia says the plant – Europe’s largest nuclear facility – will be operated by a new company, but Ukraine’s nuclear operator has dismissed the move as “worthless”.
Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, the IAEA, has said he will hold consultations with the two sides following the development.
He is heading to Kyiv and then Moscow, seeking to establish a protection zone around the plant, which is situated near the front line of fighting.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has signed the final papers to annex four regions of Ukraine – even as his military suffered further setbacks.
The Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions are “accepted into the Russian Federation” the documents say.
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EU ambassadors impose new sanctions against Russia
EU member countries have agreed on another round of sanctions against Russia over its aggression against Ukraine, the Czech EU presidency said on Wednesday.
“Ambassadors reached a political agreement on new sanctions against Russia,” the presidency said on Twitter.
We have just reached a political agreement on new sanctions against Russia – a strong EU response to Putin’s illegal annexation of 🇺🇦 territories. Written procedure follows, sanctions enter into force on publication in the Off. Journal. #EU2022CZ #COREPERII
— Edita Hrda (@EditaHrdaEU) October 5, 2022
Edita Hrda, permanent representative of the Czech Republic to the EU, said the sanctions were in response to Russia’s annexation of four regions in Ukraine, which the West has deemed illegitimate.
This morning we reported that Vladimir Putin had signed laws absorbing four Ukrainian regions into Russia.
Earlier this week, both houses of the Russian parliament ratified treaties making the Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia regions part of Russia.
The referendums have been described as a “sham” by the West.
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Workers in Zaporizhzhia recount fears over abduction and torture by Russia
Workers from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have recounted their fears of being abducted and tortured by Russian forces occupying the facility and the city of Enerhodar.
Ukrainian officials say the Russians have sought to intimidate the staff into keeping the plant running, through beatings and other abuse, and to punish those who express support for Kyiv.
Enerhodar’s exiled mayor Dmytro Orlov estimated that more than 1,000 people, including plant workers, were abducted from Enohodar, and an estimated 100-200 remain abducted.
Mr Orlov alleged they were tortured at various locations in Enerhodar, including at the city’s police station and in basements elsewhere.
“Terrible things happen there,” he said.
“People who managed to come out say there was torture with electric currents, beatings, rape, shootings… some people didn’t survive.”
Last Friday, the plant’s director, Ihor Murashov, was seized and blindfolded by Russian forces on his way home from work.
He was freed on Monday after being forced to make false statements on camera, according to Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear company.
Mr Kotin said: “I would say it was mental torture.
“He had to say that all the shelling on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was made by Ukrainian forces and that he is a Ukrainian spy… in contact with Ukrainian special forces.”
Mr Orlov, who spoke to Mr Murashov after his release, said the plant official told him he had spent two days “in solitary confinement in the basement, with handcuffs and a bag on his head. His condition can hardly be called normal”.
Shelling and damage near the site have raised international alarm over the plant’s safety, as both Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the shelling.
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Russian state TV pundit admits panel shouldn’t be discussing Lyman
Before the host intervenes and denies it, a pundit on Russian official television appears to have revealed that the panellists weren’t intended to bring up the liberated city of Lyman.
Maxim Yusin, a foreign policy specialist, asserts that Russians likewise think the conflict is not going well for their nation.
He says on the show: “I see the dynamics of the military action on the front.
“We aren’t talking about what is happening near Lyman.”
The host then interjects with: “Who forbade you to talk about it?”
Russian troops pulled out of the eastern city of Lyman due to the risk of being encircled by Ukraine’s forces.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said on Sunday the city had been “fully cleared” of Putin’s troops.
Mr Yusin later said on the Russian state TV broadcast: “Ask anyone here, when they’re in the make-up room.
“I think anyone will honestly admit they don’t know whether the mobilisation will help us or not, to change the course of military actions.
“It’s easy to say ‘after the liberation of Zaporizhzhia’.
“Yeah, try liberating it, the way everything is going.”
The host Andrey Norkin also said at one stage the Ukrainians are “planning to declare war against Russia” before another pundit suggest Ukraine might start bombing Moscow.
Retired four-star US army general Barry R McCaffrey shared the video and said it shows “Russian State TV is starting to fragment.”
He continues: “Lyman a disaster for the Russians. The Kherson pocket could lose 15,000 Russian prisoners. The mobilisation a disaster. All pressures on Putin criminal action might generate a desperate reaction. He’s unravelling.”
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Truss: UK will never accept the 4 Russia’s annexed regions as anything other than Ukrainian
Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia would never be accepted by the UK, according to Prime Minister Liz Truss.
In advance of President Vladimir Putin’s anticipated decision to recognise the territories once occupied by Ukraine as Russian following widely condemned referendums, she released a statement on Friday morning.
She said: “Vladimir Putin has, once again, acted in violation of international law with clear disregard for the lives of the Ukrainian people he claims to represent.
“The UK will never ignore the sovereign will of those people and we will never accept the regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia as anything other than Ukrainian territory.
“Putin cannot be allowed to alter international borders using brute force. We will ensure he loses this illegal war.”
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Dozens of people dead as rockets hits relief convoy in Zaporizhzhia
Local authorities report that a Russian missile attack on a humanitarian convoy in south Ukraine resulted in at least 23 deaths and several injuries.
In the city of Zaporizhzhia, a sizable crater next to a line of automobiles bears witness to the attack’s brutality. Windscreens and windows have been broken.
The BBC observed six apparently civilians dead lying at the scene. Coats and luggage were all over the runway.
One shocked survivor told the BBC she heard at least three explosions.
Reacting to the attack in the early hours of Friday on the outskirts of the regional capital of the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Russia was a “state-terrorist”.
He said Russia launched 16 rockets on the city and vowed to punish perpetrators for “every lost Ukrainian life”.
Meanwhile, a Russian-installed local official blamed Ukraine for the attack.
The convoy was hit as people were preparing to travel to the Russian-occupied part of the region to pick up their relatives and also deliver humanitarian aid.
Near the missile’s impact crater, the BBC spoke to Kateryna Holoborod, who sat on her suitcase in a state of shock.
‘We arrived in a line, to join a column going towards Kherson,” she said.
“We got out to see what number we had in the queue. Then the first rocket hit, behind the wagons.
“We dropped to the ground. Then the second one hit in the centre of the queue. There was glass everywhere, and people screaming and running. I don’t remember much.
“It was very scary. I then got up to see what happened, and help the injured. I tried to help an injured young man when the third explosion happened.”
Image caption, Ukraine said the attack was “another terrorist act” by Russia The attack comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a signing ceremony in Moscow to annex Zaporizhzhia along with Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, and Kherson regions.
The move follows self-styled referendums in the eastern and southern regions, which have been condemned by Ukraine and the West as a sham.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, and Moscow currently controls the majority of the Zaporizhzhia region, including Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant there – but not the regional capital.
Moscow-installed regional official Vladimir Rogov blamed “Ukrainian militants” for the Zaporizhzhia attack, Russian state-run media reported.
IMAGE SOURCE,DNIPROPETROVSK REGIONAL ADMINISTRATION Image caption, A Ukrainian transport company in Dnipro was hit in overnight Russian strikes, local officials said In a separate development, one person was killed and five injured in overnight Russian strikes by Iskander missiles on the central city of Dnipro, about 70km (43 miles) north of Zaporizhzhia, local officials said.
They said a transport company was targeted, and as many as 52 buses were burnt and another 98 damaged.
Several high-rise buildings, offices and a shop were also hit.
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Ukraine war: Many dead as rockets hit humanitarian convoy in Zaporizhzhia
At least 23 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a Russian missile strike on a humanitarian convoy in south Ukraine, local officials say.
A huge crater next to a row of vehicles in the city of Zaporizhzhia testifies to the violence of the attack. Windows and windscreens have been smashed in.
The BBC saw half a dozen bodies lying at the scene, apparently civilians. Baggage and coats strewed the tarmac.
A Russian-installed local official blamed Ukraine for Friday’s attack.
The convoy was hit in the early hours of Friday as people were preparing to travel to the Russian-occupied part of the region to pick up their relatives and also deliver humanitarian aid.
“The enemy launched a rocket attack on the outskirts of the regional centre,” Zaporizhzhia regional head Oleksandr Starukh said in a post on social media, describing it as “another terrorist act” by Russia.
Near the missile’s impact crater, the BBC spoke to Kateryna Holoborod, sat on her suitcase in a state of shock.
‘We arrived in a line, to join a column going towards Kherson,” she said.
“We got out to see what number we had in the queue. Then the first rocket hit, behind the wagons.
“We dropped to the ground. Then the second one hit in the centre of the queue. There was glass everywhere, people screaming and running. I don’t remember much.
“It was very scary. I then got up to see what happened, help the injured. I tried to help an injured young man when the third explosion happened.”
Image caption, Ukraine said the attack was “another terrorist act” by Russia The attack comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin is preparing for a signing ceremony in Moscow to annex Zaporizhzhia along with Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson regions.
The move follows self-styled referendums in the eastern and southern regions, which have been condemned by Ukraine and the West as a sham.
Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February, and Moscow currently controls the majority of the Zaporizhzhia region, including Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant there – but not the regional capital.
Moscow-installed regional official Vladimir Rogov blamed “Ukrainian militants” for the Zaporizhzhia attack, Russian state-run media reported.
Source: BBC -
Prepare to fight for Russia, Ukrainians told
Compared to its accomplishments in the northeast, Ukraine’s progress in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia has been far more constrained.
As both Russia and Ukraine try to advance, front-line positions are frequently fired upon.Abdujalil Abdurasulov of the BBC was able to visit the front lines in Kherson, where Ukrainian men have been warned that they may be recruited to fight for the Russian army.
An old Soviet self-propelled howitzer called Gvozdika or “Carnation” is rolled out in an open field and put into position. Its barrel tilts up. “Fire!” comes the command.
The gunners hastily move away after the last shot, acting quickly.
Although the advance of Ukrainian forces in the south is very slow, their artillery units remain busy.
Stus, commander of the gunners, explains that the Russians target his infantry and they respond in order to silence them.
Their job is very much felt at the front line. Soldiers walk across the vast field under the cover of a line of trees. They pay no attention to the sound of missiles flying above their head nor the thud of explosions. The fighters say a Russian observation post is 500m away and they might be within the range of small arms.
The Ukrainians move quickly to reach a destroyed farm building that they took back just a week ago. Now, they are digging trenches and carrying sandbags in order to fortify their new position.
Image caption, Stus, commander of the gunners, says troops “shouldn’t underestimate our enemy” But Ukraine’s advancement in the south is moving slowly.
All talk about counter-offensive here helps to deceive Russians and achieve gains in the East, laughs Vasyl, a deputy commander of the regiment.
“But we have some success here as well. We continue liberating villages with small steps but it’s very difficult – every victory we have is covered with blood,” he adds.
Many Ukrainians who remain behind the Russian front line, in the occupied territories, are anxiously waiting for this counter-offensive.
“We’re euphoric when Ukraine hits the occupied territories,” says Iryna, a resident of Melitopol in the south. “It means that Ukraine has not forgotten us. We all know that living near military infrastructure and buildings is not safe, so most civilians have moved out from those locations.”
But for people in the occupied territories, the longer they wait, the harder it is to survive. Many believed that the counter-offensive would happen in August. But when that didn’t happen, people started to flee to Ukrainian-controlled territories and areas further to the West.
Among them was Tatyana Kumok from Melitopol. The Israeli citizen was visiting her hometown when the Russian invasion started in February. She stayed in the city and distributed aid to residents but in September, she and her family decided to leave. One of the main reasons for leaving was Russia’s promise to hold a so-called referendum.
“As soon as it’s done, the Russians will introduce new bans according to their laws and try to legitimize the occupation,” she says.
With the city turned into a giant military base, she says it is clear that Russian troops won’t abandon the city easily.
“It was obvious the city won’t be liberated this fall,” she adds.
IMAGE SOURCE, TATYANA KUMOK Image caption, Tatyana Kumok, and her family fled Melitopol just before Russia decided to hold a so-called referendum Even a silent resistance to Russian occupation is getting dangerous now.
In September many families were forced to send their children to Russian-administered schools even though their children would be exposed to the Kremlin’s propaganda.
“If you don’t send your child to school, it’s a litmus test for you – it means you have pro-Ukrainian views,” explains Ms Kumok. “I know parents who had to tell their seven-year-old child not to talk about things discussed at home with anyone at school. Otherwise, the child could be taken away. That was really awful.”
IMAGE SOURCE, EPA Image caption, Children at a newly opened nursery in Russian-occupied Berdyansk of Zaporizhia region The crackdown on people who do not support Russian rule is rising.
“There is a sharp increase of arrests since August following the successful Ukrainian air strikes,” says Bohdan who is still living in Kherson. He spoke with the BBC via a messenger app and his real name is not being revealed for his safety.
Bohdan says that earlier detentions were based on a list of names that the Russian military had. But now anyone can be arrested and thrown into a basement for interrogation.
Russian soldiers recently came to the house of Hanna (not her real name) in Nova-Kakhovka, a city in the Kherson region, to check who was living there.
“They didn’t go inside the house but it was still scary. I don’t even walk with my phone now,” she said via a messenger app.
IMAGE SOURCE, EPA Image caption, A woman in Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia casts her ballot during voting in a so-called referendum The self-styled referendum is bringing a new threat to the local population – mobilization. Many men could be drafted to fight for the Russian army.
Russian soldiers are already going house to house in some villages and writing down the names of male residents, local residents say. They claim soldiers have told them to be ready for a call-up after the referendum.
Men aged 18-35 are reportedly not allowed to leave the occupied territories anymore.
Iryna left on 23 September, the first day of the so-called referendum, with her husband and two children. They wanted to stay in order to look after her paralysed 92-year-old grandmother.
“But when Putin announced the call-up, and we already knew about the referendum, it was clear there would be a mass mobilization and men would be detained right on the street irrespective of their age,” she says.
“We could survive without gas and electricity, we could find solutions for that. But not for this. That was our red line,” says Iryna.
Image caption, Vasyl, a deputy commander in the Ukrainian army says “every victory we have is covered with blood” The Russian call-up will pose more challenges for the Ukrainian counter-offensive.
It will certainly escalate the war and more people will die, Ukrainian soldiers say.
“We shouldn’t underestimate our enemy,” says Stus, commander of the gunners. “Those newly recruited Russian soldiers will have guns and grenades, so they will pose a threat, which we will have to eliminate”.
As the gunners wait for new tasks with their howitzer hidden in the bushes, Russian troops hit a nearby Ukrainian village with Grad missiles. The gunners are silent as they listen to the series of explosions.
That terrifying sound was just another reminder that the success of the Ukrainian troops will depend on how quickly they can make Russian artillery and rocket launchers go silent.
Source: BBC
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Final day of flawed voting in Ukraine under Russian control during the war
Tuesday marks the penultimate day of a vote for regions of Ukraine controlled by Russia, which the government in Kyiv and its Western allies call a fraud.
Nearly four million people from the eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk, and the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia, are being asked to attend polling stations and vote in so-called referendums on joining Russia.
This follows four days of early voting during which allegations of intimidation multiplied as election officials went house to house accompanied by armed guards.
The votes, called with just a few days’ notice, serve a deadly serious purpose as they will be used by the Kremlin to legitimise its invasion aims.
If Russia absorbs these regions, making up about 15% of Ukraine’s territory, it could take the war to a new and more dangerous level, with Moscow portraying any attempt by Ukraine to regain them as an attack on its sovereign territory.
There is now speculation that Russian President Vladimir Putin may announce the four regions’ annexation in a speech to a joint session of Russia’s parliament on Friday.
In March 2014 he announced that Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula had been annexed just a few days after a likewise unrecognised referendum was held.
‘At gunpoint’
Were the guns there to protect you as you voted, or to cow you into voting? That was a question passing through people’s minds in recent days as election officials escorted by soldiers come to knock on their doors.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor-in-exile of the Luhansk region, accused the separatist authorities there of taking down the names of people who voted against joining Russia or who refused to vote at all.
“Representatives of the occupation forces are going from apartment to apartment with ballot boxes,” he said, quoted by Reuters news agency. “This is a secret ballot, right?”
Talking separately to the Associated Press news agency, he suggested the Russians were using the process as a pretext to search homes for men they could mobilise as soldiers as well as checking for “anything suspicious and pro-Ukrainian”.
One woman described for BBC News how her parents had voted in the city of Melitopol in the Zaporizhzhia region.
Two local “collaborators” had arrived with two Russian soldiers at their flat to give them a ballot paper to sign, she said.
IMAGE SOURCE, GETTY IMAGES Image caption, Soldiers are escorting electoral workers going door to door in Donetsk “My dad put ‘no’ [to joining Russia],” the woman said. “My mum stood nearby and asked what would happen for putting ‘no’. They said, ‘Nothing’. Mum is now worried that the Russians will persecute them.”
Another woman in the embattled town of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is located, told the BBC: “You have to answer verbally and the soldier marks the answer on the sheet and keeps it.”
Ukrainian journalist Maxim Eristavi tweeted to say that his family had been “forced to vote at gunpoint” in southern Ukraine.
“They come to your house,” he wrote. “You have to openly tick the box for being annexed by Russia (or for staying with Ukraine if you feel suicidal). All while armed gunmen watch you.”
Petro Kobernik, who left Kherson just before the voting began, told AP in an interview by phone: “The situation is changing rapidly, and people fear that they will be hurt either by the Russian military, or Ukrainian guerrillas and the advancing Ukrainian troops.”
The vote on paper
The questions on the ballot papers (there is no digital voting) differ according to region.
This is because pro-Russian separatists have been running parts of Donetsk and Luhansk since 2014 when they held unrecognized independence referendums.
Voters, there are being asked whether they “support their republic’s accession to Russia as a federal subject”.
In the parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia occupied by Russian forces since the invasion in February, people are being asked if they “favour the region’s secession from Ukraine, creation of an independent country and subsequent accession to Russia as a federal subject”.
The ballot papers there are printed in both Ukrainian and Russian whereas in the eastern regions they are printed in Russian only.
Voting was spread over five days to allow for ballots to be “organized in communities and in a door-to-door manner for security reasons”, Russian state news agency Tass reports.
Refugees now scattered across Russia can vote in as many as 200 polling stations there.
The vote is being heavily guarded by Russian or Russian-backed security forces and with reason.
Not only have Ukrainian forces been pushing the Russians and their separatist allies back in both the east and south, but attacks on figures associated with the Russian occupation have mounted.
IMAGE SOURCE, REUTERS Image caption, People voted at a polling station in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don Former Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Zhuravko, who championed the Russian invasion, was killed along with another person in a missile attack on a hotel in Kherson on Sunday.
Reports say that Russian journalists who were also staying at the hotel escaped uninjured.
In the city of Berdyansk in the Zaporizhzhia region, the deputy head of the city administration and his wife who headed the city election commission were killed in an attack a week before the referendum.
Members of a guerrilla group called the Yellow Band have spread leaflets threatening anyone who votes and urging others to send photos and videos of anyone who does in order to track them down later, AP reports.
The guerrillas have also sent around phone numbers of election commission chiefs in the Kherson region, asking activists to “make their life unbearable”, the agency reports.
Ukraine has threatened anyone organizing or supporting the so-called referendums with eventual criminal prosecution, saying they face up to 15 years in prison if convicted.
International outcry
Even Serbia, which has close ties with Moscow and is one of the few European countries not to join sanctions on Russia, has announced it will not recognise the results of the voting.
Foreign Minister Nikola Selakovic said that to do so would be “completely contrary” to his country’s policy of “preserving territorial integrity and sovereignty and… commitment to the principle of inviolability of borders”.
But in the face of international opposition, Russia’s Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, insisted that the votes were “the expression of the will” of the people who lived in the regions.
He confirmed that if the four regions joined Russia they would have the same protection as any other part of its territory, including protection with nuclear weapons.
The White House says the US will never recognise “Ukrainian territory as anything other than part of Ukraine”.
In its view, the referendums are a “sham – a false pretext to try to annex parts of Ukraine by force in flagrant violation of international law”.
The UK has responded with new sanctions targeting top Russian officials involved in enforcing the votes among others.
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Ukraine is considering shutting down Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station – Chief nuclear inspector
 The head state inspector for nuclear and radiation safety of Ukraine, Oleh Korikov, stated that due to the deteriorating security situation, Ukraine is thinking of closing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station.
If conditions requiring the plant to be shut down arise, the plant and power unit No. 6 will be shut down,†Korikov said on Wednesday.
Zaporizhzhia is the largest nuclear power station in Europe.
“The continued deterioration of the situation, the prolonged lack of power supply from an external source of electricity will force us to deploy standby diesel generators, and it is extremely difficult to top up the diesel fuel supply during the war,†Korikov added.
Korikov said maintaining the diesel generators running would not be sustainable.
Diesel generators are backups to cool fuel and keep things operational, but there are caveats to using them for an indefinite time and it’s a “dangerous” situation to be in, he explained.
“Reliability questions could be an issue … because in this case, they could be required to work for an indefinite time, and they have limited capacity to constantly be in work mode,” Kotin added.
Korikov’s concerns are along the same lines as tensions continue at the plant.
“Four huge diesel fuel tanks are needed per day,†Korikov explained. “Potentially, we can find ourselves in a situation with no diesel fuel; it can give rise to an accident, damaging the active zone of reactors and releasing radioactive products into the environment. It will not only affect the territory of Ukraine but also produce cross-border effects.â€
Currently, the plant “generates electricity and supplies it for its own needs†through an exceptional process called islanding where the plant — although disconnected from a power grid — uses its own energy to power cooling systems, according to Korikov.
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Russia strikes Kharkiv ahead of Erdogan, UN chief meeting with Zelensky AFP
Russian strikes battered the northeast Ukraine region of Kharkiv Thursday, killing at least five people, hours ahead of the first face-to-face meeting since the start of the war between the Turkish and Ukrainian leaders.
Moscow meanwhile denied it had deployed any heavy weapons at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine where a recent escalation in fighting has increased fears of a nuclear disaster.
The head of the Kharkiv region Oleg Synegubov said Moscow’s forces had launched eight missiles from Russian territory at around 0430 local time (0130 GMT) striking across the city.
“Three people died, including a child. Eight people, including two children, were rescued,” the emergency services said.
Synegubov posted images from the scene of one strike showing the smoldering remains of several burnt-out buildings and twisted wreckage of destroyed vehicles nearby.
In separate strikes on the town of Krasnograd southwest of Kharkiv, bombardments that damaged residential buildings left two dead and two more injured, he said.
“Kharkiv. 175 days of horror. Daily terror, missile strikes on residential areas and civilians,” a senior presidential aide, Mykhaylo Podolyak, wrote on social media.
– A ‘political solution’ –
The strikes in the war-scarred east of the country come a day after bombardments killed at least seven in the city and as the Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN chief Antonio Guterres were convening in the western city of Lviv.
The two were key brokers of a deal last month with Moscow and Kyiv allowing the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine after Russia’s invasion blocked essential global supplies.
A spokesman for Guterres said that the UN chief, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Erdogan will discuss the grain deal, as well as “the need for a political solution to this conflict”.
He added that he had “no doubt that the issue of the nuclear power plant” would be raised.
In his regular nightly address on Wednesday, Zelensky said he and Guterres would “work to get the necessary results for Ukraine”.
The UN chief is slated to travel on Friday to Odessa, one of three ports involved in the grain exports deal — hammered out in July under the aegis of the UN with Ankara’s mediation.
He will then head to Turkey to visit the Joint Coordination Centre, the body tasked with overseeing the accord.
According to the UN, the first half of August saw 21 freighters authorized to sail under the deal carrying more than 563,000 tones of agricultural products, including more than 451,000 tones of corn.
The first wartime shipment of UN food aid for Africa reached the Bosphorus Strait on Wednesday carrying 23,000 tonnes of wheat.
– ‘Provocation’ –
Russia’s defense ministry meanwhile said Thursday its forces had not deployed heavy weapons at the Zaporizhzhia plant, accusing Kyiv of preparing a “provocation” at the station.
“Russian troops have no heavy weapons either on the territory of the station or in areas around it. There are only guard units,” the ministry said in a statement.
Zelensky touched on the Zaporizhzhia plant in his address on Wednesday, saying Ukrainian diplomats and scientists were in “constant touch” with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the goal of sending a mission by the watchdog to the occupied nuclear facility.
“The Russian army must withdraw from the territory of the nuclear power plant and all neighboring areas, and take away its military equipment from the plant,” he added. “This must happen without any conditions and as soon as possible.”
Earlier Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia’s seizure of the plant “poses a serious threat to the safety and the security of this facility (and) raises the risks of a nuclear accident or incident”.
Also calling for a Russian withdrawal and inspections by the IAEA, Stoltenberg accused Moscow of using “the ground around the nuclear power plant as a staging area, as a platform, to launch artillery attacks on Ukrainian forces, and this is reckless”.
Russian forces took the Zaporizhzhia plant, located in southern Ukraine, in March shortly after invading.
It is the largest in Europe, and the uncertainty surrounding it has fueled fears of a nuclear accident to rival Chernobyl in 1986.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhzhia installation.
Source: Skynews
