Ukrainian troops mount long-awaited counteroffensive in Kherson; UN team en route to inspect Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
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Russia-Ukraine war live: Ukrainian troops begin counter-offensive in south, says military command – as it happened
Southern command spokesperson says Ukrainian troops have begun long-awaited counter-offensive in Kherson region. This blog is now closed
‘There were a lot of mines around [the pitch]’, says the former captain of Obolon Kyiv’s second team. ‘Even now we are still afraid to kick the ball over the fence.’
Kostja Kovalenko describes the reality of life at the team’s training ground before their first match in Ukraine’s second tier, as the Guardian visits the outskirts of Bucha, a war-torn suburb of the capital.
Continue reading...European gas shortages likely to last several winters, says Shell chief
Warning raises prospect of continued rationing, as Total boss says Europe has to plan for future without Russian supplies
Gas shortages across Europe are likely to last for several winters to come, the chief executive of Shell has said, raising the prospect of continued energy rationing as governments across the continent push to develop alternative supplies.
Cuts to the supply of Russian gas since the invasion of Ukraine have plunged European countries into a devastating energy crisis, driving up wholesale prices to leave consumers facing huge bills and the highest rates of inflation since the 1980s.
Continue reading...No let-up in shelling as UN team heads for Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Watchdog due to arrive in Kyiv as frequent attacks on Russian-occupied power station raise fears mission may be called off
A team of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog is due to arrive in Kyiv on Monday night en route to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power in southern Ukraine, where renewed shelling has cast a shadow over their planned visit.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief, Rafael Grossi, said on Monday morning that a team led by him had set off to visit the power station on the Dnieper River. “We must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Grossi tweeted.
Continue reading...Russia alleges second Ukrainian involved in Darya Dugina killing
Security service claims without evidence that man helped assemble car bomb that exploded near Moscow
Russia’s FSB security service has accused without evidence a second Ukrainian citizen of preparing the car bomb that killed the daughter of an ultranationalist Russian ideologue this month.
The FSB had previously claimed Ukrainian intelligence plotted the murder of Darya Dugina, a pro-war pundit who was killed when a bomb tore through the Toyota Land Cruiser she was driving near Moscow after a conservative festival.
Continue reading...Reports EU set to suspend visa travel agreement with Russia – as it happened
Plan to freeze 2007 deal will make it harder and more expensive for Russians to get Schengen-area documents, FT reports
The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed a decree allowing Ukrainian passport holders who have entered Russia since Moscow’s offensive to live and work in the country indefinitely.
Until now, Ukrainians could stay in Russia only for a maximum of 90 days within a 180-day period. To stay longer or to work, special authorisation or a work permit was required.
In mid-August, we closed our offices and ceased all Russian operations.
Continue reading...EU foreign ministers expected to suspend Russian tourist visa facilitation
Move comes as EU official says it is ‘inappropriate for Russian tourists to stroll in our cities’
The EU’s foreign ministers are expected to approve suspending the bloc’s visa facilitation agreement with Moscow next week, as Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
The EU move, aimed at reducing the number of visas issued to Russian nationals after pressure from eastern member states, falls short of an outright ban but would make getting travel documents significantly more complicated and expensive.
Continue reading...Ukraine braces for cold winter amid uncertainty over power supplies
Fears grow Russia will target country’s gas infrastructure or further cut its supplies to Europe
Ukrainians are likely to experience the coldest winter in decades, its gas chief has said, as the thermostats on its Soviet-era centralised heating systems are set to be switched on later and turned down.
Yurii Vitrenko, the head of the state gas company Naftogaz, said indoor temperatures would be set at between 17 and 18C, about four degrees lower than normal, and he advised people to stock up on blankets and warm clothes for when outdoor temperatures fall to and beyond the -10C winter average.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 186 of the invasion
Radiation fears over Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant linger amid accusations from Moscow and Kyiv of more shelling near the site
Continue reading...Toxins in soil, blasted forests – Ukraine counts cost of Putin’s ‘ecocide’
Environmentalists are measuring the impact of Russian military’s devastation and hope to force Moscow into making reparations
The woods outside Chernihiv were quiet in late August when Anatoliy Pavelko scrambled into a 10-metre bomb crater with a trowel and an icebox full of sample jars. He wanted to find out what the Russian FAB-250 bomb left behind when it carved this gaping hole into the ground in the spring.
Four months earlier, the environmental lawyer was dug in on a frontline just a few kilometres away, shells crashing around him in the bitter fight to keep Russian forces out of Kyiv.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: risk of radioactive leak at ‘repeatedly shelled’ Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, operator warns – as it happened
Ukraine’s state energy operator: ‘There are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances’
A US citizen has recently died in Ukraine, according to a state department spokesperson.
Officials are in touch with the family and are providing consular assistance, they added.
We also once again reiterate US citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of US citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options.
On August 26, Russians killed two civilians in Donetsk region – in Bakhmut. Twelve people were injured.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 185 of the invasion
Zelenskiy says situation at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant remains ‘very risky’; UN inspectors reportedly set to visit facility in days
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: EU to hold urgent talks over Russian ‘energy war’; Ukraine announces mandatory evacuations – as it happened
This live blog has now closed, you can find our latest coverage of the Russia-Ukraine war here
When Mikhail Sokolov signed up to work for the FSB security services, he never imagined his journey would end here: in a crowded refugee camp on the outskirts of a sleepy town in the rural Netherlands.
“The last six years were a rollercoaster. I am happy I am no longer in the claws of the FSB,” the former FSB informant and staffer for the jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny’s anti-corruption network said in an interview with the Guardian this week.
[The new names] should perpetuate the memory of significant historical events of Ukraine, as well as famous figures and heroes who glorified Ukraine and fought for the independence of our state.”
Continue reading...Latvia topples Soviet-era obelisk amid backlash against Russia
Parliament voted in May to demolish Riga monument to Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany
A concrete obelisk topped by Soviet stars that was the centrepiece of a monument to the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany was taken down in Latvia’s capital on Thursday, the latest in a series of Soviet monuments brought down after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Heavy machinery was spotted behind a green privacy fence at the foot of the nearly 80-metre (260ft) obelisk shortly before it was felled. The column, which had stood like a high-rise in central Riga, crashed into a nearby pond, causing a huge splash at Victory Park.
Continue reading...Shelling temporarily disconnects Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant from Ukraine grid
Russian-held site forced to fall back on diesel generators, raising risk of catastrophic failure of cooling systems
Fires caused by shelling cut the last remaining power line to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Thursday, temporarily disconnecting it from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation, the country’s nuclear power firm, Energoatom, has said.
There have been growing international concerns about safety at Europe’s largest nuclear plant. It has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of the war, and they are now using it to house military vehicles and equipment.
Continue reading...Vladimir Putin signs decree to increase size of Russian armed forces
Order to increase personnel from 1.9 to 2.04 million comes as war in Ukraine enters seventh month
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, as the war in Ukraine enters its seventh month with no signs of abating.
The Russian president’s decree appears to point to the country’s aim to replenish its military, which has suffered heavy losses in Ukraine and failed to achieve its objective to capture the capital, Kyiv.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war: Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant temporarily disconnected from grid; death toll from Russian strike on rail station rises to 25 – as it happened
Power line restored after plant occupied by Russian troops taken off national grid for several hours; toll confirmed after Russian forces attack train station
The head of the Kyiv regional military administration has issued an update regarding the series of explosions reported near the city earlier this morning.
Oleksiy Kuleba said Russia launched a rocket attack on the Vyshgorod district north of the city centre.
Continue reading...New Zealand soldier who joined Ukraine foreign legion confirmed killed
Tributes paid to Dominic Abelen, the first New Zealander to die in the conflict, who was on leave without pay from the defence force
A New Zealand soldier who was on leave without pay from his country’s army when he was killed in Ukraine has become the latest foreign fighter and first New Zealander to die in the war.
Friends of Cpl Dominic Abelen, 30, told the Guardian he had enlisted with Ukraine’s international legion, joining thousands of soldiers who have travelled to the conflict from around the world in the months since Ukraine’s government called for volunteers.
Continue reading...Russia-Ukraine war latest: what we know on day 183 of the invasion
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant temporarily disconnected from national grid amid fears over disaster; Putin signs decree to increase armed forces
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station was temporarily taken off the Ukrainian power grid. The plant in eastern Ukraine is under Russian occupation and was disconnected from the national power supply for several hours before a last remaining line supplying electricity that cools the reactors was reconnected. Disconnecting the plant raises the risk of catastrophic failure of cooling systems for its reactors and spent fuel rods, which run on electricity.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, Reuters has cited the Russian state-owned news agency Ria as saying. The figure, which includes a 137,000 increase in the number of military personnel to 1.15 million, will come into effect on 1 January.
The death toll from Russia’s rocket strike on a Ukrainian train station has risen to 25 people. Russian forces attacked a train in the village of Chaplyne, Dnipropetrovsk oblast on Wednesday. Four trains caught fire and the deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported on Telegram that two children were killed in the attack. Russia has since confirmed it was behind the attack.
Russia’s defence ministry confirmed its forces struck the railway station, prompting condemnation from the US and the EU. The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said the attack “fits a pattern of atrocities” while the EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, said those responsible would be held to account.
The UN’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has called on Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine and its “unimaginably terrifying” impact on civilians. Bachelet spoke about the six months since the Russian leader ordered his troops into Ukraine during a speech marking the end of her term as the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.
The mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, has said a building allegedly used by Russian-backed officials in the region has been “blown up”. Fedorov, who is not in the city, posted a video on Telegram reportedly showing damage to the building, which he said was being used to plan a “pseudo-referendum” by Russia-backed authorities on whether the region should join Russia.
The head of the Kyiv regional military administration said Russia launched a rocket attack on the region’s Vyshgorod district north of the city centre early on Thursday morning. Oleksiy Kuleba said there were so far no casualties or damage to residential buildings or infrastructure facilities. Ukraine’s armed forces said “several” explosions were heard at about 3am.
The US president, Joe Biden, was set to speak to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after the announcement of a further $3bn (£2.5bn) in US military aid for Ukraine. John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the national security council, said the phone call would also provide the Ukrainian president with an update on US arms shipments.
Continue reading...At least 22 killed in Russian strike on rail station on Ukraine’s independence day
Rocket attack in Chaplyne wounds 50 people as country marks six months since Moscow’s invasion
At least 22 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian railway station, as the country marked six months since Moscow’s invasion on a sombre independence day overshadowed by warnings of further “brutal” attacks.
Addressing the UN late on Wednesday, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the rockets struck a train in a station in the town of Chaplyne, about 145km (90 miles) west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
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