Russia-Ukraine war live: Putin says ‘ball in EU’s court’ over gas supply; power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant restored | World news

It’s 6pm in Kyiv and Moscow. Here’s where we stand:

• At least seven people were killed and eight injured in a Russian strike on a crowded market in the town of Avdiivka, the governor of Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region said. “There is no military logic in such shelling – only an unbridled desire to kill as many of our people as possible and intimidate others,” Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

• President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready to resume gas supplies via one link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that remains operational. The ball was in the EU’s court on whether it wanted gas supplied via the pipeline, Putin said in an address to the Russian Energy Week international forum.

• The head of the Russian state-owned gas monopoly supplier, Gazprom, has warned Europe of the consequences of renouncing Russian gas. There is “no guarantee” that Europe would survive winter based on its current gas storage capacity, Alexei Miller said, adding that gas in Germany’s underground storage would be enough for between two- and two-and-a-half months.

• External power has been restored to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Rafael Grossi had warned earlier that the loss of off-site power at the facility, Europe’s largest, was “deeply worrying”. Energoatom, the Ukrainian state-owned company that manages the ZNPP, has accused Russian forces occupying it of refusing a convoy of company vehicles carrying diesel to refuel the plant’s generators after shelling of a substation in the Dnipropetrovsk region caused the plant to lose power.

• Eight people have been detained over the weekend’s attack on the Crimea bridge, and Russia’s security forces have named a senior figure from Ukraine as being behind them. A senior Ukrainian official dismissed the investigation as “nonsense”.

• A crowdfunding appeal that was launched after Russian attacks on cities across the country on Monday has raised $9.6m (£8.7m) in 24 hours for the purchase of kamikaze drones for the Ukrainian armed forces. An initial 50 Ram II drones, unmanned aerial vehicles with a 3kg explosive payload, designed and built by Ukrainian companies, will be bought with the money, along with three control stations.

• Pope Francis condemned Russia’s “relentless bombings” of Ukrainian cities and appealed to “those who have the fate of the war in their hands” to stop. The Vatican’s number two, secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin, said the bombing of unarmed civilians “is beyond any logic. It is to be totally condemned”.

• President Putin will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in what is likely to be a “very interesting” meeting in Kazakhstan tomorrow, where the Turkish leader may propose ideas for peace in Ukraine, the Kremlin has said. The Russian and Turkish presidents are expected to meet in Kazakhstan’s capital tomorrow on the sidelines of a regional summit.

• President Joe Biden has said he believes Vladimir Putin is a “rational actor” who badly misjudged his prospects of occupying Ukraine. The US president told CNN on Tuesday that he believed his Russian counterpart had underestimated the ferocity of Ukrainian defiance in the face of invasion, but does not believe he would resort to using a tactical nuclear weapon.

• Ukraine’s ministry of reintegration has confirmed that 37 Ukrainian children who were illegally deported to Russia have now returned home. The children had been deported from the Russian-occupied territory of Kharkiv region in August, it said in a statement on Facebook.

• The Kremlin has denied a report that Elon Musk spoke with President Vladimir Putin before publishing his “peace plan” for Ukraine that would have seen territory permanently handed over to Russia. In a mailout sent to Eurasia Group subscribers, Ian Bremmer said the Tesla CEO had told him that Putin was “prepared to negotiate”. Musk has also denied the report.

Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still with you today with all the latest from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.

President Vladimir Putin will meet President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in what is likely to be a “very interesting” meeting in Kazakhstan tomorrow, where the Turkish leader may propose ideas for peace in Ukraine, the Kremlin has said.

Speaking to reporters, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said:

Now many say that the Turks are ready to come up with other initiatives in the context of the settlement of the Ukrainian conflict.

There are reports in the press that the Turkish side is putting forward specific considerations in this regard, I do not exclude that Erdoğan will actively touch on this topic during the Astana contact. So a very interesting and, I hope, useful discussion awaits us.

The Russian and Turkish presidents are expected to meet in Kazakhstan’s capital tomorrow on the sidelines of a regional summit.

The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, has previously said the potential talks between Russia and the west could be discussed during the meeting.

Earlier we reported that Pope Francis had condemned the recent wave of attacks on Ukrainian cities, saying: “My heart is always with the Ukrainian people, especially the residents of the places that have been hit by relentless bombings. May the Lord’s spirit transform the hearts of those who have the fate of the war in their hands, so that the hurricane of violence stops and peaceful coexistence in justice can be rebuilt.”

Reuters has now reported an additional quote from the Vatican number two, secretary of state Cardinal Pietro Parolin. Asked if the attacks could be considered war crimes, he said he was not qualified to make such a technical, juridical judgment.

“But certainly they are unacceptable acts that cry out vengeance before God and before humanity, because bombing unarmed civilians is beyond any logic. It is to be totally condemned,” Parolin said.

Power has been restored to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is surrounded by Russian troops, according to the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Rafael Grossi, director general of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, had warned earlier today that the nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest, had lost all external power needed for vital safety systems for the second time in five days.

Grossi has now tweeted that he has been informed by his team that the external power to the facility has been restored:

Earlier today, Grossi, who met yesterday with the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, said IAEA monitors at the Zaporizhzhia plant reported the interruption in external power, and said backup diesel generators were keeping nuclear safety and security equipment operational.

The head of the Russian state-owned gas monopoly supplier, Gazprom, has warned Europe of the consequences of renouncing Russian gas, saying there is “no guarantee” that Europe would survive winter based on its current gas storage capacity.

Speaking at the Russia Energy Week conference in Moscow, Alexei Miller said gas in Germany’s underground storage would be enough for between two- and two-and-a-half months.

Miller also said repairs to the damaged Nord Stream pipelines would take at least a year, and that Russia had still not been granted access to the area of damage.

Germany and the EU “should respond” if they are interested in restoring the pipeline, he said.

We reported yesterday that children’s doctor Oksana Leontieva was among those killed by Russian missile strikes on Kyiv earlier this week.

Leontieva was on her way to work on Monday morning after dropping her son at kindergarten when a Russian missile hit the Ukrainian capital.

Now her father, Gregory, has told German newspaper Bild that her death has left her five-year-old son an orphan after his father recently died as well.

He added:

Oksana had called the hospital in the morning because the kindergarten couldn’t take her son due to warnings of a possible attack. In the end, they did take Grischa … and she went to work.

Gregory said the boy had not yet been told his mother had died. Gregory said:

For now he thinks she is at work and working very hard. We will tell him today or tomorrow.

The doctor’s funeral is due to be held later this week.

Jennifer Rankin

The European Commission wants at least €18bn (£15.8bn) in emergency aid to help Ukraine’s government stay afloat next year, as an economic crisis looms in the country.

Officials in Brussels think the EU should provide at least half the €3bn-€3.5bn monthly running costs it estimates the Ukrainian state needs to function in 2023, the Guardian has learned.

The financial aid would most likely be in the form of cheap loans with long repayment deadlines. But it would require EU member states to find extra money to guarantee the loans and potentially pay the interest.

According to the World Bank, Ukraine’s economy is on course to shrink by more than one third (35%) in 2022, as a result of the widespread destruction of factories, infrastructure, fertile land, as well as the displacement of 14 million people. EU sources fear that if Ukraine cannot afford to pay its bills it could print money, triggering inflation.

EU officials are optimistic about an agreement on the new financial aid, despite long delays in releasing €9bn funding for Ukraine promised in May. Nearly five months since the commission proposed €9bn in “macro financial assistance” for Ukraine, only €1bn has been released.

Earlier this month, Brussels and Kyiv signed an agreement on the next €5bn, paving the way for a €2bn tranche to be released this month.

EU member states have been wrangling over whether aid to Ukraine should be offered as non-repayable grants, as favoured by Germany, or cheap loans, the option backed by most member states.

The money would allow the Ukrainian government to pay salaries, fund humanitarian relief and make emergency repairs to some essential infrastructure. But it falls far short of the vast costs of rebuilding Ukraine, estimated by the World Bank to be $349bn (€359bn, £315bn).

President Vladimir Putin says Russia is ready to resume gas supplies via one link of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline that remains operational, in his address to the Russian Energy Week international forum.

The Russian leader said gas could still be supplied by one remaining intact part of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline. The ball was in the EU’s court on whether it wanted gas supplied via the pipeline, he said.

Putin says:

Russia is ready to start such supplies. The ball is in the court of the EU. If they want, they can just open the tap.

He went on to say that Russia has nothing to do with the sky-high energy prices that Europeans are facing this winter, instead blaming the west for stoking a global energy crisis.

It was the poorest countries that would pay the highest price in terms of rising energy costs, Putin added.

Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, is currently addressing the Russian Energy Week international forum’s plenary session.

Large leaks that suddenly erupted in the Nord Stream gas pipelines running from Russia to Europe were an “act of international terrorism” that set a “dangerous precedent”.

Putin says:

There is no doubt it was an act of international terrorism, aiming to undermine the energy security of a whole continent. The calculation behind it was quite cynical, to block and destroy the cheap energy sources and deprive millions of people and industrial consumers of gas, heat, power and other resources.

The “attack” against the Nord Stream pipelines was a “most dangerous precedent”, he continued:

It shows that any piece of critical transport energy or communications infrastructure is at risk now.

Putin goes on to blame Ukrainian special services for what he calls the “terrorist attack” against the Kerch bridge connecting Russia to Crimea.