[ad_1]
G7 condemns Russia’s ‘kidnapping’ of nuclear plant leaders
The Group of Seven industrialised nations condemned Russia’s kidnapping of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant leadership and called for the immediate return of full control of the facility to Ukraine.
“We condemn Russia’s repeated kidnapping of Ukrainian ZNPP [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] leadership and staff,” Reuters reported the G7 nonproliferation directors general as saying in a statement on Saturday.
We urge Russia to immediately return full control of the ZNPP to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine.
Russian forces captured the nuclear plant – Europe’s largest – in early March.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy agency accused Russia of detaining two senior employees at the plant.
Energoatom said Russian forces on Monday “kidnapped” the head of information technology, Oleg Kostyukov, and the plant’s assistant general director, Oleg Osheka, and “took them to an unknown destination”, Agence France-Presse reported.
Energoatom had called on International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Rafael Grossi, “to make every effort” to secure their release.
The agency announced that another plant official, Valeriy Martyniuk, had been released.
Key events
Russia appears to be preparing to destroy a dam on the Dnipro River as part of “delaying actions” intended to slow Ukrainian advances, according to a US think tank.
It comes amid the withdrawal of Russian troops from the west of the Kherson region ahead of an expected Ukrainian counteroffensive intended to recapture Kherson city.
In its latest assessment of the conflict, the Institute for the Study of War said Russia was “likely preparing” to destroy the dam at the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant in order to flood and widen the Dnipro River and delay Ukrainian forces.
The dam is located near the southern port city of Nova Kakhovka, where authorities announced on Saturday they were lowering the level of the reservoir behind the dam in order to minimise damage should it be destroyed, but claimed it was the Ukrainians who were planning an attack.
The institute said Ukraine had nothing to gain from destroying the dam and every interest in maintaining the energy supply in areas it expects to liberate, adding that the move appeared to be an attempt by Russia to “moderate” the flooding.
Footage shows a violinist performing for people gathered in a shelter amid yesterday’s blackouts.
The video, posted to twitter by the Ukrainian defence ministry, shows dozens of people sat around and holding up torches as the man plays.
The ministry said the footage was shot in the western region of Rivne.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has congratulated Chinese leader Xi Jinping on securing a third term in office.
Xi was reconfirmed as the general secretary of the ruling Chinese Communist Party on Sunday, ending a precedent that presidents should serve for only two terms.
According to a statement posted on the Kremlin’s website, Putin told Xi in a message: “The results of the 20th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party fully confirmed your high political authority and the unity of the party you head.
“I am certain that the resolutions of the congress will help successfully implement the grand social and economic tasks facing China, and will assist in strengthening the country’s position on the international arena.
“It would be a pleasure for me to carry on our constructive dialogue and close joint work to develop the relations of comprehensive partnership and strategic alliance between our two states.”
The two leaders signed a “no limits” partnership agreement in February, three weeks before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Since then, China has taken a careful line, criticising Western sanctions against Russia but stopping short of endorsing or assisting in the military campaign.
Two civilians have been killed in Russian strikes on the eastern region of Donetsk, according to the local governor.
Posting on Telegram on Sunday, Pavlo Kyrylenko said the deaths had occurred in the villages of Klishchiivka and Torskyi.
He added that authorities had also discovered the bodies of four people killed while the area was under Russian occupation.
“Every war criminal will be punished!” he wrote.
Power partially restored, says Zelenskiy
Power has been restored to some areas where it was cut off by Russian attacks on energy infrastructure on Saturday, President Zelenskiy has said.
More than a dozen missiles hit facilities across Ukraine over the course of the day, causing widespread blackouts.
Speaking in his nightly address, Zelenskiy said electricity supplies had been partly restored in the southern region of Odesa and the western regions of Khmelnytsky and Rivne.
“There are positive reports from other regions as well,” he said. “But in many cities, in many districts, recovery work is still ongoing. We are trying to return power to people as soon as possible.”
He urged residents to be careful in their use of electricity and to limit their use of any appliances that use a lot of power.
“The stability of the power industry of our entire state depends on each city and district of Ukraine,” Zelenskiy said.
“Even if the enemy can leave us temporarily without power, it will still never succeed in leaving us without the desire to make things right, to mend and return them to normal.”
In case you missed it, Russia yesterday launched what President Zelenskiy described as a “massive attack” on Ukraine, hitting key energy infrastructure and causing widespread power outages.
Authorities said more than a dozen missiles struck sites across the country and left more than a million households without electricity.
“These are vile strikes on critical objects,” Zelenskiy said on Saturday. “The world can and must stop this terror.”
Read the full story here:
Number of Russians killed stands at 67,470, says Ukraine
The total number of Russian troops killed since the start of the invasion stands at 67,470, according to Ukraine.
The latest update from the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said the death toll had risen by approximately 400 in the last 24 hours.
It also said a further five tanks and two helicopters had been destroyed, bringing the totals to 2,584 and 245 respectively.
Загальні бойові втрати противника з 24.02 по 23.10 орієнтовно склали / The total combat losses of the enemy from 24.02 to 23.10 were approximately pic.twitter.com/TPRTRwllHX
— Генеральний штаб ЗСУ (@GeneralStaffUA) October 23, 2022
The International Ski Federation has agreed to maintain a ban on athletes from Russia and Belarus from all competition in light of the invasion of Ukraine.
The FSI said on Saturday after meeting for the opening event of the alpine ski calendar:
The FIS council decided, with due regard to the integrity of FIS competitions and for the safety of all participants, and in line with IOC recommendations, to continue its policy to not allow Russian and Belarusian teams and athletes to participate in all FIS competition.
Agence France-Presse also reported that the FIS ban means Russian and Belarusian athletes will not be able to compete in alpine skiing, nordic skiing, freestyle and snowboard. They are already suspended by the International Biathlon Union.
Their absence will be of little significance for alpine skiing, but Russia is a powerhouse in cross-country skiing, having won a third of all medals available at the last Winter Olympic Games in Beijing in February.
Russian defence project ‘likely to deter’ rapid Ukrainian advance in Luhansk, says UK MoD
A new project suggests Russia is making a big effort to fortify its defences in the occupied Luhansk region and would be “likely to deter any rapid Ukrainian counteroffensives”, the UK Ministry of Defence says.
Its latest intelligence update said Wagner Group owner Yevgeny Prigozhin claimed online this week that his engineering team was constructing an extensive fortified line of defences in Luhansk.
Imagery showed a section of newly constructed anti-tank defences and trench systems south-east of Kreminna in the oblast in Ukraine’s east, the ministry tweeted.
If the plans are as extensive as Prigozhin claims, the works likely aim to integrate the Siversky Donetsk river into the defensive zone, partially following the 2015 line of control.
The project suggests Russia is making a significant effort to prepare defences in depth behind the current frontline, likely to deter any rapid Ukrainian counteroffensives.
Prigozhin is a close ally of President Vladimir Putin.
As she was driven by her son out of Dudchany – a small village in the north-east of the Kherson region – a few days ago, Rosaliya Kovalchuk, 72, glimpsed something from the back seat that will haunt her forever.
“Hanging from the branches of a tree were guts from a man’s belly,” Kovalchuk said, pausing as she sought to collect her emotions.
A military car had been blown up. I think he was Russian, from the boots and the uniform.
Dudchany, one of the stepping stones down the Dnieper river to Kherson city, the regional capital 123km (77 miles) to the south-west, is at the centre of fierce fighting that the west says could be pivotal in the outcome of Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine.
Daniel Boffey in Kherson oblast has the full story:
Spain says it will send 14 fighter jets to Bulgaria and Romania to bolster Nato’s eastern flank as the defence alliance strengthens its deterrence capacity following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Madrid would send six Eurofighter jets and 130 soldiers to Bulgaria between mid-November and early December to train local forces, Agence France-Presse reported the Spanish defence ministry as saying in a statement on Saturday.
A further deployment would see eight F18M fighter jets and 130 air force personnel sent to Romania between December and March 2023 as part of Nato’s “reaction and deterrence” strategy, the ministry added.
A long-range aerial surveillance radar has also been deployed in Romania since 17 October and could remain until late June 2023, the statement said.
Spain would also increase its air force’s missions forming part of an “aerial shield”.
The country has already sent 12 fighter jets to eastern Nato members Bulgaria, Lithuania and Estonia since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
G7 condemns Russia’s ‘kidnapping’ of nuclear plant leaders
The Group of Seven industrialised nations condemned Russia’s kidnapping of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant leadership and called for the immediate return of full control of the facility to Ukraine.
“We condemn Russia’s repeated kidnapping of Ukrainian ZNPP [Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant] leadership and staff,” Reuters reported the G7 nonproliferation directors general as saying in a statement on Saturday.
We urge Russia to immediately return full control of the ZNPP to its rightful sovereign owner, Ukraine.
Russian forces captured the nuclear plant – Europe’s largest – in early March.
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s state nuclear energy agency accused Russia of detaining two senior employees at the plant.
Energoatom said Russian forces on Monday “kidnapped” the head of information technology, Oleg Kostyukov, and the plant’s assistant general director, Oleg Osheka, and “took them to an unknown destination”, Agence France-Presse reported.
Energoatom had called on International Atomic Energy Agency chief, Rafael Grossi, “to make every effort” to secure their release.
The agency announced that another plant official, Valeriy Martyniuk, had been released.
Summary
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and here’s a quick run through the latest news to bring you up to speed as it approaches 9.15am in Kyiv.
-
Russian-installed authorities have ordered all residents of the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson to leave “immediately” ahead of an expected advance by Ukrainian troops waging a counteroffensive to recapture it. The regional pro-Kremlin administration called on civilians to use boat crossings over a major river to move deeper into Russian-held territory, citing a tense situation on the front and the threat of shelling and alleged “terror attacks” by Kyiv, Associated Press reported. On Friday, Ukrainian forces bombarded Russian positions across the region, targeting resupply routes.
-
More than a dozen Russian missiles pounded energy facilities and other infrastructure across Ukraine on Saturday, the Ukrainian air force said, with strikes causing blackouts in parts of different regions. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the Russian attacks had struck on a “very wide” scale, Reuters reported. He pledged that his military would improve on an already good record of downing missiles with help from its partners.
-
Russian military forces targeted energy facilities in western Ukraine, the country’s power grid operator said on Saturday. Ukrenergo said on Telegram that the “scale of damage is comparable or may exceed the consequences of the attack on October 10-12”. It said repair crews were starting to repair the facilities after the rocket attack, but that restrictions were in place as they tried to restore the electricity supply.
-
Hundreds of thousands of people in central and western Ukraine have woken up to power outages and periodic bursts of gunfire, as Ukrainian air defence tried to shoot down drones and incoming missiles. Kira Rudik, a member of the Ukrainian parliament, said 1.5 million people were without electricity after Russian strikes against power stations on Saturday.
-
Ukraine’s prime minister said that Russia has plunged Ukraine into a humanitarian catastrophe by attacking its energy infrastructure. Denys Shmyhal told German newspaper Frankfurter Allgemeine that Russia wanted to condemn Ukraine to “a cold winter when many people could literally freeze to death”.
-
Ukrainian forces have pushed Russians out of the Charivne and Chkalove settlements in the Kherson region, the Ukrainian forces’ general staff said on Saturday.
-
Iran’s foreign ministry has strongly condemned a call by France, Germany and Britain for the UN to investigate accusations that Russia has used “kamikaze” drones from Iran to attack Ukraine. Kyiv says Russia has used Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones. If true, the allegations would mark a breach of UN security council resolution 2231.
[ad_2]
Source link
