Ukraine news – live: Nuclear power ‘must not be instrument of war’, Macron warns

‘Radiation disaster’ narrowly avoided, says Zelensky, as one of six reactors ‘reconnected to grid’

Boris Johnson celebrates Ukraine's Independence Day

Nuclear power must not be used “as an instrument of war”, French president Emmanuel Macron has warned, after the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – Europe’s largest – was disconnected from the Ukrainian grid due to shelling nearby.

The United States accused Moscow of turning the plant into an “active war zone” as part of “its strategy to create an energy crisis in Europe”, with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky warning that the world narrowly avoided a “radiation disaster” after electricity to the plant was cut.

Ukraine’s state nuclear firm Energoatom said one of the plant’s six reactors had been reconnected to the grid on Friday afternoon, as hopes were raised for International Atomic Energy Agency officials to be permitted to visit the plant, which was captured by Russia in the early days of Vladimir Putin’s war.

In a sign that he expects the war to grind on for months to come, Mr Putin this week signed a decree to expand the Russian army by 137,000 troops, following widespread claims that the Kremlin’s forces have suffered severe casualties over the past six months.

Key Points

• Nuclear power ‘must not be instrument of war’, Macron warns
• Zaporizhzhia plant ‘reconnected to Ukrainian grid’ ...
• ... after Europe narrowly escaped ‘radiation disaster’, says Zelensky
• Putin signs decree to increase size of Russian army

[26 August 2022 08:37 · Andy Gregory]

Turkey, Finland and Sweden to meet over Nato bids

Officials from Turkey, Finland and Sweden are expected to meet in Finland today to discuss security concerns raised by Turkey as a precondition for allowing the two Nordic countries to join Nato.

Finland’s foreign minister Pekka Haavisto previously said that the first meeting would aim to establish contacts and set goals for cooperation that the three countries agreed to by signing a memorandum of understanding at the alliance’s June summit in Madrid.

Ankara had threatened to veto the two historic Nato bids, launched in the wake of Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, expressing anger towards the Nordic nations over arms embargoes and their support for Kurdish groups deemed terrorists by Turkey.

Turkish foreign minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has since demanded Sweden and Finland extradite suspects Turkey seeks over terrorism-related charges, while the Nordic countries argue they did not agree to any specific extraditions by signing the memorandum.

[26 August 2022 08:56 · Andy Gregory]

UK rejects Russian claim to be ‘deliberately’ slowing pace of war to protect civilians

The UK’s Ministry of Defence (MoD) has rejected Russia’s claim to be deliberately slowing the pace of its war in Ukraine to protect civilians, accusing Vladimir Putin of likely firing at least six general over the invasion’s slow progress.

On Wednesday, Russian defence minister Sergei Shoihu told a meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation – including China, India and Pakistan – that the country was “deliberately” slowing its invasion to reduce civilian casualties.

But on Friday, the MoD claimed this was “almost certainly deliberate misinformation”, adding: “Russia’s offensive has stalled because of poor Russian military performance and fierce Ukrainian resistance. Under Shoigu’s orders, the forces operating in Ukraine have repeatedly missed planned operational timelines.

“It is highly likely that Shoigu and President Putin have fired at least six generals for not advancing quickly enough.”

Citing the recent attack on a railway station in Chaplyne – claimed by Ukraine to have killed 25 civilians – the ministry said: “This highlights Russia’s willingness to cause collateral damage when it perceives there is military advantage in launching missile or artillery strikes.”

[26 August 2022 09:18 · Andy Gregory]

Zaporizhzhia had not been disconnected from grid in its near four-decade history, Energoatom says

Ukraine’s state nuclear firm Energoatom has said that yesterday’s was the first such disconnect in the near-four decade operation of the Zaporizhzhia plant.

During the outage, the plant still received supplies of electricity from one remaining backup line connecting the plant to the nearby conventional power plant.

There were three of these lines before the war, but two have been cut. If all external connections go down, diesel-fuelled generators would be the last line before engineers would have to try and head-off dangerous overheating.

My colleague Rory Sullivan has more details in this report:

[26 August 2022 09:37 · Andy Gregory]

Russia divestment promises by US states largely unfulfilled, analysis suggests

Six months into the war, most US pledges to drop Russian investments have gone unfulfilled, according to an Associated Press review, state retirement administrators and firms that invest state funds.

The swift isolation of Russia’s economy in response to its invasion of Ukraine have made it nearly impossible for divestment by state pension funds, university endowments and other public-sector holdings, the US news agency reports.

“These pension funds want to get out, but it’s just not realistic to sell everything in the current environment,” Keith Brainard, research director at the National Association of State Retirement Administrators, told AP.

Benjamin Smith, a spokesperson for the Rhode Island treasury, also told the agency that the factors which make it hard to divest show that efforts to isolate Vladimir Putin is working.

“This is good news because it means that pressure from investors across the world, including Rhode Island, is succeeding in exacting a toll on the Russian economy, making it more difficult for Putin to fund his military operation, state-owned companies, and corrupt network of oligarchs,” he said.

[26 August 2022 09:57 · Andy Gregory]

City close to Zaporizhzhia plant hit by overnight shelling, Ukrainian officials say

An area close to the Zaporizhzhia plant was hit by overnight shelling, Ukrainian officials have said.

Shelling in the city of Nikopol, which sits across the Dnieper River from the plant, damaged 10 houses, a school and a sanitorium, causing no casualties, Dnipropetrovsk governor Valentyn Reznichenko said.

A power line also has been cut, leaving up to 1,000 local residents without electricity, Mr Reznichenko added.

Nikopol has been under nearly constant Russian shelling for more than six weeks, with eight people killed, 850 buildings damaged and over half the population of 100,000 fleeing the city, the Associated Press reported.

[26 August 2022 10:23 · Andy Gregory]

Zaporizhzhia plant working ‘without outages’, Russian-installed official claims

A Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia has claimed that electricity from the nuclear plant there was being supplied to Ukraine as normal.

Russian state-owned news agency Tass quoted the head of the Russian-installed administration in Enerhodar, where the nuclear plant is located, as saying the plant was working “without outages”.

Ukrainian state atomic energy company Energoatom said on Thursday that the plant’s six reactors had been disconnected from the country’s electricity grid, with president Volodymr Zelensky warning that Russia had put “all Europeans in a situation one step away from a radiation disaster”.

[26 August 2022 10:39 · Andy Gregory]

Ukraine trying to resume operations at two Zaporizhzhia reactors, governor says

Ukraine has begun trying to resume operations at two of the six reactors at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, a Ukrainian official has said.

The plant’s sixth reactor is working at 10 per cent capacity, while the fifth reactor is in the process of resuming operations, the regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said in televised comments reported by Reuters.

It came as the Russian state-owned Tass news agency reported a Russian-installed official in Zaporizhzhia as claiming that that Ukrainian forces had broken the final power line connecting the plant with Ukraine.

[26 August 2022 11:01 · Andy Gregory]

Russia turning Zaporizhzhia plant into ‘active war zone’, US says

After the Zaporizhzhia plant was disconnected from the grid, the US State Department has accused Russia of turning the nuclear facility into an “active war zone” – as part of “its strategy to create an energy crisis in Europe”.

“It is clear that Russia’s shelling and seizure of Ukraine’s power plants and infrastructure are part of its strategy to create energy crises in Europe,” said spokesperson Devant Patel.

“The situation at [the plant] is the result of Russia’s further invasion of Ukraine, its control of and dangerous military presence at the power plant, and its unwillingness to turn control of the plant back to Ukraine for safe and secure operations,” he added.

“We’ve said this before, but no country should turn a nuclear power plant into an active war zone, and we oppose any Russian efforts to weaponize or divert energy from the plant.

“To be very clear, the [plant] and the electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine, and any attempt to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid and redirect to occupied areas is unacceptable.”

[26 August 2022 11:16 · Andy Gregory]

Russia claims to have destroyed howitzer ‘used to shell Zaporizhzhia'

Moscow’s forces have destroyed a US-made M777 howitzer used by Ukraine to shell the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Russia’s defence ministry has claimed.

In its daily briefing, the defence ministry claimed the howitzer had been destroyed west of the town of Marganets, in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region.

[26 August 2022 11:35 · Andy Gregory]

Belarusian warplanes re-fitted to carry nuclear armaments, Lukashenko claims

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has announced that the country’s SU-24 warplanes have been re-fitted to carry nuclear armaments – which Belarus does not own.

Mr Lukashenko told reporters that he had previously agreed the move with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, whose troops Belarus has hosted as a launching pad for Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.