Ukraine-Russia war live: Moscow launches 80 drones amid warnings Putin planning airstrikes on nuclear sites
Kyiv asks UN nuclear watchdog to establish permanent monitoring missions at its nuclear plants
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Vladimir Putin’s troops launched 80 attack drones at Ukraine overnight as Kyiv warned Russia was planning airstrikes on the country’s nuclear sites.
Ukraine’s air defence units destroyed 71 of the drones while six of them were scrambled with electronic warfare, Kyiv said.
It comes as Ukraine’s foreign minister Andriy Sybiha warned Moscow was planning strikes on Ukraine’s nuclear facilities before the winter.
“According to Ukrainian intelligence, the Kremlin is preparing strikes on Ukrainian nuclear energy critical objects ahead of winter,” Mr Sybiha wrote on X.
He urged the International Atomic Energy Agency and Ukraine’s allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants.
“This is preparation for a possible nuclear disaster scenario. Russia is a terrorist,” Andriy Yermak, president Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff wrote on Telegram.
Meanwhile, at least 12 people were injured after Russian forces struck a multistorey apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv, on Saturday evening, officials said.
On the other side of the border, Russia evacuated over 1,000 people from Krasnodar in the wake of a Ukrainian drone attack on Saturday.
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In sharing nuclear secrets with Iran, Putin may have crossed his own ‘red line’
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Zelensky will visit a Pennsylvania ammunition factory to thank workers
Volodymyr Zelensky will visit the Pennsylvania ammunition factory today that is producing one of the most critically needed munitions for his country’s fight to fend off Russian ground forces.
He is expected to go to the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant to kick off a busy week in the United States shoring up support for Ukraine in the war, according to two US officials and a third familiar with Mr Zelensky’s schedule who spoke on the condition of anonymity to provide details that were not yet public.
He also will address the UN General Assembly annual gathering in New York and travel to Washington for talks on Thursday with president Joe Biden and vice president Kamala Harris.
The Scranton plant is one of the few facilities in the country to manufacture 155 mm artillery shells. They are used in howitzer systems, which are towed large guns with long barrels that can fire at various angles.
Howitzers can strike targets up to 15 miles to 20 miles (24km to 32km) away and are highly valued by ground forces to take out enemy targets from a protected distance.
Ukraine has already received more than 3 million of the 155 mm shells from the US.
I’ve witnessed first-hand the horrific cost of Putin’s war – as casualties hit 1 million
I’ve witnessed first-hand the horrific cost of Putin’s war – as casualties hit 1m
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Comment: Is this the next target on Russia’s hitlist?
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Ukraine says Russia planning strikes on nuclear facilities
Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Saturday that Russia appeared to be planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter, urging the IAEA and Ukraine’s allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants.
“In particular, it concerns open distribution devices at (nuclear power plants and) transmission substations, critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.
Editorial: We must give Ukraine the tools it needs to finish the job
We must give Ukraine the tools it needs to finish the job
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In sharing nuclear secrets with Iran, Putin may have crossed his own ‘red line’
In sharing nuclear secrets with Iran, Putin may have crossed his own ‘red line’
While his predecessors in the Soviet Union worried that sharing their bomb with rogue regimes could set them loose to cause havoc, the Russian president has indicated that he shares no such concerns, writes Mark Almond
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