Western officials say there are growing concerns over concerns over water cooling at the Zaporizhzhia plant. António Guterres asked on Friday that the Russian-occupied facility not be cut off from Ukraine’s electrical grid after Ukrainian reports that Moscow was planning to do so, saying the plant used “Ukrainian electricity”.
The UN secretary general has asked Russia not take the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant off grid. The office said Putin had dropped his demand that the IAEA team travel to the site via Russia, saying it could arrive via Ukraine.
According to the office of the French president, Emmanuel Macron, the Russian leader had “reconsidered the demand” that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the site, after Putin himself warned fighting there could bring about a “catastrophe”. Vladimir Putin has agreed to inspectors visiting the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. As it approaches 9.30am in Kyiv, here is a summary of the latest developments on this Saturday 20 August 2022. Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s continuing coverage of the war in Ukraine. The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelensky, urged the UN to secure the site. The warning came a day after the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, and the Turkish leader, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, met in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv and sounded the alarm over the fighting. The Kremlin said Putin stressed that shelling of the plant “creates the danger of a large-scale catastrophe”. The Kremlin said after Putin and the French president, Emmanuel Macron, spoke by phone on Friday that the two leaders had agreed that the IAEA should carry out inspections as soon as possible to “assess the real situation on the ground”.Ī flare-up in fighting around the Russian-controlled nuclear power station – with both sides blaming each other for attacks – has raised the spectre of a disaster worse than in Chernobyl. The UN nuclear watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, “welcomed recent statements indicating that both Ukraine and Russia supported the aim to send a mission to” the plant, Agence France-Presse reported. Vladimir Putin’s agreement to allow independent inspectors to travel to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to the French presidency, comes as concerns grow over fighting near the Russian-occupied site. Separately, an official in Crimea said defences there had downed an unspecified number of drones over the city of Sevastopol. Ukraine says retaking Kherson is one of its main priorities. Tass cited a local official as saying Russian anti-aircraft forces knocked down six Ukrainian drones sent to attack the town of Nova Kakhovka, east of the city of Kherson. Video posted by a Russian website showed what appeared to be a ground-to-air missile hitting a target.
Russia’s RIA and Tass news agencies, citing a local official in Crimea, said it appeared Russian anti-aircraft forces had been in action near the western Crimean port of Yevpatoriya on Friday night. In a new assessment, a western official said the earlier explosions had rendered half of Russia’s Black Sea naval aviation force useless. The latest apparent displays of Kyiv’s growing ability to pummel Moscow’s assets far from frontlines occurred on Friday evening, Reuters reported, and followed huge blasts last week at an air base in Russian-annexed Crimea. Russia has reported fresh Ukrainian drone attacks, a day after explosions erupted near military bases in Russian-held areas of Ukraine and in Russia.
Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since the start of the war because its Black Sea ports – a vital route for shipments – were closed, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East.Īt the end of July, three Black Sea ports were unblocked under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. Ukraine’s Sea Ports Authority said on Saturday three Ukrainian seaports had begun loading food onto seven ships, which would deliver 66,500 tonnes of wheat, corn and sunflower oil to consumers. 20, were loaded with 6,300 tonnes of sunflower oil and 25,000 tonnes of wheat respectively, the joint coordination centre set up to enable safe passage said in a statement. The Zumrut Ana and MV Ocean S, which are authorized to depart on Aug. Turkey has said that two more ships carrying grain have left Ukraine’s Chornomorsk port, bringing the total number of vessels to leave Ukraine’s Black Sea ports under a UN-brokered grain export deal to 27.
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