At least two people have been killed and more injured after a Russian rocket attack on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, near Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said on Wednesday. Follow our live blog for the latest developments on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
10:42pm: Ukraine revises death toll in Zaporizhzhia city
Ukrainian officials late Wednesday revised down the death toll of a Russian rocket attack on the city of Zaporizhzhia to two from the previous three.
Regional governor Yuriy Malashko had initially said that three people had died in the attack on a residential area, but Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko later said one person had been resuscitated.
7:57pm: Ukraine reports deadly Russian attack on city of Zaporizhzhia
A deadly Russian attack on Ukraine’s southern city of Zaporizhzhia Wednesday has left many injured, said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on a post on social media.
Along with his statement, Zelensky posted a video that showed a partially damaged church with fire in its courtyard and smoke rising. The footage also showed another building heavily destroyed and on fire, as well as a damaged basketball pitch.
5:58pm: German military aide suspected of spying for Russia
German federal prosecutors said Wednesday a German national working for the military has been arrested on suspicion of spying for Russia.
“The accused is strongly suspected of working for a foreign intelligence service,” the federal prosecutor’s office said in a statement.
The arrested man, identified only as Thomas H. in line with German privacy rules, was detained on July 27 in the western city of Koblenz and his apartment and workplace were searched, prosecutors said. He was remanded in custody on Wednesday.
Thomas H. had worked for the army’s Equipment, Information Technology and In-Service Support Department.
“In May 2023 he approached the Russian general consulate in Bonn and the Russian embassy in Berlin and offered his cooperation,” prosecutors said. “In the process, he passed on information he had obtained in the course of his professional activities for them to be passed on to a Russian intelligence service.”
5:15pm: US issues new sanctions against Belarus
The United States issued new sanctions against Belarus on Wednesday, the Treasury Department said, adding it was designating eight individuals and five entities to a list for allegedly funding the Belarusian government.
“This action targets several entities involved in the Belarusian regime’s continued civil society repression, complicity in the Russian Federation’s unjustified war in Ukraine, and enrichment of repressive Belarusian regime leader” Alexander Lukashenko, the Treasury Department said in a statement.
Among the companies targeted was the state-owned Belavia Belarusian Airlines and Byelorussian Steel Works Management Company.
The individuals targeted included four employees of a Belarus government agency, three individuals facilitating sanctions evasion in support of Lukashenko’s government, and a director of a state-owned enterprise.
4:49pm: Ukraine denies Russian allegation it tried to attack Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
A senior adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denied a Russian assertion on Wednesday that Kyiv tried to attack the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) with a drone.
“Undoubtedly, Ukraine did not carry out any kind of drone attack on the ZNPP, was not planning and will not even in theory do so,” Mykhailo Podolyak told Reuters in a statement.
3:42pm: Ukraine 'targeted nuclear plant' with strike drone, RIA says
Russian security forces said on Wednesday that Ukraine had attempted to attack a spent nuclear fuel storage facility at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant with a strike drone, Russia's state-owned news agency RIA reported, without citing any named source or official.
Russian security forces reached their conclusion by analyzing the flight path of the drone, which they downed, RIA said. It distributed a photograph of the purported downed drone, a quadcopter.
2:35pm: Child killed by shelling in Donetsk, Russian-installed official says
A child was killed and two people were injured when a Ukrainian artillery shell hit a two-storey building in Donetsk, the Russian-appointed head of the region, Denis Pushilin, wrote on his Telegram channel Wednesday.
11:56am: Russia to build up forces at western borders says defence minister
Russia will build up forces at its western borders, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu told the collegium of the defence ministry on Wednesday, according to the ministry.
Shoigu said NATO-member Poland had already announced plans to strengthen its military, and he expected significant NATO forces and weaponry to be deployed in Finland, which has just joined the US-led Western alliance.
"The collective West is waging a proxy war against Russia," he said, according to his ministry, pointing to its "unprecedented support" for Ukraine in supplying tens of billions of dollars' worth of weaponry to help Kyiv repel Russian forces.
Shoigu called the entry of Finland into NATO and the future entry of Sweden "a serious destabilising factor". The two Nordic states abandoned generations of neutrality that had held throughout the Cold War to seek NATO membership followin Russia's invasion of Ukraine early last year.
11:17am: Poland to send 2,000 troops to Belarus border
Poland will send an additional 2,000 troops to reinforce its eastern border with neighbouring Belarus, a deputy interior minister said Wednesday, as a record number of migrants try to cross..
"This will not be a reinforcement of 1,000 but of 2,000 soldiers," Maciej Wasik told the PAP state news agency, adding that the move was approved by the defence minister following a request from the national border agency for additional manpower.
03:02: Moscow's mayor says two combat drones headed for the capital were shot down
Two Ukrainian combat drones headed for Moscow were shot down, Russian officials said on Wednesday, the latest in a surge of drone attacks targeting the capital.
The attempted attack comes a day after the death toll from strikes on the eastern Ukrainian city of Pokrovsk rose to nine.
"Two combat drones' attempt to fly into the city was recorded. Both were shot down by air defence," Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said on Telegram.
He said one drone was downed in the Domodedovo area on the southern outskirts of the city while the second was shot down in the Minsk highway area, west of the capital. Emergency services were on the ground.
Russia's defence ministry said Ukraine attempted the attack using unmanned aerial vehicles.
Key developments from Tuesday, August 8:
Poland's defence ministry has agreed to send additional troops to the border with Belarus following a request from the border guard service
The UK on Tuesday slapped new sanctions on 25 companies and individuals to "close the net" on Russian President Vladimir Putin's access to foreign military equipment. Those targeted include people and businesses in Turkey, Dubai, Slovakia and Switzerland that the Foreign Office said are "supporting the illegal war in Ukraine".
Ukrainian special services have foiled an attempt by Russian hackers to penetrate the Ukrainian Armed Forces' combat information system, the SBU security service said on Tuesday.
Germany has offered to extend the deployment of three Patriot air defence units in Poland until the end of 2023, the defence ministry in Berlin said on Tuesday.
Russia-installed Donetsk Mayor Alexei Kulemzin accused Ukraine in a social media post of shelling the city of Donetsk, killing three people on Tuesday.
Ten people were wounded, Kulemzin said in his Telegram channel.
Read yesterday's live blog to see how the day's events unfolded.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
