Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was temporarily disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation. The final power line connecting the plant to the grid was cut twice by fires at the ash pits of a nearby coal-fired power plant, the operator said earlier today. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) later said the power line was restored and was “currently up again”.
Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, said the IAEA could travel on a mission to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the next '“coming days”. The UN nuclear watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, earlier said his team were “very, very close” to being able to do to the plant.
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, as the war in Ukraine enters its seventh month with no signs of abating. The Russian president’s decree appears to point to the country’s aim to replenish its military, which has been heavily damaged in Ukraine and has failed to achieve its objective to capture the capital, Kyiv.
At least 25 people have been confirmed dead after a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian train station on Wednesday. Russian forces attacked a train in the village of Chaplyne, Dnipropetrovsk oblast on Wednesday. The deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported on Telegram that two children were killed in the attack. Russia has since confirmed it was behind the attack.
The mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, has said a building allegedly used by Russian-backed officials in the region has been “blown up”. Fedorov, who is not in the city, posted a video reportedly showing damage to the building, which he said was being used to plan a “pseudo-referendum” by Russia-backed authorities on whether the region should join Russia.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he had “a great conversation” with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, and thanked him for his “unwavering” support. It comes a day after Biden announced nearly $3bn in new military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, counter-drone defences and radar equipment, the biggest tranche of US military aid to date.
The UN’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has called on Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine. The past six months had been “unimaginably terrifying months for the people of Ukraine”, she said in a speech marking the end of her term as the UN’s high commissioner for human rights. UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said she was “truly shocked” by military strikes that killed children and other civilians in Chaplyne in central Ukraine on Wednesday.
Russian troops have widely used cluster bombs during its war in Ukraine, causing hundreds of civilian casualties and damaging homes, schools and hospitals, according to a monitoring body. The hundreds of cluster munition attacks that have been documented, reported, or are alleged to have occurred show a “blatant disregard for human life, humanitarian principles and legal norms”, the Cluster Munition Coalition said.
Russia is probably prepared to exploit any Ukrainian military activity near the Zaporizhzhia plant for propaganda purposes, according to British intelligence. While Russia maintains the military occupation of ZNPP, the principal risks to reactor operations are likely to remain disruption to the reactors’ cooling systems, damage to its back-up power supply, or errors by workers operating under pressure, the latest UK Ministry of Defence report reads.
Keir Starmer is planning a trip to Ukraine in the late autumn as he moves to cement his relations with the Kyiv government as it continues its fight against Russia. The Labour leader approached the government of Volodymyr Zelenskiy this summer about the possibility of a visit as opposition leader, with the Labour party writing a letter seen by the Guardian.
That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. Thanks for reading. I’ll be back tomorrow.
UN nuclear watchdog could travel to inspect plant within days, says Ukraine energy minister
Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, said the UN nuclear watchdog could travel on a mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the next coming days.
Galushchenko told Reuters:
A visit is planned. We are talking about the coming days - this is definitely no later than the beginning of September.
Updated
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said he had “a great conversation” with his US counterpart, Joe Biden, and thanked him for his “unwavering” support.
It comes a day after Biden announced nearly $3bn in new military assistance to Ukraine, including anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, counter-drone defences and radar equipment.
The new package is the biggest tranche of US military aid to date, bringing to over $13bn the total the US has supplied or pledged to Kyiv under the Biden administration.
Had a great conversation with @POTUS. Thanked for the unwavering U.S. support for Ukrainian people – security and financial. We discussed Ukraine’s further steps on our path to the victory over the aggressor and importance of holding Russia accountable for war crimes. pic.twitter.com/4edng8vkvn
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) August 25, 2022
Updated
Last regular power line to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant restored, says UN watchdog
The last regular power line supplying electricity to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine has been restored, according to the UN nuclear watchdog, citing Ukraine.
It comes after Ukraine’s nuclear power operator, Energoatom, said the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation.
The final power line connecting the plant to the grid was cut twice by fires at the ash pits of a nearby coal-fired power plant, the operator said earlier today.
Disconnecting the plant raises the risk of catastrophic failure of cooling systems for its reactors and spent fuel rods, which run on electricity.
In a statement, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said:
Ukraine told the IAEA that the ZNPP, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, at least twice lost connection to the power line during the day but that it was currently up again.
Updated
A Soviet-era monument in the Latvian capital, Riga, has been demolished after the memorial became a rallying point for supporters of Russia’s war in Ukraine.
Demolition machinery was used to remove the 79-meter second world war memorial, built in 1985.
video of the moment when Latvian officials brought down the Soviet-era memorial to the Red Army, in the capital Riga. pic.twitter.com/1lfibk91Hs
— Mike Eckel (@Mike_Eckel) August 25, 2022
Latvia’s parliament voted to remove all remaining Soviet statues, plaques and bas-reliefs by mid-November, despite protests from the country’s ethnic Russian minority to keep the memorial.
Photograph: Roman Koksarov/AP
Updated
The Hague in the Netherlands has said it will ask for a temporary exemption of EU sanctions against Russia, as it struggles to find a new gas supplier to replace the Russian supplier Gazprom.
The city said it held an EU-wide tender in June and July, but failed to attract any bids from potential suppliers, Reuters reports.
In a letter to the city council, alderman, Saskia Bruines, wrote:
We will ask for an exemption for our current arrangement until 1 Jan. 2023 to guarantee the safety of supply and to facilitate negotiations.
Updated
Keir Starmer is planning a trip to Ukraine in the late autumn as he moves to cement his relations with the Kyiv government as it continues its fight against Russia.
The Labour leader approached the government of Volodymyr Zelenskiy this summer about the possibility of a visit as opposition leader, with the Labour party writing a letter seen by the Guardian. It affirms Starmer’s support for Ukraine in its struggle against Russia and proposes he travels to Kyiv and hold talks with Zelenskiy.
The proposed trip follows a previous visit by Starmer to the Polish border, and to visit British troops in Estonia to affirm Labour’s “unshakeable” commitment to Nato. The letter sets out Starmer’s previous meetings with prominent international figures.
Sources in the Ukrainian government suggest a date for Starmer’s trip has not yet been agreed, despite what one said was a shortage in August of high-profile foreign guests. They expressed some reservations about not wanting to antagonise the Conservative party after having received strong support from Boris Johnson and his likely successor Liz Truss.
However, it is understood the principle of the trip has been agreed and organisational planning is under way, with Starmer looking likely to undertake the journey later this year.
Read the full article by my colleagues Luke Harding and Rowena Mason here.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid on Thursday, for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation, the country’s nuclear power operator Energoatom said.
The final power line connecting the plant to the grid was cut twice by fires at the ash pits of a nearby coal-fired power plant. Three other lines had already been taken out in months of fighting.
“The actions of the invaders caused a complete disconnection of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from the power grid – for the first time in the history of the plant,” the company said in a statement.
The nuclear power plant needs electricity to run cooling systems for the reactors and spent fuel rods. If all external connections go down, it must rely on diesel-fuelled generators for power. If they break down, engineers only have 90 minutes to stave off dangerous overheating.
During the outage, the plant still got supplies of electricity from one remaining backup line connecting the plant to the nearby conventional power plant, Energoatom said. There were three of these lines before the war, but two have been cut.
Energoatom’s chief on Wednesday told the Guardian that Russian engineers have drawn up a risky blueprint to permanently disconnect the plant from its national grid, and connect it to the Russian power network instead.
The plan is ostensibly aimed at maintaining power supply to the plant if all connections to Ukraine are cut off by fighting, as they were on Thursday, Petro Kotin said.
Ukraine and world leaders have warned Russia against attempting to change connections at the plant. They have also called on it to demilitarise the area, after military vehicles were parked in turbine halls and other sensitive areas of the plant, potentially blocking access for firefighters.
Updated
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, as the war in Ukraine enters its seventh month with no signs of abating.
The Russian president’s decree appears to point to the country’s aim to replenish its military, which has been heavily damaged in Ukraine and has failed to achieve its objective to capture the capital, Kyiv.
The order, which will come into effect on 1 January, includes a 137,000 rise in the number of combat personnel to 1.15 million.
It marks a noticeable increase in army personnel since the last time Russia expanded the size of its military in 2017, when it added 13,698 military personnel and 5,357 non-combatants.
The top United Nations official in Ukraine said on Thursday she was shocked by military strikes that killed children and other civilians in Chaplyne in central Ukraine on Wednesday, and called on all parties to adhere to international law.
Russia’s defence ministry said its forces had hit a military train at Chaplyne railway station. Kyiv says 25 civilians died in the Russian strike.
UN humanitarian coordinator for Ukraine, Denise Brown, said in a statement:
I am truly shocked by the strikes that yesterday killed and injured civilians close to the rail station in Chaplyne, in central Ukraine.
Children were killed in this attack and they died in places where they expected to be safe, in their homes or travelling with their families.
Updated
In case you missed it earlier, the UN nuclear watchdog said it was “very, very close” to being able to go to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Its chief, Rafael Grossi, told France 24 TV on Thursday: “We are very, very close to that [gaining access to the facility].”
It comes as the last two working reactors at the power plant were disconnected from Ukraine’s electricity grid on Thursday after nearby fires damaged overhead power lines.
Ukrainian staff are still operating the plant but the site has been controlled by Russian forces since early in the six-month war.
Each side has accused the other of shelling the site, fuelling international concern about the potential for a nuclear accident.
Updated
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant disconnected from grid, says operator
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant under occupation by Russian troops was disconnected from the national power supply on Thursday, the state energy operator said.
In a statement, Energoatom said the plant was disconnected from Ukraine’s national grid after a power line was damaged by fires at ash pits in a nearby thermal power plant.
Energoatom said:
The actions of the invaders caused a complete disconnection of the (Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant) from the power grid - the first in the history of the plant.
Three of the nuclear plant’s power lines “were earlier damaged during terrorist attacks” by Russian forces, the operator said.
As a result, the two remaining working of the plant’s six reactors still functioning “were disconnected from the network”.
The operator added that the plant’s security systems were working normally and work was under way to reconnect one of the reactor blocks to the grid.
Updated
A 17-year-old boy has died after Russian shelling in the town of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region in south-east Ukraine, according to a Ukrainian official.
Oleksandr Starukh, the head of the Zaporizhzhia regional military administration, wrote on Telegram:
Another massive enemy shelling in the city of Orikhiv and surrounding settlements. The occupier used artillery and fired several hours in a row.
A 17-year-old boy died. He was seriously wounded and died on the way to hospital. A 66-year-old woman from the village of Preobrazhenka was seriously injured in the enemy attack.
Dozens of private houses had also been destroyed as a result of the shelling, he added.
Updated
Russian building near occupied Melitopol ‘blown up’, says mayor
The mayor of the Russian-occupied city of Melitopol, Ivan Fedorov, has said a building allegedly used by Russian-backed officials in the region has been “blown up”.
Fedorov, who is not in the city, posted a video on Telegram reportedly showing damage to the building, which he said was being used to plan a “pseudo-referendum” by Russia-backed authorities on whether the region should join Russia.
Fedorov said:
Tonight, the headquarters of the occupiers in the village of Pryazovske was blown up. It was there that the Russians prepared for the ‘voting’ and issued Russian passports.
Fedorov also claimed that very few people had taken up the offer of Russian passports, although he did not have an exact number.
The Guardian has not been able to verify his claims.
Updated
Putin signs decree to increase Russian armed forces to 2.04m
Vladimir Putin has signed a decree to increase the size of Russia’s armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million, Reuters has cited the Russian state-owned news agency Ria as saying.
The figure, which includes a 137,000 increase in the number of military personnel to 1.15 million, will come into effect on 1 January.
Russia classifies military deaths as state secrets and has not updated its official casualty figures regularly during the war in Ukraine. On 25 March, it said 1,351 Russian soldiers had been killed.
Updated
UN rights chief calls on Putin to stop Ukraine war
The UN’s human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, has called on Vladimir Putin to stop the war in Ukraine and its “unimaginably terrifying” impact on civilians.
Bachelet spoke about the six months since the Russian leader ordered his troops into Ukraine during a speech marking the end of her term as the UN’s high commissioner for human rights.
The past six months had been “unimaginably terrifying months for the people of Ukraine, 6.8 million of whom have had to flee their country”, she said. Millions of others had been internally displaced, she added.
Bachelet said:
I call on the Russian president to halt the armed attack against Ukraine.
The former Chilean president added that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant must be “immediately demilitarised”, adding:
The fighting continues, amid almost unthinkable risks posed to civilians and the environment as hostilities are conducted close to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Updated
Updated
Russian troops have widely used cluster bombs during its war in Ukraine, causing hundreds of civilian casualties and damaging homes, schools and hospitals, according to a monitoring body.
Hundreds of cluster munition attacks by Russian forces have been documented, reported, or are alleged to have occurred, the Cluster Munition Coalition said in an annual report.
Mary Wareham, an advocacy director at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement cited by AFP:
Russia’s extensive use of internationally banned cluster munitions in Ukraine demonstrates a blatant disregard for human life, humanitarian principles and legal norms.
Updated
The UN nuclear watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, said his team is “very, very close” to being able to go to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Asked by French television France 24 if talks on gaining access to the facility had succeeded, Grossi replied:
We are very, very close to that.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief cautioned that the operation was “extremely complex” and said he hoped the mission would take place within “days”.
Faced with the risk of a nuclear accident at Zaporizhzhia, Grossi stressed that “we need to go there, we need to stabilise the situation, we need to ensure a presence of the IAEA soon”.
US condemns Russian rocket strike on train station after Moscow confirms it launched attack
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has also publicly condemned the Russian rocket strike on the Chaplyne railway station.
The attack on a train station full of civilians “fits a pattern of atrocities” by Russia, Blinken wrote on Twitter.
Russia’s missile strike on a train station full of civilians in Ukraine fits a pattern of atrocities. We will continue, together with partners from around the world, to stand with Ukraine and seek accountability for Russian officials.
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) August 24, 2022
Russia’s defence ministry has now confirmed its forces struck the Chaplyne railway station in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region on Wednesday.
But the Russian ministry said the strike hit a military train that was set to deliver arms to the frontline in the eastern Donbas region.
Ukraine says at least 25 civilians died in the Russian strike, which it says was aimed at residential areas.
Updated
Russia’s defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has discussed the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in a telephone call with his French counterpart, Sébastien Lecornu, the Russian defence ministry has said.
Shoigu informed Lecornu “about Russia’s stance on Ukraine’s actions” related to the nuclear power plant during the call earlier today, which was initiated by the French side, the ministry said in a statement.
The Russian minister also “noted the importance of sending a mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the plant” and said Russia was ready to provide the necessary assistance to the UN nuclear watchdog’s inspectors, the ministry added.
Updated
Russia will be held to account for ‘rocket terror’ attack, says EU’s top diplomat
The EU’s chief diplomat, Josep Borrell, has condemned a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian railway station that killed at least 25 people and wounded dozens.
Writing on Twitter, Borrell described the attack on Wednesday in the town of Chaplyne as “heinous” and vowed that those responsible “will be held accountable”.
The EU strongly condemns another heinous attack by Russia on civilians: in #Chaplyne on #UkraineIndependenceDay.
— Josep Borrell Fontelles (@JosepBorrellF) August 25, 2022
Those responsible for Russian rocket terror will be held accountable.
Hello everyone, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong here to bring you all the latest developments from the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Updated
Death toll from Russian strike on rail station rises to 25
25 people have now been confirmed dead after Russian forces attacked a train in the village of Chaplyne, Dnipropetrovsk oblast on Wednesday, the Kyiv Independent reports. Four trains caught fire and the deputy head of the president’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko, reported on Telegram that two children were killed in the attack.
Updated
The western Synelnykove district in Dnipropetrovsk oblast has been shelled overnight with eight people injured so far, the Kyiv Independent reports. The southern Nikopol district was shelled with rockets and heavy artillery overnight, while a Russian missile was shot down near the city of Dnipro.
Updated
Google’s subsidiary Jigsaw is to launch an anti-disinformation campaign aimed at tackling disinformation in Poland, Slovakia and the Czech Republic about Ukrainian refugees, Reuters reports.
The campaign will run for one month and has been designed to establish resilience to anti-refugee rhetoric online. Google has conducted research with psychologists at two British universities and will work alongside academics, fact checkers, non-government organisations and disinformation experts on the project.
Summary so far
It is 9am in Kyiv. Here is where we stand:
The head of the Kyiv regional military administration said Russia launched a rocket attack on the region’s Vyshgorod district north of the city centre early this morning. Oleksiy Kuleba said there were so far no casualties or damage to residential buildings or infrastructure facilities. Ukraine’s armed forces said that “several” explosions were heard around 3am.
The US president, Joe Biden, will speak with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy,after the announcement of a further $3bn (£2.5bn) in US military aid for Ukraine. John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the national security council, said the phone call would also provide the Ukrainian president with an update on US arms shipments.
Russia plans to disconnect Europe’s largest nuclear plant from Ukraine’s power grid, risking a catastrophic failure of its cooling systems, the Guardian has been told. Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s atomic energy company, said Russian engineers had drawn up a blueprint for a switch on the grounds of emergency planning should fighting sever remaining power connections. “The precondition for this plan was heavy damage of all lines which connect Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian system,” Kotin said.
Russia is probably prepared to exploit any Ukrainian military activity near the Zaporizhzhia plant (ZNPP) for propaganda purposes, according to British intelligence. While Russia maintains the military occupation of ZNPP, the principal risks to reactor operations are likely to remain disruption to the reactors’ cooling systems, damage to its back-up power supply, or errors by workers operating under pressure, the latest UK Ministry of Defence report reads.
At least 22 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian railway station on Wednesday. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the rockets struck a train in a station in the town of Chaplyne, about 145km (90 miles) west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. “There are 22 dead, five of them burned in the car, an 11-year-old teenager died,” he said adding that the death toll could increase as rescue operations continue.
Zelenskiy says Russia has placed the world “on the brink of a radiation disaster”. “The Russian military made the territory of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe a combat zone … Now all of Europe and all neighbouring regions are under the threat of radiation pollution,” he said in a Wednesday evening address. Zelenskiy also called for the UN’s nuclear watchdog to take “permanent control” of the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
US president Joe Biden confirmed a further $3bn (£2.5bn) in military aid, including anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, counter-drone defences and radar equipment. US officials said the equipment, which will have to be ordered and will not be delivered for months or years, represented a longer-term investment in Ukrainian security. It is the biggest tranche of US military aid to date.
The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, visited Ukraine for the third time since Russia invaded, urging the international community to “stay the course” in its support. Announcing £54m in support, he told Zelenskiy that Ukraine “can and will win the war”. Other senior politicians from across Europe travelled to Kyiv to show their support in person.
Moscow is making preparations to stage referendums in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, according to US intelligence. “We have information that Russia continues to prepare to hold these sham referendum in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the so called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics,” spokesperson for Biden’s national security council, John Kirby, said. “We’ve also learned that the Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv as well. And these referenda could begin in a matter of days or weeks.”
Plans by Russian-backed authorities to try Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol would be a “mockery of justice”, the US secretary of state spokesperson, Ned Price, said. “The planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice, and we strongly condemn them,” he said on Wednesday.
Russia has claimed that the slowing pace of its military campaign in Ukraine is deliberate and driven by the need to reduce civilian casualties. Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said: “Everything is being done to avoid casualties among civilians. Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but we are doing this deliberately.” Ukraine’s top military intelligence official, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russia’s offensive was slowing because of moral and physical fatigue in its ranks and Moscow’s “exhausted” resource base.
Britain is importing no energy from Russia for the first time on record. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released six months after the start of the war found that in June the UK’s imports from Russia were down by 97% and stood at only £33m as sanctions took effect.
A New Zealand soldier has been killed in Ukraine, becoming the latest foreign fighter and first New Zealander to die in the war. Cpl Dominic Abelen, 30, was on leave without pay from his country’s army when he was killed after enlisting with Ukraine’s international legion.
Updated
Russia is probably prepared to exploit any Ukrainian military activity near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) for propaganda purposes, according to British intelligence.
While Russia maintains the military occupation of ZNPP, the principal risks to reactor operations are likely to remain disruption to the reactors’ cooling systems, damage to its back-up power supply, or errors by workers operating under pressure, the latest UK Ministry of Defence report reads.
On 21 August, imagery indicated that Russia maintained an enhanced military presence at the site, with armoured personnel carriers deployed within 60 metres of reactor number five.
Russian troops were probably attempting to conceal the vehicles by parking them under overhead pipes and gantries.”
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 25 August 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 25, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/3fhM5JyOS6
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/0eCZDn4CYZ
The head of the Kyiv regional military administration has issued an update regarding the series of explosions reported near the city earlier this morning.
Oleksiy Kuleba said Russia launched a rocket attack on the Vyshgorod district north of the city centre.
“Two arrivals were recorded,” Kuleba said seemingly in reference to Russian missiles.
The regional head said there were so far no casualties or damage to residential buildings or infrastructure facilities.
Ukraine’s armed forces earlier said that “several” explosions were heard around 3am on Thursday as residents were urged to seek shelter immediately.
A New Zealand soldier has been killed in Ukraine, becoming the latest foreign fighter and first New Zealander to die in the war.
Charlotte Graham-McLay brings us this report from Wellington.
Cpl Dominic Abelen, 30, was on leave without pay from his country’s army when he was killed after enlisting with Ukraine’s international legion.
He had served in New Zealand’s army for 10 years, the military said in a written statement on Thursday. Abelen had previously deployed to Iraq and was based in Christchurch before he left for Ukraine. He had not told the defence force he was travelling to Ukraine or sought its permission.
Two people who knew Abelen – one in Ukraine and another in New Zealand – told the Guardian he had enlisted with Ukraine’s international legion and had fought on the frontline of the conflict. They would not say how long Abelen had been in Ukraine, but it is understood to have been some months.
New Zealand’s military would not comment on the circumstances of Abelen’s death because he was not on active duty, but his commanding officer said he was well liked and respected.
The United Nations voiced similar alarm to Russian attempts to hold tribunals for Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol.
UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told reporters in Geneva:
Under international law, individuals entitled to prisoner of war status have combatant immunity and cannot be prosecuted for having participated in hostilities, or for lawful acts of war committed in the course of the armed conflict, even if such acts would otherwise constitute an offence under domestic law.”
She warned there are few details available about the potential for such trials, but that images posted by news outlets and on social media appear to show metal enclosures - possibly intended to confine the detainees - being built near a concert hall in Mariupol.
US condemns possible Russian trials of Ukrainian PoWs
The US has condemned any Russian effort to hold tribunals for Ukrainian prisoners of war in the Russian-occupied southern city of Mariupol, labelling the proceedings “illegitimate.”
Reports surfaced this week that Moscow is considering prosecuting Ukrainian prisoners of war (PoWs) under conditions that could amount to war crimes.
US state department spokesman Ned Price said in a statement on Wednesday:
The planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice, and we strongly condemn them.”
The Kremlin is attempting to deflect responsibility for President [Vladimir] Putin’s war of aggression and distract from overwhelming evidence of the atrocities Russian forces have committed in Ukraine…
All members of Ukraine’s armed forces, including domestic and foreign volunteers incorporated into the armed forces, are entitled to prisoner of war status if they are captured and must be afforded the treatment and protections commensurate with that status, according to the Geneva Conventions.”
The statement also called on Moscow to “comply with its obligations under international law.”
Moscow prepares to stage referendums in occupied territory: US
Moscow is making preparations to stage referendums in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, according to US intelligence.
Spokesperson for Biden’s national security council, John Kirby, said:
We have information that Russia continues to prepare to hold these sham referendum in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the so called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics.
We’ve also learned that the Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv as well. And these referenda could begin in a matter of days or weeks.”
Kirby said that holding referendums, intended as a prelude to annexation, was proving a challenge to Russian organisers in the face of the near-total opposition of Ukraine’s population.
Our information is that Russian officials are so concerned that there will be a low voter turnout … that they’re trying to work on workarounds and how they would how they would communicate that,” he said, but did not describe what those “workarounds” might be.
Updated
Russia plans to disconnect Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant from grid
A detailed plan has been drawn up by Russia to disconnect Europe’s largest nuclear plant from Ukraine’s power grid, risking a catastrophic failure of its cooling systems, the Guardian has been told.
World leaders have called for the Zaporizhzhia site to be demilitarised after footage emerged of Russian army vehicles inside the plant, and have previously warned Russia against cutting it off from the Ukrainian grid and connecting it up to the Russian power network.
But Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s atomic energy company, told the Guardian in an interview that Russian engineers had already drawn up a blueprint for a switch on the grounds of emergency planning should fighting sever remaining power connections.
They presented [the plan] to [workers at] the plant, and the plant [workers] presented it to us. The precondition for this plan was heavy damage of all lines which connect Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian system,” Kotin said.
He fears that Russia’s military is now targeting those connections to make the emergency scenario a reality.
The plant’s electricity connections are already in a critical situation, with three of the four main lines connecting it to Ukraine’s grid broken during the war, and two of the three back-up lines connecting it to a conventional power plant also down, he said.
The Russian plan to disconnect it entirely would raise the risk of a catastrophic failure by leaving it dependent on a single source of electricity to cool the reactors. “You cannot just switch from one system to another immediately, you have to … shut down everything on one side, and then you start to switch on another side,” he said.
During this disconnection, the plant won’t be connected to any power supply and that is the reason for the danger,” he said. “If you fail to provide cooling … for one hour and a half, then you will have melting already.”
22 killed in Russian strike on rail station
At least 22 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian railway station, as the country marked a sombre independence day, and six months since Moscow’s invasion started.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the rockets struck a train in a station in the town of Chaplyne, about 145km (90 miles) west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine.
Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment, there are 22 dead, five of them burned in the car, an 11-year-old teenager died,” he said adding that the death toll could increase as rescue operations continue.
Biden to speak with Zelenskiy
US President, Joe Biden, will speak with Ukrainian President, Volodomyr Zelenskiy, following the announcement of a further $3bn (£2.5bn) in US military aid for Ukraine.
John Kirby, the communications coordinator at the national security council, said the US would continue to “rally the free world” and “galvanise allies and partners” to support Ukraine as the Russian invasion hits the six-month mark.
He said the phone call between Biden and Zelenskiy would reaffirm those commitments and would also provide the Ukrainian president with an update on US arms shipments and congratulate him on Ukraine’s independence day, according to the White House.
“The President’s looking forward to that,” Kirby said, while saying there were no travel plans to discuss for Biden to visit Kyiv. He said if a “trip makes sense,” it would come under consideration.
Explosions heard in Kyiv region - reports
Ukrainian officials are reporting explosions near Kyiv early this morning .
Ukraine’s armed forces said that “several” explosions were heard in the Vyshgorod district around 3am on Thursday, a district north of the city centre, in an alert issued via its official Telegram account.
The head of the Kyiv regional military administration, Oleksiy Kuleba, also issued a Telegram update, saying:
We have information about several sounds of explosions in one of the communities of the Vyshgorod district. We are clarifying the information. Emergency services are already working.”
Kuleba urged resident to seek shelter immediately.
According to Ukraine’s emergency services, an air raid alert was issued throughout the region at 3.21am.
Updated
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.
Ukrainian officials are reporting a series of explosions near Kyiv early this morning. Ukraine’s armed forces said that “several” explosions were heard in the Vyshgorod district around 3am on Thursday, a district north of the city centre.
It is 5am in Kyiv. Here is where we stand:
Russia plans to disconnect Europe’s largest nuclear plant from Ukraine’s power grid, risking a catastrophic failure of its cooling systems, the Guardian has been told. Petro Kotin, the head of Ukraine’s atomic energy company, said Russian engineers had drawn up a blueprint for a switch on the grounds of emergency planning should fighting sever remaining power connections. “The precondition for this plan was heavy damage of all lines which connect Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian system,” Kotin said.
At least 22 people have been killed and 50 wounded in a Russian rocket strike on a Ukrainian railway station, as the country marked a sombre independence day, and six months since Moscow’s invasion started. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the rockets struck a train in a station in the town of Chaplyne, about 145km (90 miles) west of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. “Chaplyne is our pain today. As of this moment, there are 22 dead, five of them burned in the car, an 11-year-old teenager died,” he said adding that the death toll could increase as rescue operations continue.
Zelenskiy says Russia has placed the world “on the brink of a radiation disaster”. “It is a fact that the Russian military made the territory of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe a combat zone … Now all of Europe and all neighbouring regions are under the threat of radiation pollution,” he said in a Wednesday evening address. Zelenskiy also called for th UN’s nuclear watchdog to take “permanent control” of the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
US president Joe Biden confirmed a further $3bn (£2.5bn) in military aid, including anti-aircraft missiles, artillery, counter-drone defences and radar equipment. US officials said the equipment, which will have to be ordered and will not be delivered for months or years, represented a longer-term investment in Ukrainian security. It is the biggest tranche of US military aid to date.
The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, visited Ukraine for the third time since Russia invaded, urging the international community to “stay the course” in its support. Announcing £54m in support, he told Zelenskiy that Ukraine “can and will win the war”. Other senior politicians from across Europe travelled to Kyiv to show their support in person.
Moscow is making preparations to stage referendums in Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine, according to US intelligence. “We have information that Russia continues to prepare to hold these sham referendum in Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and the so called Donetsk and Luhansk people’s republics,” spokesperson for Biden’s national security council, John Kirby, said. “We’ve also learned that the Russian leadership has instructed officials to begin preparing to hold sham referenda, particularly in Kharkiv as well. And these referenda could begin in a matter of days or weeks.”
Plans by Russian-backed authorities to try Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol would be a “mockery of justice”, the US secretary of state spokesperson, Ned Price, said. “The planned show trials are illegitimate and a mockery of justice, and we strongly condemn them,” he said on Wednesday.
Russia has claimed that the slowing pace of its military campaign in Ukraine is deliberate, and driven by the need to reduce civilian casualties. Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, said: “Everything is being done to avoid casualties among civilians. Of course, this slows down the pace of the offensive, but we are doing this deliberately.” Ukraine’s top military intelligence official, Kyrylo Budanov, said Russia’s offensive was slowing because of moral and physical fatigue in its ranks and Moscow’s “exhausted” resource base.
Britain is importing no energy from Russia for the first time on record. Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released six months after the start of the war found that in June the UK’s imports from Russia were down by 97% and stood at only £33m as sanctions took effect.
