Here are the key events on Tuesday, August 9.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
- The head of Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom called for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to be made a military-free zone, warning of the risk of a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster after the site was hit by shelling.
Fighting
- The US will provide $1bn in security assistance for Ukraine, the single largest package using the president’s drawdown authority, including munitions for long-range weapons and armoured medical transport vehicles, acting Pentagon spokesman Todd Breasseale said on Monday.
- Russia has suffered between 70,000 and 80,000 casualties, either killed or wounded, since its invasion of Ukraine began, the Pentagon’s Under Secretary of Defense for Policy, Colin Kahl, said.
- Heavy fighting was reported in front-line towns near the eastern city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian officials said Russian troops were launching waves of attacks as they try to seize control of the industrialised Donbas region.
- Around Kharkiv in the northeast, Ukrainian troops captured the town of Dovhenke from Russian occupiers and were advancing towards Izyum, Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.
- In the southeast, the key Antonovskyi bridge over the Dnieper river in Kherson region was targeted again by Ukrainian forces trying to disrupt Russian supply lines.
- Ukraine arrested two people working for Russian intelligence services who planned to kill Ukraine’s defence minister and the head of its military intelligence agency, Ukraine’s domestic security service, the SBU, said.
- Britain’s Ministry of Defence says that over the last 30 days, Russia’s assault towards the town of Bakhmut “has been its most successful axis in the Donbas,” however the troops have only managed to advance about 10km (6.2 miles) during this time.
Diplomacy
- Russia has restricted access to the website of Germany’s Die Welt newspaper at the request of prosecutors, according to the country’s communications regulator.
- Moscow-backed authorities in the Zaporizhia region say they are pressing ahead with plans to stage a referendum on joining Russia.
Economy
- The World Bank said it was mobilising a $4.5bn grant for Ukraine provided by the United States that will help Kyiv meet urgent needs created by Russia’s invasion, including healthcare, pensions and social payments.
- Ships exporting Ukraine grain through the Black Sea will be protected by a 10 nautical-mile buffer zone, according to long-awaited procedures agreed by Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations on Monday and seen by Reuters news agency.
