Summary
Here’s a roundup of the key developments of the day:
In a tweet about his meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, described Nato as a “defacto” ally and said it was “only a matter of time before Ukraine becomes a de jure one as well”.
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said “every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses”. He added: “And there is a stark contrast: Ukrainians are fighting for their families, their future, their freedom. Moscow is fighting for imperial delusions.”
The EU has extended the right of refugees from Ukraine to stay in the bloc by a year to March 2025, as Russia’s war against their country continues. The EU triggered its temporary protection directive days after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion to allow the millions of people fleeing Ukraine to remain.
The British and French defence ministers have visited Kyiv to discuss further military aid to Ukraine to bolster a counteroffensive against Russian forces. Their visits came in advance of Kyiv’s first Defence Industries Forum, where Ukrainian officials were to meet representatives from more than 160 defence firms and 26 countries.
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said an escalating grain exports dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw was detrimental to both countries, in an interview published today. Poland has extended an embargo on Ukrainian grain, going against a European Commission decision to end the restrictions and triggering a diplomatic spat between the allies.
Brussels has warned European companies and governments that it could ban the sale of certain components to Turkey and other countries from where Iran and Russia are sourcing parts for drones and other weapons striking Ukrainian cities.
Ukraine’s air force claimed on Thursday its air defence systems shot down 34 of 44 Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight, while a regional official said no casualties were caused by the attack. “Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups were engaged to repel the attack,” the military said on the Telegram messaging app.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said his region was the main target, but the attack left no casualties. “Our air defence forces did an excellent job,” Kiper said on Telegram.
There were also strikes on Kirovohrad oblast and an infrastructure object was hit in Mykolaiv. One man was killed and another was injured in Kherson overnight. Three people have been hospitalised after a strike on Antonivka, near the Dnipro River.
Britain’s defence secretary, Grant Shapps, discussed how to bolster Ukraine’s air defences during talks in an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president’s office said on Thursday. The visit to the Ukrainian capital was Shapps’s first to Kyiv since he became defence secretary last month. “On behalf of the whole nation, I thank you for everything you are doing for us. We are grateful for your help – military, financial, humanitarian. We greatly appreciate that we can rely on you,” a statement released by Zelenskiy’s office quoted the president as saying.
Shapps said: “We have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, delivered hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and provided millions of pounds of economic and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine’s citizens reclaim and rebuild what has been taken from them by Putin’s barbaric invasion,” while accompanying him, Adm Tony Radakin, chief of the UK’s defence staff, said: “This visit, together with my visits over the summer, have reinforced my conviction that Ukraine will prevail. The UK will remain with them every step of the way.”
International regulators are incapable of properly monitoring safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to a critical dossier compiled by Greenpeace that is being sent to western governments on Thursday. The environmental campaign group concludes the International Atomic Energy Agency has too few inspectors at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – four – and that there are too many restrictions placed on their access. It argues that the IAEA is “unable to meet its mandate requirements” but it is not prepared to admit as much in public, and as a result what it describes as Russian violations of safety principles are not being called out.
Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, has claimed on Telegram that electronic warfare was used to down a Ukrainian drone on the approach to the city of Bryansk. He reports”: “There were no casualties or damage. Operational and emergency services are on site.”
We are closing this liveblog shortly. Thanks so much for joining us today.
Updated
The French defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, visited Kyiv on Thursday and discussed the possibility of joint weapons production during talks with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president’s office said.
Lecornu said in a video published by Zelenskiy on Telegram messenger:
I discussed with your ministers very specifically how French industry can help you. We, of course, will continue this work.
Lecornu and Zelenskiy discussed bolstering Ukraine’s air defences before winter, the president’s office said in a statement. Kyiv fears Russia will conduct a campaign of airstrikes on critical energy infrastructure this winter, Reuters reports.
Ukraine’s president said he was grateful to the French president, Emmanuel Macron, for military assistance. He highlighted in particular the supply of anti-aircraft missile systems, Caesar self-propelled artillery units and Scalp cruise missiles.
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The French defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, and Rustem Umerov, Ukraine’s defence minister, held a press conference about further military aid in Kyiv on Thursday.
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The EU has extended the right of refugees from Ukraine to stay in the bloc by a year to March 2025, as Russia’s war against their country continues, AFP reports.
The EU triggered its temporary protection directive days after Moscow’s February 2022 invasion to allow the millions of people fleeing Ukraine to remain.
The Spanish interior minister, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, whose country holds the EU’s rotating presidency, said:
The EU will support the Ukrainian people for as long as it takes.
The prolongation of the protection status offers certainty to the more than four million refugees who have found a safe haven in the EU.
Russia’s war on its neighbour has continued with no sign of abating for 19 months, with Moscow launching strikes on civilian infrastructure across Ukraine.
The initial protection measure was to run until March 2024. The measure gives Ukrainians in the EU access to the job market, medical care and education.
The sudden displacement of millions of Ukrainians last year represented the fastest-growing refugee crisis faced by Europe since the second world war.
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Kazakhstan’s leader said his country would not help Russia circumvent western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine, amid suspicions that Moscow is still receiving vital goods via central Asian nations, AFP reports.
After talks in Berlin with the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev said:
Kazakhstan has unambiguously stated that it will follow the sanctions regime.
We have contacts with the relevant organisations to comply with the sanctions regime, and I think there should not be any concerns on the German side about possible actions aimed at circumventing the sanctions regime.
Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine has rattled nerves in central Asian nations, including Kazakhstan, which has sought to distance itself from Moscow’s assault. Astana has not recognised east and southern Ukrainian regions occupied by Moscow as part of Russia.
But the close economic and military ally of Russia, with which it shares a 7,500km (4,650-mile) border, has been repeatedly accused of helping its larger neighbour obtain goods in violation of sanctions.
In their 11th sanctions package, the EU sought to crack down on re-exports of sensitive goods by third countries to Russia with a measure allowing it to restrict certain exports to states that don’t cooperate.
At the same time, western nations have been increasingly seeking a bigger role in central Asia at a time when some in the region are questioning their longstanding ties with Russia.
Besides Tokayev, Scholz will also be hosting the leaders of Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Tajikistan for joint talks on Friday.
The meeting with the five central Asian leaders will be the first joint gathering of its kind with an EU country.
Germany also has an interest in the energy-rich region as Berlin has been seeking alternative sources of power after its supplies from Russia dried up.
Updated
The British and French defence ministers have visited Kyiv to discuss further military aid to Ukraine to bolster a counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Their visits came in advance of Kyiv’s first Defence Industries Forum, where Ukrainian officials were to meet representatives from more than 160 defence firms and 26 countries, AFP reports.
The French defence minister, Sébastien Lecornu, is expected to hold talks with Zelenskiy and his new defence minister, Rustem Umerov.
After laying flowers at a memorial to Ukraine’s fallen soldiers, Lecornu said:
We know this war is going to last … We must ensure that tomorrow we continue to be reliable in our aid to Ukraine.
Britain and France have supplied Ukraine with long-range cruise missiles which the Kremlin says can be used to strike Russian territory.
Ukraine has repeatedly asked for more western arms, including longer-range weapons, to regain occupied territory.
Kyiv launched its counteroffensive in June but has acknowledged slow progress as its forces encounter lines of heavily fortified Russian defences.
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Tass reports that the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, has signed into law a decree that makes 30 September officially recognised as a “day of reunification” for the four regions that Russia claimed to annex from Ukraine last year.
Having held referendums, widely condemned as a sham, in Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, on 30 September last year Putin signed a document with the Russian-installed leaders of the occupied regions to unilaterally incorporate them into the Russian Federation, despite Russia not fully controlling the territories.
Several days later, on 4 October, despite the Kremlin appearing to be unclear on where it claimed Russia’s international borders now stood, the annexation was signed into Russian law.
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In a message on social media, the UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has commented on the defence secretary Grant Shapps’s visit to Ukraine, saying: “From training thousands of troops to providing long-range missiles, the UK has stood with Ukraine from the beginning. Our commitment is unwavering.”
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'Only a matter of time' before Ukraine becomes Nato ally, says Zelenskiy
In a tweet about his meeting with Jens Stoltenberg, the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, described Nato as a “defacto” ally and said it was “only a matter of time before Ukraine becomes a de jure one as well”.
I met with @JensStoltenberg in Kyiv.
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) September 28, 2023
Substantial talks, as they should be between de facto allies. It is only a matter of time before Ukraine becomes a de jure one as well.
We discussed strengthening Ukraine's air defense further in order to protect people from Russian terror. pic.twitter.com/WxHdWWSsJw
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Jens Stoltenberg says Ukrainians are fighting for 'their families and their future'
Speaking at a joint press conference with the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said “every metre that Ukrainian forces regain is a metre that Russia loses”.
He added:
And there is a stark contrast: Ukrainians are fighting for their families, their future, their freedom. Moscow is fighting for imperial delusions.
Zelenskiy stressed Ukraine’s need for more air defence against Russian attacks, saying Moscow had used more than 40 Shahed drones in strikes on Ukraine the previous night alone.
He said:
And so it is almost every night. In the conditions of such intense attacks against Ukrainians, against our cities, ports – which are important for global food security – we need a corresponding increase in pressure on Russia and a corresponding increase in our air shield.
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Nato has framework contracts in place for €2.4bn (£2bn) of key ammunition for Ukraine, including €1bn (£864m) in firm orders, its secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, said on Thursday, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, Reuters reports.
He said such contracts would allow Nato members to replenish their depleted stockpiles while also continuing to provide Ukraine with ammunition, a key factor in the war.
Stoltenberg also condemned Russian strikes near Ukraine’s border with Nato member Romania. He said there was no evidence such strikes were a deliberate attack on Romania but branded them “reckless” and “destabilising”.
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The Nato secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, on an unannounced visit to Kyiv, said Ukrainian forces were “gradually gaining ground” in their counteroffensive against Russian forces.
Speaking at a joint press conference with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Stoltenberg also said Russian troops were fighting for Moscow’s “imperial delusions”.
Updated
Brussels has warned European companies and governments that it could ban the sale of certain components to Turkey and other countries from where Iran and Russia are sourcing parts for drones and other weapons striking Ukrainian cities.
The comments from the European Commission follow a leak to the Guardian of a 47-page document in which the Ukrainian government detailed the use of western technology and appealed for long-range missiles to attack drone production sites in Russia, Iran and Syria.
The Ukrainian paper, submitted to the G7 governments in August, claimed there had been 600 raids on cities using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) containing western technology in the previous three months.
Five European companies including a Polish subsidiary of a British multinational were named as the original manufacturers of the identified components.
There is no suggestion of any wrongdoing by the western companies whose parts were identified. “Iranian UAV production has adapted and mostly uses available commercial components, the supply of which is poorly or not controlled at all,” the paper said.
Customs information was said to show that “almost all the imports to Iran originated from Turkey, India, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Costa Rica”.
A European Commission spokesperson said evidence that components were being sourced via such countries showed that EU sanctions were creating “significant pressure on their targets” but there needed to be tougher enforcement by member states.
He said:
This means keeping a close eye on foreign operators that are re-exporting EU sanctioned goods without the knowledge of the EU exporter. For that scenario, we have sought the support of third countries’ authorities to make sure that goods exported from the EU to those countries do not reach Russia.
The EU sanctions envoy, David O’Sullivan, is working closely with third-country jurisdictions to ensure that our sanctions are not circumvented.
Read more here:
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Russia is set to hike defence spending by almost 70% in 2024, a finance ministry document published on Thursday showed, as Moscow pours resources into its full-scale offensive in Ukraine, AFP reports.
Since the conflict began last year, Russia has ramped up arms manufacturing and pumped massive funds into its military machine, despite persistently high inflation and a weaker rouble.
The document said defence spending was set to jump by over 68% year on year to almost 10.8tn rubles (£91bn), totalling around 6% of GDP – more than spending allocated for social policy.
Defence spending is set to total around three times more than education, environmental protection and healthcare spending combined in 2024, figures calculated by AFP showed.
The finance ministry said in the document:
The focus of economic policy is shifting from an anti-crisis agenda to the promotion of national development goals.
It said this included “strengthening the country’s defence capacity” and “integrating” the four Ukrainian regions Moscow claimed to annex last year – Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
The increased defence spending comes as Russia’s central bank warns economic growth is set to slow down in the second half of 2023, with inflation above the bank’s target of 4%.
President Vladimir Putin and other officials have largely shrugged off the economic effects of the Ukraine offensive, arguing Russia has largely weathered the storm of western sanctions.
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Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba said an escalating grain exports dispute between Kyiv and Warsaw was detrimental to both countries, in an interview published today, AFP reports.
Poland has extended an embargo on Ukrainian grain, going against a European Commission decision to end the restrictions and triggering a diplomatic spat between the allies.
Kuleba told Interfax-Ukraine:
We have conveyed clear signals to Poland about our commitment to a constructive solution to this situation. We don’t need this grain war and neither does Poland.
He warned the row could worsen as “emotions are running high” ahead of the Polish elections on 15 October.
Poland’s populist rightwing government has strong support in agricultural regions and has presented the ban as protecting Polish farmers.
Kuleba said the grain issue would eventually be solved, but cautioned against the long-term consequences of stoking tensions.
Kuleba said:
The fact that the narrative about the ungratefulness of Ukraine and Ukrainians is planted in the heads of Polish people can have extremely negative consequences for security.
He called allegations of ingratitude an “outright lie”.
He added:
Ukraine is very sincerely and deeply grateful to the Polish people and the Polish government.
Poland has been one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters since Russia sent troops to Ukraine in February 2022 and is one of Kyiv’s main weapons suppliers.
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Summary of the day so far …
Ukraine’s air force claimed on Thursday its air defence systems shot down 34 of 44 Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight, while a regional official said no casualties were caused by the attack. “Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups were engaged to repel the attack,” the military said on the Telegram messaging app.
Odesa regional governor Oleh Kiper said his region was the main target, but the attack left no casualties. “Our air defence forces did an excellent job,” Kiper said on Telegram.
There were also strikes on Kirovohrad oblast and an infrastructure object was hit in Mykolaiv. One man was killed and another was injured in Kherson overnight. Three people have been hospitalised after a strike on Antonivka, near the Dnipro River.
Britain’s defence secretary, Grant Shapps, discussed how to bolster Ukraine’s air defences during talks in an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president’s office said on Thursday. The visit to the Ukrainian capital was Shapps’s first to Kyiv since he became defence secretary last month. “On behalf of the whole nation, I thank you for everything you are doing for us. We are grateful for your help – military, financial, humanitarian. We greatly appreciate that we can rely on you,” a statement released by Zelenskiy’s office quoted the president as saying.
Shapps said: “We have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, delivered hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and provided millions of pounds of economic and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine’s citizens reclaim and rebuild what has been taken from them by Putin’s barbaric invasion,” while accompanying him, Adm Tony Radakin, chief of the UK’s defence staff, said: “This visit, together with my visits over the summer, have reinforced my conviction that Ukraine will prevail. The UK will remain with them every step of the way.”
International regulators are incapable of properly monitoring safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to a critical dossier compiled by Greenpeace that is being sent to western governments on Thursday. The environmental campaign group concludes the International Atomic Energy Agency has too few inspectors at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – four – and that there are too many restrictions placed on their access. It argues that the IAEA is “unable to meet its mandate requirements” but it is not prepared to admit as much in public, and as a result what it describes as Russian violations of safety principles are not being called out.
Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, has claimed on Telegram that electronic warfare was used to down a Ukrainian drone on the approach to the city of Bryansk. He reports": “There were no casualties or damage. Operational and emergency services are on site.”
Updated
For about 45 minutes there has been an air alert in place in Dnipropetrovsk region, and there are now unconfirmed reports of an explosion in Kryvyi Rih.
More details soon …
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has issued a press release following the visit of defence secretary Grant Shapps to Kyiv. In it, it carries a statement from Shapps saying:
It was an honour to meet President Zelenskiy in Kyiv to assure him that the UK will continue to stand shoulder to shoulder with Ukraine, as we have since Putin illegally invaded Crimea nearly ten years ago.
We have trained tens of thousands of Ukrainian soldiers, delivered hundreds of thousands of rounds of ammunition, and provided millions of pounds of economic and humanitarian aid to help Ukraine’s citizens reclaim and rebuild what has been taken from them by Putin’s barbaric invasion.
Having heard the experiences of so many Ukrainians affected by this war, including a family I hosted in my home for a year, I am committed to maintaining the UK’s military support – particularly as the freezing winter weather approaches.
Adm Tony Radakin, chief of the UK’s defence staff, was also on the visit, describing it as “a privilege”, and saying:
We discussed new commitments of military aid that were made in Ramstein last week, which will help build Ukraine’s strength and resilience through the winter and beyond.
The recent strikes on the Black Sea Fleet are another example of how Ukraine retains the initiative. Putin has lost control of the war he started, and Russia is diminished as a consequence.
This visit, together with my visits over the summer, have reinforced my conviction that Ukraine will prevail. The UK will remain with them every step of the way.
Ukraine’s recently appointed defence minister Rustem Umerov has described the visit of his UK counterpart Grant Shapps to Kyiv as an “important” one. Umerov posted to social media to say:
Thanked our UK friends for unwavering support of Ukraine. Briefed [Shapps] on current battlefield situation and urgent needs. Focus on air defence, artillery, anti-drone systems. Winter is coming but we are ready. Stronger together.
Important visit of my colleague @GrantShapps to Kyiv.
— Rustem Umerov (@rustem_umerov) September 28, 2023
Thanked our 🇬🇧 friends for unwavering support of 🇺🇦 . Briefed on current battlefield situation and urgent needs. Focus on air defence, artillery, anti-drone systems.
Winter is coming but we are ready. Stronger together. pic.twitter.com/KSaonSgOFH
France’s minister of armed forces, Sébastien Lecornu, is also in Kyiv today. Here he is pictured laying a wreath at the memorial to those killed during Russia’s invasion.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has posted to social media about defence minister Grant Shapps’s visit to Kyiv, saying: “We’re standing with Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s illegal invasion,” and stating that the minister “pledged his personal commitment to continue the UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s freedom”.
We’re standing with Ukraine in their fight against Putin’s illegal invasion 🇬🇧🤝🇺🇦
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 28, 2023
Visiting Kyiv for the first time as Defence Secretary, @grantshapps met President @ZelenskyyUa and pledged his personal commitment to continue the UK’s unwavering support for Ukraine’s freedom. pic.twitter.com/fj6gymoD7A
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The number of injured in Antonivka has increased to three, Suspilne reports. Citing the local authority, it states “Two women and a man were brought to the hospital with injuries of varying degrees of severity.”
Suspilne reports, citing the regional authority, that one person has been injured and hospitalised by a Russian attack on Antonivka near Kherson.
British defence secretary Grant Shapps visits Kyiv
British defence secretary Grant Shapps discussed how to bolster Ukraine’s air defences during talks in an unannounced visit to Kyiv to meet Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president’s office said on Thursday.
The visit to the Ukrainian capital was Shapps’s first to Kyiv since he became defence secretary last month, Reuters reports.
“On behalf of the whole nation, I thank you for everything you are doing for us. We are grateful for your help – military, financial, humanitarian. We greatly appreciate that we can rely on you,” a statement released by Zelenskiy’s office quoted the president as saying.
Zelenskiy is believed to have raised defence sector cooperation between Kyiv and London, which he said had allowed Ukraine to significantly expand its capabilities on the battlefield with long-range weapons.
Britain this year supplied Storm Shadow cruise missiles that have allowed Ukraine to conduct long-range strikes on targets in Russian-occupied territory.
The visit was not pre-announced, and it was unclear exactly when Shapps met Zelenskiy. Shapps has visited Ukraine before during the war, but in his previous capacity of energy minister.
Updated
Suspilne, Ukraine's state broadcaster, has posted this morning news update on its Telegram channel, writing:
At night, the Russian army released 44 “Shahed” drones over Ukraine, air defence forces shot down 34 of them. Odesa was attacked in particular. There were no hits.
Some drones were struck in Kirovohrad oblast. According to the head of the region there was no damage to civil infrastructure and no injuries.
In the evening, the Russian army launched a rocket attack on an infrastructure object in Mykolaiv, no one was injured, the mayor of the city, said.
As a result of the night attack on Kherson, one man was killed and another was injured. Over the past 24 hours, two people were killed and one was injured in shelling in the Kherson region. In Donetsk region, one person died, five were injured.
The claims have not been independently verified.
Ukraine claims it shot down 34 of 44 Russian drones launched overnight
Ukraine’s air force claimed on Thursday its air defence systems shot down 34 of 44 Shahed drones that Russia launched overnight, while a regional official said no casualties were caused by the attack.
“Fighter aircraft, anti-aircraft missile units and mobile fire groups were engaged to repel the attack,” the military said on the Telegram messaging app.
Odesa’s regional governor, Oleh Kiper, said his region was the main target but the attack left no casualties.
“Our air defence forces did an excellent job,” Reuters reports Kiper said on Telegram.
Yesterday my colleague Daniel Boffey reported how European-manufactured components are being used in the Iranian-made drones despite western sanctions aimed at Russia’s war effort.
Updated
Alexander Bogomaz, governor of Russia’s Bryansk region, has claimed on Telegram that electronic warfare was used to down a Ukrainian drone on the approach to the city of Bryansk. He said: “There were no casualties or damage. Operational and emergency services are on site.”
This is Martin Belam taking over the live blog in London. You can contact me at martin.belam@theguardian.com.
Updated
More now on that report from Greenpeace.
Shaun Burnie and Jan Vande Putte, nuclear specialists at Greenpeace, conclude in the report that “the IAEA risks normalising what remains a dangerous nuclear crisis, unprecedented in the history of nuclear power, while exaggerating its actual influence on events on the ground”.
The vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, with six reactors on site, was captured by Russia in early March 2022 and has been on the frontline of the war ever since. It is sited on the Dnipro River in central Ukraine and Ukrainian forces occupy the riverbank opposite, leaving the plant in the sights of both sides’ militaries.
Russian forces have based themselves inside the plant, potentially numbering 500-600 based on reports from early in the war. Imagery from 2022 revealed some armoured vehicles present. At times it has come under attack, including in August 2022 when shelling blew holes in the roof of a storage unit.
The IAEA declined to comment directly on the Greenpeace report but highlighted that it had had inspectors on site since September 2022, and that without their presence “the world would have no independent source of information about Europe’s largest nuclear power plant”.
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Greenpeace warns over safety of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
International regulators are incapable of properly monitoring safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to a critical dossier compiled by Greenpeace that is being sent to western governments on Thursday.
The environmental campaign group concludes the International Atomic Energy Agency has too few inspectors at Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – four – and that there are too many restrictions placed on their access.
It argues that the IAEA is “unable to meet its mandate requirements” but it is not prepared to admit as much in public, and as a result what it describes as Russian violations of safety principles are not being called out.
Moscow launches massive drone strike overnight
The Ukrainian military claimed on Thursday that Russia had launched a “massive” drone attack overnight and that more than 30 Russian unmanned aerial vehicles had been destroyed.
Nataliya Gumenyuk, spokesperson for the Ukrainian southern military command, said UAVs were intercepted over Black Sea coastal regions and also farther inland.
Russia “does not stop the pressure and searching for new tactics: namely, with the use of mass attacks”, Gumenyuk said on the messaging platform Telegram.
“Tonight, several groups of strike UAVs were launched … air defence worked along almost the entire southern direction – in Odesa, Mykolaiv regions. Also, much higher north – the enemy aimed its attacks on central Ukraine,” she said.
“The consequences of the attack are being clarified now, because it was indeed a massive one.
“However, the air defence work was quite effective. Over 30 UAVs were destroyed.”
Since July, when Moscow pulled out of a UN-brokered deal allowing safe grain shipments via the Black Sea, Russia has ramped up attacks on Ukraine’s grain-exporting infrastructure in the southern Odesa and Mykolaiv regions.
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Ukraine holding off ‘intense enemy attacks’ on eastern front, say officials
Reuters: Ukrainian troops held off determined attacks on Wednesday by Russian forces trying to regain lost positions on the eastern front, military officials said, while analysts suggested Kyiv’s forces were also making progress in the southern theatre.
The Ukrainian military launched its counteroffensive in June intending to recoup ground in the east and in the past two weeks announced the capture of two key villages, Andriivka and Klishchiivka, near the shattered city of Bakhmut.
Its forces are also trying to advance southward to the Sea of Azov to sever a land bridge established by Russia between the annexed Crimean peninsula and positions it holds in the east.
Illia Yevlash, a spokesperson for Ukraine‘s eastern group of forces, told national television: “We continue to repel intense enemy attacks near Klishchiivka and Andriivka.
“The enemy is still storming these positions with the hope of recapturing lost positions, but without success.”
There had been 544 Russian shelling incidents in the past 24 hours in the area, seven combat clashes and four air attacks, Yevlash said.
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Opening summary
Welcome back to our live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Helen Sullivan with the latest.
Our top stories this morning: Ukrainian troops held off determined attacks on Wednesday by Russian forces trying to regain lost positions on the eastern front, military officials said, while analysts suggested Kyiv’s forces were also making progress in the southern theatre.
And international regulators are incapable of properly monitoring safety at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, according to a critical dossier compiled by Greenpeace that is being sent to western governments on Thursday.
Meanwhile:
Aid money for Ukraine has become a bargaining chip for US congressional Republicans, as lawmakers negotiate on a bill to extend government funding beyond the end of the month and avoid a government shutdown. The House speaker, Kevin McCarthy, said he would not support the part of the bill that addresses funding for Ukraine if there also wasn’t something included that would address the immigration crisis at the Mexican border.
Iranian kamikaze drones used in the latest attacks on Ukrainian cities are filled with European components, according to a secret document sent by Kyiv to its western allies. In a document submitted by Ukraine to G7 governments in August and obtained by the Guardian, it is claimed there were more than 600 raids on cities using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) containing western technology in the previous three months.
Some mercenaries of the Russian Wagner group have left Belarus and returned to the front in Donetsk oblast, a Ukrainian military spokesperson told RBC-Ukraine. “We confirm that the ‘Wagners’ are present on the territory of the Eastern Group of Forces,” Illia Yevlash, spokesperson of the Eastern Group of Forces, said. “These are servicemen of the ‘Wagner’ PMK who were on the territory of Belarus. Now their camps are being disbanded there.”
Russian forces launched 44 airstrikes and 27 multiple launch rocket system attacks on Wednesday, and engaged Ukrainian troops in 17 combat engagements, the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces said in their evening briefing. “Unfortunately, the Russian terrorist attacks have killed and wounded civilians,” the general staff said in its update. “Residential buildings, a hospital and other civilian infrastructure were destroyed or damaged.”
Bulgaria’s parliament on Wednesday decided to send ageing, Soviet-era air-defence missile systems to Ukraine, its first such shipment to Kyiv from a country bitterly divided over the issue. An undisclosed number of S-300 surface-to-air missile systems – which Bulgaria said it is unable to repair – will be sent to Ukraine, after the decision by lawmakers.
Russia’s defence ministry has issued updated figures for the amount of equipment it claims to have destroyed during its full-scale invasion of Ukraine since February 2022. On its Telegram channel, it claimed: 479 airplanes, 250 helicopters, 7,191 unmanned aerial vehicles, 438 air defence missile systems, 12,170 tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles, 1,155 fighting vehicles equipped with MLRS, 6,557 field artillery cannon and mortars, as well as 13,449 special military motor vehicles have been destroyed during the special military operation. The claims have not been independently verified.
Alexei Navalny will be transferred to a single cell-type facility in an EPKT – “the most severe possible punishment” – for 12 months for supposed “incorrigibility”, the jailed Russian opposition leader said on Telegram.
At least three pro-war Russian journalists were sent severed pigs’ heads over the past week, the Moscow Times reported. The journalists who received the pigs’ heads include state media columnist Timofey Sergeitsev – who last year published an article calling for the murder of Ukrainian civilians – military expert Konstantin Sivkov and Tass news agency photojournalist Mikhail Tereshchenko.
Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary for the Russian president, said the US and the UK were “one way or another” involved in last year’s attack on the Nord Stream pipeline, Tass news agency reported. Responding to a question about a report published by the US investigative journalist Seymour Hersh in February that claimed the attack was a US operation, Peskov said: “What’s important here is that de facto such a terrorist act against critical energy infrastructure, one belonging to an international joint venture, was, of course, organised one way or another by the United States of America and Great Britain.”
Peskov also spoke at length on the incident of the Canadian parliament giving a standing ovation to a Ukrainian man who had fought for the German SS during the second world war. “The addiction to the Nazi ideology of the Kyiv regime is not news, this is something we have been talking about for a long time,” Peskov said. “The fact that Zelenskiy also applauded the fascist standing up confirms this once again.”
Russia has accused Ukraine’s western allies of helping to plan and carry out last week’s missile strike on the Black Sea fleet’s headquarters in Crimea. “There is no doubt that the attack had been planned in advance using western intelligence means, Nato satellite assets and reconnaissance planes and was implemented upon the advice of American and British security agencies and in close coordination with them,” Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, said at a briefing.
Russia’s military news outlet Zvezda published an interview with Black Sea fleet commander Viktor Sokolov – despite Ukraine claiming to have killed him in an attack on the fleet’s headquarters in Sevastopol. This report comes after Russia’s defence ministry released footage showing Sokolov attending a defence board meeting via video call.
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