A summary of today's developments
Eighteen Ukrainian diplomatic missions in 12 countries have received bloody packages, including animal parts, in what Ukraine has described as a “campaign of terror and intimidation”. Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson from Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said the packages were simultaneously sent from one European country, which he could not disclose while the investigation was ongoing.
Ukrainian authorities in Kherson have urged people on the east of the Dnieper River to evacuate. The governor, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said that authorities would help people to evacuate during the daytime of Saturday to Monday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
The west should consider how to address Russia’s need for security guarantees if Vladimir Putin agrees to negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said. He said Europe needed to address Putin’s fear that “NATO comes right up to its doors”, and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia, as Europe prepares its future security architecture, Reuters reports.
More than 7,000 explosives have been removed from around Kherson, the Ukrainian state emergency service said.
The Ukrainian army has recaptured 13 settlements in the Luhansk region, the eastern-most oblast in the country, according to the head of the regional administration, Serhiy Haidai. He said that artillery was still being fired at the villages by Russian forces. Doctors are due to visit next week and firewood is being organised for residents, Haidai posted on Telegram.
Russian forces are concentrating most of their strength on taking the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk, according to the British ministry of defence.
The price cap on Russian seaborne oil has been adopted by the G7 and Australia, after it was agreed by EU countries. Poland had held out on a lower amount than the $60 a barrel that was agreed. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would “not accept this ceiling”.
Another 510 Russian troops were killed on Friday according to Ukraine, bringing the total killed since the invasion in February to 90,600. A tank and eight drones were also lost by the Russians.
Up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded in February, according to Kyiv’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. At certain points in the war, Ukraine said that between 100 and 200 of its forces were dying a day on the battlefield, making Podolyak’s estimate seem conservative. Speaking to Ukraine’s 24 Kanal, Podolyak said they were official figures from Ukraine’s general staff.
One person was killed and six were injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine on Friday. Zelenskiy aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko said one civilian was killed and four injured in the Donetsk region, one was injured in Kharkiv and another in Kherson.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said that they would start evacuating some people with reduced mobility from the Russian-occupied town of Kakhovka, on the east bank of the Dnieper River. The evacuations were to start on Saturday, they said in a Telegram post on Friday.
Russian troops in Ukraine are deliberately attacking the country’s museums, libraries and other cultural institutions, according to a report issued by the US and Ukrainian chapters of the international writers’ organisation, PEN.
The International Atomic Energy Agency hopes to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to create a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the end of the year, the head of the UN atomic watchdog was quoted as saying. The nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest, provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before Russia’s invasion, and has been forced to operate on backup generators a number of times, Reuters reported.
Ukraine has detained eight people over the theft of a mural painted by the elusive British street artist Banksy from a wall in the Kyiv suburbs, authorities said. The stencil image of a person in a nightgown and gas mask holding a fire extinguisher next to the charred remains of a window in the town of Hostomel went missing on Friday, they said.
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Around mid-October, almost a month after Vladimir Putin called for the partial mobilisation of Russian citizens to fight the war in Ukraine, there was a knock at the door of the Moscow flat that is registered as my official residence in the country.
The family friends who reside there opened the door and were greeted by two officers from the Russian military administration, who asked them whether I was at home. They said I had not been home in more than 20 years.
The mobilisation was declared by Putin on the 21 September, after half a year of strategic failures, senseless deaths and humanitarian atrocities at the hands of the Russian army in Ukraine. There are an estimated 356,520 Russian casualties to date, close to 40% of the entire Russian armed forces.
The west should consider how to address Russia’s need for security guarantees if Vladimir Putin agrees to negotiations about ending the war in Ukraine, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, said in remarks broadcast on Saturday.
Macron said Europe needed to address Putin’s fear that “NATO comes right up to its doors” and the deployment of weapons that could threaten Russia as Europe prepares its future security architecture, Reuters reports.
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Russia has rejected a price cap on its oil after the Group of Seven nations plus Australia joined the EU in adopting a $60-a-barrel price cap on seaborne Russian oil.
The Kremlin’s spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said Moscow “will not accept this cap”, according to the RIA news agency.
He said Russia would conduct a rapid analysis of the agreement and then respond.
Moscow’s permanent representative to international organisations in Vienna, Mikhail Ulyanov, warned the cap’s European backers would regret their decision.
“From this year, Europe will live without Russian oil,” Ulyanov tweeted.
“Moscow has already made it clear that it will not supply oil to those countries that support anti-market price caps. Wait, very soon the EU will accuse Russia of using oil as a weapon.”
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Moldova’s deputy prime minister, Andrei Spinu, has announced an energy deal he said would reduce the risk of large-scale electricity outages.
Spinu said state utilities firm Energocom would buy enough electricity from Cuciurgan, the country’s largest power station, to cover all of Moldova’s needs for December when combined with existing imports from Romania, Reuters reports.
Moldova, one of Europe’s poorest countries, has suffered from widespread power outages amid a reduced flow of natural gas from Russia and Kremlin air strikes on energy infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine.
The power station, located in Transnistria, a breakaway territory loyal to Moscow, depends on Russian gas dispensed by the Moldovan government in Chișinău. The Cuciurgan station had stopped providing electricity to the rest of Moldova after Russian state energy giant cut flows by 40%.
Moldova has since relied on more expensive Romanian electricity but has still suffered blackouts linked to Russian strikes on Ukraine.
Spinu said the power station, which sits across the Dniester River, would receive 5.7m cubic meters of gas a day in exchange for selling electricity for $73 a megawatt per hour.
“This contract is a reasonable compromise to ensure the citizens on both banks of the Dniester [have] electricity and gas,” Spinu wrote on his Telegram channel.
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After Britain’s National Crime Agency arrested a “wealthy Russian businessman” on suspicion of money laundering and other offences, the Russian embassy in London has demanded information from the UK’s Foreign Office on the reasons and circumstances of the detention of the unidentified businessman and the conditions in which he is being held, Russian news agencies said.
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Ukraine has detained eight people over the theft of a mural painted by the elusive British street artist Banksy from a wall in the Kyiv suburbs, the authorities said.
The stencil image of a person in a nightgown and gas mask holding a fire extinguisher next to the charred remains of a window in the town of Hostomel went missing on Friday, they said.
“A group of people tried to steal a Banksy mural. They cut out the work from the wall of a house destroyed by the Russians,” the Kyiv governor, Oleksiy Kuleba, said in a post on Telegram.
He attached the image of a gaping hole in the wall where the image once stood.
Moldova’s deputy prime minister, Andrei Spînu, announced an energy deal on Saturday he said would reduce the risk of “massive electricity outages” in the former Soviet republic, Reuters reports.
Moldova has had widespread power outages amid Russian airstrikes on energy infrastructure in neighbouring Ukraine and a reduced flow of natural gas from Russian state energy giant Gazprom.
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The Ukrainian army has recaptured 13 settlements in the Luhansk region, the eastern most oblast in the country, according to the head of the regional administration, Serhiy Haidai.
He said that artillery was still being fired at the villages by Russian forces. Doctors are due to visit next week and firewood is being organised for residents, Haidai posted on Telegram.
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The Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, has landed in Belarus’ capital, Minsk, to meet his opposite number Viktor Khrenin.
Belarus is one of Russia’s closest allies, and was used as a launchpad for the invasion in February.
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Summary of the day so far
As it approaches 5pm in Kyiv, here’s a roundup of today’s news so far.
Eighteen Ukrainian diplomatic missions in 12 countries have received bloody packages, including animal parts, in what Ukraine has described as a “campaign of terror and intimidation”. Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson from Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said the packages were simultaneously sent from one European country, which he could not disclose while the investigation was ongoing.
Ukrainian authorities in Kherson have urged people on the east of the Dnipro River to evacuate. The governor, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said that authorities would help people to evacuate during the daytime of Saturday to Monday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
More than 7,000 explosives have been removed from around Kherson, the Ukrainian state emergency service has said.
Russian forces are concentrating most of their strength on taking the town of Bakhmut in Donetsk, according to the British Ministry of Defence.
The price cap on Russian seabourne oil has been expanded to the G7 and Australia, after it was agreed by EU countries. Poland had held out on a lower amount than the $60 a barrel that was agreed.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia would “not accept this ceiling”.
Another 510 Russian troops were killed on Friday according to Ukraine, bringing the total killed since the invasion in February to 90,600. A tank and eight drones were also lost by the Russians.
Up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded in February, according to Kyiv’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. At certain points in the war, Ukraine said that between 100 and 200 of its forces were dying a day on the battlefield, making Podolyak’s estimate seem conservative. Speaking to Ukraine’s 24 Kanal, Podolyak said they were official figures from Ukraine’s general staff.
One person was killed and six were injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine on Friday. Zelenskiy aide Kyrylo Tymoshenko said one civilian was killed and four injured in the Donetsk region, one was injured in Kharkiv and another in Kherson.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said that they would start evacuating some people with reduced mobility from the Russian-occupied town of Kakhovka, on the east bank of the Dnipro River. The evacuations were set to start on Saturday, they said in a Telegram post on Friday.
Russian troops in Ukraine are deliberately attacking the country’s museums, libraries and other cultural institutions, according to a report issued by the US and Ukrainian chapters of the international writers’ organisation PEN.
The Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, has called for Europe to build its own defence capabilities in the wake of the war in Ukraine, saying that without US help Europe is not resilient enough.
The International Atomic Energy Agency hopes to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to create a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the end of the year, the head of the UN atomic watchdog was quoted as saying. The nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest, provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before Russia’s invasion, and has been forced to operate on backup generators a number of times, Reuters reported.
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One person was killed and six were injured in Russian attacks on Ukraine on Friday.
The news was announced by deputy head of Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s office, Kyrylo Tymoshenko on Telegram.
He said one civilian was killed and four injured in the Donetsk region, one was injured in Kharkiv and another in Kherson.
Ukrainian authorities in Kherson have urged people on the east of the Dnipro River to evacuate.
The river been the front line between Ukrainian and Russian troops in the area since Russia pulled out of the city itself. Shelling towards the city has continued since then.
The governor, Yaroslav Yanushevych, said authorities would help people to evacuate during the daytime of Saturday to Monday, according to the Kyiv Independent.
⚡️Ukrainian authorities urge Kherson Oblast residents on east bank of Dnipro River to evacuate.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 3, 2022
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Russian government spokesperson Dmitry Peskov has responded to the price cap imposed by the G7 and its allies on the exportation of seabound crude oil from Russia.
Peskov said the Kremlin was prepared for the price cap and was analysing it.
“We will not accept this ceiling,” the Tass news agency quoted him as saying.
He added that the analysis would be carried out quickly and Russia would then say how it would respond.
Eighteen Ukrainian diplomatic missions in 12 countries have received bloody packages in what Ukraine has described as a “campaign of terror and intimidation”.
Oleg Nikolenko, a spokesperson from Ukraine’s foreign ministry, said the packages were simultaneously sent from one European country, which he could not disclose while the investigation was ongoing.
As of Friday, Ukraine said 17 embassies had been targeted, indicating that another was delivered on Saturday.
A Ukrainian embassy employee in Madrid was injured on Wednesday by a letter bomb, which was addressed to Ukraine’s ambassador to Spain.
A further four letter bombs were sent on Wednesday to addresses in Spain, including to a Spanish arms manufacturer that has produced rockets donated to Ukraine, as well as Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, and the US embassy in Madrid.
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A Russian businessman has been arrested in London by officers investigating potential criminal activity by oligarchs.
The 58-year-old man, who has not been named, was held by the National Crime Agency (NCA) on Thursday on suspicion of offences including money laundering, conspiracy to defraud the Home Office and conspiracy to commit perjury.
A 35-year-old man, who works at the residence, was arrested nearby on suspicion of money laundering and obstruction of an officer after he was seen leaving with a bag containing thousands of pounds in cash.
A third man, 39, who is the former boyfriend of the businessman’s current partner, was arrested at his home in Pimlico, London, for offences including money laundering and conspiracy to defraud. They have all been bailed, according to PA Media.
Graeme Biggar, director general of the NCA, said: “The NCA’s combatting kleptocracy cell, only established this year, is having significant success investigating potential criminal activity by oligarchs, the professional service providers that support and enable them and those linked to the Russian regime.
“We will continue to use all the powers and tactics available to us to disrupt this threat.”
The NCA said it is the latest operation carried out as part of its efforts to disrupt the activities of corrupt international business figures and their enablers.
A statement said the NCA has already helped with the freezing of numerous properties, eight yachts and four aircraft.
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The graphic below shows the latest developments in Russia’s war in Ukraine.
On Friday, it was reported that Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said that they would start evacuating some people with reduced mobility from the Russian-occupied town of Kakhovka, on the east bank of the Dnipro River. The evacuations were set to start on Saturday.
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You can read Isobel Koshiw’s report here for more in-depth reporting regarding the price cap of Russian oil.
“G7 countries and Australia have agreed to cap the price of Russian seaborne oil, with the aim of reducing Moscow’s income and limiting its ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
But critics, including Ukraine, say the cap of $60 a barrel is still higher than the current market price for Russian crude oil and is unlikely to affect the KremlinRussia’s war coffers.
In a statement on the deal, the UK chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, described the country’s support for Ukraine as unwavering and said it would “continue to look for new ways to clamp down on [the Russian president, Vladimir] Putin’s funding streams wherever we can”.
The cap on the price of Russian oil transported by sea is designed to affect the country’s exports worldwide, in addition to the EU-wide embargo on Russian crude oil, which comes into force on 5 December, which the UK is also adopting.
Andrey Kurkov has written an opinion piece, arguing that Ukrainians enjoying the festive season and a local chess championship is an “act of defiance for our country’s future”.
“While Ukraine lives in fear of the next mass bombing of its energy infrastructure by Russian missiles and Iranian drones, and constantly monitors the actions of troops located in Belarus, there are still small forms of normalcy, small forms of resistance. A blitz chess championship was recently held in Zhytomyr, a city 140km west of Kyiv and a regular target of missile attacks.
“Blitz chess – because slow chess is impossible in today’s Ukraine, where everything has to be done quickly or very quickly. The games were played according to the Swiss system, and with nine rounds in which players have only three minutes a move. If in peacetime a person appreciates every hour of tranquility, during a war we appreciate every minute.”
You can read the full article here:
17 Ukrainian diplomatic missions receive suspicious packages after letter bomb
The Ukrainian foreign minister, Dmytro Kuleba, has said that 17 Ukrainian embassies or diplomatic missions around the world have received letter bombs or packages containing animal parts, including cows eyes, in recent days.
In an interview with CNN, he said: “It started with an explosion at the embassy of Ukraine in Spain,” Kuleba said. “But what followed this explosion was more weird, and I would even say sick.”
A letter bomb at the Ukrainian embassy in Madrid left a staff member with minor injuries on Wednesday. Others have been sent to the Spanish prime minister, the deputy prime minister and the US embassy.
Ukraine’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Oleg Nikolenko, said that embassies in Hungary, the Netherlands, Poland, Croatia, Italy and Austria are among those to receive the packages.
When asked who he thought was behind the letters, Kuleba told CNN said: “I feel tempted to say, to name Russia straight away, because first of all you have to answer the question, who benefits?
“Maybe this terror response is the Russian answer to the diplomatic horror that we created for Russia on the international arena, and this is how they try to fight back while they are losing the real diplomatic battles one after another.”
Russia has denied any responsibility for the packages in Madrid. On Wednesday, its embassy in Spain said: “Any terrorist threat or act, even more so directed against a diplomatic mission, is totally reprehensible.”
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More details have been published about attacks on Ukraine on Friday, in an update from the general staff of the Ukrainian armed forces.
They said Russia continues to shell civilian infrastructure and is trying to go on the offensive in Avdiivka and Bakhmut.
Russia launched five missile strikes, 27 airstrikes and 44 rocket launcher attacks on Ukrainian towns, cities and troops.
The main target for Russian airstrikes was Bakhmut and Avdiivka, both in Donetsk oblast in the east of Ukraine.
Kherson city has continued to be shelled since its recapture by Ukrainian troops.
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Two Russian missiles hit the region of Zaporizhzhia in the south-east of Ukraine overnight.
The governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said they had damaged buildings near the regional capital, Zaporizhzhia, but no casualties were reported.
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Spain has sent its first Hawk air-defence missile system to Ukraine.
The American-built Raytheon system can be used against aircraft and missiles, both of which have been used by Russia to attack Ukraine, including power stations and homes.
Spain has promised to supply six units to Ukraine.
⚡️Spain deployed the first MIM-23 HAWK SAM system to Ukraine.
— KyivPost (@KyivPost) December 3, 2022
In total, Madrid pledged to deliver six HAWKs.
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Russia has said it will continue to find buyers for oil, despite a price cap for seabourne oil being set at $60 a barrel.
A group of western countries, including EU nations, G7 countries and Australia have agreed the cap as they try to limit Moscow’s income and its ability to finance its ongoing war in Ukraine.
In retaliation, Vladimir Putin and Kremlin officials have said that they won’t sell oil to countries that implement it.
Russia’s embassy to the US on Saturday said that the policy was “reshaping” the free market, and insisted oil would continue to be sold.
In a post on Telegram, it said: “Steps like these will inevitably result in increasing uncertainty and imposing higher costs for raw materials’ consumers.
“Regardless of the current flirtations with the dangerous and illegitimate instrument, we are confident that Russian oil will continue to be in demand.”
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Ukrainian forces killed another 510 Russian troops on Friday, bringing the total number of soldiers lost by Russia since the invasion to 90,600.
They also downed another eight drones and managed to take out a tank, according to statistics provided by the Ukrainian general staff of the armed forces.
These are the indicative estimates of Russia’s combat losses as of Dec. 3, according to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/t9HbMcR2Wq
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) December 3, 2022
More than 7,000 explosives removed from around Kherson – Ukraine emergency services
A total of 7,042 explosive items have been “removed and neutralised” from Kherson oblast, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Service.
Work to rid the area of mines and other traps has been going on since the Russian retreat from the city last month.
Ukrainian emergency workers say they have surveyed almost 700ha of open territory, 60km of railway tracks and 326 households.
Authorities are urging anyone who returns to Kherson or the area around it to be extremely careful.
Last month, the Guardian reported that ridding Kherson of mines could take years.
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Here’s a bit more detail about the oil price cap instituted by the G7 and its allies.
The EU had already agreed on an embargo of seaborne crude oil from Russia in a package of sanctions announced earlier this year.
The G7 and Australia agreement will allow non-EU countries to continue importing seaborne Russian crude oil using western insurance and maritime services as long as they do not pay more a barrel than the agreed limit.
Because the most important shipping and insurance firms are based in G7 countries, the price cap would make it very difficult for Moscow to sell its oil for a higher price.
A senior US Treasury Department official told reporters on Friday that the $60 a barrel price cap on Russian seaborne crude oil will keep global markets well supplied while “institutionalising” discounts created by the threat of such a limit.
Under the terms of the deal the price cap will be reviewed in mid-January and every two months after that. It also includes a mechanism that would keep the price cap at least 5% below the market rate.
Security experts from the CSIS thinktank have warned a cap at $60 is toothless since it is above the price of existing Russian oil prices of about $52 a barrel.
It has been estimated that Russian oil is sold at a profit from $40-$45 a barrel, but Russia’s true extraction costs are hard to estimate.
Russia investing large military effort to take Donetsk town, says UK
The UK Ministry of Defence has released an update on Russia’s military efforts in Ukraine.
Russian forces continue to invest a large part of their overall firepower on an approximately 15km-long sector of entrenched frontline around the Donetsk oblast town of Bakhmut, the defence ministry says.
In recent days, Russia has likely made small advances on the southern axis of this assault and is likely to be planning to encircle the town.
Russia has prioritised Bakhmut as its main offensive effort since early August 2022. The capture of the town would have limited operational value although it would potentially allow Russia to threaten the larger urban areas of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk.
The statement from the ministry adds that the campaign has been disproportionately costly, relative to these possible gains.
There is a realistic possibility that Bakhmut’s capture has become primarily a symbolic, political objective for Russia.
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Cap on Russian oil price expanded to G7 and Australia
The G7 and Australia have agreed to cap the price paid for Russian seaborne crude oil at $60 a barrel, hours after EU members overcame internal resistance to reach the same decision earlier in the day.
The EU agreed the price after holdout Poland gave its support, paving the way for formal approval over the weekend.
In a statement, the Group of Seven leading economies and Australia said the price cap would take effect on 5 December or very soon after.
The price cap aims to reduce Russia’s income from selling oil, while preventing a spike in global oil prices after an EU embargo on Russian crude oil takes effect on 5 December.
Poland had pushed in EU negotiations for the cap to be as low as possible in order to squeeze Russian revenues and limit Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
The final deal includes a mechanism to keep the oil price cap at least 5% below the market rate.
US officials said the deal was unprecedented and demonstrated the resolve of the coalition opposing Russia’s war.
The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said the price cap would significantly reduce Russia’s revenues.
The EU agreement on an oil price cap, coordinated with G7 and others, will reduce Russia’s revenues significantly.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) December 2, 2022
It will help us stabilise global energy prices, benefitting emerging economies around the world. pic.twitter.com/3WmIalIe5y
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Welcome and summary
Hello and welcome to today’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. My name is Jonathan Yerushalmy and I’ll be with you for the next while.
The G7, EU and Australia have agreed to cap the price of Russian seaborne crude oil at $60 a barrel, in a move that could result in Russian oil output falling by 500,000 barrels a day by early 2023.
The decision by the Group of Seven nations and Australia followed an earlier announcement from the EU that the bloc had overcome internal resistance to a $60 a barrel price.
The G7 and Australia said in a statement the price cap would take effect on 5 December or very soon thereafter.
More on this shortly. In the meantime, here are the other key recent developments:
The US president, Joe Biden, said on Thursday that he was prepared to speak to the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, if he was looking for a way to end the war but that Putin had not yet indicated that. Putin is open to talks on a possible settlement in Ukraine but the refusal of the United States to recognise annexed territories as Russian is hindering a search for any potential compromise, the Kremlin said.
Up to 13,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed since Russia invaded in February, according to Kyiv’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. At certain points in the war, Ukraine said that between 100 and 200 of its forces were dying a day on the battlefield, making Podolyak’s estimate seem conservative. Speaking to Ukraine’s 24 Kanal, Podolyak said they were official figures from Ukraine’s general staff.
Three people were killed and seven wounded in Russian shelling of the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson over the past 24 hours, the regional governor said.
Russian-installed authorities in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said that they would start evacuating some people with reduced mobility from the Russian-occupied town of Kakhovka, on the east bank of the Dnipro River. The evacuations were set to start on Saturday, they said in a Telegram post on Friday.
Russian troops in Ukraine are deliberately attacking the country’s museums, libraries and other cultural institutions, according to a report issued by the US and Ukrainian chapters of the international writers’ organisation PEN.
The Finnish prime minister, Sanna Marin, has called for Europe to build its own defence capabilities in the wake of the war in Ukraine, saying that without US help Europe is not resilient enough.
The International Atomic Energy Agency hopes to reach an agreement with Russia and Ukraine to create a protection zone at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by the end of the year, the head of the UN atomic watchdog was quoted as saying. The nuclear plant, Europe’s biggest, provided about a fifth of Ukraine’s electricity before Russia’s invasion, and has been forced to operate on backup generators a number of times, Reuters reported.
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