A summary of today's developments
Concern about the potential for a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is persisting. Ukraine’s state energy operator has warned that there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances” at the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities were distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the plant in case of radiation exposure.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the area around Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the nuclear plant over the past day, the Ukrainian state nuclear company, Energoatom, said. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station three times” in the past day.
A team of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog is poised to make an emergency visit to the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to reports. Sources have told the Wall Street Journal it is “almost certain” that a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit the plant early next week, although details are still being finalised.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued a statement marking Ukraine’s Aviation Day, in which he pledged that Kyiv’s troops will “destroy the occupiers’ potential step by step”. The Ukrainian president vowed that the Russian “invaders will die like dew on the sun”.
Russia has probably increased the intensity of its attacks in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence. Pro-Russia separatists have most likely made progress towards the centre of Pisky village, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces overall had secured few territorial gains, the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defence says.
Russia has blocked an agreement at the UN that was aimed at bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The failure to agree to a joint statement, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause about control over the Zaporizhzhia power plant, is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and keeping a lid on a rekindled arms race.
Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, the country’s cabinet of ministers has said. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said men of draft age employed as crew members will be allowed to leave the country so long as they have permission from their local conscription offices to cross the border.
Britain’s defence ministry has said it is giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coastline of mines and make grain shipments safer. In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be taught to use the drones over the coming months, the ministry said.
Kazakhstan, a neighbour and ally of Russia, has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid the conflict in Ukraine and western sanctions against Moscow.
Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to protect the airspace of their Nato ally Slovakia, as it upgrades its air force from legacy Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to a new batch of F-16 jets from the US.
UK organisations have been urged to strengthen their cyber defences to prepare for an extended period of “heightened threat” due to the war in Ukraine.
The National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) published the guidance along with advice to help companies bolster their protections.
Paul Maddinson, NCSC director for national resilience and strategy, said: “From the start of the conflict in Ukraine, we have been asking organisations to strengthen their cyber defences to help keep the UK secure, and many have done so.
“But it’s now clear that we’re in this for the long haul, and it’s vital that organisations support their staff through this demanding period of heightened cyber threat.”
The UK is giving underwater drones to Ukraine and training Ukrainian personnel in Britain to use them to clear their coastline of mines, the Ministry of Defence has announced.
Dozens of Ukrainian personnel will be taught to use the autonomous minehunting vehicles by the Royal Navy and US partners over the coming months, with some already commencing their training.
Six autonomous minehunting vehicles are being sent to search for Russian mines in the waters off its coast. Three vehicles are due to be sent from UK stocks while another three will be bought from industry.
The lightweight autonomous vehicles can be used in shallow coastal environments and are designed to operate at depths of up to 100 metres to detect, locate and identify mines with a series of sensors.
Updated
Kazakhstan, a neighbour and ally of Russia, has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid conflict in Ukraine and western sanctions against Moscow.
The former Soviet republic – which also has active economic ties with Kyiv – has avoided taking sides in the Ukrainian crisis while calling for its peaceful resolution.
The country’s government did not give a reason in Saturday’s statement for the decision to halt arms exports, Reuters reports.
Kazakhstan produces a wide range of military equipment including boats, armoured and artillery vehicles, machine guns, night visors, grenades, torpedoes and protective gear.
The government has not said these items were being exported.
Updated
Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to protect the airspace of their Nato ally Slovakia, as it upgrades its air force from legacy Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to a new batch of F-16 jets from the US.
The agreement is due to come into effect at the beginning of September and will last a year and a half, the defence ministers of the countries agreed at a meeting during the Slovak International Air Fest.
Slovakia has expressed a willingness to transfer the grounded planes to Ukraine but the defence minister, Jaroslav Nad, said no deal had been reached with Kyiv.
Nad said: “The possibility is on the table, and once there is an agreement we will inform you.”
Updated
The woods outside Chernihiv were quiet in late August when Anatoliy Pavelko scrambled into a 10-metre bomb crater with a trowel and an icebox full of sample jars. He wanted to find out what the Russian FAB-250 bomb left behind when it carved this gaping hole into the ground in the spring.
Four months earlier, the environmental lawyer was dug in on a frontline just a few kilometres away, shells crashing around him in the bitter fight to keep Russian forces out of Kyiv.
Now he has taken temporary leave from his unit of volunteers and returned to Chernihiv for a more familiar battle on a different front in the war against Moscow.
Russia’s invasion has killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians and destroyed homes and entire cities. It is also devastating Ukraine’s environment, an “ecocide” that activists worry is going largely unrecorded amid the broader national tragedy.
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Concern about the potential for a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is persisting. Ukraine’s state energy operator has warned that there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances” at the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities were distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the plant in case of radiation exposure.
Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the area around Europe’s largest nuclear plant. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the nuclear plant over the past day, the Ukrainian state nuclear company, Energoatom, said. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station three times” in the past day.
A team of inspectors from the UN nuclear watchdog is poised to make an emergency visit to the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to reports. Sources have told the Wall Street Journal it is “almost certain” that a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit the plant early next week, although details are still being finalised.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued a statement marking Ukraine’s Aviation Day, in which he pledged that Kyiv’s troops will “destroy the occupiers’ potential step by step”. The Ukrainian president vowed that the Russian “invaders will die like dew on the sun”.
Russia has probably increased the intensity of its attacks in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence. Pro-Russia separatists have most likely made progress towards the centre of Pisky village, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces overall had secured few territorial gains, the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defence says.
Russia has blocked an agreement at the UN that was aimed at bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT). The failure to agree to a joint statement, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause about control over the Zaporizhzhia power plant, is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and keeping a lid on a rekindled arms race.
Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, the country’s cabinet of ministers has said. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said men of draft age employed as crew members will be allowed to leave the country so long as they have permission from their local conscription offices to cross the border.
Britain’s defence ministry has said it is giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coastline of mines and make grain shipments safer. In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be taught to use the drones over the coming months, the ministry said.
Updated
A Russian rocket hit Kharkiv’s historic district in the early hours of Saturday, leaving one person injured, according to police.
The rocket damaged nearby buildings, leaving a large crater in the road. A local police officer told Reuters:
There are no military objects, no military equipment. Only residential buildings with regular citizens near the place of impact.
Tetiana Zviahintseva, a local shopkeeper who was sweeping scattered shards of broken glass in her store, said:
Horror and nightmare – they [Russians] torture our city. The endless shelling exhausted everybody.
Updated
Zelenskiy: Russian ‘invaders will die like dew on the sun’
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, has issued a statement marking the country’s Aviation Day, in which he pledged that Kyiv’s troops will “destroy the occupiers’ potential step by step”.
On Telegram, the Ukrainian leader posted a series of photos dedicated to the country’s air force and vowed that the Russian “invaders will die like dew on the sun”.
Zelenskiy said:
Ukrainian soldiers will destroy the occupiers’ potential step by step, and the day will come when the enemy will perish in Zaporizhzhia, in the south, in the east of the country, and in Crimea.
The invaders will die like dew on the sun, and our defence is and will be this sun. Happy Ukraine Aviation Day!
• This post was amended on 30 August 2022 to provide a link to President Zelenskiy’s statement on Telegram.
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Ukraine’s military command said its forces have beaten back assaults by Russian forces around Soledar, Zaitseve and Mayorsk in the Donetsk region.
Ukraine’s southern military command reported that a Ukrainian air strike destroyed a Russian air defence system in the Kherson region, while the Antonovsky and Daryivskiy bridges remained unusable by heavy vehicles after previous strikes, Reuters reports.
Updated
In its daily briefing the Russian defence ministry said it had destroyed a large ammunition depot in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region that had contained US-made Himars rocket systems and shells for M777 howitzers, Reuters reports.
The Russian air force also claims to have shot down a MiG-29 aircraft in the eastern Donetsk region and to have destroyed another six missile and artillery weapons depots in the Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
Updated
Reuters reports two South Korean companies have signed a $5.76bn contract with Poland to export tanks and howitzers, Seoul’s arms procurement agency said. This comes after Warsaw agreed to ramp up arms imports amid tensions with Russia.
Updated
Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, the Kyiv Independent reports.
The cabinet of ministers of Ukraine has announced that sailors will be allowed to travel abroad for work. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said men of draft age employed as crew members will be allowed to leave the country so long as they have permission to cross the border from their local conscription offices.
Until now, men aged 18 to 60 who were capable of military service were not allowed to travel outside Ukraine. According to Shmyhal, more than 100,000 Ukrainians work in the shipping industry
Ukrainian sailors have been working to encourage the authorities to release them to work abroad, with some sailors recording videos with their wives and children with messages for Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, requesting the right to work overseas.
From 1 September, sailors will be allowed to leave Ukraine for business trips for up to seven days.
Updated
Risk of radioactive leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, says operator
Ukraine’s state energy operator has warned that there is a risk of a radioactive leak at the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine.
Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the nuclear plant over the past day, Energoatom said.
As of midday on Saturday local time (9am GMT) the plant “operates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards”, the operator said in a statement.
Energoatom said:
As a result of periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged, there are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high.
Russia’s defence ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station three times” in the past day.
Updated
Hungary has issued regulatory approval for the construction of two new nuclear reactors by the Russian state-owned company Rosatom, Hungary’s foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, announced yesterday.
The £10.6bn construction of two nuclear reactors will begin in the coming weeks, as part of a 2014 deal between Moscow and Budapest aimed at expanding Hungary’s existing Paks nuclear plant.
Szijjártó said on Facebook:
This is a big step, an important milestone. We can now move from planning stage to construction. You’ll see that at the Paks site in the coming weeks.
He added it is “realistic” that the new reactors could enter service by 2030.
Russia’s nuclear industry has not been included in EU sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, and the fact that the construction is moving forward has been seen as another sign of the close ties between Hungary’s leader, Viktor Orbán, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
Updated
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
Ukraine’s state nuclear company, Energoatom, has claimed Russian forces shelled the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant complex in southern Ukraine.
In a statement, Energoatom said:
Over the last [24 hours], Russian troops again shelled the grounds of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant. The damage is currently being ascertained.
Russia’s defence ministry earlier accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the nuclear plant complex three times in the last 24 hours.
It is not possible to verify either side’s claims.
On Friday, Energoatom said Ukrainian technicians had managed to partly reconnect the Zaporizhzhia plant to its grid under the gaze of occupying forces. The situation, however, remains fragile as fighting continues around the plant.
Updated
My colleague Shaun Walker has been reporting on the propaganda drive in Russian-occupied Kherson that Russia hopes will help cement its hold over the southern Ukrainian city.
Russian authorities have resurrected the Soviet-era newspaper Naddnepryanskaya Pravda, which now claims to have a print run of 250,000.
Front page of the first issue: “Russia is here FOREVER” pic.twitter.com/YyAz92ozCY
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 27, 2022
The newspaper’s content gives a good insight into the propaganda priorities for the Russian administration, Shaun writes. There are repeated articles promising residents increased benefits, pensions and more work opportunities.
Lots of focus on alleged economic benefits: lower tariffs, higher benefits pic.twitter.com/lVL8ueiTkR
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 27, 2022
The reassuring headline: “Everything is under control: Kherson is not facing famine” pic.twitter.com/zJSSK88PY7
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 27, 2022
There are repeated claims of the “overwhelming desire” of Kherson residents to hold a referendum to join Russia, but there are also plenty of threats.
One front page article warns of “tough measures” against those who threaten public order, indicating that speaking out against Russian rule is now considered to be against the law.
And this just about sums it up: a happy headline about “new horizons”, but plenty of threats too: the “anti-terror” article on the right says people who “discredit Russian state organs or spread false info about them” will be punished… pic.twitter.com/aicsc2TGMG
— Shaun Walker (@shaunwalker7) August 27, 2022
Updated
Here’s some more detail on the British defence ministry’s announcement that it is donating undersea minehunter drones to help Ukraine clear its coastline.
Six autonomous minehunting vehicles will be sent to the country to help detect Russian mines in the waters off its coast, the ministry said.
Three of these drones will be provided from the UK’s own stocks, with a further three to be purchased from industry.
In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be taught to use the drones over the coming months, the ministry said. The first tranche have already begun their training, it added.
Britain’s defence secretary, Ben Wallace, said in a statement:
Russia’s cynical attempts to hold the world’s food supply to ransom must not be allowed to succeed.
This vital equipment and training will help Ukraine make their waters safe, helping to smooth the flow of grain to the rest of the world and supporting the armed forces of Ukraine as they look to defend their coastline and ports.
Updated
Britain’s defence ministry has said it is giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coastline of mines and make grain shipments safer.
Britain will also train dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel to use the drones, the ministry said in a statement.
Updated
Updated
A US citizen has recently died in Ukraine, according to a state department spokesperson.
Officials are in touch with the family and are providing consular assistance, they added.
The spokesperson added:
We also once again reiterate US citizens should not travel to Ukraine due to the active armed conflict and the singling out of US citizens in Ukraine by Russian government security officials, and that US citizens in Ukraine should depart immediately if it is safe to do so using any commercial or other privately available ground transportation options.
Updated
Two civilians have been killed and 12 others injured by Russian forces in the Donetsk region in eastern Ukraine, according to officials.
Pavlo Kyrylenko, the governor, wrote on Facebook:
On August 26, Russians killed two civilians in Donetsk region – in Bakhmut. Twelve people were injured.
Note: It has not been possible to independently verify this information.
Updated
Russia blocks UN nuclear treaty agreement over Zaporizhzhia clause
Russia has blocked an agreement at the United Nations that was aimed at bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation treaty (NPT) because Moscow objected to a clause about control over the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Ukraine.
The failure to agree to a joint statement after four weeks of debate and negotiation among 151 countries at the UN in New York is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and keeping a lid on a rekindled arms race.
The closing session was put off for more than four hours over Russia’s refusal to agree to a lengthy statement of support for the NPT which included a reference to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian forces close to the frontline in Ukraine’s south-east.
Alarm was raised on Thursday when the plant was temporarily cut off from the Ukrainian electricity grid but the connection was restored. Russian forces are reportedly planning to sever the plant more permanently from the grid, raising concerns of a possible disaster.
A paragraph in the final draft text on Friday stressed “the paramount importance of ensuring control by Ukraine’s competent authorities of nuclear facilities … such as the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant”.
The Russian delegation was the only one to speak against the agreed text, but blamed the breakdown of the conference on Ukraine and its “protectors”, calling the negotiations a “one-sided game”. After delivering its statement, the Russian delegation walked out of the UN chamber.
Updated
French energy firm TotalEnergies says it is divesting its stake in a Russian gas field that was reported this week to be providing fuel that ends up in Russian fighter jets.
The company said it had signed a deal on Friday with its local Russian partner, Novatek, to sell its 49% in the Termokarstovoye gas field “on economic terms enabling TotalEnergies to recover the outstanding amounts invested in the field”.
Agence France-Presse reported it saying Russian authorities approved the divestment on 25 August. That was the day after an article appeared in French daily Le Monde reporting on the alleged refining of natural gas condensates from Termokarstovoye into jet fuel for fighter-bombers involved in Russia’s assault on Ukraine since February.
Updated
Nato’s secretary general, Jens Stoltenberg, has stressed the need to boost security along the alliance’s northern flank to counter Russia, as he concluded a visit to Canada that included a tour of its Arctic defences.
“The high north is strategically important for Euro-Atlantic security,” Agence France Presse reported Stoltenberg as telling a news conference at an air base in Alberta. With Finland and Sweden joining Nato, he noted, seven of eight Arctic states would be members.
Referring to the North American aerospace defence command (Norad), a US-Canadian organisation, Stoltenberg said:
The shortest path to North America for Russian missiles and bombers would be over the North Pole. This makes Norad’s role vital for North America and therefore also for Nato.
Stoltenberg said Russia’s capabilities in the far north “are a strategic challenge for the whole alliance”, citing a significant Russian military buildup in the region. That included the reopening of “hundreds of new and former Soviet-era Arctic military sites” and its use of the high north “as a testbed for the most advanced weapons including hypersonic missiles”.
The Nato chief also expressed concerns about China’s reach into the Arctic for shipping and resources exploration, with plans to build the world’s largest icebreaker fleet.
Beijing and Moscow have pledged to intensify practical cooperation in the Arctic. This forms part of the deepening strategic partnership that challenges our values and our interests.
Updated
The governor of the Donetsk region says three-quarters of its population has been evacuated amid Russian assaults in Ukraine’s east.
Pavlo Kyrylenko told Ukrainian TV:
There is practically not a single major town or city that is not subject to [Russian] shelling.
Reuters also reported the Ukrainian military general staff as saying Russian aircraft had attacked several sites and was focusing on more than a dozen towns in the south, including Mykolaiv near the Black Sea.
There were also air strikes against several towns in the Sumy region near the Russian border, the general staff said, and Russian forces had shelled and carried out air attacks against the Kharkiv region in the north-east.
Also on Friday, Washington confirmed reports that a US citizen had recently died in Ukraine, but declined to provide further details.
Russia intensifying attacks amid rumour of major Ukrainian counter-offensive, says UK
Russia has probably increased the intensity of its attacks in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence.
Pro-Russia separatists have most likely made progress towards the centre of Pisky village, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces overall had secured few territorial gains, the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defence says.
It adds:
There is a realistic possibility that Russia has increased its efforts in the Donbas in an attempt to draw in or fix additional Ukrainian units, amid speculation that Ukraine is planning a major counter-offensive.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 27 August 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) August 27, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/kLlYq5lRT2
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/JZ4eHkfH6t
Updated
Ukraine suspects Moscow intends to divert power from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Crimean peninsula, which was annexed by Russian troops in 2014.
Washington warned on Thursday against such a move, with State Department spokesman Vedant Patel saying attempts to redirect power to occupied areas were “unacceptable”.
The electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine.
Agence France-Presse also reported that Britain’s defence ministry said satellite imagery showed an increased presence of Russian troops at the occupied power plant in south-eastern Ukraine, with armoured personnel carriers deployed within 60m (200 feet) of one reactor.
Summary
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Adam Fulton and here are the latest developments as it has just passed 9am in Kyiv on this Saturday 27 August 2022.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant remained “very risky” after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid following shelling that caused Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to be disconnected for the first time in its history. “Let me stress that the situation remains very risky and dangerous,” he said in his regular evening address on Friday, praising Ukrainian experts working to “avert the worst-case scenario”.
Residents near the Zaporizhzhia plant have reportedly been given iodine tablets amid mounting fears that the fighting around the Russian-occupied complex in south-eastern Ukraine could trigger a catastrophe.
Zelenskiy said the world narrowly avoided a “radiation disaster” on Thursday when electricity to the Zaporizhzhia plant was cut for hours after fires broke out around it.
A team of inspectors from the United Nations nuclear watchdog are poised to make an emergency visit to the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to reports. Sources have told the Wall Street Journal it is “almost certain” that a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency will visit the plant early next week, although details are still being completed.
Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, Iryna Vereshchuk, has announced plans to expand mandatory evacuations for civilians living on the war’s frontlines. Speaking on national television, she said evacuating women with children and elderly people would be a priority from some districts of the eastern Kharkiv region, and the southern Zaporizhzhia and Mykolaiv regions.
Ukrainian forces have struck an important bridge used by Russian occupying forces in the southern Kherson region, according to Ukraine’s southern military command. The Daryivskiy Bridge is the only Russian-controlled crossing across the Inhulets river, which splits the Russian-occupied land west of the Dnipro into two parts.
Former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev, an ally of President Vladimir Putin, said in a French television interview on Friday that Russia was prepared to hold talks with Volodymyr Zelenskiy subject to certain conditions, but warned Moscow would not stop its assault until its goals had been achieved. “Renouncing [Ukraine’s] participation in the North Atlantic alliance is now vital, but it is already insufficient in order to establish peace,” Medvedev told LCI television in quotes reported by Russian news agencies.
EU energy ministers will gather for an urgent meeting as soon as possible to discuss the energy crisis following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the Czech prime minister said. The Czech Republic currently holds the presidency of the European Council.
Russia’s claim that it is deliberately slowing the pace of its military campaign in Ukraine is “almost certainly deliberate misinformation”, according to British intelligence. The latest UK Ministry of Defence report said Russia’s offensive had stalled “because of poor Russian military performance and fierce Ukrainian resistance”.
The Belarusian president has said his country’s SU-24 warplanes have been re-fitted to carry nuclear armaments. Alexander Lukashenko said he had previously agreed to the move with his Russian counterpart, Putin, and warned that his country was ready to respond to “serious provocation” from the west instantly.
Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas that it would previously have exported to Germany while energy costs soar in Europe, the BBC has reported. According to the broadcaster, which cites an analysis by Rystad Energy, a plant near Russia’s border with Finland is burning an estimated £8.4m worth of gas every day.
The head of the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, has blamed Russia for driving up energy prices, resulting in the UK price cap rising by 80%. Ofgem on Friday approved a £1,578 increase on the current price cap of £1,971 for the average dual-fuel tariff.
The German ambassador to the UK has acknowledged there is a risk public support for Ukraine could wane this winter as the energy crisis intensifies. Putin was “using gas as a weapon” in the UK and all of Europe, Miguel Berger said. “He wants to test our resolve.”
