Closing summary
It’s 9pm in Kyiv. That’s it from me, Léonie Chao-Fong, and the Russia-Ukraine war blog today. I’ll be back tomorrow.
Here’s a quick recap of where we stand:
The Ukrainian military repelled several Russian offensives in the eastern Ukrainian region of Donetsk, the army’s general staff has said. In a situational update on Tuesday evening, the Ukrainian military also claimed the destruction of Russian targets in the Donetsk region. An adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff said he expected Kyiv to announce “great news” about its counteroffensive in the eastern Kharkiv region on Tuesday evening.
The US defence department is seeing Ukrainian offensive forces in the Kherson region “continue to make some forward movement,” including retaking villages, according to a Pentagon official. The US has also seen “some offensive Russian activity … near Bakhmut”, Pentagon press secretary Air Force Brig Gen Pat Ryder said.
Serhiy Haidai, the governor of Luhansk oblast, has said Ukrainian troops have “gained a foothold” in the eastern region. In an update posted on Telegram, Haidai said Ukrainian forces have “advanced a little” in the Luhansk region and have repulsed Russian attacks. It has not been possible to independently verify his claims.
Ukraine’s forces are conducting counteroffensive actions in the east and south-east of the country, a senior Ukrainian presidential adviser has said. Writing on Telegram, Oleksiy Arestovych said Kyiv’s troops had “liberated several settlements on the western bank of the Dnieper” and that Russian forces on the right bank of the Dnieper would be in an “extremely difficult” position within a month.
The Russian defence ministry is in the process of buying millions of rockets and artillery shells from North Korea to support its invasion of Ukraine, according to a newly downgraded US intelligence finding. A US official said the fact Russia was turning to North Korea demonstrated that “the Russian military continues to suffer from severe supply shortages in Ukraine, due in part to export controls and sanctions”.
A powerful explosion in the occupied city of Enerhodar, which houses the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, has cut off water and electricity supplies, according to the local mayor. Russia’s defence ministry claimed earlier on Tuesday that Ukraine had fired 20 artillery shells on the town of Enerhodar and the area around the facility over a 24-hour period.
The UN’s nuclear watchdog has called for the creation of a security zone around the Zaporizhzhia plant on the frontline of Russia’s war in Ukraine. In a long-awaited report that detailed extensive damage there, the IAEA said it was “gravely concerned” about the “unprecedented” situation at the plant and urged interim measures to prevent a nuclear disaster.
Russia’s biggest natural gas pipeline to Europe will not resume pumping until Siemens Energy repairs faulty equipment, Gazprom has said. Siemens Energy said an engine oil leak at the last remaining turbine in operation at the Portovaya compressor station did not warrant keeping the pipeline closed.
Russia’s foreign ministry has said the US is responsible for Europe’s gas supply crisis by pushing European leaders towards the “suicidal” step of cutting economic and energy cooperation with Moscow. Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said the “dominance of Washington prevailed” and that political forces playing the role of “sheep-provocateurs” were brought to power in EU countries.
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The Kremlin said Russia will not resume in full its gas supplies to Europe until the west lifts its sanctions against Moscow, as gas prices surged and the pound and euro slumped. Speaking to journalists on Monday, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s spokesperson, blamed sanctions for Russia’s failure to deliver gas through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline. “It is these sanctions imposed by the western states that have brought the situation to what we see now.”
The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has blamed Europe’s energy crisis on sanctions it imposed on Russia over the invasion of Ukraine – a line taken by the Kremlin itself. European nations were “harvesting what they sowed” by imposing economic restrictions on Russia, Erdoğan added.
The Kremlin has said “with much certainty” that Russia-UK relations will not improve under the leadership of Liz Truss. “Judging by statements made by Madame Truss when she was still foreign minister … one can say with much certainty that no changes for the better are expected,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Russia’s foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, has criticised Britain’s next prime minister, Liz Truss, for not being able to compromise. The UK will not strengthen its position in the international arena under her leadership, Lavrov said, while also mocking her for saying she did not know if the French president, Emmanuel Macron, was a friend or an enemy.
Jailed Russian opposition politician and anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny’s chief of staff has said worsening prison conditions were threatening his health. In a post on his Twitter and Instagram accounts, Navalny wrote last week via his lawyers that he had been sent to a punishment cell for a third time in August in revenge for his political activity.
A Russian court has sentenced the journalist Ivan Safronov to 22 years in prison on trumped-up treason charges. The sentencing of Safronov, a former defence reporter for the Kommersant and Vedomosti dailies, shocked friends and supporters who gathered in court on Monday to protest against his imprisonment. Editors at the Russian newspaper Kommersant published a front-page editorial in support of Safronov on Tuesday.
Also on Monday, a court in Moscow stripped the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta of its print media licence, effectively banning the newspaper from operating inside Russia. Editor-in-chief, Dmitry Muratov, said the ruling was “a political hit job, without the slightest legal basis”. He said the paper would appeal.
The same Russian court then revoked the licence of Novaya Gazeta’s sister magazine, “No” (“But”), on Tuesday. Novaya Gazeta is one of the country’s most important independent publications. Since it was established by Muratov and colleagues in 1993, it has investigated corruption inside and outside Russia, as well as the wars in Chechnya.
Russia is burning excess gas because it has no capacity to store it after cutting deliveries to Europe, the EU’s energy commissioner Kadri Simson said.
Speaking to reporters during a visit to Indonesia, Simson said:
Our satellites are registering the leak of natural gas or them flaring the natural gas and this is very polluting.
They don’t have alternative pipeline connections to other regions in the world, and their own underground gas storage is full.
