SEOUL, Oct 14 (Reuters) – South Korea scrambled fighter jets after a group of about 10 North Korean military aircraft flew close to the border dividing the two countries, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, amid heightened tensions over repeated North Korean missiles tests.
The statement said the North Korean aircraft were detected flying about 25 km (15 miles) north of the Military Demarcation Line in the central region of the Korea border area and about 12 km (7 miles) north of the Northern Limit Line, a de facto inter-Korean border in the Yellow Sea. The incident happened between 10:30 p.m. Thursday (1330 GMT) and 0:20 a.m. (1530 GMT) local time Friday.
North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un attends the opening ceremony of the Ryonpho Greenhouse Farm to mark the anniversary of the founding of the ruling Workers’ Party, in North Korea, in this undated photo released on October 11, 2022 by North Korea’s Korean Central News Agency (KCNA). KCNA via REUTERS/File Photo
It said the aircraft were also seen near the eastern part of the inter-Korean border.
The statement said the South Korean air force “conducted an emergency sortie with its superior air force, including the F-35A, and maintained a response posture, while carrying out a proportional response maneuver corresponding to the flight of a North Korean military aircraft.”
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Reporting by Josh Smith and David Brunnstrom; Editing by Lisa Shumaker
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Putin presents Turkish leader with new “gas hub” plan
Moscow seeks new corridor after damage to Baltic pipelines
Erdogan seen as key diplomatic player in Russia-Ukraine war
ASTANA, Oct 13 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin proposed to his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday that Moscow could export more gas via Turkey and turn it into a new supply “hub”, bidding to preserve Russia’s energy leverage over Europe.
At a meeting in Kazakhstan, Putin said Turkey offered the most reliable route to deliver gas to the European Union, and the proposed platform would allow prices to be set without politics.
Russia is looking to redirect supplies away from the Nord Stream Baltic gas pipelines, damaged in explosions last month that are still under investigation. Russia blamed the West, without providing evidence, and rejected what it called “stupid” assertions that it had sabotaged the pipelines itself.
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Putin told Erdogan the hub would be “a platform not only for supplies, but also for determining the price, because this is a very important issue”.
“Today, these prices are sky-high,” he said. “We could easily regulate [them] at a normal market level, without any political overtones.”
Erdogan did not respond in the televised portion of their meeting, but Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov was quoted by the Russian news agency RIA as saying both men had ordered a rapid and detailed examination of the idea.
Russia supplied about 40% of Europe’s gas before its Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine but had cut flows sharply even before the explosions, blaming technical problems that it said were the result of Western sanctions.
European governments rejected that explanation, accusing Moscow of using energy as a geopolitical weapon.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan meet on the sidelines of the 6th summit of the Conference on Interaction and Confidence-building Measures in Asia (CICA), in Astana, Kazakhstan October 13, 2022. Sputnik/Vyacheslav Prokofyev/Pool via REUTERS
TURKISH MEDIATION
Relations with NATO member Turkey are vital to Russia at a time when the West has hit it with waves of economic sanctions, which Ankara has refrained from joining. Turkey has, however, rejected Russia’s move to annex four Ukrainian regions as a “grave violation” of international law.
Erdogan has sought to mediate between Moscow and Kyiv, and achieved a rare breakthrough in July when, together with the United Nations, he brokered an agreement allowing for the resumption of commercial Ukrainian grain exports from Black Sea ports that Russia had blockaded.
Russia has complained, however, that its own grain and fertiliser exports, while not directly targeted by Western sanctions, continue to be hampered by problems with access to foreign ports and obtaining insurance.
Erdogan told Putin: “We are determined to strengthen and continue the grain exports … and the transfer of Russian grain and fertiliser to less developed countries via Turkey.”
Russian officials had said before the meeting that they were open to hearing proposals from Turkey about hosting peace talks involving Russia and the West.
However, Peskov was quoted by RIA as saying “the topic of a Russian-Ukrainian settlement was not discussed” by the leaders.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov this week signalled increasing receptiveness to talks after Moscow suffered a series of military defeats. Washington dismissed his comments as “posturing”.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has ruled out talking to Putin after he proclaimed the annexation of the four Ukrainian regions and after Russia rained missiles on Ukrainian cities this week in the wake of an attack on a vital bridge between Russia and Crimea, the peninsula it seized in 2014.
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Firefighters work at a site of a thermal power plant damaged by a Russian missile strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 11, 2022. Press service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via REUTERS
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Sept 12 (Reuters) – Ukrainian forces swept deeper into territory seized from fleeing Russian troops on Monday, as joyful residents returned to former frontline villages and Moscow grappled with the consequences of the collapse of its occupation force in northeastern Ukraine. read more
FIGHTING
* Ukrainian forces have advanced north from Kharkiv to within 50 km (30 miles) of the border with Russia and are also pressing to the south and east in the same region, Ukrainian chief commander General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said.
* Zaluzhnyi said Ukraine had retaken more than 3,000 sq km (1,160 sq miles) this month.
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* Ukraine’s general staff said its forces had recaptured more than 20 towns and villages in just the past day.
*At least 1,000 people have been killed in the last six months in fighting in the city of Izium but the real figure is probably much higher, an official said, two days after Kyiv’s forces recaptured the major supply hub.
* Britain’s defence ministry said Russia had probably ordered the withdrawal of its troops from the entire occupied Kharkiv region west of the Oskil River. read more (https://bit.ly/3xfp2lf)
* The Kremlin said it saw no prospect of peace talks and that what it calls the special military operation in Ukraine would achieve its goals.
* Russian nationalists called angrily for immediate changes by President Vladimir Putin to ensure ultimate victory in the Ukraine war, after Moscow was forced to abandon Izium. read more
* Commentators on Russian state television have been forced to go off script by Ukrainian forces’ swift advance in the country’s Kharkiv region and Moscow’s rapid retreat. read more
* Faced with one of its worst defeats in nearly seven months of war, the Kremlin insisted it would achieve its military goals and President Vladimir Putin maintained an air of business as usual as he chaired a meeting on the economy. read more
* Reuters could not independently verify the battlefield reports.
NUCLEAR PLANT
* Operations at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant have been fully stopped as a safety measure, its state operator said. The move followed restoration of the backup power line allowing the plant to be connected to Ukraine’s electricity grid. read more
* The IAEA nuclear watchdog confirmed the restoration, allowing the plant to draw power from the grid to cool its reactors.
* The presidents of Russia and France held talks about plant safety, with Putin blaming Ukrainian forces, while Emmanuel Macron pointed the finger at Russian troops. read more
* Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Russian attacks had hit Kharkiv’s CHPP-5 electricity station, one of the country’s largest.
* Ukraine and Russia are interested in the U.N. atomic watchdog’s proposal that a protection zone be created around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the watchdog’s chief Rafael Grossi said, describing it as a ceasefire. read more
DIPLOMACY, TRADE
* Indonesian President Joko Widodo is considering joining India and China in buying Russian oil to offset the growing pressure of rising energy costs, the Financial Times said. read more
* The International Monetary Fund is looking for ways to provide emergency funding to countries facing war-induced food price shocks, sources told Reuters. read more
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Compiled by Lincoln Feast and Shri Navaratnam; Editing by Clarence Fernandez and Frank Jack Daniel
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Russian missile strikes target power, water – Ukraine
Ukrainian forces say they have reclaimed 3,000 sq km
Final reactor shut down at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
KYIV/KHARKIV, Ukraine, Sept 12 (Reuters) – Ukraine accused the Russian military of attacking civilian infrastructure in response to a rapid weekend offensive by Ukrainian troops that forced Russia to abandon its main bastion in the Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian officials said targets of the retaliatory attacks included water facilities and a thermal power station in Kharkiv, and caused widespread blackouts.
“No military facilities, the goal is to deprive people of light & heat,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy wrote on Twitter late on Sunday.
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Moscow denies its forces deliberately target civilians.
Zelenskiy has described Ukraine’s offensive in the northeast as a potential breakthrough in the six-month-old war, and said the winter could see further territorial gains if Kyiv received more powerful weapons.
In the worst defeat for Moscow’s forces since they were repelled from the outskirts of the capital Kyiv in March, thousands of Russian soldiers left behind ammunition and equipment as they fled the city of Izium, which they had used as a logistics hub.
Ukraine’s chief commander, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said the armed forces had regained control of more than 3,000 square km (1,158 square miles) since the start of this month.
Ukraine’s gains are important politically for Zelenskiy as he seeks to keep Europe united behind Ukraine – supplying weapons and money – even as an energy crisis looms this winter following cuts in Russian gas supplies to European customers.
‘COWARD RESPONSE’
Ukraine’s General Staff said on Monday defence forces had dislodged the enemy from more than 20 settlements in the past day.
Near the Russian border, in the village of Kozacha Lopan north of Kharkiv, Ukrainian soldiers and local officials were greeted by residents with hugs and handshakes.
“Kozacha (Lopan) is and will be Ukraine,” district Mayor Vyacheslav Zadorenko said on a video he posted on Facebook on Sunday. “No ‘Russian World’ whatsoever. See for yourselves where the ‘Russian World’ rags are lying around. Glory to Ukraine, glory to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
Moscow’s almost total silence on the defeat – or any explanation for what had taken place in northeastern Ukraine – provoked significant anger among some pro-war commentators and Russian nationalists on social media. Some called on Sunday for President Vladimir Putin to make immediate changes to ensure ultimate victory in the war. read more
Zelenskiy said late on Sunday that Russian attacks caused a total blackout in the Kharkiv and Donetsk regions, and partial blackouts in the Zaporizhzhia, Dnipropetrovsk and Sumy regions.
Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukraine’s president, said Kharkiv’s CHPP-5 electricity station – one of the largest in Ukraine – had been hit.
“A coward ‘response’ for the escape of its own army from the battlefield,” he said on Twitter.
Kyrylo Tymoshenko, the deputy head of the president’s office, posted an image on Telegram of electrical infrastructure on fire but added power had been restored in some regions.
Defence Minister Oleksii Reznikov told the Financial Times Ukraine needed to secure retaken territory against a possible Russian counterattack on stretched Ukrainian supply lines.
But he said the offensive had gone far better than expected, describing it as a “snowball rolling down a hill”.
“It’s a sign that Russia can be defeated,” he said.
Britain’s defence ministry said on Sunday that fighting continued around Izium and the city of Kupiansk, the sole rail hub supplying Russia’s front line across northeastern Ukraine, which has been retaken by Ukraine’s forces.
Leonid Pasechnik, the head of the Luhansk People’s Republic, was quoted by Russian news agencies saying Ukrainian forces were attempting to penetrate the eastern region, claimed by Russia at the beginning of July.
“Ukrainian sabotage and reconnaissance groups have not stopped their attempts to infiltrate the territory of the republic for the purpose of provocation and intimidating our citizens,” he said, adding there had been “no retreat from positions held by the republic.”
NUCLEAR REACTOR SHUTS DOWN
As the war entered its 200th day, Ukraine on Sunday shut down the last operating reactor at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant to guard against a catastrophe as fighting rages nearby.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling around the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant, risking a release of radiation.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said a backup power line to the plant had been restored, providing the external electricity it needed to carry out the shutdown while defending against the risk of a meltdown.
French President Emmanuel Macron told Putin in a phone call on Sunday the plant’s occupation by Russian troops is the reason why its security is compromised, the French presidency said. Putin blamed Ukrainian forces, according to a Kremlin statement.
France on Sunday said it would sign an agreement with Romania to help increase Ukrainian grain exports. read more
Ukraine’s grain exports have slumped since the start of the war because its Black Sea ports were closed off, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages.
“Tomorrow, I will sign an accord with Romania that will allow Ukraine to get even more grains out … towards Europe and developing countries, notably in the Mediterranean (countries)which need it for food,” Transport Minister Clement Beaune told France Inter radio.
The International Monetary Fund is also looking for ways to provide emergency funding to countries facing war-induced food price shocks and will discuss measures at an executive board meeting on Monday, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. read more
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Reporting by Reuters reporters; Writing by James Oliphant and Lincoln Feast; Editing by Daniel Wallis & Shri Navaratnam
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Ukrainian breakthrough is fastest advance in months
Thousands of Russian troops face potential encirclement
KYIV/HRAKOVE, Ukraine, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Ukrainian officials shared photos on Saturday showing troops raising the nation’s flag over the main railway city that has supplied Russian forces in northeastern Ukraine, as a collapse in Russia’s frontline threatened to turn into a rout.
A Reuters journalist inside a vast area recaptured in recent days by the advancing Ukrainian forces saw Ukrainian police patrolling towns and boxes of ammunition lying in heaps at positions abandoned by fleeing Russian soldiers.
With Ukrainians now having reached the city of Kupiansk, where rail lines linking Russia to eastern Ukraine converge, the advance had penetrated all the way to Moscow’s main logistics route, potentially trapping thousands of Russian troops.
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Natalia Popova, adviser to the head of the Kharkiv regional council, shared photos on Facebook of troops holding up a Ukrainian flag in front of Kupiansk city hall. A Russian flag lay at their feet. “Kupiansk is Ukraine. Glory to the armed forces of Ukraine,” she wrote.
Ukraine’s security service confirmed Kyiv had forces inside Kupiansk.
In Hrakove, one of dozens of recaptured villages, Reuters saw burnt out vehicles bearing the “Z” symbol of Russia’s invasion, and piles of rubbish and ammunition in positions the Russians had abandoned in evident haste.
“Hello everyone, we are from Russia,” was spraypainted on a wall.
Three bodies lay in white body bags in a yard.
The regional chief of police, Volodymyr Tymoshenko, said Ukrainian police had moved in the previous day, and had checked the identities of local residents who had lived under Russian occupation since the invasion’s second day.
“The first function is to provide help that they need. The next job is to document the crimes committed by Russian invaders on the territories which they temporarily occupied.”
The capture of at least part of Kupiansk, if confirmed, potentially leaves thousands of Russian soldiers trapped at the frontline and cut off from supplies, including in Izium, Russia’s main stronghold and logistics hub in the northeast.
Reuters could not independently verify the situation in either Kupiansk or Izium. Moscow has acknowledged that its frontline has buckled in Kharkiv but has said it is rushing extra troops to reinforce the area. Russian-installed regional officials have called for civilians to evacuate both cities.
A house damaged by shelling, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, is seen in the village of Hrakove, recently liberated by Ukrainian Armed Forces, in Kharkiv region, Ukraine September 9, 2022. REUTERS/Vyacheslav Madiyevskyy
Britain’s Ministry of Defence in an intelligence update said: “A Russian force around Izium is likely increasingly isolated.
“Ukrainian units are now threatening the town of Kupiansk; its capture would be a significant blow to Russia because it sits on supply routes to the Donbas front line.”
Mark Hertling, a retired four-star general and former commander of U.S. ground forces in Europe, tweeted: “Make no mistake, (Ukraine) is executing a brilliant maneuver focused on terrain objectives to ‘bag’ Russians. But the Russians are helping them — by doing very little to counter.”
ZELENSKIY HAILS SUCCESS
In an overnight video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said at least 30 settlements had been liberated in Kharkiv region during the advance of recent days.
“Our army, intelligence units and the security services are carrying out active engagements in several operational areas. They are doing so successfully,” he said in a video address.
Ukrainian officials have released a barrage of images of troops sweeping into previously Russian-held towns and being embraced by local residents who had been under Russian military occupation for six months.
Oleksiy Arestovych, an adviser to Ukraine’s presidential office, in a video posted on YouTube, said the Russians in Izium were almost isolated.
Ukraine’s advance in the east is by far its most rapid success in months, after a long period in which the war had shifted into a relentless grind along entrenched front lines.
It came as a surprise just a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-attack to reclaim Russian-occupied territory hundreds of kilometres away at the opposite end of the front in Kherson in the south.
Less information has been made public about that operation but Kyiv has also claimed some successes there, cutting supply routes to thousands of Russian troops isolated on the west bank of the Dnipro River.
“We see success in Kherson now, we see some success in Kharkiv and so that is very, very encouraging,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference in Prague on Thursday.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have been driven from their homes and Russian forces have destroyed entire cities since launching what Moscow calls a “special military operation” to “disarm” Ukraine. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
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Zelenskiy says forces have recaptured towns and villages
Blinken visits Kyiv with new U.S. aid package
KYIV, Sept 9 (Reuters) – Swiftly advancing Ukrainian troops were approaching the main railway supplying Russian forces in the east on Friday, after the collapse of a section of Russia’s front line caused the most dramatic shift in the war’s momentum since its early weeks.
In a video address, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said troops had “liberated dozens of settlements” and reclaimed more than 1,000 square km (385 square miles) of territory in Kharkiv region in the east and Kherson in the south in the past week.
Zelenskiy posted a video in which Ukrainian soldiers said they had captured the eastern town of Balakliia, which lies along a stretch of front stretching south of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city.
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The Ukrainian military said it had advanced nearly 50 km through that front after an assault that appeared to take the Russians by surprise.
It was the first lightning advance of its kind reported by either side for months, in a war mainly characterised by relentless grinding frontline battles since Russia abandoned its disastrous assault on the capital Kyiv in March.
Nearly 24 hours after Ukraine announced the breakthrough on the Kharkiv front, Russia had yet to comment publicly. The Kremlin declined to comment on Friday and referred questions to the Russian military.
Ukraine has not allowed independent journalists into the area to confirm the extent its advances. But Ukrainian news websites have shown pictures of troops cheering from armoured vehicles as they roar past street signs bearing the names of previously Russian-held towns, and Russian forces surrendering on the side of the road.
“We see success in Kherson now, we see some success in Kharkiv and so that is very, very encouraging,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin told a news conference with his Czech counterpart in Prague.
The Institute for the Study of War think tank said the Ukrainians were now within just 15 km of Kupiansk, an essential junction for the main railway lines that Moscow has long relied on to supply its forces on the battlefields in the east.
Since Russia’s forces were defeated near Kyiv in March, Moscow has used its firepower advantage to make slow advances by bombarding towns and villages. But that tactic depends on tonnes of ammunition a day reaching the front line by train from western Russia. Until now, Russia had successfully fended off Ukraine’s attempts to cut off that train line.
The Ukrainian general staff said early on Friday retreating Russian forces were trying to evacuate wounded personnel and damaged military equipment near Kharkiv.
“Thanks to skilful and coordinated actions, the Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the support of the local population, advanced almost 50 km in three days.”
Tens of thousands of people have been killed, millions have been driven from their homes and Russian forces have destroyed entire cities since Moscow launched what it calls a “special military operation” in February to “disarm” Ukraine. Russia denies intentionally targeting civilians.
In the latest reported strike on civilians, Ukrainian officials said Russia had hit a hospital near the international border in the northeastern Sumy region on Friday morning. Reuters could not independently confirm the report.
Firefighters work at the site of a residential building hit by a Russian military strike, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kharkiv, Ukraine September 6, 2022. REUTERS/Sofiia Gatilova/File Photo
“Russian aviation, without crossing the Ukrainian border, fired at a hospital. The premises were destroyed, there are wounded people,” regional governor Dmytro Zhyvytskyi said on Telegram.
BREAKTHROUGH
The surprise Ukrainian breakthrough in the east came a week after Kyiv announced the start of a long-awaited counter-offensive hundreds of km away at the other end of the front line, in Kherson province in the south.
Ukrainian officials say Russia moved thousands of troops south to respond to the Kherson advance, leaving other parts of the front line exposed and creating the opportunity for the lightning assault in the east.
“We found a weak spot where the enemy wasn’t ready,” presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in a video posted on YouTube.
Less information so far has emerged about the campaign in the south, with Ukraine keeping journalists away and releasing few details.
Ukraine has been using new Western-supplied artillery and rockets to hit Russian rear positions there, with the aim of trapping thousands of Russian troops on the west bank of the wide Dnipro River and cutting them off from supplies.
Arestovych acknowledged progress in the south had not yet been as swift as the sudden breakthrough in the east.
Russia’s state news agency RIA quoted Russian-appointed Kherson authorities as saying some Ukrainian troops were captured during the counterattack and some Polish tanks they were using were destroyed. Reuters could not verify those reports.
The United Nations accused Moscow of denying access to thousands of prisoners of war, with the head of a U.N. human rights monitoring team in Ukraine, Matilda Bogner, describing documented cases of torture and ill-treatment of prisoners held by Russian forces and their proxies.
U.N. monitors had also documented incidents of torture and ill-treatment of POWs by Ukraine, which had given them unimpeded access, she said. Ukraine has said it will investigate any violations and take appropriate legal action.
Moscow denies abusing prisoners. Dozens of Ukrainian troops died in a fiery blast while being held by pro-Russian authorities in July in what Kyiv called a massacre. Moscow blamed Ukrainian shelling.
North of the battlefield, Russian missiles struck multiple areas in Kharkiv on Thursday, causing widespread damage and casualties, according to the regional prosecutor’s office.
“We are scared … You can’t get used to it, never,” resident Olena Rudenko told Reuters.
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Editing by Philippa Fletcher
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Putin accuses Kyiv and West of flouting grain deal
Says wants to discuss changing terms of deal
Threatens to cut energy exports if Europe caps prices
KYIV, Sept 7 (Reuters) – President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday he wanted to discuss reopening a U.N.-brokered deal that allows Ukraine to export its grain via the Black Sea and threatened to halt all energy supplies to Europe if Brussels caps the price of Russian gas.
In a combative speech to an economic forum in Russia’s Far East region, Putin made little reference to his invasion of Ukraine, but said in answer to a question that Russia would not lose the war and had strengthened its sovereignty and influence.
On the ground, Ukrainian officials remained guarded about how a counter offensive they began late last month was faring but a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine said Ukrainian forces had attacked a town there.
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The grain pact, facilitated by the United Nations and Turkey, created a protected export corridor via the Black Sea for Ukrainian foodstuffs after Kyiv lost access to its main export route when Russia attacked Ukraine via land, air and sea.
Designed to help ease global food prices by increasing supplies of grain and oilseeds, the agreement has been the only diplomatic breakthrough between Moscow and Kyiv in more than six months of war.
But Putin said the deal was delivering grain, fertiliser and other foodstuffs to the European Union and Turkey rather than to poor countries whose interests he said were the pretext for the deal and added that he wanted to discussing changing its terms.
“It may be worth considering how to limit the export of grain and other food along this route,” he said, while also saying that Russia would continue to abide by its terms in the hope that it would fulfil its original goals.
“I will definitely consult the President of Turkey, Mr. (Tayyip) Erdogan, on this topic because it was he and I who worked out a mechanism for the export of Ukrainian grain first of all, I repeat, in order to help the poorest countries.”
His comments raised the possibility the pact could unravel if it cannot be successfully renegotiated or might not be renewed by Moscow when it expires in late November.
Ukraine, whose ports had been blockaded by Russia after it invaded in February, said the terms of the agreement, which was signed on July 22 for a period of four months, were being strictly observed and there were no grounds to renegotiate it.
“I believe that such unexpected and groundless statements rather indicate an attempt to find new aggressive talking points to influence global public opinion and, above all, put pressure on the United Nations,” said Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential adviser. read more
The deal threw a lifeline to Kyiv, giving a much-needed source of revenue to an economy devastated by war. It does not say anything about which countries Ukrainian grain should go to and the United Nations has stressed it is a commercial – not humanitarian – operation that will be driven by the market.
According to data from the Istanbul-based coordination group which monitors the deal’s implementation, 30% of the total cargo, which includes that earmarked for or routed via Turkey, had gone to low and lower-middle income countries.
GRAIN AND GAS
Ukraine hopes to export 60 million tonnes of grain in eight to nine months, presidential economic adviser Oleh Ustenko said in July, cautioning that those exports could take up to 24 months if ports do not function properly.
Putin complained that another part of the deal meant to ease restrictions for Russian food exporters and shippers was not being implemented either.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov cast doubt on the deal too a day earlier, accusing Western states at the United Nations of failing to honour reciprocal pledges to help facilitate Moscow’s shipments. read more
Russia’s grain exports in August are expected to come in 28% lower than the same period last year, according to a forecast from Russia’s Sovecon consultancy.
The other main global repercussion of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been a surge in energy prices as the West responded with sanctions and Moscow restricted exports of gas to Europe, blaming Western restrictions and technical problems.
As the European Union prepared to propose a price cap on Russian gas to try to contain an energy crisis that threatens widespread hardship this winter, Putin threatened to halt all supplies if it took such a step.
“Will there be any political decisions that contradict the contracts? Yes, we just won’t fulfil them. We will not supply anything at all if it contradicts our interests,” Putin said.
“We will not supply gas, oil, coal, heating oil – we will not supply anything,” Putin said.
Europe usually imports about 40% of its gas and 30% of its oil from Russia.
UKRAINIAN BATTLEFIELD SUCCESS?
Asked about what Russia calls its “special military operation” in Ukraine by a moderator at the economic forum in Vladivostok, Putin said:
“We have not lost anything and will not lose anything … In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty.”
The governor of Ukraine’s eastern Luhansk region, which Russia has said it has taken over on behalf of separatist proxies, told Ukrainian television on Tuesday that Ukraine was fighting back.
A “counter-attack is underway and … our forces are enjoying some success. Let’s leave it at that,” Serhiy Gaidai said on Tuesday, without giving locations.
An official with the pro-Moscow self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic on Tuesday said there was fighting at Balakliia, an eastern town of 27,000 people between Kharkiv and Russian-held Izyum, site of a major railway hub used by Moscow to supply its forces.
“Today, the Ukrainian armed forces, after prolonged artillery preparation … began an attack on Balakliia … ” Daniil Bezsonov said on Telegram, adding that if the town were lost, Russian forces in Izyum would become vulnerable on their northwest flank.
Russia says it has repelled an assault in the south and has not reported any territorial losses.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces had taken Kodema in eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk region from Ukrainian forces. The village of some 600 people is claimed by the Russian-backed Donetsk People’s Republic as part of its territory.
Reuters was unable to independently verify the battlefield accounts.
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IAEA says Zaporizhzhia plan still producing electricity
Zelenskiy: Russia plans ‘decisive energy blow on all Europeans’
Russia delays pipeline reopening in blow to Europe
G7 finance chiefs agree on Russian oil price cap
KYIV, Sept 4 (Reuters) – A nuclear power plant on the front line of the Ukraine war again lost external power, U.N. inspectors said on Saturday, fuelling fears of disaster while Moscow kept its main gas pipeline to Germany shut to hurt economies of Kyiv’s friends in the West.
The Zaporizhzhia plant, Europe’s largest, had its last remaining main external power line cut off, although a reserve line continued supplying electricity to the grid, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said. read more
Only one of the station’s six reactors remained in operation, the agency said in a statement.
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The plant, seized by Russian troops shortly after their Feb. 24 invasion, has become a focal point of the conflict, with each side blaming the other for nearby shelling.
A standoff over Russian gas and oil exports ramped up last week as Moscow vowed to keep its main gas pipeline to Germany shuttered and G7 countries announced a planned price cap on Russian oil exports.
The energy fight is a fallout from President Vladimir Putin’s six-month invasion of Ukraine, underscoring the deep rift between Moscow and Western nations as Europe steels itself for the cold months ahead.
“Russia is preparing a decisive energy blow on all Europeans for this winter,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in his nightly address on Saturday, citing the Nord Stream 1 pipeline’s continued closure.
Zelenskiy has blamed Russian shelling for an Aug. 25 cutoff, the first Zaporizhzhia was severed from the national grid, which narrowly avoided a radiation leak. That shutdown prompted power cuts across Ukraine, although emergency generators kicked in for vital cooling processes.
Moscow has cited Western sanctions and technical issues for energy disruptions, while European countries have accused Russia of weaponising supplies as part of its military invasion.
NUCLEAR CONCERNS
Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations about attacks on the Zaporizhzhia plant, which is still operated by Ukrainian staff.
An IAEA mission toured the plant on Thursday and some experts have remained there pending the release of a report by the United Nations nuclear watchdog in coming days. read more
The remaining inspectors noted one reactor was still producing electricity “for cooling and other essential safety functions at the site and for households, factories and others through the grid,” the IAEA said on Saturday.
The plant said in a statement the fifth reactor was switched off “as a result of constant shelling by Russian occupation forces” and that there was “insufficient capacity from the last reserve line to operate two reactors.”
Deteriorating conditions amid the shelling have prompted fears of a radiation disaster that the International Red Cross has said would cause a major humanitarian crisis. read more
Ukraine and the West accuse Russia of storing heavy weapons at the site to discourage Ukraine from firing on it. Russia, which denies the presence of any such weapons there, has resisted international calls to relocate troops and demilitarise the area.
Russia’s defence ministry on Saturday accused Ukrainian forces of mounting a failed attempt to capture the plant. Reuters could not verify the report. read more
Turkey on Saturday also offered to facilitate the situation. read more
GAS AND OIL
Announcing that it would not make a planned restart of gas shipments through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline, one of Russia’s main supply lines to Europe, state-controlled energy giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM) blamed a technical fault.
Gazprom said on Saturday that Germany’s Siemens Energy (ENR1n.DE) was ready to help repair broken equipment but that there was nowhere available to carry out the work. Siemens said it has not been commissioned to carry out maintenance work for the pipeline but it is available. read more
The indefinite delay to restarting Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea to supply Germany and others, deepens Europe’s problems securing fuel for winter as energy prices lead a surge in living costs.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven wealthy democracies – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – said on Friday the cap on the price of Russian oil aimed to reduce “Russia’s ability to fund its war of aggression whilst limiting the impact of Russia’s war on global energy prices”. read more
The Kremlin said it would stop selling oil to any countries that implemented the cap.
Russia calls its invasion of its neighbour “a special military operation.” Kyiv and the West say it is an unprovoked aggressive war against a former part of the Soviet Union.
The United States and other countries have pledged fresh military aid for Kyiv to fight against an invasion that had killed thousands of people and displaced millions.
Ukraine launched a counteroffensive last week targeting the south, particularly the Kherson region, occupied by Russians early in the conflict.
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Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Kyiv; Additional reporting by Michael Shields, Ron Popeski and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Susan Heavey and Simon Cameron-Moore; Editing by Nick Zieminski and William Mallard
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Ukraine claims successes in military counter-offensive
Russia halts gas flows via key pipeline
KYIV, Aug 31 (Reuters) – U.N. nuclear inspectors set off in convoy for Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant on Wednesday after weeks of shelling nearby sparked fears of a Chornobyl-style radiation disaster, with tensions rising between Kyiv and Moscow over the visit.
A Reuters reporter following the team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from Kyiv, the Ukrainian capital, said it was likely the inspectors would overnight in the nearby city of Zaporizhzhia before visiting the plant, which is on territory controlled by Russia, on Thursday.
Russian-installed officials in the area suggested the visit might last only one day, while IAEA and Ukrainian officials suggested it would last longer.
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“We are now finally moving after six months of strenuous efforts,” IAEA chief Rafael Grossi told reporters before the convoy set off, adding that the mission planned to spend “a few days” at the site.
“We have a very important task there to perform – to assess the real situation there, to help stabilise the situation as much as we can. We are going to a war zone, we are going to occupied territory and this requires explicit guarantees, not only from the Russian Federation but also from Ukraine. We have been able to secure that,” said Grossi.
Russia captured the plant, Europe’s largest, in early March as part of what Moscow calls its “special military operation”, something Kyiv and the West have described as an unprovoked invasion designed to grab land and erase Ukrainian identity.
A Russian military force has been at the plant ever since, as has most of the Ukrainian workforce who have toiled to keep the facility, which traditionally supplied Ukraine with 20 percent of its electricity needs, running.
For weeks now, Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of endangering the plant’s safety with artillery or drone strikes.
Kyiv says Russia has been using the plant as a shield to strike towns and cities, knowing it will be hard for Ukraine to return fire. It has also accused Russian forces of shelling the plant.
“The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and in Enerhodar and surrounding areas remains extremely dangerous,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said late on Tuesday. “The risk of a radiation disaster due to Russian actions does not decrease for an hour.”
The Russian defence ministry has said that radiation levels at the plant are normal.
Moscow has denied Ukrainian assertions of reckless behaviour, questioning why it would shell a facility where its own troops are garrisoned as what it describes as a security detail.
Moscow has in turn accused the Ukrainians of shelling the plant to try to generate international outrage that Kyiv hopes will result in a demilitarised zone. Russia has said it has no intention of withdrawing its forces for now.
Kyiv and Moscow both claimed battlefield successes on Wednesday as Ukraine mounted a counter-offensive to recapture territory in the south. Reuters could not independently verify such reports. read more
Away from Ukraine, Russia halted gas supplies through the biggest pipeline to its top customer Germany, raising the prospect of recession and energy rationing in some of Europe’s richest countries going into winter. read more
Members of International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission stand by UN vehicles at hotel as they depart for visit to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant amid Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in central Kyiv, Ukraine August 31, 2022. REUTERS/Gleb Garanich
Ukraine’s allies have accused Russia of using energy as a weapon in retaliation for Western sanctions. Moscow denies doing so and cites technical reasons for supply cuts.
QUESTIONS AND DOUBTS
Grossi said one of his priorities was to talk to the Ukrainian technicians running the plant.
“That’s one of the most important things I want to do and I will do it,” he said.
It was not immediately clear how long the inspectors would be able to remain at the power station however.
Russia said it welcomed the IAEA’s stated intention to set up a permanent mission at the plant.
But Yevgeny Balitsky, head of the Russian-installed administration in the area, told the Interfax news agency that the IAEA inspectors “must see the work of the station in one day”.
The United States has urged a complete shutdown of the plant and called for a demilitarised zone around it.
The Interfax news agency quoted a Russian-appointed local official as saying on Wednesday that two of the plant’s six reactors were running.
The plant is close to the front lines and Ukraine’s armed forces on Wednesday accused Russia of shelling a contact line in the area and of preparing to resume an offensive there.
There was no immediate comment from Moscow.
Zelenskiy in a late night address on Tuesday said Ukrainian forces were attacking Russian positions in Ukraine along the entire frontline after Kyiv announced on Monday it had launched an offensive to try to retake the south. Zelenskiy said his forces were also on the offensive in the east.
Russia captured large tracts of southern Ukraine near the Black Sea coast in the early weeks of the six-month-old war, including in the Kherson region, which lies north of the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.
Ukraine sees recapturing the region as crucial to prevent Russian attempts to seize more territory further west that could eventually cut off its access to the Black Sea.
Britain, an ally of Ukraine, said Ukrainian formations in the south had pushed Russian front-line forces back some distance in places, exploiting relatively thin Russian defences. read more . Ukraine said it had “successes” in three areas of the region but declined to give details.
Russia’s defence ministry has denied reports of Ukrainian progress and said its troops had routed Ukrainian forces.
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Reporting by Reuters bureaus; Writing by Andrew Osborn and Matthias Williams; Editing by Philippa Fletcher, William Maclean
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
U.N. watchdog to visit Ukraine reactor complex this week
IAEA agency chief Grossi heading mission
Russian strikes kill eight civilians in Donetsk -governor
KYIV, Aug 29 (Reuters) – A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog headed on Monday to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the agency’s chief said, as Russia and Ukraine traded accusations of shelling in its vicinity, fuelling fears of a radiation disaster.
Captured by Russian troops in March but run by Ukrainian staff, Zaporizhzhia has been a hotspot in a conflict that has settled into a war of attrition fought mainly in Ukraine’s east and south six months after Russia launched its invasion.
“We must protect the safety and security of Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a post on Twitter. read more
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An IAEA team he was leading will reach the plant on the Dnipro river near front lines in southern Ukraine later this week, Grossi said, without specifying the day of their expected arrival.
The IAEA tweeted separately that the mission would assess physical damage, evaluate the conditions in which staff are working at the plant and “determine functionality of safety & security systems”. It would also “perform urgent safeguards activities”, a reference to keeping track of nuclear material.
The United Nations and Ukraine have called for a withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the nuclear complex, Europe’s largest, to ensure it is not a target. read more
The two sides have for days exchanged accusations of courting disaster with their attacks.
With fears mounting of a nuclear accident in a country still haunted by the 1986 Chornobyl disaster, Zaporizhzhia authorities are handing out iodine tablets and teaching residents how to use them in case of a radiation leak.
‘BLACKMAIL’
Russian forces fired at Enerhodar, the city where the plant is located, the chief of staff of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said late on Sunday on his Telegram channel alongside a video of firefighters dousing burning cars.
“They provoke and try to blackmail the world,” Andriy Yermak said.
Ukraine’s military earlier reported shelling of nine more towns on the opposite side of the Dnipro river.
Russia’s defence ministry reported more Ukrainian shelling at the plant over the weekend. Nine shells fired by the Ukrainian artillery landed in the plant’s grounds, Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said.
“At present, full-time technical personnel are monitoring the technical condition of the nuclear plant and ensuring its operation. The radiation situation in the area of the nuclear power plant remains normal,” he said in a statement.
The Russian state news agency cited authorities as saying they had downed a Ukrainian drone which planned to attack the nuclear-waste storage facility at the plant.
Two of the plant’s reactors were cut off from the electrical grid last week due to shelling. read more
Overview of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and fires, in Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, August 24, 2022. European Union, Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery/Handout via REUTERS
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Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said it had no new information about attacks on the plant and Reuters could not verify the accounts.
The U.S. State Department said on Sunday that Russia did not want to acknowledge the grave radiological risk at the plant and had blocked a draft agreement on nuclear non-proliferation because it mentioned such risk. read more
‘ANSWER FOR ATTACKS’
In the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, Russian forces shelled military and civilian infrastructure near Bakhmut, Shumy, Yakovlivka, Zaytsevo, and Kodema, Ukraine’s military said early on Monday.
Russian strikes killed eight civilians in Donetsk province on Sunday, its governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said.
Russia denies targeting civilians.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, in a video address late on Sunday, vowed “the occupiers will feel their consequences – in the further actions of our defenders”.
“No terrorist will be left without an answer for attacks on our cities. Zaporizhzhia, Orykhiv, Kharkiv, Donbas – they will receive an answer for all of them,” he added.
Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24 in what it called a “special military operation” to demilitarise its southern neighbour. Ukraine, which won independence when the Russian-dominated Soviet Union broke up in 1991, and its Western allies have dismissed this as a baseless pretext for a war of conquest.
The invasion of Ukraine has touched off Europe’s most devastating conflict since World War Two.
Thousands of people have been killed, millions displaced and cities blasted to ruins. The war has also threatened the global economy with an energy and food supply crisis.
The regional governor has said Russian shelling has displaced more civilians in the east, where three quarters of the population has fled front-line Donetsk province, which comprises part of the wider Donbas region.
The United States and its allies have imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia for its invasion and sent billions of dollars in security assistance to the Ukrainian government.
Russia has said sanctions will never make it change its position and Western arms supplies only drag out the conflict.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba will travel to Sweden and the Czech Republic this week and push for more sanctions on Russia, including an EU-wide visa ban for Russians.
European Union foreign ministers meeting this week are unlikely to unanimously back a visa ban on all Russians, EU foreign policy chief told Austria’s ORF TV. read more
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Reporting by Max Hunder and Pavel Polityuk in Kyiv and Reuters bureaus; Writing by Himani Sarkar and Gareth Jones; Editing by Robert Birsel and Mark Heinrich
Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.