🔺Iran rolls out red carpet for Putin in anti-West deal
President Putin arrived in Tehran on Monday to shore up an anti-western coalition with Iran, whose supreme leader told the Russian president that he was right to invade Ukraine.
Iran rolled out a long red carpet for the Russian leader at Mehrabad airport, where he was greeted by Javad Owji, the oil minister, before talks with President Raisi and Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader.
Khamenei told Putin that the West was opposed to a “strong and independent” Russia. He also offered support for Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine.
“Had you not taken the initiative, the other side would have taken the initiative and caused the war,” he said, referring to Nato. Putin has claimed Russia was forced to attack Ukraine to prevent it from becoming a platform for Nato-led attacks on Russia.
The talks came as Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant, announced a £33 billion deal to develop the Iranian gas and oil industry.
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President Putin arrived in Tehran on Monday to shore up an anti-western coalition with Iran, whose supreme leader told the Russian president that he was right to invade Ukraine.
Iran rolled out a long red carpet for the Russian leader at Mehrabad airport, where he was greeted by Javad Owji, the oil minister, before talks with President Raisi and Ayatollah Khamenei, the supreme leader.
Khamenei told Putin that the West was opposed to a “strong and independent” Russia. He also offered support for Putin’s decision to attack Ukraine.
“Had you not taken the initiative, the other side would have taken the initiative and caused the war,” he said, referring to Nato. Putin has claimed Russia was forced to attack Ukraine to prevent it from becoming a platform for Nato-led attacks on Russia.
The talks came as Gazprom, the Russian state-owned energy giant, announced a £33 billion deal to develop the Iranian gas and oil industry.
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🔺Olena Zelenska appeals to Congress for more weapons to stop Russian ‘Hunger Games’ in Ukraine
The first lady of Ukraine received a standing ovation at Congress after appealing for the US to supply more weapons and air defence systems to stop “Russia’s Hunger Games” in her country.
Zelenska, 44, told American senators and representatives the stories of families torn apart by Russian bombs and bullets, illustrated with photos of children, mothers, fathers and grandparents killed in the war.
She thanked the US for its help in arming Ukraine but pleaded for more defensive weaponry to protect against Russian missiles, saying she was speaking for her husband, President Zelensky, as parents and children themselves.
“While Russia kills, America saves,” she said, speaking in an auditorium where her husband addressed members of Congress three weeks into the war via videolink.
“We thank you for that. Unfortunately, the war is not over, the terror continues,” she said.
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The first lady of Ukraine received a standing ovation at Congress after appealing for the US to supply more weapons and air defence systems to stop “Russia’s Hunger Games” in her country.
Zelenska, 44, told American senators and representatives the stories of families torn apart by Russian bombs and bullets, illustrated with photos of children, mothers, fathers and grandparents killed in the war.
She thanked the US for its help in arming Ukraine but pleaded for more defensive weaponry to protect against Russian missiles, saying she was speaking for her husband, President Zelensky, as parents and children themselves.
“While Russia kills, America saves,” she said, speaking in an auditorium where her husband addressed members of Congress three weeks into the war via videolink.
“We thank you for that. Unfortunately, the war is not over, the terror continues,” she said.
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President Putin’s troops are ‘running out of steam’, says MI6 chief Richard Moore
Russia is about to “run out of steam” in Ukraine and will soon have to pause its operations, giving the country’s defenders the opportunity to strike back, the head of MI6 has said.
Richard Moore said that according to the foreign intelligence agency’s latest assessment, the Russians would find it difficult to supply manpower and equipment to their frontline operations over the “next few weeks”.
He also said that President Putin’s spies were “not having a great war” because they “completely underestimated” Ukraine’s ability to fight back.
Speaking yesterday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, he said: “The Russians will find it difficult to supply manpower and material. They will have to pause and that will give the Ukrainians opportunity to strike back.”
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Russia is about to “run out of steam” in Ukraine and will soon have to pause its operations, giving the country’s defenders the opportunity to strike back, the head of MI6 has said.
Richard Moore said that according to the foreign intelligence agency’s latest assessment, the Russians would find it difficult to supply manpower and equipment to their frontline operations over the “next few weeks”.
He also said that President Putin’s spies were “not having a great war” because they “completely underestimated” Ukraine’s ability to fight back.
Speaking yesterday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado, he said: “The Russians will find it difficult to supply manpower and material. They will have to pause and that will give the Ukrainians opportunity to strike back.”
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🔺Sanctions are making Russia weaker — but Putin stronger
After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West and its allies imposed a package of sanctions that was unprecedented in scale and scope. It is hoped by many in western capitals that applying severe sanctions will at some point change President Putin’s calculus and force him to withdraw.
There was an immediate impact. Assets held abroad by the Russian state and its richest citizens have been frozen. Russia’s banking sector is nearly locked out of the western financial system, with only essential transactions permitted. To top it off, hundreds of international companies have voluntarily pulled out of Russia because of fears of reputational damage that might be caused by continuing to do business there.
But despite the dramatic changes seen in Russia over the past few months, the country is slowly adjusting to its new circumstances.
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After Russia invaded Ukraine, the West and its allies imposed a package of sanctions that was unprecedented in scale and scope. It is hoped by many in western capitals that applying severe sanctions will at some point change President Putin’s calculus and force him to withdraw.
There was an immediate impact. Assets held abroad by the Russian state and its richest citizens have been frozen. Russia’s banking sector is nearly locked out of the western financial system, with only essential transactions permitted. To top it off, hundreds of international companies have voluntarily pulled out of Russia because of fears of reputational damage that might be caused by continuing to do business there.
But despite the dramatic changes seen in Russia over the past few months, the country is slowly adjusting to its new circumstances.
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🔺The Times view on Russian attacks on Ukraine’s ports: Feed the World
“Only the most evil belligerents use starvation as a weapon of war. It is now beyond argument that President Putin has placed himself squarely in that category. The Russian leader knows full well that, by blockading and bombarding Ukraine’s ports and choking off its supply of grain to the world, he has not only pummeled the Ukrainian economy but also starved the world’s poor.”
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“Only the most evil belligerents use starvation as a weapon of war. It is now beyond argument that President Putin has placed himself squarely in that category. The Russian leader knows full well that, by blockading and bombarding Ukraine’s ports and choking off its supply of grain to the world, he has not only pummeled the Ukrainian economy but also starved the world’s poor.”
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www.thetimes.co.uk
The Times view on Russian attacks on Ukraine’s ports: Feed the World
ReutersUkraine usually produces 12 per cent of the world’s wheat and 15 per cent of its cornOnly the most evil belligerents use starvation as a weapon of war. I
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🔺EU solidarity over curbing Russian gas fractures
A powerful bloc of EU member states has watered down a plan to ration gas in order to shield Germany and other dependent economies as Russia cuts off supplies.
European energy ministers today signed off on measures to cut gas by 15 per cent from August through to March after a week of bitter in-fighting over the “solidarity” package.
The new legislation obliges states to take voluntary steps to reduce gas consumption and if those fails to yield savings, a trigger for mandatory measures across the 27-member bloc.
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A powerful bloc of EU member states has watered down a plan to ration gas in order to shield Germany and other dependent economies as Russia cuts off supplies.
European energy ministers today signed off on measures to cut gas by 15 per cent from August through to March after a week of bitter in-fighting over the “solidarity” package.
The new legislation obliges states to take voluntary steps to reduce gas consumption and if those fails to yield savings, a trigger for mandatory measures across the 27-member bloc.
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🔺Russia to pull out of International Space Station
Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own outpost above the Earth, according to the country’s space chief.
Yuri Borisov, who was appointed this month to lead the space agency Roscosmos, announced the move during a meeting with President Putin. “We will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” he said.
At present the International Space Station (ISS) is jointly run by the space agencies of Russia, the US, Europe, Japan and Canada, with the UK involved through its membership of the European Space Agency. The station itself consists of two main parts — one overseen by Russia, the other by the US.
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Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station after 2024 and focus on building its own outpost above the Earth, according to the country’s space chief.
Yuri Borisov, who was appointed this month to lead the space agency Roscosmos, announced the move during a meeting with President Putin. “We will fulfil all our obligations to our partners, but the decision to leave this station after 2024 has been made,” he said.
At present the International Space Station (ISS) is jointly run by the space agencies of Russia, the US, Europe, Japan and Canada, with the UK involved through its membership of the European Space Agency. The station itself consists of two main parts — one overseen by Russia, the other by the US.
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🔺Ukraine fightback gains momentum with bid to retake Kherson
Ukraine’s campaign to retake Russian-occupied territory in the south is “gathering momentum”, according to military analysts, as Kyiv prepares to resume critical grain exports and Moscow tightens its grip on the east.
In an intelligence update this morning, the British Ministry of Defence said Kyiv’s counteroffensive had succeeded in virtually cutting off the southern city of Kherson, which was occupied by the Russians in early March, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnipro river “highly vulnerable”.
Russia has continued to bombard Ukrainian cities. Rockets fell on northern Ukraine early on Thursday morning, including near the capital Kyiv, local authorities said.
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Ukraine’s campaign to retake Russian-occupied territory in the south is “gathering momentum”, according to military analysts, as Kyiv prepares to resume critical grain exports and Moscow tightens its grip on the east.
In an intelligence update this morning, the British Ministry of Defence said Kyiv’s counteroffensive had succeeded in virtually cutting off the southern city of Kherson, which was occupied by the Russians in early March, leaving thousands of Russian troops stationed near the Dnipro river “highly vulnerable”.
Russia has continued to bombard Ukrainian cities. Rockets fell on northern Ukraine early on Thursday morning, including near the capital Kyiv, local authorities said.
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🔺Vladimir Putin shows how to wield power in the 21st century
Even if Russia cannot win the long game, by choking energy supplies to Europe and ravaging Ukraine the Kremlin has exploited the refusal by many in the West to appreciate the limits of its economic might
It is a contradiction that baffles many strategic gurus and futurologists, that a year ago Russia was perceived as a fading power, ill-equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century. It seeks to sustain a front-rank place in a world to which it offers only oil, gas and an appetite for extreme violence.
Yet in the past six months, Putin has leveraged these assets to extraordinary effect. His unprovoked aggression in Ukraine has had shattering global consequences: the energy crisis, inflation, hunger and threatened economic disaster in the southern hemisphere.
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Even if Russia cannot win the long game, by choking energy supplies to Europe and ravaging Ukraine the Kremlin has exploited the refusal by many in the West to appreciate the limits of its economic might
It is a contradiction that baffles many strategic gurus and futurologists, that a year ago Russia was perceived as a fading power, ill-equipped to face the challenges of the 21st century. It seeks to sustain a front-rank place in a world to which it offers only oil, gas and an appetite for extreme violence.
Yet in the past six months, Putin has leveraged these assets to extraordinary effect. His unprovoked aggression in Ukraine has had shattering global consequences: the energy crisis, inflation, hunger and threatened economic disaster in the southern hemisphere.
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🔺Ukrainians just want to be free of Russia, says man who sparked Maidan revolution
In the winter of 2013 a Ukrainian journalist wrote a post on Facebook urging people to attend a protest in Maidan Square, central Kyiv. “Dress warmly, bring umbrellas, tea, coffee, a good mood, and friends,” it read. “All kinds of reposts are welcomed!”
Mustafa Nayyem, born in Afghanistan, had no idea his innocuous message would set in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Nayyem, 41, was angry about the last-minute decision by Viktor Yanukovych, president at the time, under pressure from Russia, to back out of an association agreement with the European Union. The deal would have taken Ukraine out of the Kremlin’s sphere of influence, something that President Putin could not accept.
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In the winter of 2013 a Ukrainian journalist wrote a post on Facebook urging people to attend a protest in Maidan Square, central Kyiv. “Dress warmly, bring umbrellas, tea, coffee, a good mood, and friends,” it read. “All kinds of reposts are welcomed!”
Mustafa Nayyem, born in Afghanistan, had no idea his innocuous message would set in motion a chain of events that would eventually lead to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Nayyem, 41, was angry about the last-minute decision by Viktor Yanukovych, president at the time, under pressure from Russia, to back out of an association agreement with the European Union. The deal would have taken Ukraine out of the Kremlin’s sphere of influence, something that President Putin could not accept.
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🔺Barrage continues for the sleepless souls in bombed-out Kharkiv
It was 2am when Russian missiles slammed into a college in Kharkiv, jolting residents of this war-ravaged Ukrainian city from their uneasy sleep. The charred remains of the building were still smouldering the following morning.
For the people of Kharkiv, an industrial city whose northern outskirts are just 20 miles from the Russian border, indiscriminate missile attacks are woven into the fabric of daily life, an ever-constant, often deadly reminder of President Putin’s war.
“Russia is doing this to try and intimidate us. Every night, everyone worries about where the next missile is going to fall,” said Dmytro, a firefighter, as he took a break from extinguishing the blaze at the college.
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It was 2am when Russian missiles slammed into a college in Kharkiv, jolting residents of this war-ravaged Ukrainian city from their uneasy sleep. The charred remains of the building were still smouldering the following morning.
For the people of Kharkiv, an industrial city whose northern outskirts are just 20 miles from the Russian border, indiscriminate missile attacks are woven into the fabric of daily life, an ever-constant, often deadly reminder of President Putin’s war.
“Russia is doing this to try and intimidate us. Every night, everyone worries about where the next missile is going to fall,” said Dmytro, a firefighter, as he took a break from extinguishing the blaze at the college.
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🔺First shipment of Ukrainian grain leaves Odesa
A ship carrying grain for export has left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for the first time since Russia attacked the country in February.
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni is heading to Lebanon under an agreement signed with Russia designed to guarantee safe passage for shipping, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said. The ship is carrying 26,000 tons of corn, according to the United Nations.
The blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has left more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos, sparking fears of a global food crisis and famine in Africa. Wheat prices rose 45 per cent in the first three months of this year compared with last year, the UN said.
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A ship carrying grain for export has left the Ukrainian port of Odesa for the first time since Russia attacked the country in February.
The Sierra Leone-flagged cargo ship Razoni is heading to Lebanon under an agreement signed with Russia designed to guarantee safe passage for shipping, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said. The ship is carrying 26,000 tons of corn, according to the United Nations.
The blockade of Ukraine’s Black Sea ports has left more than 20 million tonnes of grain stuck in silos, sparking fears of a global food crisis and famine in Africa. Wheat prices rose 45 per cent in the first three months of this year compared with last year, the UN said.
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🔺Putin adviser who quit over Ukraine taken to intensive care
The highest-ranking Kremlin official to resign in protest over President Putin’s war was rushed to intensive care, prompting intelligence officers to investigate whether he was poisoned.
Anatoly Chubais, 67, told friends that he believed he was suffering from a rare immune disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disease caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. “He thinks it’s a disease,” a source close to Chubais told Reuters. “Doctors say they found it in time.”
At least one European intelligence agency was examining the circumstances of Chubais falling ill, according to reports, amid speculation that he may have been the latest dissenter to fall victim to Putin’s campaign of extrajudicial poisonings, including that of Sergei Skripal, the double agent who was attacked with his daughter in Salisbury in March, 2018.
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The highest-ranking Kremlin official to resign in protest over President Putin’s war was rushed to intensive care, prompting intelligence officers to investigate whether he was poisoned.
Anatoly Chubais, 67, told friends that he believed he was suffering from a rare immune disorder, Guillain-Barré syndrome, a disease caused by the immune system damaging the peripheral nervous system. “He thinks it’s a disease,” a source close to Chubais told Reuters. “Doctors say they found it in time.”
At least one European intelligence agency was examining the circumstances of Chubais falling ill, according to reports, amid speculation that he may have been the latest dissenter to fall victim to Putin’s campaign of extrajudicial poisonings, including that of Sergei Skripal, the double agent who was attacked with his daughter in Salisbury in March, 2018.
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🔺Alexander Romanovsky: Royal College of Music suspends pianist over Mariupol show
The Royal College of Music in London has suspended one of its tutors after he was filmed performing outside the remains of a bombed theatre in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Alexander Romanovsky, a pianist born in Ukraine who has performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, played outside the site of an attack that Amnesty called “a clear war crime”. More than a dozen people died in the bombing in March. Mariupol fell to Russian forces in May after Ukrainian troops, who had retreated to the Azovstal steel plant, surrendered.
Romanovsky was performing Schubert’s Sonata No 1 in D Major alongside Petr Lundstrem, a violinist and supporter of the Russian invasion.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Music said: “Mr Romanovsky is suspended pending a formal disciplinary process.”
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The Royal College of Music in London has suspended one of its tutors after he was filmed performing outside the remains of a bombed theatre in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol.
Alexander Romanovsky, a pianist born in Ukraine who has performed as a soloist with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, played outside the site of an attack that Amnesty called “a clear war crime”. More than a dozen people died in the bombing in March. Mariupol fell to Russian forces in May after Ukrainian troops, who had retreated to the Azovstal steel plant, surrendered.
Romanovsky was performing Schubert’s Sonata No 1 in D Major alongside Petr Lundstrem, a violinist and supporter of the Russian invasion.
Yesterday, a spokeswoman for the Royal College of Music said: “Mr Romanovsky is suspended pending a formal disciplinary process.”
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www.thetimes.co.uk
Alexander Romanovsky: Royal College of Music suspends pianist over Mariupol show
The Royal College of Music in London has suspended one of its tutors after he was filmed performing outside the remains of a bombed theatre in the occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol
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🔺Putin wants an end to Ukraine war, says his old friend Gerhard Schröder
The former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, vilified across Germany for his personal friendship with President Putin, has said that Russia is hoping to find a solution to the war in Ukraine and that the recent agreement on grain shipments could be expanded into a ceasefire.
“The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” he told Stern magazine and the broadcasters RTL in an interview, adding that he had met Putin in Moscow last week.
Today inspectors boarded the first grain-carrying ship to leave Ukrainian ports since the war began after it anchored in the Black Sea, near the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait. The sailing was made possible after Turkey and the UN brokered a grain and fertiliser export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month, in a rare diplomatic breakthrough. President Erdogan is expected to meet Putin on Friday in Sochi, the first Nato leader to visit Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
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The former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, vilified across Germany for his personal friendship with President Putin, has said that Russia is hoping to find a solution to the war in Ukraine and that the recent agreement on grain shipments could be expanded into a ceasefire.
“The good news is that the Kremlin wants a negotiated solution,” he told Stern magazine and the broadcasters RTL in an interview, adding that he had met Putin in Moscow last week.
Today inspectors boarded the first grain-carrying ship to leave Ukrainian ports since the war began after it anchored in the Black Sea, near the entrance to the Bosphorus Strait. The sailing was made possible after Turkey and the UN brokered a grain and fertiliser export agreement between Russia and Ukraine last month, in a rare diplomatic breakthrough. President Erdogan is expected to meet Putin on Friday in Sochi, the first Nato leader to visit Russia since it invaded Ukraine.
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Thetimes
Putin wants an end to Ukraine war, says his old friend Gerhard Schröder
The former chancellor Gerhard Schröder, vilified across Germany for his personal friendship with President Putin, has said that Russia is hoping to find a so
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🔺Ukrainian medical students swap carnage for Cambridge
Soon after Russia attacked Ukraine, Serhii Alkhimov found himself living in an underground station in the city of Kharkiv. There were 2,000 others sheltering there and for two months the 21-year-old medical student was the only “medic” they had.
People he treated and saved included a policeman who suffered massive arterial bleeding after being hit by shrapnel. After that Alkhimov was told to travel to Odesa and not to ask why. When he arrived, he was awarded a medal by President Zelensky.
Now his life has taken yet another extraordinary turn: he is studying at the University of Cambridge.
Alkhimov is one of 21 medical students from Kharkiv — which was attacked on the first day of the conflict and has seen fierce fighting — who will be given essential practical training over the next seven weeks, organised by the university’s School of Clinical Medicine.
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Soon after Russia attacked Ukraine, Serhii Alkhimov found himself living in an underground station in the city of Kharkiv. There were 2,000 others sheltering there and for two months the 21-year-old medical student was the only “medic” they had.
People he treated and saved included a policeman who suffered massive arterial bleeding after being hit by shrapnel. After that Alkhimov was told to travel to Odesa and not to ask why. When he arrived, he was awarded a medal by President Zelensky.
Now his life has taken yet another extraordinary turn: he is studying at the University of Cambridge.
Alkhimov is one of 21 medical students from Kharkiv — which was attacked on the first day of the conflict and has seen fierce fighting — who will be given essential practical training over the next seven weeks, organised by the university’s School of Clinical Medicine.
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🔺Showdown looms in Mykolaiv as Putin scrambles to save face
President Putin is desperately redeploying thousands of Russian troops to southern Ukraine to stave off a humiliating defeat, moving troops from the Donbas to bolster a force that has been split precariously across two banks of the wide Dnipro river.
The reinforcements bring the total Russian force in the area to more than 25,000 troops, a Ukrainian reconnaissance and intelligence team told The Times, adding that nine Russian battle groups, each between 500 and 800 men, had been moved there from the Donbas and Crimea.
“Sadly Boris Johnson didn’t give us the longer-range missiles we needed to hit them on the road,” grinned Sergeant “Hulk”, 47, the goliath commander of a 28th Mechanised Brigade intelligence squad. “But we have a surprise in store for the Russians all the same.”
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President Putin is desperately redeploying thousands of Russian troops to southern Ukraine to stave off a humiliating defeat, moving troops from the Donbas to bolster a force that has been split precariously across two banks of the wide Dnipro river.
The reinforcements bring the total Russian force in the area to more than 25,000 troops, a Ukrainian reconnaissance and intelligence team told The Times, adding that nine Russian battle groups, each between 500 and 800 men, had been moved there from the Donbas and Crimea.
“Sadly Boris Johnson didn’t give us the longer-range missiles we needed to hit them on the road,” grinned Sergeant “Hulk”, 47, the goliath commander of a 28th Mechanised Brigade intelligence squad. “But we have a surprise in store for the Russians all the same.”
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🔺Russian threatens to sue Shapps over online video of superyacht seizure
Had it not been for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the £38 million superyacht Phi would be gliding through the blue waters of the Mediterranean this weekend, while its passengers enjoyed its onboard luxuries.
For a charter fee of €500,000 (£421,000) a week, guests could take advantage of its freshwater swimming pool, an outdoor cinema, black marble bathrooms and an “infinite” wine cellar.
Instead, the 192ft boat is languishing in a dock at Canary Wharf, east London, from which it has barely moved since it was boarded by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) in March and served with a detention notice. The yacht is the most high-profile Russian-owned asset targeted by the British government in response to the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict.
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Had it not been for Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, the £38 million superyacht Phi would be gliding through the blue waters of the Mediterranean this weekend, while its passengers enjoyed its onboard luxuries.
For a charter fee of €500,000 (£421,000) a week, guests could take advantage of its freshwater swimming pool, an outdoor cinema, black marble bathrooms and an “infinite” wine cellar.
Instead, the 192ft boat is languishing in a dock at Canary Wharf, east London, from which it has barely moved since it was boarded by officers from the National Crime Agency (NCA) in March and served with a detention notice. The yacht is the most high-profile Russian-owned asset targeted by the British government in response to the outbreak of the Ukrainian conflict.
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🔺Fighting around Ukraine nuclear plant ‘suicidal’, says UN
The UN has warned of the “suicidal” danger of fighting around Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant after Ukraine and Russia accused each other of shelling the site over the weekend, raising fears of a radioactive disaster.
António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, called for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia plant in Enerhodar, central Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian troops in early March.
“Any attack [on] a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing,” Guterres said in Japan, where he attended a ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on Saturday to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.
Recent shelling near the power station is said to have damaged three radiation sensors, as well as power links.
Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, called for a team of peacekeepers to be sent to the Zaporizhzhia site.
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The UN has warned of the “suicidal” danger of fighting around Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant after Ukraine and Russia accused each other of shelling the site over the weekend, raising fears of a radioactive disaster.
António Guterres, secretary-general of the UN, called for international inspectors to be given access to the Zaporizhzhia plant in Enerhodar, central Ukraine, which was occupied by Russian troops in early March.
“Any attack [on] a nuclear plant is a suicidal thing,” Guterres said in Japan, where he attended a ceremony at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial on Saturday to commemorate the 77th anniversary of the world’s first atomic bombing.
Recent shelling near the power station is said to have damaged three radiation sensors, as well as power links.
Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear power company, called for a team of peacekeepers to be sent to the Zaporizhzhia site.
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🔺Russian advance in eastern Ukraine is slowing to a crawl, says MoD
Russian units have taken a month to advance two miles or less in parts of eastern Ukraine as they struggle to recruit enough troops to push on with the invasion, according to British intelligence.
In the most successful assault, towards the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, the Kremlin’s forces managed to progress six miles in 30 days, the Ministry of Defence said. But advances in the Donbas region have been slow or checked by Ukrainian defenders, despite President Putin’s forces using heavy firepower.
Russian advances in the latest phase of its invasion are believed to be significantly less than planned. Heavy fighting was reported today in frontline towns near the eastern city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian officials said Russian troops were launching waves of attacks as they tried to seize control of the industrialised Donbas region.
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Russian units have taken a month to advance two miles or less in parts of eastern Ukraine as they struggle to recruit enough troops to push on with the invasion, according to British intelligence.
In the most successful assault, towards the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk region, the Kremlin’s forces managed to progress six miles in 30 days, the Ministry of Defence said. But advances in the Donbas region have been slow or checked by Ukrainian defenders, despite President Putin’s forces using heavy firepower.
Russian advances in the latest phase of its invasion are believed to be significantly less than planned. Heavy fighting was reported today in frontline towns near the eastern city of Donetsk, where Ukrainian officials said Russian troops were launching waves of attacks as they tried to seize control of the industrialised Donbas region.
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