Here is the latest from Ukraine.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of fresh shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, just two days after the plant was cut off from Ukraine’s electricity, causing a massive power outage and prompting international fears of a radiation disaster, before backup diesel generators kicked in.
Inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog are expected to visit the plant next week.
Read the full story here.
Russia and Ukraine accused each other of fresh shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, just two days after the plant was cut off from Ukraine’s electricity, causing a massive power outage and prompting international fears of a radiation disaster, before backup diesel generators kicked in.
Inspectors from the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog are expected to visit the plant next week.
Read the full story here.
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A Chernobyl tour group secretly helped track Russia’s invasion
CHERNOBYL — At home in Kyiv, Yaroslav Yemelianenko was glued to a secret live stream of the gate to Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. In disbelief, he watched as Russian tanks rolled by the yellow tourist information center for his company, Chernobyl Tour, and drove south toward the Ukrainian capital.
It was hours into the first day of the war, Feb. 24. Publicly, Ukraine’s leaders said Russian troops had not yet crossed there.
Elsewhere in Kyiv, Chernobyl Tour guide coordinator Kateryna Aslamova watched the same scene unfold in shock.
Chernobyl Tour had a small, battery-operated camera perched by the checkpoint into the zone that Yemelianenko and Aslamova could remotely access. It was there to monitor their booth. But the day of the invasion, they said, it provided early information about Russia’s movement of troops through Belarus and past Chernobyl as Moscow began its attempt to take Kyiv.
Read the full story here.
CHERNOBYL — At home in Kyiv, Yaroslav Yemelianenko was glued to a secret live stream of the gate to Chernobyl, the site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster. In disbelief, he watched as Russian tanks rolled by the yellow tourist information center for his company, Chernobyl Tour, and drove south toward the Ukrainian capital.
It was hours into the first day of the war, Feb. 24. Publicly, Ukraine’s leaders said Russian troops had not yet crossed there.
Elsewhere in Kyiv, Chernobyl Tour guide coordinator Kateryna Aslamova watched the same scene unfold in shock.
Chernobyl Tour had a small, battery-operated camera perched by the checkpoint into the zone that Yemelianenko and Aslamova could remotely access. It was there to monitor their booth. But the day of the invasion, they said, it provided early information about Russia’s movement of troops through Belarus and past Chernobyl as Moscow began its attempt to take Kyiv.
Read the full story here.
Neither snow, nor sleet, nor war: Ukraine mail carriers carry on
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — First came the boom. Then the air raid siren.
“Turn off the machines! Turn off the machines!” yelled a mail sorter.
Moments before, workers in this southern Ukrainian city at the regional headquarters of Ukraine’s national postal service, Ukrposhta, had been absorbed in their early-morning shift: taking packages of varying shapes and sizes from a conveyor belt and distributing them according to their final destinations.
Now, they scrambled to safety as the sound of the explosions grew louder. “It’s coming closer and closer!” yelled an employee, huddled in an entranceway with a group of colleagues.
Forty-five minutes later, the all-clear was given. Slightly behind schedule — time they would make up in short order — the sorting facility’s roughly 45 employees returned to work.
Read the full story here.
MYKOLAIV, Ukraine — First came the boom. Then the air raid siren.
“Turn off the machines! Turn off the machines!” yelled a mail sorter.
Moments before, workers in this southern Ukrainian city at the regional headquarters of Ukraine’s national postal service, Ukrposhta, had been absorbed in their early-morning shift: taking packages of varying shapes and sizes from a conveyor belt and distributing them according to their final destinations.
Now, they scrambled to safety as the sound of the explosions grew louder. “It’s coming closer and closer!” yelled an employee, huddled in an entranceway with a group of colleagues.
Forty-five minutes later, the all-clear was given. Slightly behind schedule — time they would make up in short order — the sorting facility’s roughly 45 employees returned to work.
Read the full story here.
The story of little Liza, killed in her stroller by a Russian missile
Four-year-old Elizaveta Dmytrieva grinned as she pushed her stroller along the street in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. It was nearly five months into the war, but the city where her family had fled from Kyiv seemed safe enough. Her mother took an Instagram video as “Liza,” who was born with Down syndrome, led the way in a moment of delighted independence.
Barely an hour later, the little girl was dead, her mother severely injured. And the image of her black and pink stroller, flipped on its side and spattered with blood, would become symbolic of the gruesome toll Russia’s invasion has inflicted on even the youngest Ukrainians.
What Iryna Dmytrieva remembers, reliving the horror of that July morning in her first interview since leaving the hospital, is a deafening noise overhead that she thought was a plane. She looked up to see a “massive” missile and immediately crouched down to try to shield her child.
Read the full story here.
Four-year-old Elizaveta Dmytrieva grinned as she pushed her stroller along the street in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. It was nearly five months into the war, but the city where her family had fled from Kyiv seemed safe enough. Her mother took an Instagram video as “Liza,” who was born with Down syndrome, led the way in a moment of delighted independence.
Barely an hour later, the little girl was dead, her mother severely injured. And the image of her black and pink stroller, flipped on its side and spattered with blood, would become symbolic of the gruesome toll Russia’s invasion has inflicted on even the youngest Ukrainians.
What Iryna Dmytrieva remembers, reliving the horror of that July morning in her first interview since leaving the hospital, is a deafening noise overhead that she thought was a plane. She looked up to see a “massive” missile and immediately crouched down to try to shield her child.
Read the full story here.
U.N. nuclear agency heads to Zaporizhzhia as attacks raise fear of disaster
A “support and assistance mission” from the International Atomic Energy Agency is “on its way” to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, the head of the organization said, as strikes near the facility continued into Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other for the attacks, which have elicited warnings in recent weeks of a possible catastrophe at Europe’s biggest nuclear facility.
The IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia, known as ISAMZ, will be at the plant “later this week,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi tweeted Monday. He made the announcement after weeks of complex negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations-linked agency to allow experts into the facility, which is operated by Ukrainian workers but occupied by Russian forces.
Read the full story here.
A “support and assistance mission” from the International Atomic Energy Agency is “on its way” to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine, the head of the organization said, as strikes near the facility continued into Monday, according to Ukrainian officials.
Kyiv and Moscow blamed each other for the attacks, which have elicited warnings in recent weeks of a possible catastrophe at Europe’s biggest nuclear facility.
The IAEA Support and Assistance Mission to Zaporizhzhia, known as ISAMZ, will be at the plant “later this week,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi tweeted Monday. He made the announcement after weeks of complex negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations-linked agency to allow experts into the facility, which is operated by Ukrainian workers but occupied by Russian forces.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- IAEA inspectors are headed to Zaporizhzhia after complex negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations-linked agency amid rising international concern that strikes around the plant could cause a nuclear accident.
- Kyiv expects the mission to find that Russia is violating “nuclear safety protocols” at the plant, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday during a news conference in Stockholm.
- Ukrainian officials reported more strikes around the Zaporizhzhia plant.
- Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced an update in its investigation into the killing of Daria Dugina.
More live updates here.
- IAEA inspectors are headed to Zaporizhzhia after complex negotiations involving Russia, Ukraine and the United Nations-linked agency amid rising international concern that strikes around the plant could cause a nuclear accident.
- Kyiv expects the mission to find that Russia is violating “nuclear safety protocols” at the plant, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Monday during a news conference in Stockholm.
- Ukrainian officials reported more strikes around the Zaporizhzhia plant.
- Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced an update in its investigation into the killing of Daria Dugina.
More live updates here.
Iran sends first shipment of drones to Russia for use in Ukraine
Russian cargo planes have quietly picked up the first of scores of Iranian-made combat drones for use against Ukraine, U.S. officials said, in a move that underscores deepening ties between Moscow and Tehran while also highlighting Russia’s struggles to supply its overstretched military.
Transport planes departed Iran on Aug. 19 hauling at least two types of unmanned aerial vehicles, both capable of carrying munitions for attacks on radars, artillery and other military targets, according to intelligence gathered by U.S. and other spy agencies.
But while the weapons could provide a significant boost for Russia’s war effort against Ukraine, the transfer has been marred by technical problems, security officials from the United States and an allied government said in interviews. In early tests by the Russians, the Iranian drones experienced numerous failures, the officials said.
Read the full story here.
Russian cargo planes have quietly picked up the first of scores of Iranian-made combat drones for use against Ukraine, U.S. officials said, in a move that underscores deepening ties between Moscow and Tehran while also highlighting Russia’s struggles to supply its overstretched military.
Transport planes departed Iran on Aug. 19 hauling at least two types of unmanned aerial vehicles, both capable of carrying munitions for attacks on radars, artillery and other military targets, according to intelligence gathered by U.S. and other spy agencies.
But while the weapons could provide a significant boost for Russia’s war effort against Ukraine, the transfer has been marred by technical problems, security officials from the United States and an allied government said in interviews. In early tests by the Russians, the Iranian drones experienced numerous failures, the officials said.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- Kyiv said its forces broke through Russian positions in the Kherson region. Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command, told the Russian-language outlet TV Rain that “offensive actions” had have begun.
- There had has been “an uptick” in fighting around Kherson “over the past few days, including artillery and rockets,” a senior U.S. military official, speaking anonymously under conditions set by the Pentagon, said Monday during a news briefing, adding that they the Pentagon could not confirm whether a counteroffensive had has begun.
- IAEA inspectors have arrived in Ukraine, a diplomat familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. The group is set to arrive at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant later this week to assess whether weeks of strikes — which Ukraine and Russia have blamed on the each other — have dangerously damaged the facility.
More live updates here.
- Kyiv said its forces broke through Russian positions in the Kherson region. Natalia Humeniuk, a spokeswoman for the Ukrainian military’s southern command, told the Russian-language outlet TV Rain that “offensive actions” had have begun.
- There had has been “an uptick” in fighting around Kherson “over the past few days, including artillery and rockets,” a senior U.S. military official, speaking anonymously under conditions set by the Pentagon, said Monday during a news briefing, adding that they the Pentagon could not confirm whether a counteroffensive had has begun.
- IAEA inspectors have arrived in Ukraine, a diplomat familiar with the situation told The Washington Post. The group is set to arrive at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant later this week to assess whether weeks of strikes — which Ukraine and Russia have blamed on the each other — have dangerously damaged the facility.
More live updates here.
Exclusive: Ukraine lures Russian missiles with decoys of U.S. rocket system
Ukraine may be outgunned but in the latest sign it is not yet outfoxed, a fleet of decoys resembling advanced U.S. rocket systems has tricked Russian forces into wasting expensive long-range cruise missiles on dummy targets, according to interviews with senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials and photographs of the replicas reviewed by The Washington Post.
The Ukrainian decoys are made out of wood but can be indistinguishable from an artillery battery through the lens of Russian drones, which transmit their locations to naval cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea.
“When the UAVs see the battery, it’s like a VIP target,” said a senior Ukrainian official, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles encountering long-range artillery replicas.
Read the full story here.
Ukraine may be outgunned but in the latest sign it is not yet outfoxed, a fleet of decoys resembling advanced U.S. rocket systems has tricked Russian forces into wasting expensive long-range cruise missiles on dummy targets, according to interviews with senior U.S. and Ukrainian officials and photographs of the replicas reviewed by The Washington Post.
The Ukrainian decoys are made out of wood but can be indistinguishable from an artillery battery through the lens of Russian drones, which transmit their locations to naval cruise missile carriers in the Black Sea.
“When the UAVs see the battery, it’s like a VIP target,” said a senior Ukrainian official, referring to unmanned aerial vehicles encountering long-range artillery replicas.
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived in Kyiv, and new attacks on Russian forces in the Kherson region are underway, according to Ukrainian officials.
- Kyiv said its forces broke through Russian positions in the Kherson region.
- There has been “an uptick” in fighting around Kherson “over the past few days, including artillery and rockets,” a senior U.S. military official, speaking anonymously under conditions set by the Pentagon, said Monday during a news briefing.
- Video circulating on social media Tuesday and verified by The Washington Post shows smoke and gunfire in the southern city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war.
- More attacks were reported near the plant. Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, said Russian forces launched a missile strike on Zaporizhzhia overnight into Tuesday.
More live updates here.
- Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived in Kyiv, and new attacks on Russian forces in the Kherson region are underway, according to Ukrainian officials.
- Kyiv said its forces broke through Russian positions in the Kherson region.
- There has been “an uptick” in fighting around Kherson “over the past few days, including artillery and rockets,” a senior U.S. military official, speaking anonymously under conditions set by the Pentagon, said Monday during a news briefing.
- Video circulating on social media Tuesday and verified by The Washington Post shows smoke and gunfire in the southern city of Kherson, which has been occupied by Russian forces since early in the war.
- More attacks were reported near the plant. Oleksandr Starukh, the regional governor of Zaporizhzhia, said Russian forces launched a missile strike on Zaporizhzhia overnight into Tuesday.
More live updates here.
Ban Russian tourists? E.U. is divided on visa restrictions.
With fighting raging in eastern Ukraine and Europe bracing for a war-induced recession, should Russians be allowed to enjoy the end of summer in southern France? Shop for luxury goods in Italy? Visit family in Finland?
Those questions will be part of a debate among foreign ministers of the European Union’s member states gathered this week for an informal meeting in Prague. And while E.U. countries were united in banning Russian flights from their airspace and placing more than 1,200 individuals on their sanctions list, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, a blanket ban on Russian tourists is proving far more divisive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing for one. “Let them live in their own world until they change their philosophy,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post this month. “This is the only way to influence Putin.”
Read the full story here.
With fighting raging in eastern Ukraine and Europe bracing for a war-induced recession, should Russians be allowed to enjoy the end of summer in southern France? Shop for luxury goods in Italy? Visit family in Finland?
Those questions will be part of a debate among foreign ministers of the European Union’s member states gathered this week for an informal meeting in Prague. And while E.U. countries were united in banning Russian flights from their airspace and placing more than 1,200 individuals on their sanctions list, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, a blanket ban on Russian tourists is proving far more divisive.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is pushing for one. “Let them live in their own world until they change their philosophy,” he said in an interview with The Washington Post this month. “This is the only way to influence Putin.”
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- The IAEA chief said the mission aims to establish permanent monitoring at Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
- Ukraine may have succeeded in pushing Russia’s “front line back some distance in places” in the south by “exploiting relatively thinly held Russian defences,” the British Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
- There has been “an uptick” in fighting around Kherson “over the past few days, including artillery and rockets,” a senior U.S. military official, speaking anonymously under conditions set by the Pentagon, said Monday during a news briefing.
- E.U. foreign ministers will debate whether to ban Russian tourists from the bloc during their second day of informal meetings in Prague. Countries are divided on the proposal, which has Zelensky’s backing and the support of the Baltic states, as well as Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic.
More live updates here.
- The IAEA chief said the mission aims to establish permanent monitoring at Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
- Ukraine may have succeeded in pushing Russia’s “front line back some distance in places” in the south by “exploiting relatively thinly held Russian defences,” the British Defense Ministry said Wednesday.
- There has been “an uptick” in fighting around Kherson “over the past few days, including artillery and rockets,” a senior U.S. military official, speaking anonymously under conditions set by the Pentagon, said Monday during a news briefing.
- E.U. foreign ministers will debate whether to ban Russian tourists from the bloc during their second day of informal meetings in Prague. Countries are divided on the proposal, which has Zelensky’s backing and the support of the Baltic states, as well as Finland, Poland and the Czech Republic.
More live updates here.
U.N. nuclear chief sets off for Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia plant
KYIV, Ukraine — A team of United Nations nuclear experts packed into a convoy of armored vehicles in Ukraine’s capital on Wednesday and drove off to the embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the culmination of six months of painstaking international negotiations aimed at preventing a catastrophe at the facility.
“We are going to a war zone,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose team of more than a dozen experts will inspect a Russian-occupied plant that has experienced artillery shelling and power outages, among several other challenges, in recent months.
Grossi said the goal of his multiday inspection was to set up a permanent monitoring mission at the plant, “assess the real situation there” and to help “stabilize the situation as much as we can.”
Read the full story here.
KYIV, Ukraine — A team of United Nations nuclear experts packed into a convoy of armored vehicles in Ukraine’s capital on Wednesday and drove off to the embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the culmination of six months of painstaking international negotiations aimed at preventing a catastrophe at the facility.
“We are going to a war zone,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, whose team of more than a dozen experts will inspect a Russian-occupied plant that has experienced artillery shelling and power outages, among several other challenges, in recent months.
Grossi said the goal of his multiday inspection was to set up a permanent monitoring mission at the plant, “assess the real situation there” and to help “stabilize the situation as much as we can.”
Read the full story here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine.
- IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said the mission aims to establish a permanent monitoring presence at the plant.
- A senior Russian diplomat endorsed Grossi’s push for a permanent presence at the plant on Wednesday, though Kremlin-installed officials in the region downplayed the scale and scope of the mission.
- Zelensky and his advisers accused Russian forces Tuesday of striking targets on the IAEA’s path to Zaporizhzhia; the Kremlin did not respond to the allegation but said Wednesday it is doing what is necessary to ensure the safety of the mission.
More live updates here.
- IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said the mission aims to establish a permanent monitoring presence at the plant.
- A senior Russian diplomat endorsed Grossi’s push for a permanent presence at the plant on Wednesday, though Kremlin-installed officials in the region downplayed the scale and scope of the mission.
- Zelensky and his advisers accused Russian forces Tuesday of striking targets on the IAEA’s path to Zaporizhzhia; the Kremlin did not respond to the allegation but said Wednesday it is doing what is necessary to ensure the safety of the mission.
More live updates here.
Here is the latest from Ukraine:
- The IAEA team is aware of “increased military activity” in the area near the plant, Grossi said before departing Thursday, adding that his team would continue with their inspection nonetheless. “Having come so far, we are not stopping,” Grossi said.
- “The Russians are shelling the pre-agreed route of the IAEA mission,” Ukrainian regional governor for Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, said on telegram Thursday. “We demand that the Russian Federation stop the provocations and grant the IAEA unhindered access to the Ukrainian nuclear facility.”
- Russia in turn accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the IAEA mission, according to Vladimir Rogov, an official installed by Moscow in the Zaporizhzhia region.
- “The Russian military is suffering from severe manning shortages in Ukraine,” a U.S. official told The Washington Post on condition of anonymity.
More live updates here.
- The IAEA team is aware of “increased military activity” in the area near the plant, Grossi said before departing Thursday, adding that his team would continue with their inspection nonetheless. “Having come so far, we are not stopping,” Grossi said.
- “The Russians are shelling the pre-agreed route of the IAEA mission,” Ukrainian regional governor for Zaporizhzhia, Oleksandr Starukh, said on telegram Thursday. “We demand that the Russian Federation stop the provocations and grant the IAEA unhindered access to the Ukrainian nuclear facility.”
- Russia in turn accused Ukraine of attempting to disrupt the IAEA mission, according to Vladimir Rogov, an official installed by Moscow in the Zaporizhzhia region.
- “The Russian military is suffering from severe manning shortages in Ukraine,” a U.S. official told The Washington Post on condition of anonymity.
More live updates here.
New findings expose machinery of Russia's 'filtration' of Ukrainians
Moscow and its separatist allies in Ukraine have forcibly transferred hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to Russia since the start of the war, according to U.S. officials and human rights investigators, sending many through a vast and punitive “filtration” system that includes detentions, interrogations and mass data collection.
The system operates in Russian-occupied areas and is overseen by the Kremlin, which is using “advanced technology” to gather data on Ukrainian citizens, a State Department official said in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday.
In recent days, two reports — from the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab — have shed new light on the scale of the filtration network and its impact on civilians. Both reports say there is evidence the system violates the laws of war.
Read the full story here.
Moscow and its separatist allies in Ukraine have forcibly transferred hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to Russia since the start of the war, according to U.S. officials and human rights investigators, sending many through a vast and punitive “filtration” system that includes detentions, interrogations and mass data collection.
The system operates in Russian-occupied areas and is overseen by the Kremlin, which is using “advanced technology” to gather data on Ukrainian citizens, a State Department official said in a briefing with reporters on Wednesday.
In recent days, two reports — from the New York-based Human Rights Watch and Yale University’s Humanitarian Research Lab — have shed new light on the scale of the filtration network and its impact on civilians. Both reports say there is evidence the system violates the laws of war.
Read the full story here.