Russia-Ukraine war: Russia strikes towns near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, mayor says; Ukraine targets bridges to Kherson – live | Ukraine

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Summary

Concern persists about the potential for a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s state energy operator has warned there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances” at the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities were distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the plant in case of radiation exposure.

Russia and Ukraine traded fresh accusations of each other shelling the area around the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, on Saturday. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the plant over the past day, the Ukrainian state nuclear company, Energoatom, said. Russia’s defense ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station three times” in the past day.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is trying to negotiate access to the plant for an urgent inspection mission “to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there”. Energoatom head Petro Kotin told the Guardian a visit could come before the end of the month, but the Ukrainian energy minister, Lana Zerkal, told a local radio station she was not convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued a statement marking Ukraine’s Aviation Day, in which he pledged that Kyiv’s troops would “destroy the occupiers’ potential step by step”. The Ukrainian president vowed that the Russian “invaders will die like dew on the sun”.

Russia has probably increased the intensity of its attacks in the Donetsk area of ​​eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence. Pro-Russia separatists have most likely made progress towards the center of Pisky village, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces overall have secured few territorial gains, the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defense says.

Russia has blocked an agreement at the UN aimed at bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation world. The failure to agree to a joint statement, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause about control over the Zaporizhzhia plant, is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and keeping a lid on a rekindled arms race.

Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers has said. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said men of draft age employed as crew members would be allowed to leave the country so long as they had permission from their local conscription offices to cross the border.

Britain’s defense ministry has said it is giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coastline of mines and make grain shipments safer. In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be taught to use the drones over the coming months, the ministry said.

Kazakhstan, a neighbor and ally of Russia, has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid the conflict in Ukraine and western sanctions against Moscow.

Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to protect the airspace of their Nato ally Slovakia, as it upgrades its air force from the legacy Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to a new batch of F-16 jets from the US.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and these are the latest developments as it approaches 9.20am in Kyiv on this Sunday 28 August 2022.

Updated at 08.10 BSTE

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It is unclear if Russia will try to fill its increase in armed forces members by recruiting more volunteer “contract” soldiers or by lifting annual targets for contractions, British intelligence says.

President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week week to increase the size of the armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million in the wake of the country’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its sixth month.

The latest UK Ministry of Defense briefing says that under the Russian legislation now in place, the decree is unlikely to make “substantive progress” towards increasing Russia’s combat power.

This is because Russia has lost tens of thousands of troops; very few new contract servicemen are being recruited; and conscripts are technically not obliged to serve outside of Russian territory.

Updated at 08.37 BSTE

Two people were killed in Russian firing on Bakhmut, the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said on Saturday.

The eastern city is a significant target for Russian and separatist forces seeking to take control of the parts of Donetsk they don’t hold.

Associated Press also reported local government officials as saying that in the Black Sea region of Mykolaiv, one person was killed and another wounded in Russian firing.

Millions of tons of food from past harvests in Ukraine still need to be cleared to make room in silos for the next one, the United Nations coordinator for the grains agreement says.

More than 1m tons of grains and other foods have been exported under the grains deal brokered by Turkey and the UN, Reuters reports.

Amir Abdulla, the UN coordinator for the Black Sea grain initiative, said on Saturday that the deal “has started creating some space but much more grain needs to shift to make space for the new harvest”.

Grain silos in Odesa, Ukraine. Photograph: Manuel de Almeida/EPA

Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to accuse each other of shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, with Ukraine saying Russian forces fired on areas just across the river from the complex and Russia saying Ukrainian shells hit a building where nuclear fuel is stored.

The claims on Saturday came amid continuing concerns about the potential for a radiation leak at Europe’s largest nuclear facility, Associated Press reports.

The governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Russian Grad missiles and artillery shells hit the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each 10km (six miles) across the Dnieper River from the plant in south-eastern Ukraine.

A Russian defense ministry, spokesperson, Igor Konashenkov, said Ukrainian forces had fired on the plant from Marhanets. Seventeen Ukrainian shells hit the plant over the past day, he said, with four striking the roof of a building that stored nuclear fuel.

An apartment in Marhanets, Ukraine, after strikes by Russian forces earlier this month. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images

Updated at 07.34 BSTE

Summary

Concern persists about the potential for a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s state energy operator has warned there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances” at the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities were distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the plant in case of radiation exposure.

Russia and Ukraine traded fresh accusations of each other shelling the area around the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, on Saturday. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the plant over the past day, the Ukrainian state nuclear company, Energoatom, said. Russia’s defense ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station three times” in the past day.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is trying to negotiate access to the plant for an urgent inspection mission “to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there”. Energoatom head Petro Kotin told the Guardian a visit could come before the end of the month, but the Ukrainian energy minister, Lana Zerkal, told a local radio station she was not convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith.

Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued a statement marking Ukraine’s Aviation Day, in which he pledged that Kyiv’s troops would “destroy the occupiers’ potential step by step”. The Ukrainian president vowed that the Russian “invaders will die like dew on the sun”.

Russia has probably increased the intensity of its attacks in the Donetsk area of ​​eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence. Pro-Russia separatists have most likely made progress towards the center of Pisky village, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces overall have secured few territorial gains, the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defense says.

Russia has blocked an agreement at the UN aimed at bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation world. The failure to agree to a joint statement, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause about control over the Zaporizhzhia plant, is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and keeping a lid on a rekindled arms race.

Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, Ukraine’s cabinet of ministers has said. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said men of draft age employed as crew members would be allowed to leave the country so long as they had permission from their local conscription offices to cross the border.

Britain’s defense ministry has said it is giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coastline of mines and make grain shipments safer. In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be taught to use the drones over the coming months, the ministry said.

Kazakhstan, a neighbor and ally of Russia, has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid the conflict in Ukraine and western sanctions against Moscow.

Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to protect the airspace of their Nato ally Slovakia, as it upgrades its air force from the legacy Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to a new batch of F-16 jets from the US.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and these are the latest developments as it approaches 9.20am in Kyiv on this Sunday 28 August 2022.

Updated at 08.10 BSTE

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