Ukraine working to get IAEA mission into occupied nuclear power plant
A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, on Aug. 4, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Wednesday night that Ukrainian diplomats, its nuclear scientists and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) are “in constant touch” and working to get a team of inspectors into the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
The plant has been occupied by Russian troops since the start of the war in Ukraine but there have been increasing fears that a nuclear catastrophe could take place as shelling has intensified around the plant, which Ukraine says has been used by Russia to store ammunition and military equipment.
Russia, for its part, has accused Ukraine of shelling the plant and has sought to cast Kyiv as an irresponsible actor in the nuclear energy sector.
On Telegram, Zelenskyy said last night that “only absolute transparency and [a[] controlled situation at and around the ZNPP can guarantee a gradual return to normal nuclear safety for the Ukrainian state, for the international community, and for the IAEA.”
Zelenskyy reiterated calls by Ukraine and the international community for the Russian army to withdraw from the territory of the nuclear power plant “and all neighboring areas, and take away its military equipment from the plant.”
“This must happen without any conditions and as soon as possible,” he added. “Ukraine is ready to ensure proper control of the IAEA, and the relevant mission can be sent to the Zaporizhzhia plant in a legal way, very fast and as efficiently as possible.”
— Holly Ellyatt
Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Now, Kyiv is fighting back
Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea, on Aug. 9, 2022.
Stringer | Reuters
When Russia invaded and annexed Crimea in 2014 little was done to stop it or actively help Ukraine get its territory back, a salient point given Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbor that begun earlier this year.
But now, Ukraine appears to be finally in a position to fight back on the peninsula with a spate of recent incidents in which Russian military positions and infrastructure in Crimea have been damaged.
These, it’s believed, are likely to be a part of Ukraine’s tentative counteroffensive in the south as it seeks to dislodge the occupying forces and eventually reclaim its territory, once and for all.
The latest incidents in Crimea took place on Tuesday when a fire caused multiple explosions in a Russian ammunition depot near Dzhankoi in the north of the peninsula. A nearby railway and electricity sub-station were also damaged as well as residential buildings, Russia’s defense ministry said.
Read more on the story here: Russia took Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Now, Kyiv is fighting back
Ukraine’s state energy company says it was hit with a Russian cyber attack
The Russian flag displayed on a laptop screen with binary code code overlaying.
Nurphoto | Getty Images
Ukraine’s state energy company said it was targeted by a Russian cyber attack, according to a statement on the Telegram messaging app translated by NBC News.
“The most powerful hacker attack since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of the Russian Federation took place on the official website of EnergoAtom State Enterprise,” the company said, adding that the cyber attack came from within Russian territory.
“The mentioned attack did not significantly affect the work of the website of and remained invisible to users,” the company added.
— Amanda Macias
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry conduct nuclear catastrophe exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia
Ukraine’s Emergency Ministry conducts a nuclear catastrophe exercise in Zaporizhzhia in case of a potential accident at the city’s nuclear power plant.
Ukraine remains deeply scarred by the 1986 Chornobyl nuclear catastrophe when a Soviet-era reactor exploded and spewed radiation into the atmosphere in the country’s north.
Russian forces took over the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant a few days after the Kremlin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.
Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.
Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.
Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images
Ukrainian Emergency Ministry rescuers attend an exercise in the city of Zaporizhzhia on August 17, 2022, in case of a possible nuclear incident at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant located near the city.
Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images
— Dimitar Dilkoff | AFP | Getty Images
U.N. secretary-general will not meet with Russian officials during trip
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is not expected to meet with any Russian officials following his visit to Ukraine.
U.N. spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that Guterres will take meetings with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan this week. He added that Guterres has no plans to hold discussions with Russian officials.
Dujarric said that Guterres will also meet separately with Zelenskyy to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
— Amanda Macias
Russian military sites in Crimea keep exploding, hinting at growing Ukrainian ambitions and abilities
Smoke rises after explosions were heard from the direction of a Russian military airbase near Novofedorivka, Crimea August 9, 2022.
Stringer | Reuters
Crimea is now at the heart of what appears to be an audacious Ukrainian effort to target Russian supply lines and morale.
A series of blasts hit a Russian military depot in the annexed peninsula Tuesday — rocking the relaxed summer holiday destination for the second time in a week and suggesting a growing Ukrainian ability to strike deep behind enemy lines.
It’s a significant development that could shift the dynamics of the war as it nears the six-month mark, and which defies warnings from Moscow against attacking a region that holds deep strategic and symbolic value for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Read more here.
— NBC NEWS