UN observers appeal for greater access to Zaporizhzhia plant; man who detonated explosives in Kyiv courthouse dies
UN observers appealed on Wednesday for greater access to Europe’s largest nuclear plant, after Moscow and Kyiv traded accusations over a possible “catastrophic” act of sabotage at the Russian-controlled facility in Ukraine. The International Atomic Energy Agency on Wednesday said they have yet to observe any indications of mines or explosives but called for additional access to the plant.
A man who detonated explosives in a court house in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday has died, Ukrainian interior minister Ihor Klymenko said. Police officers were wounded in the explosion.
US president Joe Biden told Sweden’s prime minister Ulf Kristersson on Wednesday that he is “looking forward” to the country’s stalled Nato membership bid winning final approval, as the western alliance prepares for next week’s summit. Speaking in the Oval Office, Biden said he wanted to reiterate that he “fully, fully supports Sweden’s membership in Nato”. Biden added he was “anxiously looking forward” to the bid being ratified.
James Cleverly, the UK foreign secretary, and Ben Wallace, the British defence secretary, joined with their Polish counterparts Zbigniew Rau and Mariusz Blaszczak at a pre-Nato summit meeting in London on Wednesday. The two countries emphasised their mutual agreement on defence and foreign policy ahead of next week’s Nato meeting.
The UN is making “every effort” to ensure that the Black Sea grain deal and a memorandum of understanding to facilitate access of Russian fertiliser and other products to global markets are extended, UN trade chief Rebeca Grynspan said. “We need both to continue bringing down prices and have stable markets of food and fertilisers in the world,” Grynspan told reporters in Geneva.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Wednesday that Russian forces had struck three Ukrainian army groups near Bakhmut, amid conflicting reports about fighting in the area. The Reuters news agency could not independently verify the battlefield situation. The ministry made no comment in its daily briefing on reports that Russian forces have retreated from the village of Klishchiivka, south-west of Bakhmut, which a Russian-installed official in eastern Ukraine has denied.
Vladimir Rogov, one of the prominent pro-Russian figures in occupied Zaporizhzhia region, has reported on his Telegram account that “the houses of local residents, a garage and a car were damaged” in the region due to Ukrainian fire. He said there were no casualties. The claims have not been independently verified.
Russian president Vladimir Putin’s former election spokesperson has been appointed to run the state news agency Tass, according to a government order published on Wednesday. The Kremlin has tightened its control over the media since the start of the Ukraine war, forcing the closure of leading independent news outlets and designating many journalists and publications as “foreign agents”.
Next week’s Nato summit must offer “real security guarantees” to Ukraine, the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, said on Wednesday. Speaking in Warsaw alongside the Polish prime minister, Mateusz Morawiecki, Meloni said Italy and Poland were “in perfect agreement” on the issue, Reuters reported.
Russia accused a small US based charity of “sabotaging” the construction of a huge gas pipeline to China and banned it as an “undesirable organisation”. Jennifer Castner, director of the Altai Project, described the accusation as absurd. The move has followed clamp-downs on many foreign NGOs in Russia, including a similar ban last month on the local arm of the WWF environmental group.
Russia said on Wednesday that one person was killed and another 41 injured, including two children, by Ukrainian fire in the east Ukraine town of Makiivka, which is occupied by Russian forces.
Residential buildings and a medical facility were damaged by a Russian rocket attack on Druzhkivka in the Donetsk region overnight.
Russia’s Kursk and Belgorod regions came under fire from Ukrainian forces across the border in the early hours of Wednesday, the regions’ governors said, adding that no casualties were reported.
