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Ukraine: Zelenskyy warns of ‘provocations’ at nuclear plant
Published 07/05/2023Published July 5, 2023last updated 3 hours agolast updated 3 hours ago
The Ukrainian leader warned of “dangerous provocations” at Zaporizhzhia, while Moscow countered with similar allegations of Kyiv planning an attack on the plant. Follow DW for more.
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In this file photo taken on May 1, 2022, A Russian serviceman patrols the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station in Energodar.
Russia and Ukraine have continually traded fires in the vicinity of the power plant over the yearImage: Andrey Borodulin/AFP
Skip next section What you need to know
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant: Moscow and Kyiv trade accusations of planned attacks
Ukrainian forces say they ‘destroyed’ Russian unit in eastern Donetsk’s Makiivka
For full coverage of events of July 4, follow this link
Skip next section White House monitoring situation at nuclear plant
3 hours ago3 hours ago
White House monitoring situation at nuclear plant
The White House said it was continuing to monitor conditions at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Kyiv and Moscow accused one another of plotting an attack on the power plant earlier Wednesday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency said the part of the plant they were able to access was not mined.
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Skip next section IAEA says no signs yet of explosives at Zaporizhzhia plant
8 hours ago8 hours ago
IAEA says no signs yet of explosives at Zaporizhzhia plant
The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Wednesday its experts saw no indications of mines or explosives at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, yet added that they needed more access to be certain.
Experts at the plant “have in recent days and weeks inspected parts of the facility – including some sections of the perimeter of the large cooling pond – and have also conducted regular walkdowns across the site, so far without observing any visible indications of mines or explosives,” an IAEA statement said.
The experts requested additional access, the agency said. They are particularly after access to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4, as well as parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant.
IAEA did not specify why the named locations were particularly important.
“With military tension and activities increasing in the region where this major nuclear power plant is located, our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground,” the agency said. The statement came as both Ukraine and Russia exchanged accusations over planned attacks at the plant.
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Skip next section Explosion rocks Kyiv court
8 hours ago8 hours ago
Explosion rocks Kyiv court
Police officers are seen at a site of a district court, where according to city authorities an explosive device was activated by a man inside a building, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 5, 2023.Police officers are seen at a site of a district court, where according to city authorities an explosive device was activated by a man inside a building, amid Russia’s attack on Ukraine, in Kyiv, Ukraine, July 5, 2023.
Authorities were investigating how the man smuggled explosives into the courtImage: ALINA SMUTKO/REUTERS
An explosion rocked a court in the Ukrainian capital on Wednesday, with a man taken to a court hearing dying after attacking guards with explosives.
The explosion occurred in the Shevchenkivskyi court in central Kyiv, the capital’s city military administration said.
An Interior Ministry statement citing Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said the perpetrator locked himself in a toilet then threw explosives at the guards, before trying to exit the court building.
Two officers were injured in the attack, the ministry said, adding that they were not in critical condition. The police was investigating how the perpetrator smuggled the explosives into the court.
No civilian casualties were reported, the ministry said.
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Skip next section Ukraine: The legacy of author Victoria Amelina
11 hours ago11 hours ago
Ukraine: The legacy of author Victoria Amelina
Ukrainian author Victoria Amelia Ukrainian author Victoria Amelia
Victoria Amelina died in a hospital after a Russian missile strike on a pizza restaurant in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, on June 27Image: Alex Zakletsky/AP/picture alliance
The Ukrainian novelist and researcher Victoria Amelina died following a Russian missile attack that struck a restaurant in Kramators.
Her friends and colleagues hope that her work will help bring war criminals to justice.
“There was so much strength in this fragile young woman, so much depth and talent — and, above all, kindness. I don’t know how she managed to do what she did: to look into the eyes of people who suffered at the hands of the occupiers, and calmly write down what noone can listen to calmly,” Ukrainian writer Irena Karpa wrote.
DW looks at the legacy of author Victoria Amelina.
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Skip next section Poland, Italy call for strong security guarantees for Ukraine
12 hours ago12 hours ago
Poland, Italy call for strong security guarantees for Ukraine
Poland and Italy believe Ukraine must receive real security guarantees, the countries’ prime ministers said, ahead of a NATO summit where Kyiv hopes to receive a strong signal that it will be able to join the alliance in future.
“We are in perfect agreement with Poland on the need for real security guarantees for Ukraine, also because offering real security guarantees to Ukraine is also a key condition for the achievement in the future of a just and long-lasting peace,” Italy’s Giorgia Meloni said during a visit to Warsaw.
Meloni reiterated that Italy will keep giving “all round support” to Ukraine “for as long as necessary”, and said “this also applies to the upcoming Vilnius summit”.
Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said the two countries’ views were in line on Ukraine.
Ukraine has been pressing NATO to declare at the July 11-12 summit in Vilnius that Kyiv would join the alliance soon after the end of the war, and to set out a roadmap to membership.
Stoltenberg: ‘What matters for NATO is that we continue to support Ukraine’
00:28
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Skip next section Zaporizhzhia attack would have ‘catastrophic consequences,’ Kremlin warns
15 hours ago15 hours ago
Zaporizhzhia attack would have ‘catastrophic consequences,’ Kremlin warns
Any attempted sabotage on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant could have “catastrophic consequences,” the Kremlin has warned.
“The situation is quite tense because the threat of sabotage from the Kyiv regime is really high — sabotage that could have catastrophic consequences,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday.
The Ukrainian nuclear power plant is currently occupied by Russia.
Peskov claimed that Ukraine was willing “to do anything” to the facility but did not provide any evidence to support this. Nevertheless, he claimed that “all measures are being taken to counter such a threat.”
Meanwhile, Kyiv has accused Moscow of preparing to sabotage the nuclear power plant itself.
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Skip next section Wagner mutiny worsened fault lines within Russia’s security community — UK
19 hours ago19 hours ago
Wagner mutiny worsened fault lines within Russia’s security community — UK
General Sergei Surovikin, Commander-in-Chief of Russian Aerospace Forces and deputy commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the Wagner Group mutiny, the UK Defense Ministry said in its latest intelligence update.
Reports of Surovikin’s arrest cannot be confirmed, the ministry said. However, it added that Russia authorities will likely be suspicious of Surovikin’s long association with Wagner dating back to his service in Syria from 2017.
According to the update, Surovikin is one of the more respected senior officers within the Russian military, so any official punishment against him is likely to be divisive.
In wake of Wagner mutiny, will Putin purge the system?
26:06
The UK Defense Ministry also mentioned Russian Deputy Defense Minister Colonel General Yunus-bek Yevkurov who was filmed talking with Wagner chied Yevgeny Prigozhin during the mutiny. According to the update, Yevkurov was absent from a televised appearance by the ministry’s leadership on Monday.
The suspicion that has potentially fallen on senior serving officers highlights how Prigozhin’s abortive insurrection has worsened existing fault lines within Russia’s national security community, the defense ministry concludes.
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Skip next section Ukraine says it ‘destroyed’ Russian unit in Donetsk’s Makiivka
07/05/2023July 5, 2023
Ukraine says it ‘destroyed’ Russian unit in Donetsk’s Makiivka
Ukraine’s military said it attacked and “destroyed” a Russian base in Makiivka in the Russian-controlled part of the Donetsk region
“As a result of precision firing by Defence Forces units, another formation of Russian terrorists in the temporarily occupied Makiivka ceased to exist,” the strategic communication office of Ukraine’s Armed Forces said.
The office also posted an accompanying video to its message on Telegram which appeared to show explosions in the town.
Denis Pushilin, the Moscow-installed head of the occupied region, said that a civilian had been killed and at least 36 people were injured as a result of fighting.
Pushilin said that residential buildings, a hospital, schools and a kindergarten was damaged as a result of the blast.
The claim has not been independently verified.
Kyiv and Moscow have reported heavy fighting along the eastern Donetsk region as part of an ongoing Ukrainian counteroffensive to take back territories.
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Skip next section Kyiv, Moscow accuse each other of planned attack on nuclear plant
07/05/2023July 5, 2023
Kyiv, Moscow accuse each other of planned attack on nuclear plant
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy told his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron that Russia was planning to stage “dangerous provocations” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
“I warned my colleague that the occupation troops are preparing dangerous provocations at the Zaporizhzhia NPP (Nuclear Power Plant). We agreed to keep the situation under maximum control together with the IAEA,” Zelenskyy wrote on Twitter.
Zelenskyy spoke to Macron ahead of the NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital of Vilnius next week.
On Tuesday, Ukraine and Russia both claimed that the other was plotting an attack on Europe’s largest nuclear facility.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces said that “foreign objects similar to explosive devices” were placed on the outer roof of two power units at the power plant.
While Renat Karchaa, adviser to the head of the Russian atomic energy agency, Rosenergoatom, warned on state television that Kyiv was planning on shelling the nuclear power plant and dropping a bomb containing nuclear waste at the same time.
No evidence was provided to support either claim.
Russia occupied the plant in the early stages of the war in Ukraine. Over the past year, it has become a focal point of concern as Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling the plant.
However, threats of the dangers of a radiation leak have heightened with the breach of the Kakhovka dam that lies downstream.
