- The Russians who threaten Zaporizhzhia are “targets” -Zelenskiy
- The humanitarian cargo must go to Ethiopia
Kyiv, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has warned Russian soldiers against firing at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant or using it as a base for firing since it will become a ” special target” for Ukrainian forces.
Meanwhile, a cargo of food aid bound for Africa was preparing to leave Ukraine in the coming days, the first since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and sources said the first ship of grain that left Ukraine under a UN agreement was approaching Syria.
Russian troops captured the Zaporizhzhia nuclear facility in southern Ukraine early in the war, but it is still run by Ukrainian technicians.
Sign up now for FREE, unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Amidst fears of a nuclear catastrophe due to renewed bombing in recent days, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone. Ukraine and Russia trade blame for the bombing.
“Every Russian soldier who shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our military Zelenskiy said in a speech on Saturday evening. .
Zelenskiy, who did not elaborate, reiterated that he believed Russia was using the plant as nuclear blackmail.
The plant dominates the southern bank of a vast reservoir on the Dnipro River. The Ukrainian forces controlling the towns and cities on the opposite bank have been subjected to intense bombardment from the Russian side. Read more
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of “impacting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that feeds southern Ukraine is generated.”
“The goal is to disconnect us from the (plant) and blame it on the Ukrainian army,” Podolyak wrote on Twitter.
Local official stationed in Russia Vladimir Rogov wrote on Telegram that Ukrainian forces were shelling the plant.
The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is seeking to inspect the plant, has warned of a nuclear disaster if the fighting is not stopped. Nuclear experts fear the fight could damage the plant’s spent fuel pools or reactors.
GRAIN SNAPS
Ukrainian servicemen prepare a D-30 howitzer for fire near a front line in the Mykolaiv region as Russia’s offensive continues in Ukraine, Ukraine, August 13, 2022. REUTERS/Oleksandr Ratushniak
Read more
As the fighting continued, some cargo ships have continued to leave Ukraine as part of a deal brokered by the UN and Turkey in late July aimed in part at easing a global food crisis.
The UN chartered ship Brave Commander will leave for Africa in the coming days after it finished loading more than 23,000 metric tons of wheat at the Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi, a UN official said on Sunday. Read more
The ship, which arrived at the port near Odesa, will sail to Ethiopia on a grain corridor across the Black Sea.
“The world needs food from Ukraine. This is the beginning of what we hope will be normal operations for the world’s hungry people,” Marianne Ward, deputy country director of the World Food Programme, told reporters. The aid agency bought more than 800,000 tons of grain from Ukraine last year.
Separately, the first ship to leave Ukraine under the deal two weeks ago was approaching the Syrian port of Tartous on Sunday, two shipping sources said. The Razoni had been destined for Lebanon, but ran into a problem when the buyer refused delivery, fearing that the quality of the maize had declined after months on board. Read more
FIGHT
Kyiv has said for weeks that it is planning a counteroffensive to retake Zaporizhzhia and neighboring Kherson provinces, most of the territory Russia seized after the February 24 invasion and still in Russian hands.
Russia’s priority over the past week has likely been to reallocate units to bolster its campaign in southern Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Sunday.
Russian-backed forces from the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in the eastern Donbass region continued assaults north of the city of Donetsk, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in its daily intelligence bulletin. on Twitter.
Ukraine’s military command said early Sunday that Russian soldiers had continued, without success, to attack Ukrainian positions near Avdiivka, which since 2014 has become one of the outposts of Ukrainian forces near Donetsk . Read more
Russia, in a daily briefing, said it had taken control of Udy, a village in the eastern Kharkiv region, which is under continuous shelling by Russian forces.
Reuters could not independently verify accounts from the battlefield.
Russia calls the invasion of Ukraine a “special military operation” to demilitarize and “de-Zazify” its smaller neighbor, has brought Moscow-Washington relations to a low point, with Russia warning it may sever ties.
Sign up now for FREE, unlimited access to Reuters.com
Sign up
Reporting by Natalia Zinets in Kyiv, Yoruk Isik in Istanbul, Andrea Shalal in Yuzhne, Maya Gebeily in Beirut and Jonathan Saul in London and Reuters offices; Written by Michael Perry and Ingrid Melander; Editing by William Mallard and Alison Williams
Our standards: the Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.