Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh accusations of shelling around the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been a focus of international concern that fighting in the area could trigger a disaster.
ZAPORIZHZHIA
* The situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine remains “very risky” after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday, following shelling that caused Europe’s largest nuclear power plant to be disconnected for the first time. read more
* Russia and Ukraine have traded blame for shelling near the plant, which on Thursday sparked fires in the ash pits of a nearby coal power station that disconnected the plant from the power grid.
FIGHTING
* Russia has probably stepped up attacks along the Donetsk sector of Ukraine’s eastern region of Donbas over the last five days in a move that could be aimed at sucking in Ukrainian troops and foiling a counterattack, Britain’s defence ministry said.
* Ukraine’s military command said its forces had beaten back assaults by Russian forces in the direction of Solar, Zaitseve and Mayorsk in the Donetsk region.
* Ukraine’s southern military command said a Ukrainian air strike destroyed a Russian air defence system in the Kherson region, while the Antonivskyi and Daryivskiy bridges remained unusable by heavy vehicles after previous strikes.
* The Russian defence ministry, in its daily briefing, said it had destroyed a large ammunition depot in Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region that had contained U.S.-made HIMARS rocket systems and shells for M777 Howitzers.
* The Russian Air Force shot down a MiG-29 aircraft in the eastern Donetsk region, the ministry said, and destroyed another six missile and artillery weapons depots in the Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.
Reuters could not verify the battlefield reports.
ECONOMY
* Merchant sailors will be allowed to leave Ukraine if they receive approval from their local military administrative body, the Ukrainian prime minister said, a move that could ease the process of shipping grain from the country’s ports. read more
* Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree introducing financial benefits for people who left Ukrainian territory to come to Russia, including pensioners, pregnant women and disabled people. read more
WEAPONS
* Britain’s defence ministry said it was giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coastline of mines and make grain shipments safer. Britain will also train dozens of Ukrainian Navy personnel to use the drones, the ministry said in a statement.
* Two South Korean companies have signed a $5.76 billion contract with Poland to export tanks and howitzers, Seoul’s arms procurement agency said, after Warsaw agreed to ramp up arms imports amid tensions with Russia. read more
* Kazakhstan, a neighbour and ally of Russia, has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Moscow.
Also Read: Ukraine nuclear plant back online as inspection prepared
THE ENERGY FALLOUT FROM THE WAR
* In Poland’s late summer heat, dozens of cars and trucks line up at the Lubelski Wegiel Bogdanka coal mine, as householders fearful of winter shortages wait for days and nights to stock up on heating fuel in queues reminiscent of communist times.
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