It is 9pm in Ukraine. Here are some things you might’ve missed:
Putin has agreed for inspectors to visit Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine. According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered the demand” that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the site, after the Russian leader himself warned fighting there could bring about a “catastrophe”. It specified that Putin had dropped his demand that the IAEA team travel to the site via Russia, saying it could arrive via Ukraine.
The UN secretary-general has asked Russia not take Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant off grid. António Guterres asked on Friday that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station not be cut off from Ukraine’s electrical grid after Ukrainian reports that Moscow is planning to do so, saying the plant used “Ukrainian electricity”.
Western officials say that there are growing concerns over concerns over water cooling at Russian-held nuclear power plant. The existing reactor cooling system at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is critical to the safety of the site and relies on the maintenance of the electricity supply to ensure operation – but officials are anxious that Russia may disconnect the supply if it tries to cut off the plant from the Ukrainian grid.
More than half of Russia Black Sea naval aviation has been knocked out, according to a western official in Ukraine. Western officials have said that the Ukrainian raid on the Saky airbase in occupied Crimea last week knocked out “more than half” of Russia’s combat naval aviation in the Black Sea. However, overall “combat stasis” remains.
The US has announced a new $775m (£655m) package of defence equipment and ammunition for Ukraine, including various types of missiles, drones, artillery and mine-clearing systems. The U.S. has previously sent Ukraine more than $9bn (£7.6bn) in weapons systems, ammunition and other equipment.
Russia’s media watchdog said it was taking punitive measures against TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord and Pinterest. Russia has repeatedly threatened to fine sites - including Google, that violate harsh new laws criminalising the spreading of “false information” about the Russian army. On Tuesday, Russian courts fined U.S.-based live streaming service Twitch 2 million roubles (£28,635) and messenger service Telegram 11 million roubles (£158,291) for violating military censorship laws.
A former Russian mayor has been appointed head of Russian-occupied Kharkiv. It is the latest in a string of such appointments which Kyiv says are part of attempts to annexe its territory.
Ukraine’s economy minister has said the country’s economy could contract 35-40% by the end of the year. Hit by Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, the economy contracted 15.1% year-on-year in the first quarter of 2022.
The Kyiv Independent reported that rescuers are searching for people and bodies under the rubble of a dormitory destroyed in attacks on the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city.
The Chinese and Russian leaders Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin will attend the G20 summit in Bali in November, Indonesia’s president, Joko Widodo, told Bloomberg News. “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” he told the news agency. As hosts of this year’s summit, Indonesia has faced pressure from western countries to withdraw its invitation to Putin. The country has also invited the Ukrainian leader, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Kharkiv has been one of the most consistently shelled since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to British intelligence. Sitting around 15km from the Russian front line, Kharkiv has suffered because it remains within range of most types of Russian artillery, the latest report from the UK’s ministry of defence reads.
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We will be back bringing you the latest Ukraine news tomorrow.
Putin allows inspectors to visit Russia-held nuclear plant in Ukraine
Russian President Vladimir Putin has agreed that a team of independent inspectors can travel to the Moscow-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, the French presidency said on Friday.
According to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office, Putin had “reconsidered the demand” that the International Atomic Energy Agency travel through Russia to the site, after the Russian leader himself warned fighting there could bring about a “catastrophe”.
It specified that Putin had dropped his demand that the IAEA team travel to the site via Russia, saying it could arrive via Ukraine.
United Nations chief Antonio Guterres has urged Moscow’s forces occupying the Zaporizhzhia plant in south Ukraine not to disconnect the facility from the grid and potentially cut supplies to millions of Ukrainians.
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko/File Photo Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
US announces new $775m (£655m) arms package for Ukraine
The United States Defence Department on Friday announced a new $775m (£655m) package of defence equipment and ammunition for Ukraine, including various types of missiles, drones, artillery and mine-clearing systems.
“We want to make sure that Ukraine has a steady stream of ammunition to meet its needs, and that’s what we’re doing with this package,” a senior US defence official told reporters.
The official said Ukraine’s forces have made good use of the now 19 packages of arms the United States has provided since Moscow invaded on February 24.
Swiss prosecutors have been asked by an Ukrainian NGO to investigate an alleged attack on a Swiss photojournalist by Russian troops in Ukraine earlier this year, AFP reported on Friday.
The NGO Truth Hounds asked Switzerland’s Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to probe an attack on Swiss freelance journalist Guillaume Briquet in southern Ukraine in March as a possible war crime, according to the Swiss-based Civitas Maxima group that helped it file the complaint.
In a statement to AFP, the OAG confirmed that it had received the complaint and said it would “now be examined according to usual procedure”, stressing that a complaint did not automatically mean it would launch an investigation.
Here are some of the latest images to be sent to us over the newswires from Kramatorsk, which is in the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
A Ukrainian man checks the damage at a destroyed engineering college building in Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine, after it was hit in an early morning rocket attack, August 19, 2022. REUTERS/Ammar Awad Photograph: Ammar Awad/Reuters
A man searches for surviving items in a school destroyed by a missile strike in the town of Kramatorsk, in Donetsk region, on August 19, 202. (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV / AFP) (Photo by ANATOLII STEPANOV/AFP via Getty Images) Photograph: Anatolii Stepanov/AFP/Getty Images
Maintenance worker Anatolii Slobodianik salvages a piece of glass from the rubble of the Kramatorsk College of Technologies and Design. (AP Photo/David Goldman) Photograph: David Goldman/AP
Russia has submitted a letter to the United Nations Security Council warning of planned “provocations” by Ukraine at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported on Friday, citing a diplomat.
The letter repeated Russia’s previous claim that Kyiv was planning a “provocation” at the plant on Friday, TASS reported.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear reactor complex, the largest in Europe, was captured by Russia in March but is still run by Ukrainian technicians. The plant has come under repeated shelling, with both Moscow and Kyiv trading blame.
An overview of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine August 7, 2022. Planet Labs PBC/Handout. Photograph: Planet Labs Pbc/Reuters
US poised to announce nearly $800m (£678m) in new military aid and drones for Ukraine
The United States is poised to announce it will provide Ukraine with nearly $800m (£678m) in new military aid on Friday, including at least a dozen surveillance drones, according to several U.S. officials.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity with the Associated Press to discuss the aid ahead of its public release.
They said the bulk of the aid package will be additional Howitzers (long-range weapons) and ammunition. Two officials confirmed the new inclusion of portable, long-endurance drones which are launched by a catapult and can be retrieved.
The U.S. has previously sent Ukraine more than $9bn (£7.6bn) in weapons systems, ammunition and other equipment.
France has now released a statement on Macron’s call with Putin.
It says the French president “once again underlined his concern at the risks posed by the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant” and argued for the IAEA experts to attend the plant “as soon as possible”.
Putin, the Élysée says, supported this idea.
The statement continued:
The two presidents will talk to each other again in the coming days on this subject, after discussions between the technical teams and before the deployment of the mission.
Russian president Vladimir Putin and French counterpart Emmanuel Macron have just finished a phone call about the situation in Ukraine, Moscow has said.
In a Kremlin readout of the call, reported by Reuters, Putin said shelling of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which he blamed on Kyiv, created the risk of “large-scale catastrophe”.
Reuters adds:
Both presidents agree on the need to send a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency to the plant.
According to the Kremlin, Putin told Macron about continuing obstacles to supplying Russian food and fertiliser products to world markets.
The Kyiv Independent reports that it is the first time Macron and Putin have spoken since May.
⚡️Russian media: Macron calls Putin for the first time since May.
According to Ria Novosti, Macron urged Putin to allow the proposed mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency to visit the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in the Russian-occupied town of Enerhodar.
Russian watchdog imposes measures against TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord, Pinterest
Russia’s state communications watchdog Roskomnadzor said on Friday that it was taking punitive measures against a string of foreign IT companies, including TikTok, Telegram, Zoom, Discord and Pinterest.
In a statement, Roskomnadzor said the measures were in response to the companies’ failure to remove content that it had flagged as illegal, and would remain in place until they complied. It did not specify what measures would be taken.
Russia has repeatedly threatened to fine sites – including Google, that violate harsh new laws criminalising the spreading of “false information” about the Russian army.
On Tuesday, Russian courts fined the US-based live streaming service Twitch 2m roubles (£28,635) and the messenger service Telegram 11m roubles (£158,291) for violating military censorship laws.
On 29 July, the media watchdog targeted Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last remaining independent news outlets, and demanded that its website and print edition be stripped of its licence.
Growing concerns over water cooling at Russian-held nuclear power plant, says western official
Dan Sabbagh
Western officials said on Friday they were concerned whether water cooling can be maintained at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is currently held by the Russians, amid accusations that the invaders are not properly maintaining the site.
The existing reactor cooling system, critical to the safety of the site, relies on the maintenance of the electricity supply to ensure operation – but officials are anxious that Russia may disconnect the supply if it tries to cut off the plant from the Ukrainian grid.
One Western official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said “the issue we are concerned about is water cooling of the nuclear reactors” and that it was “a situation we should all be watching very closely”. But they added that there were back-up diesel generators to maintain electricity supply and a Ukrainian workforce at the site “able to operate and mitigate against this”.
A loss of electricity supply led to the Fukushima nuclear accident in Japan in 2011. Main power was lost after an earthquake and a tsunami overwhelmed the back-up generators on site. The loss of cooling was enough to lead to a partial reactor meltdown.
The western official said that fighting around the plant was considered a far lesser risk because nuclear reactors are designed to withstand relatively heavy impacts with thick walling. “They are built to be able to cope with a civilian airline crashing into them,” the official said, and added that “direct fires” such as artillery was “not our immediate concern”.
But they would not comment on whether they believed Russia was deliberately staging forces at the site, or was preparing a false flag operation, other than to note that “both sides are contesting the information environment”. Social media videos appeare to show Russian forces basing themselves on the site.
A serviceman with a Russian flag stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters
'Crazy things are happening': life in occupied Ukrainian nuclear city
Olexander, a former worker at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station wrote an account of living in Enerhodar, a satellite city for the plant, for the Guardian.
I dedicated my life to nuclear power and have always been proud to be part of it. For many people like me, the Zaporizhzhia plant is our pride and destiny. There are six powerful units, about half of the capacity of all Ukrainian nuclear plants and a quarter of the country’s entire energy sector. Before the war, 11,000 people worked here.
More than 50,000 people live in Enerhodar. We have been living under occupation for almost six months. It’s like a double occupation – the city and the nuclear plant have been captured.
Our faith is constantly being tested. Ten days ago, we were sure that the city and the inhabitants would not suffer. But they are already wounded from the shelling at the station. There are already victims in the city.
The Guardian’s Dan Sabbagh reported on Friday that “significant efforts” are being made “to understand if Ukraine can mount a successful counter attack in the south”.
Tweeting from a “western officials” briefing, Sabbagh added that “such attacks are not without risk”.
Western official: significant efforts being made to understand if Ukraine can mount a successful counter attack in the south. Such attacks are not without risk. Near term unclear: "Both we and the Kremlin are entering unchartered territory"
UN chief asks Russia not take Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant off grid
The UN secretary general has asked Russia not to cut the nuclear plant from Ukraine’s grid. António Guterres askedon Friday that the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station not be cut off from Ukraine’s grid after Ukrainian reports that Moscow is planning to do so.
“Obviously the electricity from Zaporizhzhia is Ukrainian electricity … This principle must be fully respected,” said the UN secretary general during a visit to the port of Odesa in southern Ukraine.
António Guterres speaks to journalists at the end of his visit to the Odesa grain port, 19 August 2022. Photograph: Manuel de Almeida/EPA
More than half of Russia's Black Sea naval aviation knocked out, says western official
The Guardian’s defence and security editor, Dan Sabbagh, tweeting live from a briefing on Friday, said the Ukrainian raid on the Saky airbase in occupied Crimea last week knocked out “more than half” of Russia’s combat naval aviation in the Black Sea. However, overall “combat stasis” remains.
He added, from the briefing, that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “should be able to withstand most direct military fire. Built strong enough to resist impact of a civilian airliner. Concerns focused around whether the plant suffers a loss of cooling due to the loss of back-up electricity.”
Western official: raid on Saky airbase knocked out "more than half" of Russia's combat naval aviation in Black Sea. Such raids for good for Ukrainian morale but overall "combat stasis" remains
Concerns around shelling near the plant, the largest in Europe, have been growing since it was taken over by Russian forces in March. It is still being run by Ukrainians. The UN secretary general, António Guterres, has called for an urgent withdrawal of military forces and equipment from the site.
