Head of Russian-held Ukrainian nuclear plant freed: UN watchdog
Russia has reportedly deployed the world’s biggest submarine, armed with nuclear torpedoes, as Elon Musk’s Ukraine “solution” is slammed.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin is believed to have deployed the world’s biggest submarine which can be armed with nuclear “apocalypse drone” torpedos, according to reports.
NATO has reportedly warned that the war machine is now on the move, The Sun reports.
The powerful K-329 Belgorod can reportedly trigger radioactive tsunamis and wipe out enemy coastlines with its underwater drone torpedo, the Poseidon.
Details of the submarine — dubbed the “city killer” — have long been a closely guarded Russian secret, The Sun reports.
‘F**K OFF’: MUSK SLAMMED OVER TWITTER POLL
A proposal by billionaire Elon Musk on how to end the Russia-Ukraine war has been slammed after the world’s richest man posted his “solution” to Twitter.
The Tesla CEO claimed on Twitter that peace between Ukraine and Russia could be achieved by redoing “elections of annexed regions under UN supervision”, with Russia to leave “if that is the will of the people”.
Mr Musk also proposed that Crimea be formally recognised as part of Russia “as it has been since 1783 (until Khrushchev’s mistake)”, and that “water supply to Crimea” be assured.
Ukraine, under the Tesla chief’s plan, would remain “neutral”.
“This is highly likely to be the outcome in the end — just a question of how many die before then,” Mr Musk wrote on social media.
The billionaire’s overly simplified take — which featured a Twitter poll — was deemed completely impractical.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shot back with a poll of his own, with the question, “Which [Elon Musk] do you like more? One who supports Ukraine [or] one who supports Russia?” More than 84 per cent of people voted, “One who supports Ukraine.”
Ukranian diplomat and lawyer Andrij Melnyk was more blunt, writing: “F**k off is my very diplomatic reply to you [Elon Musk].”
Russian dissident and former world chess champion Garry Kasparov slammed the tech billionaire.
“This is moral idiocy, repetition of Kremlin propaganda, a betrayal of Ukrainian courage and sacrifice, and puts a few minutes browsing Crimea on Wikipedia over the current horrific reality of Putin’s bloody war,” Mr Kasparov wrote on social media.
HEAD OF RUSSIAN-HELD UKRAINIAN NUCLEAR PLANT FREED
The detained chief of Ukraine’s Russian-held nuclear power plant has been released, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog said on Monday.
“I welcome the release of Ihor Murashov, director general of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant; I have received confirmation that Mr Murashov has returned to his family safely,” Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Twitter.
Kyiv on Saturday called for the immediate release of Mr Murashov, condemning his “illegal detention”.
Zaporizhzhia – Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility – has been at the centre of recent tensions after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.
Mr Murashov was detained by a “Russian patrol” on Friday afternoon, local time, on his way from the plant to the city of Energodar, the head of Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom, Petro Kotin, said in a statement.
His vehicle was stopped, he was taken out of the car and “with his eyes blindfolded, he was driven in an unknown direction”.
Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement it “condemns in the strongest terms the illegal detention”.
Mr Murashov “bears the main and exclusive responsibility for the nuclear and radiation safety” of the Zaporizhzhia plant, according to Mr Kotin.
The nuclear plant is located in Russian-held territory of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, which Russia on Friday annexed together with three other territories in Ukraine: Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson.
Shelling around the plant has spurred calls from Kyiv and its Western allies to demilitarise areas around nuclear facilities in Ukraine.
A monitoring team from the UN visited Zaporizhzhia in early September, and the IAEA has been pushing Kyiv and Moscow to agree to set up a security zone around the plant to seek to avoid any nuclear accidents.
Mr Grossi said over the weekend that he was expecting to travel to Kyiv and Moscow this week to discuss this.
It comes as Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced that Lyman, a key town located in one of the four Ukrainian regions that Russia annexed, was “cleared” of Moscow’s troops.
The latest development – a feature of Ukraine’s weeks-long counteroffensive against Moscow’s invasion – comes as Russia pushed forward with finalising the annexation of captured Ukrainian territories despite condemnation from Kyiv and the West.
The recapture of Lyman, which Moscow’s forces pummelled for weeks to control this spring, marks the first Ukrainian military victory in territory that the Kremlin has claimed as its own and has vowed to defend by all possible means.
“Lyman is completely cleared. Thank you to our military!” Mr Zelenskyy said in a video posted on social media.
Ukraine’s army said it had entered Lyman on Saturday, prompting Moscow to announce the “withdrawal” of its troops from the town towards “more favourable lines”.
“Now I am optimistic and very motivated. I see the activity on the front line, and how foreign weapons … help us take our lands back,” a 33-year-old Ukrainian soldier, who uses the name “Smoke”, told AFP after returning from near Lyman.
In a video address late on Saturday, Mr Zelenskyy pledged to retake more areas in the country’s eastern Donbas region within the week.
With Russian losses mounting, experts have warned that President Vladimir Putin could turn to nuclear weapons to defend territory – an option supported by a Putin ally.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said on Saturday that Russia should consider using “low-yield nuclear weapons” after Moscow’s troops were forced out of Lyman.
Kyiv has called for the immediate release of the chief of the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, condemning his “illegal detention” by the Russians.
Ihor Murashov was leaving the plant on Friday when he was detained and “driven in an unknown direction” while blindfolded, Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom has said.
In a statement from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), its chief Rafael Grossi said Murashov’s detention was cause for “grave concern”.
Mr Grossi is expected to travel to Kyiv and Moscow “next week”, the UN agency added.
Zaporizhzhia – Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility – has been at the centre of tensions, with Moscow and Kyiv accusing each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.
Despite Putin’s warnings prior to the annexation that he could use nuclear weapons to defend the captured territories, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would “continue liberating our land and our people”.
It comes as Ukrainian forces entered one of the four regions in the country that Russia annexed in face of international condemnation.
Ukraine raised flags in the eastern town of Lyman marking the first Ukrainian military victory in territory that the Kremlin has claimed as its own.
Russian forces had attacked the town for weeks and Moscow has vowed to defend it at all costs.
Ukraine’s defence ministry announced its forces were “entering” Lyman in the eastern Donetsk region after Kyiv’s army said it had “encircled” several thousand Russian troops near the town.
The ministry posted a video of soldiers holding up a yellow and blue Ukrainian flag near a sign with the town’s name.
Artillery and multiple-launch rocket systems thundered into the night, and two pairs of fighter jets could be seen launching flares as they provided close air support.
Russia had kept several thousand troops in the city, and the continuing violence suggested that some — if not most — of these soldiers may have remained trapped. Roads to Lyman are lined with burnt-out hulks of Russian tanks and armoured vehicles, with bodies of Russian soldiers lying on the sides.
Nearby villages are shells after being virtually obliterated by the ongoing warfare and most civilians have left.
But Ukrainian forces have also suffered major casualties.
On Saturday, Ukrainian officials accused Russia of killing 24 civilians, including 13 children, in an attack on a road convoy near a recently recaptured town in the eastern Kharkiv region.
Ukrainian troops on Friday had shown AFP reporters a group of vehicles riddled with bullet holes and several corpses in civilian clothes, a short distance east of the recently recaptured town of Kupiansk.
A Ukrainian official said the death toll of a Russian attack on a separate civilian convoy near the city of Zaporizhzhia on Friday had risen to 30 civilians and one police officer killed.
Ukraine had earlier enveloped the Lyman area from the north and the south. Ukrainian troops that bypassed the city were pressing further east, toward the nearby Luhansk region, confronting reinforcements dispatched by Russia.
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov said Russia should consider using low-yield nuclear weapons after Moscow’s troops were forced out of Lyman.
“In my personal opinion, more drastic measures should be taken, up to the declaration of martial law in the border areas and use of low-yield nuclear weapons,” Kadyrov said on his Telegram channel.
RUSSIANS SURROUNDED BY UKRAINIAN TROOPS
Ukrainian said it had encircled several thousand Russian troops near a key town in one of the four Moscow-held territories that President Vladimir Putin annexed a day earlier despite condemnation from Kyiv and the West.
Putin staged a grand ceremony in the Kremlin yesterday to celebrate the annexations of four territories controlled by his army.
“I want to say this to the Kyiv regime and its masters in the West: People living in Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia are becoming our citizens forever,” Putin said.
US President Joe Biden condemned the ceremony in Moscow as a “sham routine” and pledged to continue backing Kyiv.
Ukrainian forces were on the doorstep of Lyman town in Donetsk on Saturday after weeks of attacks by Russian forces to take a hold.
Ukraine’s army said Saturday that it had “encircled” a Russian grouping near the eastern town, estimating it to be around 5,000 troops.
The governor of the neighbouring Luhansk region, Sergiy Gaiday, said the surrounded soldiers have three options: “try to break through, all die together or surrender.” The Kremlin-backed leader of Donetsk said Friday that Russian troops and their allies were holding on to Lyman with “their last strength”.
The four annexed territories create a crucial land corridor between Russia and the Crimean Peninsula, annexed by Moscow in 2014.
Together, the five regions make up around 20 per cent of Ukraine, where Kyiv in recent weeks has been clawing back territory.
ANNEXATION ‘COMPLETELY’ ILLEGAL
Washington announced “severe” new sanctions against Russian officials and the defence industry, and said G7 allies support imposing “costs” on any nation that backs the annexation.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky immediately urged the US-led military alliance NATO to grant his country fast-track membership.
He also vowed never to hold talks with Russia as long as Putin was in power. NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg slammed the annexation as “illegal and illegitimate” but remained noncommittal after Ukraine said it was applying to join the Western alliance.
The United States and Canada voiced support for Ukraine’s membership but steered clear of promises to fast-track it.
Turkey said Saturday Russia’s annexation was a “grave violation of the established principles of international law”.
Despite warnings from Putin prior to the annexation that he could use nuclear weapons to defend the captured territories, Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Kyiv would “continue liberating our land and our people”.
Kuleba also said Ukraine brought the annexations to the International Court of Justice and urged The Hague-based court to hear the case “as soon as possible”.
Nuclear plant boss detained
KREMLIN’S NUCLEAR THREAT ‘IMMORAL’
Russia’s threat to use nuclear weapons is “immoral” and “alarming,” says Shadow Foreign Minister Simon Birmingham. “They are again reason why all nations of the world should be seeking to apply as much pressure directly on Russia to cease and desist their illegal actions in relation to Ukraine,”
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday that Washington would announce an “immediate” new weapons shipment for Kyiv next week.
Sullivan also said that while there is a “risk” of Putin using nuclear weapons, there is no indication he would do so imminently.
On Saturday, Ukraine’s nuclear agency said a “Russian patrol” detained the director general of the Moscow-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
Ihor Murashov was leaving the plant Friday when he was detained and “driven in an unknown direction” while blindfolded, Energoatom said.
Zaporizhzhia – Europe’s largest nuclear energy facility – has been at the centre of tensions in recent weeks after Moscow and Kyiv accused each other of strikes on and near the plant, raising fears of an atomic disaster.
— with AFP
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