Ukraine prepared for possible Russian attack on nuclear plant
Kyiv says it has procedures in place after warning Russia may have planted explosives on reactors to allegedly weaponise a nuclear plant in Ukraine.
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Ukraine has called on the international community to respond to what it said was Russia’s military escalation at the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the centre of mounting tensions between Kyiv and Moscow.
“Russia deploying military personnel, installing fortifications on at least three reactors, placing explosives at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant directly threatens a nuclear incident at Europe’s largest atomic power station,” Ukraine’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday, adding: “It’s high time the world took immediate action.”
In a video address on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russiantroops have placed “objects resembling explosives” on roofs at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, instantly sparking concerns around the world.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has long flirted with the nuclear specter since mounting his invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Zelenskyy has now raised the prospect that he may cause a nuclear incident not by firing warheads, but by turning the plant itself into a weapon.
According to Mt Zelenskyy, his accusation that the Kremlin possibly planted explosives on the roof of the nuclear plant is based on military intelligence.
Analysts have said that Russia may be mounting a false-flag operation, while the Kremlin is claiming potential “sabotage by the Kyiv regime.”
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog – said in an update Wednesday that there were no visible indications of mines or explosives at the plant, but requested additional access to the site for confirmation.
DEFIANT PUTIN’S STARK MESSAGE
Russian President Vladimir Putin has told Iranian, Chinese and other leaders that Russia would continue to counter sanctions imposed by Western countries over Moscow’s large-scale military operation in Ukraine.
“Russia is confidently resisting and will continue to resist external pressure, sanctions and provocations,” the Russian leader said during a televised address to the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) on Tuesday.
The US and the European Union have levied an unprecedented sanctions regime against Moscow over the military intervention, forcing Russia to pivot economically to Asian markets, in particular for its energy exports.
The Russian leader also thanked SCO members for their support during a short-lived uprising led by the Wagner mercenary group aimed at Russia’s military leadership.
“I would like to thank my colleagues from the SCO countries who expressed support for the actions of the Russian leadership to protect the constitutional order and the life and security of citizens,” Mr Putin said.
The head of the Wagner mercenary group, Yevgeny Prigozhin, led his forces in late June in a brief rebellion against Moscow’s top military brass, which Putin said posed a threat to the country’s very survival.
CHILD INJURED IN DEADLY RUSSIAN DRONE ATTACK
At least two people have been killed and 19 wounded after Russia launched four drones at the city centre of Sumy in northern Ukraine on Monday, according to Ukrainian media reports.
Sumy is located 40km from the Russian border.
Of the 19 wounded, four are still in hospital receiving treatment, with two of them in intensive care.
The others who have been hurt in the attack were allowed to return home after receiving medical treatment.
The Kyiv Independent reports that among the injured was a five-year-old child.
Military administration has stated the attack damaged two apartment buildings and an official building.
RUSSIA TO FACE ‘TRULY HISTORIC’ WAR CRIMES PROBE
An international office to probe Russia for the war crime of aggression opened in The Hague on Monday in what Ukraine called a “truly historic” first step towards a tribunal for Moscow’s leadership.
The centre will investigate and gather evidence for any future trial that could bring Kremlin and Russian military figures to justice for invading their pro-Western neighbour.
The aim of the tribunal is to plug a legal gap left by the fact that the International Criminal Court (ICC) currently has no mandate to prosecute aggression – the core war crime of launching a war against another country.
The new International Centre for the Prosecution of the Crime of Aggression Against Ukraine (ICPA) features prosecutors from Kyiv, the European Union, the United States and the ICC.
Speaking as the centre opened, Ukraine Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin said a special tribunal for the Russian leadership was now “inevitable”.
“We are gathered here on the occasion of a truly historic moment – I would say an epoch-defining moment,” Andriy told a news conference at the EU judicial office Eurojust, where the ICPA is based.
Kostin said the opening of the centre was a “clear signal that the world is united and unwavering on the path to holding the Russian regime accountable for all its crimes.” He added that the “crime of aggression is an original sin, the commission of which opened the floodgate for 100,000 other international crimes.” Kyiv has been pushing for a special tribunal since the discovery of hundreds of bodies after Russian troops withdrew from the town of Bucha near the Ukrainian capital in April 2022.
International support has grown steadily, and the European Commission announced the creation of the ICPA in February, with the United States then announcing that it would join last month – despite the fact that, like Russia, it is not a member of the ICC.
US Assistant Attorney-General Kenneth Polite said justice officials have now handed over the first tranche of evidence to the centre.
Polite told the news conference that Washington was “proud to stand with our European partners” in prosecuting “Russia’s unlawful war of aggression against the people of Ukraine.”
EU Justice Commissioner Didier Reynders said Monday’s launch showed Kyiv’s allies would “stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes.”
“We cannot tolerate the gross violation of the prohibition of the use of force,” he told the news conference.
Calls for a special tribunal on Ukraine have mounted because of the inability to prosecute aggression by the ICC, a war crimes court which is also based in The Hague.
The ICC is probing more specific war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine, and issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March over alleged child deportations.
Fundamental questions remain over how a special tribunal would work, when it could be created and who would support it.
The most likely option appears to be a hybrid court under Ukrainian law with Ukrainian and foreign judges.
But Eurojust chief Ladislav Hamran said it was “not important at this stage … where the trial will happen”.
“As far as investigation of the crime of aggression goes, it’s important that we start now,” he said.
UKRAINE MAKING PROGRESS ON ‘DIFFICULT’ FRONTLINE
Ukraine on Monday reported making gains in the south and east over the past week in difficult fighting to dislodge Moscow’s heavily entrenched forces.
While Russia’s security service (FSB) said it had foiled an assassination attempt on the head of Crimea, a southern peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Kyiv’s troops, which have faced intense resistance in their counteroffensive launched last month, have urged Western allies for more military support.
“Last week was difficult on the frontline. But we are making progress,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said. “We are moving forward, step by step!”
Deputy Defence Minister Hanna Maliar noted that Ukrainian forces over the past week recaptured nine square kilometres in the east and 28 square kilometres in the south.
Ukraine’s forces have taken back over 158 square kilometres in the south since the start of the counteroffensive, Maliar said.
Kyiv’s troops have come up against heavily entrenched Russian defensive positions both along the southern and eastern fronts.
Maliar said Ukrainian troops were fighting “fierce” battles around the eastern flashpoint city of Bakhmut.
Russian forces were also on the offensive, and in recent days launched new assaults towards Svatove, in the eastern Luhansk region.
On Sunday, Maliar said Russia was advancing near Svatove, as well as near Avdiivka, Mariinka and Lyman.
“The situation is quite complicated,” she said.
Ukrainian officials have expressed frustration at the slow deliveries of weapons promised by the West.
Ukraine’s military commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny told the Washington Post it “pisses me off” that some in the West complain about the slow start and progress to the long-awaited push against Russian occupying forces.
He also complained he has a fraction of the artillery shells that Russia is firing.
“A lot of people die every day – a lot. Just because no decision has been made yet,” Zaluzhny said.
Ukrainian presidential chief of staff Andriy Yermak said a drone attack on a residential building in Sumy, eastern Ukraine, killed one on Monday.
Late Sunday freedom of expression group PEN also said a Ukrainian writer wounded in a Russian missile strike on a restaurant last week had died.
Victoria Amelina, 37, was injured when a Russian missile destroyed the Ria Pizza restaurant in the eastern city of Kramatorsk on Tuesday, killing 12 people, including children, and wounding dozens.
RUSSIAN DEFENCE MINISTER ADDRESSES SHORT-LIVED MUTINY
“Ukraine did not reach its goals in any of the sectors,” Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said, claiming that nearly all Leopard tanks provided by Poland and Portugal had been destroyed.
Shoigu and the conventional army faced a serious challenge last month when the head of the Wagner mercenary group led his forces in a rebellion against Moscow’s top military brass.
In his first comments addressing the short-lived mutiny, Shoigu said Monday the rebellion “did not affect the operations of the troops.”
“The plans failed primarily because the personnel of the armed forces showed loyalty to their oath and military duty,” he said.
Following the rebellion, the Kremlin gave Wagner fighters the choice of signing contracts with the Russian defence ministry, returning to civilian life or going into exile in Moscow-allied Belarus.
Russia however said there was no need for further mobilisation to replace the Wagner troops that left the battlefield.
Kyiv is fighting to try to recapture its territories in the east and south, including the Crimea peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014.
In Crimea, the Russian security service (FSB) said Monday it had foiled an attempt on the life of the Moscow-installed head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov.
The FSB said it had detained a suspect – “a Russian national born in 1988 who had been recruited by officers of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU)”.
It added that the suspect was held while “removing the explosive device from its hiding place”.
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