Ukraine on Monday claimed to have recaptured some 90 towns and villages from Russia in the illegally annexed Kherson region, as Moscow accused Kyiv of preparing to use a radioactive bomb in its own territory. The US, France and Britain dismissed Russia’s claim as a “dangerous” lie and warned against using it as a pretext to escalate the conflict. Read our live blog to see how all the day's events unfolded. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
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10:42pm: Russia to raise ‘dirty bomb’ accusation at UN, diplomats say
Russia plans to raise its accusation that Ukraine is planning a “dirty bomb” attack at the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.
Russia has told council counterparts it will bring up the issue during a closed-door meeting of the 15-member body, diplomats said.
10:38pm: UN nuclear body to inspect two sites in Ukraine over ‘dirty bomb’ claims
The UN nuclear watchdog is preparing to send inspectors in the coming days to two Ukrainian sites at Kyiv’s request, it said on Monday, in an apparent reaction to Russian claims that Ukraine could deploy a so-called dirty bomb, which Ukraine denies.
“The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is aware of statements made by the Russian Federation on Sunday about alleged activities at two nuclear locations in Ukraine,” the IAEA said in a statement, adding that both were already subject to its inspections and one was inspected a month ago.
“The IAEA is preparing to visit the locations in the coming days,” it added.
6:42pm: Zelensky criticises Israeli neutrality in Russian-Iran ‘alliance’
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday criticised Israel’s neutrality in the Ukraine war, saying the decision by Israeli leaders “not to annoy” the Kremlin has in fact encouraged Russia’s military partnership with Iran.
“This alliance of theirs simply would not have happened if your politicians had made only one decision at the time... it seems that it was adopted a long time ago—in 2014, when Russia began its aggression against Ukraine,” Zelensky told a conference organised by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
Israel has condemned the Russian invasion, but has been wary of straining relations with Moscow, a power broker in neighbouring Syria where Israeli forces frequently attack pro-Iranian militia, and wants to ensure the wellbeing of Russia’s Jews.
Israel, which will choose a new government in an election on November 1, has limited its assistance to deliveries of humanitarian aid and defensive equipment. Most recently it offered to help Ukrainians develop air attack alerts for civilians. Zelensky has said that is not enough and has asked that Israeli leaders reconsider sending air defenses as well.
6:39pm: Ukraine says has recaptured 90 towns and villages in Kherson region
Ukrainian forces have recaptured 90 towns and villages in the Kherson region since the start of the Russian invasion, FRANCE 24’s Ukraine correspondent Gulliver Cragg reports, citing military officials.
5:59pm: Russia says forces preparing to work under radioactive conditions
Russia’s Defence Ministry said on Monday that it had prepared its forces to work in conditions of radioactive contamination, after Moscow accused Ukraine of planning to detonate a “dirty bomb” – something Kyiv has strongly denied.
The remark was made by the head of Russia’s nuclear, biological and chemical protection troops, Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov, in a media briefing.
5:15pm Ukraine says Russia is delaying 165 cargo ships in grain deal
Kyiv on Monday accused Russia of delaying the arrival from Turkey of more than 165 cargo ships heading to Ukrainian ports for grain loads.
Russia’s inspectors “have been significantly prolonging the inspection of vessels... as a result more than 165 vessels have been stuck in a queue near the Bosporus Strait, and this number continues to grow daily” the Ukrainian foreign ministry said, adding the delays were “politically motivated.”
4:38pm: Zelensky says Russia ordered 2,000 drones from Iran
President Volodymyr Zelensky said Monday Russia had ordered around 2,000 drones from Iran, the same kind that Kyiv says Moscow has been using in its recent attacks against Ukraine.
“The disgusting sound of Iranian drones is heard in our skies every night. According to our intelligence, Russia ordered about 2,000 ‘Shaheds’ from Iran,” Zelensky said during a speech at a conference organised by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
It was not immediately clear if Zelensky was referring to Russia’s past purchases or new ones.
2:01pm: Ukraine in 'final stage' of creating radioactive bomb, Moscow claims
Moscow has reitirated its unsubstantiated claim that Ukraine is building a "dirty bomb", claiming Kyiv has nearly completed work on a device laced with radioactive material.
"According to the information we have, two organisations in Ukraine have specific instructions to create a so-called 'dirty bomb'. This work is in its final stage," Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said in a statement on Monday.
Western leaders have rejected the claim, warning Moscow against fabricating pretexts to escalate the conflict.
1:50pm: Nuclear bunker hosts martial arts competition
In Kryvyi Rih, southern Ukraine, a nuclear bomb shelter is being used to host the finals of the city's annual hand-to-hand martial arts competition.
The bunker has been transformed into a sports arena and performance venue to offer the population some much-needed leisure amid the raging war.
1:42pm: Tehran denies Iranian military personnel are deployed in Crimea
Tehran has rejected US allegations that Iranian military personnel are on the ground in Russian-occupied Crimea to help Moscow carry out drone attacks in Ukraine.
On Thursday, White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that Iranian forces are "on the ground in Crimea" to assist Russia in its operations, adding that the personnel are trainers and tech support workers.
In response, Iran's foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani on Monday said that Washington "aims to deviate the public opinion from the destructive role they have in the Ukraine war by standing on one side of the conflict and heavily exporting weapons and equipment to Ukraine".
The United States has already imposed sanctions on Iran for providing drones to Russia. So have Britain and the EU.
1:30pm: UN seeks 'urgent' steps to relieve backlog in Black Sea grain exports
"Urgent" steps are needed to relieve a backlog of more than 150 ships involved in a deal which allows Ukraine to export grain from ports in the Black Sea, a UN spokesperson has said.
The comments come as Kyiv accused Russia of blocking full implementation of the agreement, which was brokered by the United Nations and Turkey in July to ease a global food crisis and which comes up for renewal next month. Russia has threatened to pull out over its own complaints.
Vessels carrying grains and other foodstuffs to and from Ukrainian ports must be inspected by teams organised by the four-party Joint Coordination Centre (JCC) at anchorages in Turkey.
"There are currently over 150 vessels waiting around Istanbul to move and these delays have the potential to cause disruptions to the supply chain and port operations," said Ismini Palla, UN spokesperson for the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
12:24pm: France, Germany show 'no desire' to mediate Ukraine talks, Kremlin says
The Kremlin said Monday that France and Germany were showing "no desire" to participate in mediation on the Ukrainian conflict and praised Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's offer to organise talks.
"Ankara takes a different position from that of Paris and Berlin ... and has declared its readiness to continue mediation efforts," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"(French President Emmanuel) Macron and (German Chancellor Olaf) Scholz have shown no desire to listen to Russia's position or participate in mediation efforts," he added.
12:19pm: Blowing up dam would be a boomerang for Russia, Ukraine's spy chief warns
Russia would slow Ukraine's advance by just two weeks if it blows up the vast Kakhovka dam, Kyiv's military spy chief has said, warning that such a move would flood territory occupied by Moscow and lose it a vital water canal for annexed Crimea.
Kyrylo Budanov made the comments to Ukrainska Pravda in an interview published on Monday after President Volodymyr Zelensky said last week that Russia had mined the hydro-electric dam on the Dnipro River and was preparing to blow it up.
Russia, whose troops are on the back foot in the occupied Kherson region which Kyiv is trying to recapture, has itself accused Ukraine of plotting to blow up the dam, a step that would unleash a devastating flood.
Budanov, head of the Defence Ministry's Main Directorate of Intelligence, said the dam had been only partially mined by Russia and that destroying it completely would require many tonnes of explosives.
"They will get a total flooding of the (Russian-occupied) left bank of Kherson. They will lose even theoretically the possibility of supplying water to the North Crimean Canal, to Crimea...," he said.
11:05am: Russian TV presenter apologises for call to drown Ukrainian children
Anton Krasovsky, a presenter for state-controlled broadcaster RT, has apologised for stating in a show last week that Ukrainian children who saw Russians as occupiers should have been "thrown straight into a river with a strong current" and drowned.
Margarita Simonyan, the channel's editor-in-chief, said she had suspended Krasovsky because of his "disgusting" comments, adding that no one at RT shared his views.
Krasovsky said in a social media post he was "really embarrassed". Russia's state Investigative Committee said it was probing his remarks
State television, heavily controlled by the Kremlin, has been a vocal cheerleader of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, often calling on Putin to take an even more aggressive approach to the war.
9:50am: Officials in Russian-occupied Kherson announce citizen militia
The Russian-installed administration of occupied Kherson region says it is organising militia units using local civilians to fight a Ukrainian counter offensive.
In a notice on Telegram, the occupation authorities said men had the "opportunity" to join territorial defence units if they chose to remain in Kherson of their own free will.
However, men in other occupied Ukrainian regions such as Donetsk have previously been compelled to join up and fight with the armies of Russia's proxies in the war with Ukraine.
President Vladimir Putin last week declared martial law in the occupied regions, empowering their Russian-installed administrations to step up mobilisation.
8:45am: West warns Moscow against seeking 'pretext for escalation'
French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna has tweeted the French version of the joint statement with her US and UK counterparts, rejecting Russian allegations that Kyiv is planning to use radioactive bombs.
"The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation," the statement reads.
8:25am: Wagner militia leads Russian assaults on Bakhmut
While Moscow's forces are being pushed back by a Ukrainian counter offensive in the southern Kherson region, Russian forces continue their assault on the city of Bakhmut in the eastern Donetsk region, backed by mercenaries from the Wagner Group, says FRANCE 24's Gulliver Cragg, reporting from Kyiv.
Cragg also brings us the latest on Kyiv's reactions to Russian allegations that Ukraine is planning to use "dirty bombs" laced with radioactive material.
7:30am: UK says Russia continues to use Iranian drones against Ukraine
Russia continues to use Iranian uncrewed aerial vehicles (UAVs) against targets throughout the Ukrainian territory, the British Ministry of Defence has said in its daily intelligence briefing on the war in Ukraine.
Russia is likely using the Iranian Shahed-136 UAVs to infiltrate Ukranian air defences and as a substitute for Russian-manufactured long-range precision weapons that are becoming increasingly scarce, the ministry said in its update on Twitter.
Ukrainian efforts to contain the UAVs are increasingly successful, the ministry added.
4:45am: Russia strikes Ukraine's Mykolaiv, orders civilians to evacuate Kherson
Russia has fired missiles and drones into the Ukrainian-held southern town of Mykolaiv, destroying an apartment block, even as it ordered 60,000 people to flee the Kherson region "to save your lives" in the face of a Ukrainian counter offensive.
Sunday's missile strike in Mykolaiv wiped out the top floor of the apartment block, sending shrapnel and debris across a plaza and into neighbouring buildings, Reuters witnessed. No fatalities were recorded.
"After the first blast, I tried to get out, but the door was stuck," said Oleksandr Mezinov, 50, who was woken from his bed by the blasts. "After a minute or two, there was a second loud blast. Our door was blown into the corridor."
Ukraine's General Staff said anti-aircraft defences had shot down 12 of Russia's Iranian-made Shahed-136 attack drones in the past 24 hours.
Read more: Ukraine faces new Russian threat from Iran-made ‘kamikaze’ drones
2:53am: US, UK, France jointly reject Russia 'dirty bomb' claim
The United States, Britain and France have jointly dismissed Russian claims that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb and warned Moscow against using any pretext for escalating the conflict.
Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu made the allegation about a possible dirty bomb attack in a round of telephone conversations with Western defense chiefs earlier Sunday.
"Our countries made clear that we all reject Russia's transparently false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory," the US State Department said in a joint statement with the British and French governments.
"The world would see through any attempt to use this allegation as a pretext for escalation," the statement went on. "We further reject any pretext for escalation by Russia."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken tweeted on Sunday that he spoke to Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba to "reject Russia's false allegations that Ukraine is preparing to use a dirty bomb on its own territory".
10:54pm: Iran says will provide Russia with '40 turbines'
Iran announced Sunday a contract with Russia to supply it with 40 turbines to help its gas industry amid Western sanctions over Moscow's war in Ukraine, local media reported.
Iran's "industrial successes are not limited to the fields of missiles and drones", Iranian Gas Engineering and Development Company's CEO, Reza Noushadi, was quoted as saying by Shana, the oil ministry's news agency.
"Currently, 85 percent of the facilities and equipment needed by the gas industry are built inside the country, and based on this capability, a contract has recently been signed to export 40 Iranian-made turbines to Russia," he added.
Noushadi did not specify when the contract was signed, and when the turbines are due to be delivered.
(FRANCE 24 with AP, AFP and REUTERS)
