A summary of today's developments
The Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that the Nord Stream pipeline 1 will not restart on schedule on Saturday, citing damage to the turbine engine. Officials blamed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine for the halting of gas deliveries to Europe. Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller indicated that Siemens could not perform repairs on the turbines damaged by the oil leak because of sanctions against the Russian state energy giant.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, who returned from a first visit to the Zaporizhzhia plant, told reporters that six of the experts remain at the site to continue with the work. He said the team will produce a report early next week of their findings. Grossi added military operations are increasing in the region of the plant “which worries me a lot” and that the military presence were not available when he asked to speak to them about the control centre, they did not approach his team, and they were “withdrawn” throughout their visit.
Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers have announced they plan to implement a price cap on Russian oil. In a statement, G7 ministers said the cap was designed to reduce “Russia’s ability to fund its war of aggression” and said they would “urgently work on the finalisation and implementation” of the measure but left out key details of the plan.
Prior to the G7 announcement, the Kremlin warned that imposing a price cap on Russian oil exports would trigger Russian retaliation. If G7 leaders decide to impose price caps on Russian oil, it will lead to significant destabilisation of the global oil market, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukraine’s military has claimed that Russian forces suffered “significant losses” in the southern region of Kherson following Kyiv’s counteroffensive launched earlier this week. Ukraine’s successes have been “quite convincing”, according to a spokesperson for the southern Ukrainian military command, who added that more “positive news” will likely follow “very soon”.
Ukrainian troops have pushed back Russian forces at several points around Kherson, according to western officials. Officials estimate that about 20,000 Russian troops are in the pocket of the southern region, and caution that it is too soon to determine if Ukraine’s counterattack is working.
The “physical integrity” of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine has been “violated”, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said. Rafael Grossi, who led a team of inspectors to the Russian-controlled plant on Thursday, said that although he would continue to worry about the plant, the situation was “more predictable” now.
An expert team from the UN nuclear agency plan to stay at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after gaining long-awaited access to the site on Thursday. “We are not going anywhere. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there,” Grossi told reporters after returning to Ukrainian-held territory.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of manipulating and distorting information shared with the IAEA. Ukrainian state-owned operator Energoatom said in a statement that Russian officials “are making every effort to prevent the IAEA mission from getting to know the real state of affairs. They spread manipulative and false information about this visit.”
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism”. Pro-Russian proxy authorities in Zaporizhzhia have accused Kyiv of trying to smuggle “spies” into the IAEA inspection team posing as journalists.
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has restated the expansionist military aims of Russia’s invasion. “Our task is to liberate all Russian cities that were founded by Russian people during the time of the Russian Empire, and developed during the Soviet Union thanks to the help of our entire vast country,” Pushilin said. “This is not only the territories of Novorossia [the Donbas], but also much wider. It will not be any other way.”
Ukraine’s military said it carried out strikes against Russian positions in the region around the southern town of Enerhodar near a nuclear power plant where U.N. experts are working, Reuters reports.
The revelation by the armed forces’ general staff was unusual, since the military rarely gives details of specific targets.
A team from the International Atomic Energy Agency is gathering data at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, on the edge of Russian-occupied Enerhodar.
“It has been confirmed that in the region around the towns of Kherson and Enerhodar, precise strikes by our armed forces destroyed three enemy artillery systems as well as a warehouse with ammunition and up to a company of soldiers,” the general staff said in a Facebook post.
Gazprom officials have already blamed sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine for the halting of gas deliveries to Europe.
In a statement, Gazprom CEO Alexei Miller indicated that Siemens could not perform repairs on the turbines damaged by the oil leak because of sanctions against the Russian state energy giant.
“Siemens currently has almost no possibility to provide regular overhauls of our gas-pumping units. Siemens simply has nowhere to do this work,” Miller said, according to Interfax.
Russia has asked for 56 visas from the United States to allow Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov and his delegation to travel to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders at the United Nations this month, but so far has received none.
In a letter to U.N. secretary general Antonio Guterres, seen by Reuters, Russia’s U.N. Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia said this was “alarming” because during the past several months Washington had “been constantly refusing to grant entry visas” to a number of Russian delegates for other U.N. events.
The United States takes seriously its obligations as U.N. host country, said a State Department spokesperson, adding that visa records are confidential under U.S. law so it could not comment on individual cases.
On Tuesday, Grossi says he will be briefing the UN Security Council on the findings from their visit.
And that concludes the press conference from Vienna.
Grossi says the IAEA is planning a bigger safety structure for the plant.
Grossi says he does not want to compare the situation at the plant to other examples such as Chernobyl.
Grossi says the military presence were not available when he asked to speak to them about the control centre, they did not approach his team, and they were “withdrawn” throughout their visit.
Updated
Grossi says he hopes the IAEA does not have to be a constant presence there and the day comes when the plant is operating normally and inspectors and experts can visit occasionally.
Grossi says the IAEA will not be “manipulated” by any member states and does not listen to external noise.
Grossi reiterates that international inspectors being there and reporting back 24/7 could be a “stabilising factor” in terms of the safety and security of the plant.
The IAEA chief adds another crisis centre has been set up at the plant.
He adds that everything that he requested to be seen was inspected.
Grossi says he would never send a person to a place that he would not go to first.
He adds his team on the ground at the Zaporizhzhia plant are in constant communication with him.
Grossi says the military operations are increasing in the region of the plant “which worries me a lot”.
He says the statistical probability of further physical damage to the plant therefore is high since shelling began there in August.
Grossi reiterates the plant is operating and there is a professional dynamic between the nuclear experts.
He says it is “admirable” for the Ukraine experts to continue to work there under the circumstances but admits there is “a tension” due to the war.
Updated
Grossi says the team will produce a report early next week of their findings.
Updated
Grossi describes the situation as “extremely complex and challenging” which needs the permanent support of the IAEA.
Grossi, whose team landed back in Vienna a few minutes ago, said there are no major problems logistically and a “mixed bag” with the systems.
On the outside power supply, Grossi says on several occasions there were blackouts and interruptions of the supply to the outside.
On the safety and security systems, Grossi says it is not fully functioning but not in the critical red zone.
Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), says they saw miulitary activity around the plant and markings on buildings so the “physical integirty of the facilities has been violated several times” which he brands unacceptable.
Grossi, who completed a first tour of the key areas of the Russian-occupied power plant, begins by saying six of the experts remain at the site to continue with the work.
The chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, is due to give a press conference shortly in Vienna after returning from the Zaporizhzhia plant. We’ll be providing updates from it here.
Updated
Joe Biden will request $11.7bn (£10.2bn) in emergency funding from Congress to provide lethal aid and budget support to Ukraine, the White House has said.
The emergency funding request will also include $2bn (£1.7bn) to address the impact of Russia’s war in Ukraine on US energy supplies, according to Shalanda Young, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Updated
In a statement on Telegram, Gazprom shared what it said was a picture showing leaked oil on equipment at the compressor station.
From Reuters’ Felix Light:
On Telegram, Gazprom helpfully provides what it says is a photo of the oil leak that’ll be making Europe sweat … https://t.co/mYtq13efUB pic.twitter.com/xkrijq3O2v
— Felix Light (@felix_light) September 2, 2022
Here’s more on Gazprom’s announcement that the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline to Germany will not be restarted as planned tomorrow.
The Russian state energy company said the decision to keep the Baltic Sea pipeline shut was due to an oil leak detected at the Portovaya compressor station near St Petersburg.
Gazprom has now said it needs to fix the problem before the flows can restart, with no indication of how long that may take.
Similar oil leaks have previously been detected at some other turbines, which are out of action now, and “complete elimination of oil leakage on these turbines is possible only in the conditions of a specialised repair company,” Gazprom said.
The pipeline was due to reopen on Saturday following a three-day break, after the company cited the need to carry out repairs in a move that heightened already acute nervousness over the reliability of winter energy supplies.
Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea to supply Germany and others, was running at 20% capacity even before flows were halted this week.
As the Guardian’s diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour writes, the latest move is a brutal show of force by Russia and comes after G7 countries agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil earlier today.
Russia goes for the throat. Gazprom shuts down Nordstream 1 indefinitely gives no timeline by which it will be able to restart after detecting "oil leakage" during routine maintenance. Brutal show of force compared with G7's possible future Russian oil price cap.
— Patrick Wintour (@patrickwintour) September 2, 2022
Updated
Gazprom announces Nord Stream 1 pipeline suspended indefinitely
The Russian energy giant Gazprom has announced that the Nord Stream pipeline 1 will not restart on schedule on Saturday, citing damage to the turbine engine.
In a statement, the company did not give a time frame for restarting the pipeline, claiming it detected an oil leak at the main gas turbine at Portovaya compressor station near St Petersburg.
It said the turbine could not operate safely until the leak was repaired.
Updated
Ukraine declared this week it had begun a counteroffensive aiming to retake Kherson – the one city Russia holds west of the Dnieper river – prompting a fog of uncertainty to descend on how the effort was progressing, never mind whether it would succeed.
Oleksiy Arestovych, a key adviser to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stressed there would be “no quick wins” as the attack in the south began – a point reflected in a briefing on Friday by western officials.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said Ukraine had “pushed back” the Russian defenders in “several places”, but insisted it was too soon to name villages taken or distances gained while fighting was ongoing.
The caution may be realistic, but it is also telling. This is not, in any sense, a blitzkrieg or a broad front attack, but rather a localised effort to strike at the most obvious strategic vulnerability in the Russian frontline, and to try to demonstrate that Ukraine can drive the Russians back in places before winter sets in.
It is a struggle about Kyiv’s ability to act proactively as much as it is about recapturing the occupied city itself.
Read Dan Sabbagh’s full analysis: Push to retake Kherson is symbol of Ukraine’s cautious confidence
Updated
A woman from eastern Ukraine has been detained after she was accused of sending the locations of her soldier husband’s unit to Russian military intelligence, according to Ukraine’s state security service.
The 31-year-old unnamed woman from the Dnipropetrovsk region passed on information about the locations of military buildings and equipment along frontline positions in the Donetsk and Zaporizhzhia regions, it said in a statement.
The agency said the woman would question her husband about the location of his unit and other Ukrainian formations on the frontline.
She would then pass on the information “through messenger applications to Russian military intelligence, where it was used for artillery and airstrikes”, it said.
The statement continued:
She took this step despite the fact that she is married to a serviceman of the armed forces of Ukraine, and that they have a son together.
Updated
The G7 countries have agreed to impose a price cap on Russian oil in an attempt to stem the flow of funds into the Kremlin’s war coffers.
Finance ministers from the UK, US, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Canada have agreed a plan to put a ceiling on Russian oil prices. The proposal would mean importers seeking shipping services and insurance cover from companies based in G7 and EU countries would need to adhere to a price cap to transport Russian oil.
The cap is expected to be introduced at the same time as planned EU embargoes on Russian oil kick in – on 5 December for crude and 5 February for refined products, such as diesel. The level of the cap is still being discussed.
UK chancellor Nadhim Zahawi said the decision followed a meeting earlier this week with US Treasury secretary Janet Yellen in Washington.
Yellen said the measure would be implemented “in the weeks to come” and represents a “major blow for Russian finances and will hinder Russia’s ability to fight its unprovoked war in Ukraine”.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
It’s 6pm in Kyiv. Here’s where we stand:
Group of Seven (G7) finance ministers have announced they plan to implement a price cap on Russian oil. In a statement, G7 ministers said the cap was designed to reduce “Russia’s ability to fund its war of aggression” and said they would “urgently work on the finalisation and implementation” of the measure but left out key details of the plan.
Prior to the G7 announcement, the Kremlin warned that imposing a price cap on Russian oil exports would trigger Russian retaliation. If G7 leaders decide to impose price caps on Russian oil, it will lead to significant destabilisation of the global oil market, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said.
Ukraine’s military has claimed that Russian forces suffered “significant losses” in the southern region of Kherson following Kyiv’s counteroffensive launched earlier this week. Ukraine’s successes have been “quite convincing”, according to a spokesperson for the southern Ukrainian military command, who added that more “positive news” will likely follow “very soon”.
Ukrainian troops have pushed back Russian forces at several points around Kherson, according to western officials. Officials estimate that about 20,000 Russian troops are in the pocket of the southern region, and caution that it is too soon to determine if Ukraine’s counterattack is working.
The “physical integrity” of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in south-eastern Ukraine has been “violated”, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said. Rafael Grossi, who led a team of inspectors to the Russian-controlled plant on Thursday, said that although he would continue to worry about the plant, the situation was “more predictable” now.
An expert team from the UN nuclear agency plan to stay at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant after gaining long-awaited access to the site on Thursday. “We are not going anywhere. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there,” Grossi told reporters after returning to Ukrainian-held territory.
Ukrainian officials have accused Russia of manipulating and distorting information shared with the IAEA. Ukrainian state-owned operator Energoatom said in a statement that Russian officials “are making every effort to prevent the IAEA mission from getting to know the real state of affairs. They spread manipulative and false information about this visit.”
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu has accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism”. Pro-Russian proxy authorities in Zaporizhzhia have accused Kyiv of trying to smuggle “spies” into the IAEA inspection team posing as journalists.
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has restated the expansionist military aims of Russia’s invasion. “Our task is to liberate all Russian cities that were founded by Russian people during the time of the Russian Empire, and developed during the Soviet Union thanks to the help of our entire vast country,” Pushilin said. “This is not only the territories of Novorossia [the Donbas], but also much wider. It will not be any other way.”
Hello all, it’s Léonie Chao-Fong still here with all the latest developments from Ukraine. Feel free to get in touch on Twitter or via email.
Updated
The agreement by G7 finance ministers to impose a price cap on Russian oil will “curtail Putin’s capacity to fund his war” in Ukraine, Britain’s chancellor Nadhim Zahawi has said.
In a statement, Zahawi said further action against Putin was a “personal priority as Chancellor”.
Zahawi said:
Since Putin’s brutal and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine, the UK and our allies have imposed hugely damaging sanctions on the Kremlin war machine, pushing the Russian economy into a deep recession and putting the majority of Russia’s 640 billion dollars foreign exchange reserves beyond use.
He added:
We will curtail Putin’s capacity to fund his war from oil exports by banning services, such as insurance and the provision of finance, to vessels carrying Russian oil above an agreed price cap.
We are united against this barbaric aggression and will do all we can to support Ukraine as they fight for sovereignty, democracy and freedom.
G7 agree to impose price cap on Russian oil
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven advanced nations have agreed they will “urgently” move towards imposing a price cap on Russian oil imports, aimed at stopping Moscow from raking in huge profits from soaring energy prices.
In a statement, G7 ministers said they would “urgently work on the finalisation and implementation” of the measure but left out key details of the plan.
They confirmed their commitment to the plan after a virtual meeting but said the per-barrel level of the price cap would be determined later “based on a range of technical inputs” to be agreed by the coalition of countries.
The G7 ministers said:
Today we confirm our joint political intention to finalise and implement a comprehensive prohibition of services which enable maritime transportation of Russian-origin crude oil and petroleum products globally.
The price cap is is “specifically designed” to reduce “Russia’s ability to fund its war of aggression whilst limiting the impact of Russia’s war on global energy prices, particularly for low and middle-income countries”, they said.
The G7 consists of Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States.
Ukraine’s agriculture ministry has said grain exports are down 54.5% year-on-year in 2022-23 season so far, at 4.16m tonnes, Reuters reports.
The country’s grain exports have slumped since the start of the war because its Black Sea ports, a key route for shipments, were closed off. Three ports were unblocked at the end of July under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
The government has said Ukraine could harvest at least 50m tonnes of grain this year, compared with a record 86m tonnes in 2021, because of the loss of land to Russian forces and lower grain yields.
Updated
Janet Yellen, the US treasury secretary, has said that a G7 price cap on Russian oil would help fight inflation while delivering a blow to Moscow’s ability to finance its war in Ukraine.
The price cap helps achieve “our dual goals of putting downward pressure on global energy prices while denying Putin revenue to fund his brutal war in Ukraine”, Yellen said in a statement.
Reuters reports that Japanese finance minister Shunichi Suzuki has also said he welcomed a G7 deal, and that it should be implemented quickly.
Updated
Energoatom, the Ukrainian operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), has posted to Telegram to say that reactor number five, which was shut down yesterday as an emergency precaution following shelling in the vicinity, has begun operating again. The statement said:
Power unit number five of the ZNPP, which was shut down yesterday morning as a result of another mortar shelling by the Russian occupying forces at the ZNPP site, was connected to the power grid at 1.10pm, and capacity is being added. Currently, two power units are operating at the station, which produce electricity for the needs of Ukraine. There are no comments on the operation of equipment and security systems. We will remind you that representatives of the IAEA mission continue their work at the Zaporizhzhia.
Updated
Ukrainian troops have pushed back Russian forces at several points around Kherson since Kyiv launched its long-awaited counteroffensive aiming to retake the southern province, according to western officials.
Officials estimate that about 20,000 Russian troops are in the pocket of the southern region, and caution that it is too soon to determine if Ukraine’s counterattack is working.
Western officials say Ukraine has "pushed back" Russian forces at "several points" around Kherson, but decline to give any further details. Estimate Russia has c20k troops in the Kherson pocket. Heavy caution it is too soon to determine if Ukraine attack is succeeding however.
— Dan Sabbagh (@dansabbagh) September 2, 2022
Updated
G7 poised to agree plan to impose price cap on Russian oil
G7 finance ministers are expected to firm up plans on Friday to impose a price cap on Russian oil aimed at slashing revenues for Moscow’s war in Ukraine but keeping crude flowing to avoid price rises, officials said.
The ministers from the club of wealthy industrial democracies are due to meet virtually and are likely to issue a communique that lays out their implementation plans.
“A deal is likely,” a European G7 official said, adding that it was unclear how much detail would be revealed, such as the per-barrel level of the price cap, above which complying countries would refuse insurance and finance to Russian crude and oil product cargoes.
Russian forces are suffering “heavy losses” in the face of Ukrainian resistance that has stalled Moscow’s advance and demonstrated the determination of the Ukrainian people to “retake their sovereign territory”, the UK’s national security adviser, Stephen Lovegrove, has said.
In a statement, Lovegrove said Britain will continue to provide Ukraine with humanitarian, economic and military assistance and that its support “will not waver”.
Ukraine’s resistance “has inspired the world and shown huge courage in the face of brutality”, he said.
Lovegrove said:
Now that courageous resistance has stalled the Russian advance and demonstrated the determination of the Ukrainian people and armed forces to retake their sovereign territory.
He added:
The risks around this terrible conflict continue as Putin finds he can’t make progress, his forces suffer heavy losses, and sanctions continue to degrade his war machine and take money out of the pockets of Russia’s richest people.
At the same time Russia is trying and failing to impose a veneer of legitimacy on the areas it temporarily controls, including through plans for staged sham referenda. It will not succeed.
Updated
The former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev has responded to comments by the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about putting a ceiling on the price Europe pays for Russian gas.
Russia will simply turn off gas supply to Europe if Brussels pushes ahead with a price cap on Russian gas, Medvedev wrote on Telegram.
Updated
The Kremlin has warned it will stop selling oil to countries that impose price caps on Russia’s energy resources.
Finance ministers from the Group of Seven are expected to firm up plans today to impose a price cap on Russian oil aimed at slashing revenues for Moscow’s war in Ukraine.
The ministers from the club of wealthy industrial democracies are due to meet virtually, and could issue a communique that lays out their implementation plans.
If G7 leaders decide to impose price caps on Russian oil, it will lead to significant destabilisation of the global oil market, the Kremlin said.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters today:
Companies that impose a price cap will not be among the recipients of Russian oil. We simply will not cooperate with them on non-market principles.
He added:
One thing can be said with confidence: such a move will lead to a significant destabilisation of the oil markets.
Peskov’s comments came as the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said it was time for the EU to consider a similar price cap on Russian gas purchases.
Such a cap would help fight back against Vladimir Putin’s attempts to manipulate the European energy market, Von der Leyen said.
Updated
World food prices have fallen for a fifth consecutive month, partly due to the resumption of exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports, according to the UN.
The Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) food price index, which tracks the monthly change in international prices of a basket of food commodities, reached an all-time high in March after Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ordered his troops to invade Ukraine.
Since then, the FAO index has been falling steadily, declining by 1.9% in August.
Vegetable oils fell by 3.3% in August, below their level a year ago. Cereals dropped by 1.4%, driven by a 5.1% drop in international wheat prices.
It came off the back of “improved production prospects in North America and Russia as well as the resumption of exports from the Black Sea ports in Ukraine for the first time in over five months of interruption”, the FAO said.
Russia suffering ‘significant losses’ in south, says Ukraine
Ukraine’s military has claimed that Russian forces suffered “significant losses” in the southern region of Kherson following Kyiv’s counteroffensive launched earlier this week.
Ukraine’s successes have been “quite convincing”, according to Natalia Humeniuk, spokesperson for the southern Ukrainian military command.
Humeniuk said:
The enemy suffers quite significant losses — losses in manpower have gone from tens to hundreds. Equipment also burns.
More “positive news” will likely follow “very soon”, she added:
We continue to destroy the enemy in terms of its logistics, capabilities, capacities. Ammunition warehouses explode, pontoon crossings explode. It means that the enemy’s logistics and transport connections are undermined to such an extent that they cannot raise reserves.
Operational Command South claimed that a range of targets had been struck, including a ferry crossing.
Moscow has denied reports of Ukrainian progress and said its troops had routed Ukrainian forces.
The Guardian could not independently verify either side’s claims.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again, taking over the live blog from Martin Belam to bring you all the latest from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Summary of the day so far …
An expert team from the United Nations nuclear agency plan to stay at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) after gaining long-awaited access to the site on Thursday. “We are not going anywhere. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there,” the head of the IAEA, Rafael Grossi, told reporters after returning to Ukrainian-held territory. He said a group of experts had stayed behind at the plant in south-eastern Ukraine and would provide an impartial, neutral and technically sound assessment of the situation.
The physical integrity of the Zaporizhzhia plant had been violated on several occasions, Rafael Grossi said. “It is obvious that the plant and physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times,” he told reporters. “I worried, I worry and I will continue to be worried about the plant until we have a situation which is more stable, which is more predictable.”
Russia’s ambassador to international institutions in Vienna told the RIA Novosti news agency Friday that two inspectors would remain permanently at the plant.
Ukrainian officials accused Russia of manipulating and distorting information shared with the IAEA. Ukrainian state-owned operator Energoatom said in a statement that Russian officials “are making every effort to prevent the IAEA mission from getting to know the real state of affairs. They spread manipulative and false information about this visit.”
Russian defence minister Sergei Shoigu accused Ukraine on Friday of “nuclear terrorism”. Russia has occupied Europe’s largest nuclear power plant since March. Pro-Russian proxy authorities in Zaporizhzhia have accused Kyiv of trying to smuggle “spies” into the IAEA inspection team posing as journalists.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Friday “We did everything to ensure that IAEA would get access to the ZNPP and I believe that this mission may still have a role to play. Unfortunately we haven’t heard the main thing from the IAEA which is the call for Russia to demilitarise the station.”
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), Denis Pushilin, has restated the expansionist military aims of Russia’s invasion, saying “Our task is to liberate all Russian cities that were founded by Russian people during the time of the Russian Empire, and developed during the Soviet Union thanks to the help of our entire vast country. And this is not only the territories of Novorossia [the Donbas], but also much wider. It will not be any other way.”
The general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine said in its daily operation briefing that the main military aim of Russia at the moment continues to be “establishing full control over the territory of Donetsk region and maintaining the occupied areas of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions”.
Russia’s foreign minister warned Moldova Thursday that any actions seen as endangering the security of Russian troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria would be considered an attack on Russia. Sergei Lavrov said: “Everyone should understand that any action that would threaten the security of our troops [in Transnistria] would be considered under international law as an attack on Russia.”
Russia and China launched large-scale military exercises involving several allied nations on Thursday, in a show of growing defence cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and a demonstration of Moscow’s military might. The Russian defence ministry said the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise would be held until Wednesday in Russia’s far east and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops and 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships.
US federal agents searched properties linked to a billionaire Russian oligarch in Manhattan, the Hamptons and an exclusive Miami island on Thursday. FBI agents and Homeland Security Investigations personnel searched the properties, linked to Viktor Vekselberg, who is a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and whose $120m yacht was seized in April, NBC News reported.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is investigating allegations that two senior civil servants could have been spying for Russia, according to a local media reports on Thursday. Die Zeit, which first revealed the case, said the officials being investigated had close involvement with energy supply issues and held key positions.
Children returned to Ukrainian schools trashed by occupying Russian forces on Thursday. Only schools that are fit for use, are in areas that do not face a regular threat of shelling and that have enough students opt for in-person teaching will reopen. School administrations have been preparing for the new academic year by outfitting basements as shelters and training teachers on what to do in case of an attack.
Updated
Over the last couple of days, the main story of the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been the inspection of the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
If you missed it, yesterday we published this video report from on the ground in Nikopol, the city that lies across the river from the ZNPP, and which is being regularly fired upon by Russian forces. The residents live in fear of a nuclear accident. Luke Harding and Christopher Cherry spoke to some of them the morning after yet another Russian attack.
Oleh Synyehubov, governor of Kharkiv, has posted a series of images on Telegram that he states illustrate the overnight destruction of a sports facility in Kharkiv. He writes:
The occupiers have once again struck the peaceful infrastructure of Kharkiv. Around midnight the Russians destroyed the premises of the Lokomotiv sports complex named after H Kirpa with S-300 missile strikes. This is the world sports arena, where our champions in synchronised swimming trained. World stars from various sports, medalists of the Olympic Games performed in these walls. The swimming pool, the modern boxing club, which was inaugurated only in February of this year, were destroyed. The Russians are once again committing terror against the civilian population.
Updated
The Russian defence ministry has issued some images of the inspection being carried out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) yesterday. It includes images purporting to show fallen munitions in the grounds of the ZNPP.
Updated
Russian news agencies are reporting that defence minister Sergei Shoigu has said Ukraine was continuing to shell the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).
They report that Shoigu accused Ukraine of “nuclear terrorism”. Russian forces have occupied Europe’s largest nuclear power plant since March.
In another development, the RIA news agency is quoting Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian-imposed administration in Zaporizhzhia accusing Kyiv of trying to infiltrate the IAEA mission with what he described as “spies”.
Offering no evidence for the accusation, it quotes him saying “Ukrainian special services, on the orders of Zelenskiy, tried to introduce their spies and saboteurs working under journalistic cover into the IAEA delegation to the ZNPP. An attempt to infiltrate spies and saboteurs under the guise of Ukrainian journalists was stopped. They were not allowed into the territory.”
Earlier today the Ukrainian operator of the plant, Energoatom, complained that journalists had been prevented from accompanying the UN inspection team, writing:
The vast majority of “media from the rest of the world” who arrived at the power plant yesterday are Russian propagandists. Buses with Ukrainian and foreign journalists who tried to get to the ZNPP along with IAEA mission via the territory of Ukraine were not passed through the checkpoint by the Russian military.
Additionally, Energoatom claimed that “The invaders deliberately blocked cellular communications and the internet in Enerhodar in order to prevent the forwarding of pictures and videos from ZNPP and its satellite city.”
None of these claims have been independently verified.
Two IAEA inspectors to be permanently stationed at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – reports
Reuters is reporting that two inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will stay at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on a permanent basis, according to a statement from Russia’s ambassador to international institutions in Vienna to the RIA Novosti news agency.
More details soon …
The head of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) has been quoted on one of the DPR’s Telegram channels speaking again about the military expansion plans of the pro-Russian forces occupying Ukraine. The channel quotes Denis Pushilin speaking as part of what it describes as a “federal education marathon”. Pushilin says:
Our task is to liberate all Russian cities that were founded by Russian people during the time of the Russian Empire, and developed during the Soviet Union thanks to the help of our entire vast country. And this is not only the territories of Novorossia, but also much wider. We still have a lot to do, and in what form they will return home, we will see, moreover, we will participate in this. It will not be any other way.
Novorossia was a proposed confederation between the DPR and the similarly self-proclaimed Luhansk People’s Republic (LPR) in the east of Ukraine whose formation stalled in 2015.
The term Novorossiya has also historically referred to an area of southern Ukraine on the Black Sea coast stretching from the Donbas in the east to the border with Moldova in the west, incorporating Odesa and going as far north as Dnipro.
The DPR and LPR are only recognised as legitimate authorities by three UN member states: Russia, Syria and North Korea.
Updated
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has spoken again about the IAEA visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) in a video streamed to a meeting in Italy. Reuters quotes him saying:
We did everything to ensure that IAEA would get access to the ZNPP and I believe that this mission may still have a role to play.
Unfortunately we haven’t heard the main thing from the IAEA which is the call for Russia to demilitarise the station. I hope the mission will comply with what we’ve agreed and that it will serve the interests of the entire international community.
Zelenskiy also said that ensuring the ZNPP returns to operating safely and remains connected to the country’s power grid would help his country act to counter Europe’s energy crisis.
Ukraine’s president was addressing the European House, Ambrosetti Forum meeting in Cernobbio.
Updated
In its daily operational briefing, the general staff of the armed forces of Ukraine has said that Russia’s current main aim remains to seize full control of Donetsk. It writes:
The opponent continues to focus efforts on establishing full control over the territory of Donetsk region and maintaining the occupied areas of Kharkiv, Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson and Mykolaiv regions. The enemy launches air and missile strikes at military and civilian objects in the territory of our State.
In the Donetsk direction, the enemy’s main efforts are focused on conducting offensive actions on the Bakhmut and Avdiivka directions.
In a separate post on Facebook, the Ukrainian armed forces has updated the total casualty count, claiming to have killed a further 350 pro-Russian service personnel in the last 24 hours and to have inflicted a total loss of 48,700 people on the occupying forces.
Vitaliy Kim, governor of Mykolaiv, the region bordering Kherson in southern Ukraine, has detailed the overnight incidents in a status update on Telegram. He lists a large number of villages that came under sporadic fire in the last 24 hours, but states that while a small number of buildings and commercial premises were damaged, only one injury has been recorded.
Updated
Russian news agency Tass is carrying a quote from Alexander Volga, head of the Russian-imposed occupation administration of Enerhodar, the city where the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) is located.
It reports he said on Russian television that eight people from the IAEA mission remain at the ZNPP, alongside four more people, who he described as service personnel who accompany them through their activities.
Updated
Energoatom, the Ukrainian operator of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), has this morning republished on its Telegram channel some overnight quotes from Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko. He told Ukrainian television:
The IAEA mission must state that the presence of the military, the presence of weapons at the station, is a real threat to nuclear safety. This is obvious.
This mission is unique because there are no analogues in the history of the IAEA at all. Missions took place at objects that were controlled by states. But there was no such mission format as it is now.
Recommendations and reports of the IAEA should be sent to Ukraine and Energoatom. And we must implement these recommendations, and eliminate the consequences of the barbaric actions of the occupiers.
But for that we need to have access to the station. It should be returned under the control of Ukraine.
Updated
Oleh Synyehubov, Ukraine’s governor of Kharkiv, has posted to Telegram this morning to say that overnight rocket attacks took place in his region on the Kholodnohirskyi district of Kharkiv. He also listed five other areas that had seen artillery fire, and gave a casualty list of three women being hospitalised in Izyum, and a 63-year-old man being killed in Kharkiv. The claims have not been independently verified.
This is Martin Belam in London. You can reach me at martin.belam@theguardian.com
Updated
Requests for gas on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline from Russia to Europe are up for early 3 September, the operator’s website reportedly showed on Thursday.
Gas nominations were at 14,437,507 kilowatt hours per hour (kwh/h) from 2-3am CET for 3 September, Reuters reported the website as showing.
The news agency described nominations as essentially capacity requests for gas transport and can be changed by the supplier when needed. When they are changed they are described as renominations, but those can also still be changed.
Gazprom this week said that a three-day maintenance of the Portovaya compressor station would last from 31 August, 1am GMT (3am CET) until 3 September, 1am GMT (3am CET).
Heavy fighting continues in southern Ukraine: UK MoD
Heavy fighting continues in southern Ukraine, including shelling in Enerhodar district, near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the UK Ministry of Defence has said.
The ministry also offered a scathing observation of Moscow’s “Vostok 22” annual military exercises it commenced on Thursday.
“Russia publicly claimed that 50,000 troops will take part, however, it’s unlikely that more than 15,000 personnel will be actively involved this year,” the latest British intelligence report reads. “This is around 20% of the forces which participated in the last Vostok exercise in 2018.”
Russia’s military strategic exercises, such as Vostok, are “heavily scripted, do not encourage initiative, and primarily aim to impress Russian leaders and international audiences” while failing to sustain the military’s ability to conduct large scale, complex operations, the ministry added.
Latest Defence Intelligence update on the situation in Ukraine - 2 September 2022
— Ministry of Defence 🇬🇧 (@DefenceHQ) September 2, 2022
Find out more about the UK government's response: https://t.co/wvJSvvSkuV
🇺🇦 #StandWithUkraine 🇺🇦 pic.twitter.com/Y4Lx6QbYuG
Updated
UN team being misled at nuclear plant, says Ukraine
Russian officials at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station are manipulating and distorting information shared with IAEA officials, Ukrainian officials have said.
Ukrainian state owned operator Energoatom said Russian officials “are making every effort to prevent the International Atomic Energy Agency mission from getting to know the real state of affairs” at the Russian-held power plant.
“They spread manipulative and false information about this visit,” the company added in a statement shared to its Telegram channel this morning.
An employee spoke with Ukrainian media outlet Suspilny on condition of anonymity:
They led Grossi and the inspectors along their route, showed them ‘arrival maps’ and brought local collaborators to them with statements from ‘indifferent citizens’ about the need to stop the shelling. It was a circus,” said the ZNPP employee.
According to the employee, the Russians convinced the representatives of the mission that radiological, chemical and biological protection troops, and not combat units of the Russian army, were at the station.
Updated
Moscow warns Moldova against attack
Russia’s foreign minister has warned that any actions seen as endangering a Russian peacekeeping contingent in a separatist region of Moldova would be considered as an attack on Russia itself.
Sergei Lavrov’s statement in an address at Russia’s top foreign affairs school on on Thursday underlined concerns that Moldova’s Transnistria region, which borders Ukraine, could be drawn into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Russia has stationed peacekeepers there since a three-month war in 1992 that left Transnistria outside Moldovan control. Russian forces also guard a large ammunition dump in the region. In April, tensions in Moldova soared after a series of explosions in Transnistria.
Everyone should understand that any kind of actions that will raise a threat to the security of our servicemen will be considered in accordance with international law as an attack on the Russian Federation,” Lavrov said.
After Lavrov’s comments, Moldova’s foreign ministry summoned Russia’s charge d’affaires for “clarification”.
We remind the Russian side that the legislation of the Republic of Moldova guarantees fundamental human rights and freedoms,” the ministry said.
Updated
Physical integrity of plant ‘violated’, says UN nuclear chief
The “physical integrity” of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in southern Ukraine has been “violated”, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has said, as he voiced his fears for the site.
Rafael Grossi led a team of inspectors to the Russian-controlled plant that has been frequently shelled in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear incident.
“It is obvious that the plant and physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times,” Grossi told reporters after he returned with part of his team to the Ukrainian-controlled area on Thursday.
“I worried, I worry and I will continue to be worried about the plant,” he said, while adding that the situation was “more predictable” now.
Updated
IAEA experts at Zaporizhzhia plant 'not going anywhere'
The UN nuclear agency chief said his experts were staying put after they crossed on Thursday into Russian-held territory in Ukraine and reached Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant, where both sides warn of potential catastrophe.
An International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection team braved intense shelling to reach the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, arriving after a delay of several hours in a large convoy with a heavy presence of Russian soldiers nearby.
We are not going anywhere. The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving. It’s going to stay there,” IAEA head Rafael Grossi, who personally led the mission, told reporters after returning to Ukrainian-held territory.
He said a group of IAEA experts had stayed behind at the plant and would provide an impartial, neutral and technically sound assessment of the situation.
I worried, I worry and I will continue to be worried about the plant until we have a situation which is more stable, which is more predictable,” he said.
Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of creating a risk of a Chernobyl-like disaster by shelling near the plant, where the situation has been unravelling in recent weeks. Russia seized the plant early in the now more than six-month-old war.
Kyiv also accuses Russia of using the facility to shield its forces, and of planning to steal its output by hooking it up to the Russian power grid. Moscow denies this but has so far rejected international calls to withdraw its troops from the plant.
Video footage released by Russia’s state news agency RIA showed IAEA inspectors, including Grossi, wearing safety helmets and being shown around the site by Russian energy officials, who pointed out what were described as damaged water pipes.
I am finishing my first visit to #Ukraine’s #Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant.@IAEAorg is here to stay and will maintain a continued presence at #ZNPP. pic.twitter.com/k4zO3IMe2I
— Rafael MarianoGrossi (@rafaelmgrossi) September 1, 2022
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.
Inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will stay at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after agency chief Rafael Grossi warned that the physical integrity of the plant had been violated on several occasions.
It is 7.30am in Kyiv. Here is where things stand:
An expert team from the United Nations nuclear agency plan to stay at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after gaining long-awaited access to the site on Thursday. “We are not going anywhere. The IAEA is now there, it is at the plant and it is not moving – it’s going to stay there,” the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, told reporters after returning to Ukrainian-held territory. He said a group of IAEA experts had stayed behind at the plant in south-eastern Ukraine and would provide an impartial, neutral and technically sound assessment of the situation.
The physical integrity of the Zaporizhzhia plant had been violated on several occasions, Rafael Grossi said. “It is obvious that the plant and physical integrity of the plant has been violated several times,” he told reporters. “I worried, I worry and I will continue to be worried about the plant until we have a situation which is more stable, which is more predictable.”
Russia’s foreign minister warned Moldova that any actions seen as endangering the security of Russian troops in the breakaway region of Transnistria would be considered an attack on Russia. Sergei Lavrov said: “Everyone should understand that any action that would threaten the security of our troops [in Transnistria] would be considered under international law as an attack on Russia.”
Russia and China launched large-scale military exercises involving several allied nations on Thursday, in a show of growing defence cooperation between Moscow and Beijing and a demonstration of Moscow’s military might. The Russian defence ministry said the Vostok 2022 (East 2022) exercise would be held until Wednesday in Russia’s far east and the Sea of Japan and involve more than 50,000 troops and 5,000 weapons units, including 140 aircraft and 60 warships.
United States federal agents searched properties linked to a billionaire Russian oligarch in Manhattan, the Hamptons and an exclusive Miami island. FBI agents and Homeland Security Investigations personnel searched the properties, linked to Viktor Vekselberg, who is a close ally of the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, and whose $120m yacht was seized in April, NBC News reported.
Germany’s domestic intelligence agency is investigating allegations that two senior civil servants could have been spying for Russia, according to a local media report. Die Zeit, which first revealed the case, said the officials being investigated had close involvement with energy supply issues and held key positions.
A senior Russian oil executive has died after falling from the window of a Moscow hospital, months after his company criticised the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Ravil Maganov, the chair of Lukoil, Russia’s largest private oil company, “fell from a window at Central clinical hospital”, the Interfax news agency reported on Thursday, citing a source. “He died from injuries sustained.” Maganov is the second top Lukoil executive to die in mysterious circumstances in recent months.
Children returned to Ukrainian schools trashed by occupying Russian forces on Thursday. Only schools that are fit for use, are in areas that do not face a regular threat of shelling and that have enough students opt for in-person teaching will reopen. School administrations have been preparing for the new academic year by outfitting basements as shelters and training teachers on what to do in case of an attack. All children who attend are told to carry an emergency bag with a change of clothes, any medicine they may need, a note from their parents and, for the younger children, a favourite toy.
Russian forces have been forcibly transferring Ukrainian civilians to Russia or areas of Ukraine under their control, according to Human Rights Watch. Forced transfers were “a serious violation of the laws of war that constitute war crimes and potential crimes against humanity”, it said.
