11 h. ago Ukraine foiled plans to reconnect Zaporizhzhia power plant in time for Putin’s birthday

The power plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine was without external power for a month before repairs were made

Politics

32 h. ago Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reconnected to external power from Ukraine

Move ends month-long reliance on backup generators after power line was cut in SeptemberRussian engineers have reconnected the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to external electrical power from Ukraine, ending a month-long emergency that had plunged the future of the six-reactor site into doubt.Ukrainian sources told the Guardian that Russian technicians had hoped to connect Europe’s biggest nuclear plant – which had been relying on backup generators since its last external power line was cut in September – to power from the Russian grid on 7 October as a birthday present for Vladimir Putin. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Zelenskyy paints Trump meeting as ‘positive’, with Patriot missile deal in works

Zelenskyy’s comments are in contrast to reports that Trump berated the Ukrainian leader and pushed him to concede territory to Russia. What we know on day 1,336 Continue reading...

Events

4 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Energy war continues with strikes on Russian oil and gas plants

Russian attacks hit coal mine in Dnipropetrovsk region and Chernihiv power grid; Trump flips back to accommodating Putin. What we know on day 1,335 Continue reading...

Events

5 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Repairs begin in bid to restore power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

UN watchdog says Russia and Ukraine have established special ceasefire zones to allow the repairs to be safely carried out. What we know on day 1,334Work has started to repair damaged power lines leading to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after a lengthy outage, the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Saturday. The site, occupied by Russian forces since March 2022, lost its connection to the grid on 23 September for the 10th time – the longest outage of external power supply to the facility since Russia invaded Ukraine.The repairs to the off-site power lines began after Russian and Ukrainian forces established “local ceasefire zones to allow work to proceed”, Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said in a post on X. “Both sides engaged constructively with the IAEA to enable the complex repair plan to proceed,” Grossi said. “Restoration of off-site power is crucial for nuclear safety and security.” The agency said it expected the work to take about...

Events

6 d. ago Work begins to restore power to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant

Work has begun to repair the damaged power supply to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the head of the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog said

Economics

9 d. ago Ukraine war briefing: Poland minister shows Shahed drone and warns of ‘deep’ Russian threat

Radoslaw Sikorski, speaking in London, urges drone wall and three-year plan to back Ukraine; Odesa mayor’s ‘citizenship suspended’. What we know on day 1,330 Continue reading...

Events

1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Crimea oil refinery burns as Russia feels effects on fuel supply

Glide bombs knock out power supply and hit hospital in Kharkiv; Zelenskyy lining up Trump meeting with Tomahawks hot topic. What we know on day 1,329An oil terminal at Feodosia in the Russian-occupied Crimean peninsula was burning on Monday after an attack by Ukrainian drones. A Ukrainian security official told Reuters on condition of anonymity that the drones, launched by Ukraine’s SBU intelligence service and military special forces, hit at least five reservoirs. The source said drones also hit at least two Russian electrical substations on the peninsula, which Russia took from Ukraine in 2014.Large heat signatures around the Feodosia terminal were visible on Nasa’s satellite fire monitoring service, Firms, and Crimea’s Moscow-installed governor confirmed the fire. The Feodosia terminal also came under attack last week. Ukraine has launched more than 30 strikes on Russian energy sites since the beginning of August, aiming to hamper funding of the Kremlin’s war machine and also tri...

Events

1 week ago The UN nuclear watchdog seeks a local truce to restore power to the Zaporizhzhia plant

Diplomats say the U.N. nuclear watchdog is pushing Ukraine and Russia to agree to local ceasefires so that external power can be restored to Ukraine’s huge nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia

Events

1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Moscow voices ‘extreme concern’ at Trump threat to send Tomohawk missiles to Kyiv

US president says he may warn Russian counterpart ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’. What we know on day 1,328Donald Trump has threatened to send longe-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin does not end his invasion. “I might talk to him [Putin]. I might say, ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East. The US president said Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawks in a call on Saturday when they were discussing a fresh supply of weapons for Kyiv. “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” added Trump. “Do they [Russian forces] want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies ever since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal. Putin has pre...

Events

1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Moscow voices ‘extreme concern’ at Trump threat to send Tomahawk missiles to Kyiv

US president says he may warn Russian counterpart ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks’. What we know on day 1,328Donald Trump has threatened to send longe-range Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine if Vladimir Putin does not end his invasion. “I might talk to him [Putin]. I might say, ‘look, if this war is not going to get settled, I’m going to send them Tomahawks,’” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on his way to the Middle East. The US president said Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy had asked for Tomahawks in a call on Saturday when they were discussing a fresh supply of weapons for Kyiv. “Tomahawks are a new step of aggression,” added Trump. “Do they [Russian forces] want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don’t think so.” Trump has been mulling potential supplies of the long-range missiles to Kyiv via European allies ever since his meeting with Putin in Alaska in August failed to produce a peace deal. Putin has pre...

Events

1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Latest refinery strike shows ‘no safe places in Russia’s deep rear’

Bashneft oil refinery in Ufa is 1,400km from Ukrainian border; Zelenskyy says Trump can repeat Middle East peace success in Ukraine. What we know on day 1,327Ukrainian drones have struck Russia’s Bashneft oil refinery in Ufa, 1,400km from Ukraine, causing explosions and a fire, a source in Ukraine’s SBU security service told Reuters on Saturday. “This is the third SBU deep strike in Bashkortostan in the last month Such strikes demonstrate that there are no safe places in the deep rear of the Russian Federation.”Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Donald Trump to broker peace in Ukraine “[like in] the Middle East” during a phone call on Saturday. “If a war can be stopped in one region, then surely other wars can be stopped as well, including the Russian war,” Zelenskyy said, hailing Trump’s “outstanding” Gaza ceasefire plan and calling for the US president to pressure the Kremlin into negotiations.Russian attacks on Ukraine killed at least five people on Saturday and cut power to parts of Ukra...

Events

1 week ago Ukraine war briefing: Power restored to Kyiv after Russia drone attacks

Zelenskyy says attacks targeted energy infrastructure as winter looms; boy killed as drones and missiles hit Zaporizhzhia. What we know on day 1,326Power was restored to 270,000 consumers in Kyiv after attacks from Russia knocked it out, Ukraine’s energy minister Svitlana Hrynchuk wrote on Facebook on Friday. People in Kyiv heard blasts throughout Thursday night and many woke up without power on Friday after the huge air attack targeted Ukraine’s energy system. Images posted online showed firefighters working to tackle burning blocks of flats. Hrynchuk did not say how many people had lost power. Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said the Russian strikes targeted civilian and energy infrastructure as Ukraine prepares for winter temperatures.Russian drones and missiles damaged 12 apartment buildings in the south-eastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, killing a seven-year-old boy and injuring four people, according to the regional governor. The Kyiv mayor, Vitali Klitschko, sa...

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: 23 children and adolescents brought out of Russian

Rescue was carried out under Zelenskyy’s ‘Bring Kids Back UA’ programme; Trump ‘stepping up pressure’ to end war. What we know on day 1,325Twenty-three Ukrainian children and adolescents have been brought out of Russian-occupied areas of the country to territory under Kyiv’s control, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s chief of staff said on Thursday. Andriy Yermak, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said the rescue was carried out under the president’s “Bring Kids Back UA” programme aimed at bringing to safe areas children deported to Russia or confined to Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.US President Donald Trump said Thursday that Washington and Nato allies were “stepping up the pressure” to end the war in Ukraine, after his outreach to Russia’s Vladimir Putin failed to achieve a ceasefire. “Yeah, we are stepping up the pressure,” Trump said in an Oval Office during a meeting with Finnish President Alexander Stubb. “We’re stepping it up together. We’re all stepping it up. Nato h...

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Analysts flag Kremlin scare campaign against use of Tomahawks

Russian lawmaker says of US missiles: ‘We will hurt those who cause us trouble’; Ukrainian counteroffensive causing heavy losses for Russia. What we know on day 1,324 Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Trump says he would want to know Kyiv’s plans for Tomahawk missiles before supplying them

US president says he has ‘sort of made a decision’ on whether to supply long-range missiles; Denmark to step up checks on oil tankers after drone sightings. What we know on day 1,322See all our Ukraine war overage Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago Nuclear disaster fears as expert highlights 'fragile' Zaporizhzhia power plant system

Europe's largest nuclear plant is on the brink of disaster if total power loss is achieved, with experts saying that it is a fragile situation that needs monitoring

Events

2 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: ‘Political will’ needed to restore external power to Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, UN watchdog says

Rafael Grossi says ‘security situation’ around plant must improve for repairs to be carried out; French photojournalist Antoni Lallican killed by Russian drone strike. What we know on day 1,319See all our Ukraine war overageThe head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog said on Friday he was discussing proposals with Russia and Ukraine to restore off-site power to the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, calling it a “question of political will”. Europe’s largest nuclear power plant has been cut off from external power since 23 September, with the fuel in its reactors being cooled by emergency diesel generators. The International Atomic Energy Agency director general, Rafael Grossi, said: “Both sides say they stand ready to conduct the necessary repairs on their respective sides of the frontline. But for this to happen, the security situation on the ground must improve so that the technicians can carry out their vital work without endangering their lives.”French photojournalist Ant...

Events

3 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Putin warns of ‘new level of escalation’ if Tomahawk missiles supplied to Kyiv

Volodymyr Zelenskyy tells European leaders that Moscow’s war ‘was never just about Ukraine’. What we know on day 1,318See all our Ukraine war overageRussian president Vladimir Putin has warned that supplying US Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine would lead to a “whole new level of escalation”, including in relations between Moscow and Washington. Responding to questions at a forum in Sochi, Putin said it would not change the situation on the battlefield, where the Russian army is making slow but steady advances.The Trump administration’s desire to send Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine may not be viable because current inventories are committed to the US navy and other uses, Reuters reported a US official and three sources as saying. The US may look into allowing European allies to buy other long-range weapons and supply them to Ukraine but Tomahawks were unlikely, the official said, questioning the feasibility of providing the cruise missiles with a range of 2,500km (1,550 miles) and suggesti...

Events

3 w. ago Ukraine war briefing: Attack cutting power to Chornobyl nuclear plant a ‘global threat’, says Zelenskyy

Emergency diesel generators brought online after Russia accused of shelling substation supplying power to scene of 1986 disaster. What we know on day 1,317See all our Ukraine war overage Continue reading...

Events