The latest update from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) states: Recent independent Russian media reports have claimed that due to Russia’s problems in its war against Ukraine, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu is now sidelined in the Russian leadership, with operational commanders reporting directly to President Putin on the course of the war . Russian officers and soldiers with first-hand experience of the war probably regularly ridicule Shoigu for his ineffective and unknown leadership as Russian progress has stalled. The update added that Shoigu probably “struggled” to overcome his reputation for not having much military experience. Updated at 11.51 BST Important events Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature
Russia says it “welcomes” UN visit to Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
Moscow said it welcomed the visit of the UN nuclear watchdog to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) confirmed earlier today that it would inspect the Zaporizhzhiaplant – Europe’s largest nuclear power plant – this week and that a team was heading to the facility. The mission will assess any physical damage to the plant, determine the functionality of safety and security systems, assess personnel conditions and perform emergency safeguards activities, it said. A top Russian diplomat said Moscow hoped the IAEA visit would dispel misconceptions about the plant’s alleged poor condition, according to Russia’s state-run Ria news agency. Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s permanent representative to international organizations in Vienna, said his country had worked hard to make the visit possible and understood the IAEA wanted to leave several representatives at the plant on a permanent basis. Ulyanov reportedly said: As far as we understand, the general manager’s intention is to leave many people at the station on a permanent basis. He added: Russia made a significant contribution to the preparation of this mission. We hope that the visit of the IAEA mission to the plant will dispel many speculations about the unfavorable situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Meanwhile, the Kremlin accused Ukraine of “putting the European continent at risk” ahead of the IAEA’s visit to the Zaporizhia plant. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Moscow welcomes the upcoming mission and is ready to cooperate with the IAEA. However, he added that Russia is not considering creating a demilitarized zone at the plant. Both Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of bombing the site of the plant in recent weeks, though they themselves deny the allegations. Hi to all. I’m Léonie Chao-Fong and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments from the war in Ukraine. Feel free to send me a message if you have something to point out, you can reach me on Twitter or via email. Anastasija Maksimova rests as she waits with her family to be transferred to other parts of the country, in Zaporizhzhia. Photo: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters Ulyana Pidlesina and her sister Solomua eat as they wait to be transferred to other parts of the country in Zaporizhzhia. Photo: Ümit Bektaş/ReutersTatiana Pidlesina and her 2-year-old daughter Ulyana wait at the Zaporizhzhia relief center, where volunteers provide food and transport to those who are not traveling alone to be taken to other parts of the country. Photo: Ümit Bektaş/Reuters
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The UN nuclear watchdog will visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant this week, its director-general said. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, confirmed the visit early Monday on Twitter. The mission will assess any physical damage to the plant, determine the functionality of safety and security systems, assess personnel conditions and perform emergency safeguards activities. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu has been “sidelined” by problems in the war against Ukraine and is likely to be ridiculed by soldiers for his “effective” leadership, British intelligence said. The latest update from the Ministry of Defense (MoD) is that Shoigu has likely “struggled” to overcome his reputation for not having much military experience. Russia’s FSB security service today named another Ukrainian it said was part of a group that murdered Daria Dugina. Dugina, daughter of ultranationalist Alexander Dugin was killed in a car bomb outside Moscow on August 20. Two days after the 29-year-old’s murder, the FSB said it had cracked the case, naming a Ukrainian woman it said had followed Dugina for weeks, rented an apartment in her apartment complex and planted the car bomb before she left Russia for Estonia – all with the support of Kiev. The FSB said it had now identified what it called another member of a Ukrainian “sabotage and terror group” it said planned and carried out the assassination, Reuters reports. Ericsson said it would phase out business operations in Russia in the coming months. The company, which suspended its Russian operations indefinitely in April, said it has about 400 employees in Russia and will provide financial support to its affected employees, Reuters reports. Dell Technologies Inc announced on Saturday that it has suspended all Russian operations after closing its offices in mid-August. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has admitted the body of a New Zealand soldier who died defending Ukraine may never be repatriated. Lance Corporal Dominic Abelen, 28, was on unpaid leave when he traveled to Ukraine to fight against defense force rules and without telling his family. Foreign Minister Nanaya Mahuta stressed that New Zealand was treating Abelen’s case as a civilian, not a soldier, although there are calls for Abelen’s remains to be brought home. Ardern said questions about how to treat Abelen were secondary to the practices during a series of radio and media appearances on Monday morning. European Union defense and foreign ministers will meet in Prague this week to discuss options for creating a military training mission for Ukrainian forces and also consider calls by some members to ban Russian tourists from the bloc, Reuters reports. The bloc’s foreign policy and security chief, Josep Borrell, has given few details about his plans so far, saying only that such a military training program would not be based in Ukraine but in neighboring countries. In meetings on Monday and Tuesday this week, officials will also discuss a proposed visa ban for Russians. Russian forces are “rebuilding” Mariupol’s theater to cover up war crimes, according to an adviser to the city’s mayor. Petr Andriushchenko said Moscow forces are rebuilding the theater under the guise of rebuilding for “historical value.” Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Ukraine’s president, met with representatives of Ukraine’s defense and security sectors on Sunday. “All the issues we looked at are important, but confidential, I can’t go into details,” he said. The meeting was attended by the heads of the armed forces, intelligence services, the Ministry of Defense, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ukrainian Security Service and other defense forces. Russian artillery fired on Ukrainian towns across the river from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, local officials said on Sunday. The regional governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said Russian forces hit residential buildings in the main city of Zaporizhzhia and the city of Orikhiv further east. Ukraine’s military reported shelling of nine more towns in the region across the Dnieper River from the plant. The US said Russia did not want to acknowledge the serious radiological risk at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, adding that was why it blocked the final draft of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. “The Russian Federation alone decided to block consensus on a final document at the conclusion of the Tenth Review Conference of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT). Russia did so to block language that simply recognized the serious radiological risk at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine,” a US State Department statement said. Concern about the potential risk of radiation leaks at the plant remains. Authorities in Ukraine and Russia have issued fresh warnings about the risk of radioactive leaks after the bombing, which the sides blamed on each other. Ukraine’s state energy company warned that there were “risks of hydrogen leakage and release of radioactive substances”. Russia has ignored widespread international calls for demilitarization of the region. Ukrainians are likely to experience their coldest winter in decades, the gas chief said, as thermostats in Soviet-era central heating systems are set to switch on and off later. Yuriy Vitrenko, head of state-owned gas company Naftogaz, said indoor temperatures would be between 17-18 degrees Celsius, about four degrees below normal, and advised people to stock up on blankets and warm clothes for when outside temperatures they fall well beyond the winter average of -10C. Germany is replenishing its natural gas reserves faster than expected, despite drastic Russian supply cuts, and should meet a target by early October, the government said. Europe’s largest economy is heavily dependent on Russian gas and has struggled to boost…
