“The scariest scenario is something like Chernobyl but worse,” one former resident of Energoatom told The Washington Post. People have waited in lines for over 4 days in their cars in the hot summer heat amid artillery fire zipping overheard. “It is not easy to find a car and driver either,” she said. The United Nations warned that any damage to the plant would be “suicide.”
The United States also announced Friday that it would send another $775 million in missiles, drones, vehicles and mine clearing equipment to help Ukraine in its war against Russia.
Key developments
- Ukraine has warned that Russia could be planning a “large-scale terrorist attack” on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to put the blame on Kyiv, while Russia said Ukraine and the United States are planning to trigger an accident at the plant, claiming there is a threat of the core overheating. Russia said Friday the presence of its troops at the site was a “guarantee” that there will be no reprise of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster, and it rejected U.N. calls for a demilitarized zone around the plant.
- Russian forces have ordered the plant’s staff not to show up for work amid the heightened tensions and to limit personnel at the complex to only those who operate the plant’s power units, according to Ukraine’s state-run energy firm, Energoatom. It added that it has “information” that Russian forces are planning to switch off the plant’s power blocks and disconnect them from the Ukrainian grid — depriving the country of a major source of electricity.
- Any false-flag operations at the plant would be out of the “Russian playbook — accuse others of what you have done or what you intend to do,” State Department spokesman Ned Price said when asked about the warnings. He said the United States is “watching very closely.” The Pentagon announced Friday that it would send $775 million in missiles, drones and vehicles to Ukraine, as the war approaches its six month.
- “We must tell it as it is. Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide,” U.N. Secretary General António Guterres said following a meeting with the leaders of Turkey and Ukraine. Russia’s Foreign Ministry rejected any proposal to demilitarize the area around the plant, claiming that it would make the facility “more vulnerable.” Guterres was traveling to the port city of Odessa on Friday to monitor efforts to ship grain.
- French President Emmanuel Macron spoke by phone Friday with Russian President Vladimir Putin to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant. According to Russian state news agencies, Macron raised concerns over nuclear safety and security risks at the plant and expressed his support for sending a mission of IAEA experts to the site as quickly as possible, under conditions approved by Ukraine and the UN. In Vienna, Russia IAEA representative Mikhail Ulyanov said in a news conference that arranging such a visit could “take time,” and suggested it might be possible during “the first days of September.”
- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky faces a cascade of public criticism — unprecedented since the war began — in response to comments he made in an interview with The Washington Post this week justifying his failure to share with Ukrainians details of repeated U.S. warnings that Russia planned to invade.
Battlefield updates
- In Kharkiv, at least 17 people were killed and 42 wounded in two separate Russian attacks on the northeastern city, the regional governor said on Telegram. Five rockets hit the city early Friday, killing at least one person, he added. An escalation of fighting prompted Human Rights Watch to denounce Russian attacks on the area this week. The group said it has documented attacks on health-care facilities and densely populated areas.
- “Kharkiv has suffered because it remains within range of most types of Russian artillery,” with rocket launchers and other inaccurate weapons wreaking “devastation across large parts of the city,” Britain’s Defense Ministry said in its daily intelligence updateFriday. It added that “Ukraine’s second city has been one of the most consistently shelled since start of the invasion,” although the front line has “moved little since May.”
- There have been unconfirmed reports of strikes at a Russian air base in occupied Crimea. Ukraine appears to have been stepping up attacks in the area in recent weeks. Crimea was annexed by Russia in 2014.
- A trove of sensitive materials reveals Russia’s intelligence failures as the Kremlin prepared for the invasion of Ukraine, a months-long investigation by The Washington Post has found. The documents offer a rare insight into a clandestine and sprawling agency, Russia’s Federal Security Service, which helped plan the war and sought to burrow into all levels of Ukrainian society….
Here’s what we know:
The newly announced U.S. shipment of weaponry includes armored vehicles that can clear minefields ahead of major ground movements. Russia said it foiled Ukraine’s attempts this week to strike Crimea.
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The Pentagon’s latest package includes up to $775 million of weapons and supplies from its stockpile.
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A Ukrainian official says forces will continue to strike in Crimea.
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Ukraine warns Russia is preparing to sever the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant from its power grid.
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Putin offers his first public remarks on the nuclear complex since the most recent tensions began.
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Russia’s Gazprom announces another halt to Germany’s gas flow.
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The U.N.’s chief, visiting Odesa, lauds progress on the grain deal but urges richer countries to do more.
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Putin and Xi plan to attend a G20 summit in Indonesia, the top such gathering since Russia invaded Ukraine.