Ukraine-Russia war live: Moscow planning airstrikes on nuclear sites ahead of winter, Kyiv warns

Ukraine’s air defence units destroyed 71 out of 80 attack drones that Russia launched overnight, Ukraine’s air force said this morning.

Additionally, six more of the Russian drones were lost after getting neutralised by Ukraine’s electronic warfare, the air force said.

Russia also launched two guided missiles from occupied parts of Ukraine’s Luhansk region, the air force said but did not mention if they were intercepted.

Russia’s air defence units destroyed 15 drones that Ukraine launched overnight targeting the Russian territory, Russia’s defence ministry said this morning.

Of these, six drones were destroyed over the Sea of Azov, four over the Rostov region in Russia’s south and the rest over the Kursk, Astrakhan, Belgorod and Voronezh regions, the defence ministry said.

Ukraine’s foreign minister said on Saturday that Russia appeared to be planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter, urging the IAEA and Ukraine’s allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants.

“In particular, it concerns open distribution devices at (nuclear power plants and) transmission substations, critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy,” Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.

Ukraine’s foreign minister says Russia is planning strikes on Ukrainian nuclear facilities before the winter.

“According to Ukrainian intelligence, (the) Kremlin is preparing strikes on Ukrainian nuclear energy critical objects ahead of winter,” foreign minister Andriy Sybiha wrote on X.

He also urged the UN’s nuclear watchdog and Ukraine’s allies to establish permanent monitoring missions at the country’s nuclear plants.

“In particular, it concerns open distribution devices at (nuclear power plants and) transmission substations, critical for the safe operation of nuclear energy.”

Mr Sybiha did not elaborate on why Kyiv believed such strikes were being prepared.

There was no immediate comment from Moscow. The UN’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, called for a swift global response to the purported threat of a strike on a nuclear facility.

“This is preparation for a possible nuclear disaster scenario. Russia is a terrorist,” he wrote on Telegram. “They must be stopped here and now. The countries of the West and the Global South must react harshly to preparations for terror.”

Ukraine has previously accused Russia of nuclear blackmail after Russian forces occupied the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, in March 2022, early on in the invasion. Moscow denies that allegation.

Ukraine says its forces have hit two Russian munition depots yesterday, in attacks that illustrated its growing capability to strike targets deep inside Russia.

Russian officials acknowledged the Ukrainian attack on one of the depots in southern Krasnodar region, saying it was carried out with drones. They introduced local emergency measures to mitigate the effects of the assault.

A statement by Ukraine’s military general staff said the munitions depots were at Tikhoretsk in Krasnodar region and Oktyabrsky in the western region of Tver.

“The (Tikhoretsk) facility is in the top three largest munitions storages of the occupiers, and is one of the key points in the Russian military logistical system,” the general staff wrote in a statement on Telegram.

It said Ukraine had information that a train carrying 2,000 tonnes of munitions, including from North Korea, had been on the territory of the depot at the time of the strike.

A Ukrainian security source, speaking on condition of anonymity, said drones were used in the attacks.

The source said Ukraine‘s domestic SBU intelligence service hit the depot in Tikhoretsk in a joint operation with the Ukrainian military, while the SBU hit the target in Oktyabrsky on its own.

The SBU has conducted regular drone attacks deep inside Russia over the past year of the war.

Volodymyr Zelensky said the end of Russia’s war on Ukraine depended on the “resolve” of Kyiv’s Western allies in providing needed weaponry and permission to use it.

Mr Zelensky, speaking in his nightly video address, thanked his military for a new strike on an arsenal in Russia, though he did not identify the location.

He also said his meetings next week in the United States were “crucial” to ensuring that Ukraine had the defence capabilities it needed.

“If we could direct all our precision towards defending our state, if there were enough missiles and permissions that partners could provide for this, the overall situation in the war would be better for our security,” the war-time president said.

He added: “The answer to the question ‘When will the war end?’ is actually in when our partners’ resolve will not lag behind what we can do for our defence, our independence, our victory.”

“Our clear strategy will be on the table of our partners. On the table of the president of the United States.”

At least 12 people were injured after Russian forces struck a multi-storey apartment building in Ukraine’s second-largest city, Kharkiv on Saturday evening, officials said.

The strike prompted an evacuation of some of its residents, mayor Ihor Terekhov said. The Russians had deployed a guided bomb, and that rescue operations were under way at the site, the mayor said.

He said many windows had been shattered and 60 residents had been evacuated from the building.

Regional governor Oleh Syniehubov said a child was among those injured. He said there had been two attacks on the city and a strike near the city of Izium, southeast of Kharkiv, which had set two private homes on fire.

Kharkiv, 30km (18 miles) from the Russian border, has been a frequent target of Moscow’s attacks since the Kremlin’s troops launched their February 2022 invasion of its smaller neighbour.