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Zaporizhia power plant
Photo: ALEXANDER ERMOCHENKO / REUTERS
This article is constantly updated.
Russian troops station air defenses around nuclear power plant
10.40 a.m .:
After repeated shelling of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the Russian occupying forces stationed air defense systems around the plant, according to their own statements.
"The power plant's air defense systems will be strengthened," Yevgeny Balitsky, head of Moscow's military administration in the region, told Russian state television.
In the past few days, Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly blamed each other for attacks on the nuclear power plant.
The information cannot be verified independently.
According to Balizki, the power plant is currently operating normally.
The reactor's power lines and damaged blocks have been repaired, he said.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has a total of six blocks with a total capacity of 5700 megawatts.
This makes it the most powerful nuclear power plant in Europe.
According to Ukrainian sources, three blocks were still in operation before the shelling at the weekend.
Study: Ukraine war slows down the economy and costs jobs
10.32 a.m .:
260 billion euros less added value and up to 150,000 fewer jobs: Russia’s attack on Ukraine is costing the German economy dearly, a new study shows.
London: Russia strengthens positions in southern Ukraine
10 a.m.:
The Russian offensive in the Donbass is progressing slowly, according to the British secret services.
In the past 30 days, Russia had been most successful with the attacks on the city of Bakhmut in the Donetsk district, the British Ministry of Defense said, citing an intelligence situation report.
However, Russia only advanced about ten kilometers there in this period, and only three kilometers in other Donbass sectors.
This is "pretty much less than planned".
Russia used the information last weekend to strengthen its positions in southern Ukraine.
The Ukrainian army is currently trying to recapture Russian-occupied areas with a large-scale counteroffensive.
Russia launches new surveillance satellite
9.20 a.m .:
Russia has launched a military surveillance satellite into space for Iran.
According to the Roskosmos space agency, the launch took place in the morning at the Russian cosmodrome Baikonur, as reported by the Interfax agency.
According to media reports, Moscow initially wants to use the satellite itself for its war in Ukraine.
The Soyuz rocket launched a total of 17 probes in the morning.
The largest of these is the Chayyam surveillance satellite for Iran - named after a Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Chayyam - which Russia built on behalf of Tehran.
According to the Washington Post, the satellite can take high-resolution images of the Earth, significantly increasing Tehran's military capabilities in the Persian Gulf.
In the next few months, however, Russia itself will first use the probe in the war against Ukraine, the paper wrote.
Grain carrier Razoni unexpectedly anchors off the Turkish port of Mersin
9.03 a.m .: The cargo ship
“Razoni”
loaded with Ukrainian grain
unexpectedly anchored in front of the Turkish port of Mersin.
This was shown by the ship tracking services vesselfinder.com and marinetraffic.com.
Actually, the 26,000 tons of corn should be transported to the Lebanese port of Tripoli and from there, according to information from the dpa news agency, to neighboring Syria.
The ship then changed course about a day before arrival.
The "Razoni" had left the Ukrainian Black Sea port of Odessa a week ago - as the first ship after the end of a grain blockade by Russia.
After an inspection in Istanbul, she first headed for Lebanon, but then unexpectedly declared "Order" as the new destination, ie an unspecified location from which a trader would then order the loaded goods.
Since Saturday, the "Razoni" has been anchored near the Turkish coast near Iskenderun - and according to Marinetraffic then set off towards the port of Mersin on Tuesday night.
The port operator could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Ukrainian embassy in Lebanon announced on Monday evening, citing the forwarders, that the buyer had left the contract, citing a five-month waiting period.
One is looking for a new recipient in Lebanon or elsewhere.
The fact that the "Razoni" had changed its destination shortly before arrival was "a bit strange," said a spokesman for Marinetraffic.
Ukraine reports massive Russian shelling at front
7.30 a.m.:
The Ukrainian side reports massive Russian shelling on the front line in the east.
There is heavy fighting in places near the city of Donetsk, says the governor of the region of the same name, Pavlo Kyrylenko, on Ukrainian television.
"The situation is tense - there is constant shooting along the entire front line." There are also many air raids.
'The enemy is unsuccessful.
The Donetsk region is holding up.«
EU gas contingency plan is in place
5.41 a.m .:
The European gas emergency plan to prepare for a possible stop in Russian natural gas supplies came into force today.
The plan calls for all EU countries to voluntarily reduce their gas consumption by 15 percent from early August to March next year, compared to the average consumption over the past five years.
Against the background of the war in Ukraine, Russia has already drastically reduced its supplies to the EU.
According to figures from the EU Commission, a total of 45 billion cubic meters of gas must be saved.
Germany would have to use about 10 billion cubic meters less gas to reach the 15 percent target.
If not enough is saved and there are far-reaching supply bottlenecks, the next step can be to trigger an EU-wide alarm with binding savings targets.
The emergency plan is initially valid for one year.
The United States put together another huge arms package for Ukraine
5.15 a.m .:
The US government is continuing to support Ukraine, which has been attacked by Russia, with billions in aid and is announcing the largest arms package to date from US stocks to the country.
The $1 billion package includes additional ammunition, weapons and equipment to meet critical security needs in Ukraine's defense, US President Joe Biden said on Monday.
The US is arming Ukraine on a large scale to support the country against Russia.
In addition, there is a further 4.5 billion US dollars (around 4.4 billion euros) for the state budget.
According to the Pentagon, the armaments package includes additional ammunition for the Himars and Nasams rocket launcher systems and 1,000 Javelin anti-tank missiles.
In addition, there are 50 armored medical treatment vehicles and medical material, including first aid kits, bandages and monitors.
The equipment is to be given directly to Ukraine exclusively from the stocks of the Ministry of Defense.
In the past, the US government had also announced armaments aid in the form of an agreement with industry.
Death penalty demanded in trial of Azovstal defenders
4:33 a.m.:
A group of captured Ukrainian defenders of the Azovstal steel plant in Mariupol face the death penalty in a court in the Russian-controlled separatist region of Donetsk.
In the criminal trial, the public prosecutor's office demanded the maximum sentence on Monday, as reported by the official news agency of the so-called Donetsk People's Republic.
A verdict is due on Wednesday.
The defendants, whose exact number was not given, are charged with the killing of more than 100 people.
The Ukrainians belonged to a group of neo-Nazis who would have served as a separate unit for raids and sabotage in the nationalist Azov regiment.
In the Ukrainian public the group is called "Bears", in the Russian press there is talk of "Bears SS".
US court approves seizure of Airbus jet from oligarchs
3.12 a.m .:
A US court has approved the seizure of a $ 90 million Airbus jet from oligarch Andrei Skotsch.
This is announced by federal prosecutors in New York.
Skoch, who is also a member of the Russian parliament, has been sanctioned by the US government.
The plane is currently parked in Kazakhstan.
A statement from the Kazakh embassy was not immediately available.
The Federal Office sees no evidence of released radioactivity in Zaporizhia
1.01 a.m .:
After the bombardment of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia, the Federal Office for Radiation Protection (BfS) has so far no evidence of released radioactivity.
"There is no evidence that radioactive substances could have been released in Ukraine," the office told the newspapers of the Funke media group.
All available radiological readings were therefore "in the normal range".
"The BfS sees no acute danger of a release of radioactive substances, but shares the concern for the long-term safe operation of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant."
Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
The facility, occupied by Russian units, has been fired upon several times in the past few days.
Kyiv and Moscow blame each other.
Kiev warns against
attacks on nuclear power plants
0.47 a.m .:
After the attacks on the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia, President Volodymyr Zelenskyj warned of a nuclear catastrophe and drew comparisons to the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
"The world should not forget Chernobyl and remember that the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is the largest in Europe," said the Ukrainian leader.
“The Chernobyl disaster was a reactor explosion.
Zaporizhia has six reactors."
The Zaporizhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine has come under fire twice in the past few days.
Parts of the plant were damaged and a reactor had to be shut down.
Russia and Ukraine blame each other for the attacks.
Selenskyj calls for an international travel ban for Russians
12:05 a.m .:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj calls for an international travel ban for all Russians to prevent Moscow from annexing occupied territories.
"The most important sanctions are to close the borders, because the Russians are taking their land away from others," he told the US newspaper "Washington Post" in an interview on Monday.
Russians should "live in their own world until they change their philosophy."
A referendum on joining the Russian Federation was announced on Monday in the Russian-occupied part of the southern Ukrainian region of Zaporizhia.
Similar plans exist for the occupied territory of Kherson.
Zelenskyj's statements are also met with a growing discussion in the EU to make it more difficult or to stop issuing tourist visas to Russians.
Even if travel is made more difficult by the cut flight and rail connections, many Russians traveled to the EU in the summer despite the war.
Russia's neighbor Latvia in the Baltic States has already tightened visa regulations.
Finland is considering this, but demands a solution for the whole Schengen area.
Kyiv reports foiling of Russian attack on defense minister
12:03 a.m .:
The Ukrainian secret service says it has foiled an attack by Russian spies on Defense Minister Oleksiy Resnikov and the head of military intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov.
"Murderers from the Russian special services who were planning attacks were arrested," the Ukrainian domestic secret service SBU said on the online service Telegram.
A video released at the same time by the SBU shows an armed group overpowering two men in plain clothes and handcuffing them.
The two men were reportedly arrested in Kovel, northwestern Ukraine.
One of the alleged conspirators came from Russia via Belarus.
They are said to have prepared the "physical liquidation" of Resnikov and Budanov.
They are said to have been offered a reward of up to $150,000 (€147,000) for each “murder”.
mrc/svs/dpa/AFP/Reuters