Enlarge image
Russian military convoy on the road to the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant (early May 2022)
Photo: Uncredited / dpa
What has happened in the past few hours
According to the local mayor, the situation around the Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia is becoming increasingly dramatic.
The risk of a nuclear catastrophe at Europe's largest nuclear power plant "is growing every day," said Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov.
The Russian army fired at "the infrastructure that ensures the safe operation of the power plant."
The nuclear power plant is located in Enerhodar in south-eastern Ukraine.
The Russian army has occupied it since March.
It has been repeatedly shelled in the past few days.
Kyiv and Moscow blame each other for the attacks.
On Sunday, it was consistently reported that a civilian was killed in renewed artillery shelling near the power plant.
The Ukrainian power plant operator Enerhoatom later explained to Telegram that he was an employee at the nuclear power plant.
Two other residents of the city were injured.
About six bullets would have hit a residential area in the afternoon.
According to the Tass agency, the Russian occupation administration said: "The nationalists of Ukraine have fired rockets at a residential area of Enerhodar."
Mayor Orlov said in a phone call to the AFP news agency: "What is happening is downright nuclear terrorism." And further: "It can end unexpectedly at any time."
"The invaders continue to terrorize the civilian population and the nuclear power plant."
The first grain freighter on behalf of the United Nations left a southern Ukrainian port on Sunday.
This was announced by the governor of the Odessa region, Maxim Marchenko, on Telegram.
The United Nations World Food Program (WFP) has chartered the freighter Brave Commander.
According to the United Nations, the shipment of 23,000 tons of wheat is destined for Ethiopia.
Because of the Russian war of aggression, all grain exports from Ukraine from its Black Sea ports were blocked for months.
That had contributed to a global food crisis.
In July, Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the UN agreed on a deal to break the blockade.
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the people of Russia to speak out against the war.
"The evil takes place on such a scale that silence is tantamount to complicity," he said in his nightly video address on Sunday.
"If you have Russian citizenship and are silent, it means you are not fighting, which means you support it," Zelenskyy said.
Contrary to previous appeals to the Russian population, the President did not address them in Russian but in Ukrainian.
In Ukraine and the rest of the world, too, everyone should "do everything in their power to ensure that Russia and those who support the war pay an ever-increasing price for Russian state terror."
Zelenskyj also spoke about the proposal for an EU-wide ban on entry visas for Russian citizens.
The discussion about a corresponding proposal by the Czech EU Council Presidency is becoming "more intense every day".
Ultimately, this should lead to "reasonable decisions," Zelensky said.
Addressed to his own population, he resigned
an early decision of the Ukrainian parliament on the extension of martial law and general mobilization.
"In the near future" the people's representative body will decide on this, said Zelenskyj.
International reactions
Russian President Vladimir Putin apparently wants to strengthen his country's relations with North Korea.
According to the North Korean state agency KCNA, this emerges from a letter from the Kremlin ruler to the ruler Kim Jong Un.
The two countries would "expand the comprehensive and constructive bilateral relations with joint efforts," according to Putin's letter on the day of North Korea's liberation.
A closer relationship between the two countries is in the interests of both sides.
According to the KCNA report, Kim also wrote a letter to Putin, in which he addressed the "strategic and tactical cooperation, support and solidarity" between the two countries.
Kim wrote that a joint effort was made to thwart threats and provocations by enemy forces.
Further details on these "enemy forces" were not given.
Normally, however, North Korea refers to the USA and its allies.
At the end of February, North Korea officially took a position on the escalation in Ukraine for the first time - and blamed the USA for the conflict.
Washington had sought "military supremacy in defiance of Russia's legitimate demands for its security."
Along with China, Russia is one of the few countries that are friendly to North Korea.
What is still happening today
Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
(SPD) embarks on a
two-day trip to Scandinavia
today .
In Oslo, he first wants to meet the heads of government of the Nordic countries, which include Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Iceland.
The focus will be on cooperation in the energy sector, security issues and the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Two of the Nordic countries - Finland and Sweden - want to join NATO.
The
amount of the state gas levy will be announced today
.
The Ministry of Economics recently assumed a range of 1.5 to 5 cents per kilowatt hour.
That would mean significant additional costs for customers.
Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens) had said that he expected "several hundred euros per household" per year.
The levy is to take effect from October and will benefit gas suppliers who have to buy a replacement for the missing, cheaper gas volumes from Russia at high prices.
Russian President
Putin
is visiting the
Army-2022 military-technical exhibition
near Moscow today and will address the opening ceremony.
The Kremlin chief is also expected at the
International Army
Games : The annual military sports event is organized by the Russian Defense Ministry.
Soldiers from different countries compete in competitions such as tank driving, shooting ranges and obstacle courses.
aar/dpa/AFP
