Enlarge image
Aerial view of Zaporizhia (on August 24)
Photo: Planet Labs Pbc / dpa
What has happened in the past few hours
The Ukrainian town of Enerhodar near the Russian-occupied
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
was hit by several
projectiles
on Sunday evening .
As in the previous days, Russians and Ukrainians blamed each other for the artillery shelling.
Both sides released videos showing numerous cars burning in residential areas.
Nine people were injured, two of them seriously, said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Russian occupation administration.
With such steps, Ukraine wants to prevent experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from visiting the power plant.
The information could not initially be verified by an independent party.
The escaped Ukrainian mayor of
Enerhodar
, Dmytro Orlow, spoke of a provocation:
Russian troops
had
fired
.
He accused Moscow of “nuclear blackmail” because Russian troops are entrenched in the nuclear power plant.
The international community fears a possible nuclear accident caused by the fighting at Europe's largest nuclear power plant.
According to the authorities, the Rivne
region
in
northern
Ukraine was attacked by Russia with
rockets
on Sunday evening .
A military object was hit in the Sarny
district
, regional chief Vitaly Koval said on Telegram.
A residential building was also damaged, said Mayor Ruslan Serpeninow.
There was no information about possible victims.
The information could not initially be verified independently.
Activists from neighboring
Belarus
linked the attack to several Russian warplanes taking off from airfields in Belarus.
The ruler there, Alexander Lukashenko, made his country available to the Russian troops as a deployment area against Ukraine.
Two rockets fell in the center of the eastern Ukrainian city of
Kharkiv
on Sunday evening, the mayor said.
An administration building was destroyed.
There, too, there was initially no information about victims.
That says Kyiv
Ukrainian President
Volodymyr Zelenskyy
has discussed the next
steps
in the war against Russia
with the heads of the
military and security apparatus .
This was announced by the Office of the President in Kyiv.
Zelenskyj also addressed the meeting in his evening video address.
He did not give details, but announced: "The occupiers will feel the consequences in the further actions of our defenders." No attack on Ukrainian cities will go unanswered.
"Zaporizhia, Orikhiv, Kharkiv, Donbass - they will get an answer for everyone," said Zelenskyy.
According to the Office of the President, the meeting dealt with the situation at the front, the needs of the army and coordination with international partners.
"We haven't forgotten any of our cities or a single person, and we won't forget them either," said Zelenskyy.
He specifically mentioned the mining and steel city of Donetsk, which has been under the control of separatists controlled from Moscow since 2014.
"The proud and glorious Ukrainian Donetsk was humiliated and robbed by the Russian occupation," the president said.
Ukraine will bring back Donetsk, Mariupol and all cities of Donbass.
According to Ukrainian troops, they attacked three Russian
command posts
and at least
two ammunition depots in the
Kherson
region in the south of the country
.
Eleven Russian soldiers were killed, the southern command of the Ukrainian army said on Sunday in Kyiv.
In addition, according to initial findings, eleven rocket launchers, three armored vehicles and a self-propelled howitzer were destroyed.
The head of administration appointed by Russia, Vladimir Leontyev, confirmed Ukrainian attacks to the Russian state agency Ria Novosti.
The city of Nowa Kachowka was shelled four times.
A hydroelectric power station with a strategically important crossing over the Dnipro River was also hit.
Initially, none of the information could be independently verified.
Moscow says so
Russian troops
have reported a Ukrainian attack with an armed
drone
on the occupied
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
in southern Ukraine.
The drone was shot down and fell on the safety shell over a reactor, the occupation administration of the city of Enerhodar reported on Sunday, according to Russian agencies.
The explosive charge detonated without causing any damage.
The information could not be independently verified.
The Russian side implied that the drone
was intended to attack a spent
fuel storage facility.
The nuclear power plant was occupied by Russian troops shortly after the start of the war in March.
It has been fired at repeatedly for weeks, for which both sides blame each other.
The International Atomic Energy Agency wants to send a team of experts to the nuclear power plant, but is still waiting for the necessary safety guarantees.
Russia continues to move towards
annexation
of the
occupied
territories
in Ukraine through
referendums
.
Senior Kremlin official Sergei Kiriyenko claimed on Sunday that 91 to 92 percent of the population in the pro-Russian separatist regions of
Donetsk
and
Luhansk
are in favor of joining Russia.
In the Cherson
and
Zaporizhia
areas, which have been conquered since February,
it is 75 to 77 percent.
Kiriyenko referred to alleged surveys in the region.
"The decision is pending," said the deputy chief of the President's Office, according to the Tass agency.
President
Vladimir Putin
has always said that the decision lies with the people of the region and that Russia will respect their choice.
The Russian and Ukrainian media have repeatedly speculated about referendums in the occupied territories in September.
Foreign experts see the Kremlin under time pressure.
The Donetsk People's Republic is supposed to be integrated into the borders in which Russia recognized it as an independent state.
However, a large part of the area is still defended by Ukrainian troops.
Should the Ukraine start a counter-offensive in Cherson, there is a risk that areas conquered there will be lost again.
Russian online portal Medusa, which operates out of Latvia, reported, citing sources in the Kremlin, that support for joining was much lower.
In the polls in the occupied territories, about 30 percent voted for Russia and just as many against.
The rest did not provide any information.
International reactions
According to a report in the Financial Times, the European Union is preparing to
restrict
entry
options
for
Russian
citizens
because
of the war in Ukraine .
According to the London newspaper, an informal meeting of EU foreign ministers on Tuesday and Wednesday in Prague will deal with the suspension of a 2007 visa agreement with Russia.
The "Financial Times" bases its report on three sources that are involved in preliminary talks.
There was no comment from the Czech government, which currently holds the EU Council Presidency.
The European Union has already imposed numerous sanctions because of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Several EU member states are demanding a general entry ban for Russian tourists because of the war.
The Baltic EU members Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia as well as the Czech Republic have already restricted entry.
Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has so far expressed skepticism.
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) indicated on Friday that a compromise was being sought in the EU.
However, EU foreign policy chief
Josep Borrell
considers a complete entry ban for Russians in the European Union to be
"not a good suggestion"
.
On Sunday evening on the Austrian television station ORF, the Spaniard warned against cutting off contact with the Russian civilian population.
Such a comprehensive step would have no positive consequences.
“In any case, I'm not in favor of no longer issuing visas at all.” He also doesn't believe that there is the necessary unanimity for a decision in the EU on this issue.
What is happening today
Chancellor
Olaf Scholz
(SPD) is
expected in
Prague .
In the morning, the Chancellor will give a speech at the renowned Charles University.
According to the government, he wants to "take a position in Europe policy" and talk about the effects of the so-called turning point on the European Union.
What is meant is the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine.
Scholz then meets Czech Prime Minister
Petr Fiala
.
The conversation should also be about the planned tank ring exchange.
The federal government wants to deliver Leopard tanks to the Czech Republic, which in turn will provide Soviet-designed weapons to Ukraine.
jok/dpa