Russia should give up nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia

Day 268 since the beginning of the war: There are new attacks in Kharkiv. The IAEA calls on Russia to give up the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia. All information in the news blog.

12:20 a.m.: The Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has called on Russia to give up the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Moscow should withdraw its military and civilian personnel immediately and give up its “unfounded claim to ownership” of the nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine, according to a resolution passed by the committee in Vienna on Thursday evening. The Board of Governors was also extremely concerned that Ukrainian employees at the plant were being pressured by the Russian side and that arrests had also been made.

11:06 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy expressed his satisfaction with the extension of the grain agreement. “Despite all the difficulties, despite various manipulations by Russia, we will continue to export agricultural products through our Black Sea ports,” the 44-year-old said in his daily video address on Thursday. He also welcomed the verdict against three high-ranking separatists in the trial for the downing of a passenger plane over eastern Ukraine in 2014.

9:51 p.m.: Millions of people in Ukraine were without electricity on Thursday, according to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. “At the moment, more than ten million Ukrainians are without electricity,” Zelenskyj said in his daily video message. The Kyiv region in particular was affected by the power cuts, he explained.

9:16 p.m.: The Ukrainian general staff reports attacks on parts of the infrastructure in Balakleya in the Kharkiv region in the north-east of the country. Ochakiv in the Mykolaiv region in the south of the country was also hit with rockets.

7:29 p.m.: According to Ukrainian sources, torture was widespread in the recaptured southern Ukrainian city of Cherson during the Russian occupation. In all his trips to “torture chambers in different regions” of the country, he had “never before seen such a level of torture,” said Ukrainian parliamentary commissioner for human rights, Dmytro Lubynets, on a television program on Thursday. It was “just appalling,” he added.

Russian forces withdrew from Kherson last week after eight months of occupation after Ukrainian troops advanced in the area. Kherson was the only regional capital captured by Russian troops. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused the Russian troops of having destroyed the entire infrastructure of the city when they retreated.

5:46 p.m.: According to Polish President Andrzej Duda, the participation of Ukrainian specialists in the investigation into the rocket hit on Polish territory is bound by the regulations of international mutual legal assistance.

“If guests from Ukraine want to see the ongoing investigation, then it will be possible to show them, as I was shown today,” Duda said Thursday after visiting the site in the village of Przevodov. “But when it comes to actively participating in the investigations, to accessing documents and information, then specific contractual bases are required in the sense of international law and international agreements.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had previously said experts from his country would be allowed to take part in the investigation. The corresponding confirmation came from Poland, said the head of state. Duda did not explicitly comment on whether Poland had given the green light or not.

4:43 p.m.: According to Polish sources, the missile that struck Poland near the Ukrainian border on Tuesday was a Ukrainian anti-aircraft missile – there is evidence of this, President Andrzej Duda’s foreign policy advisor, Jakub Kumoch, told TVN24 on Thursday.