Drone debris causes a diesel fire in Rostov, Russia. Russia threatens two Italian journalists. All information in the news blog.
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Drone debris triggers diesel fire in Rostov, Russia
6.07 am: Debris from a destroyed Ukrainian drone has sparked a fire in a diesel tank at an industrial warehouse in the Russian region of Rostov. “Firefighters were called to extinguish the fire,” said the governor of the southwestern Russian region, Vasily Golubev, on the Telegram messaging app. The facts could not be independently verified. A statement from Ukraine is not yet available.
5.57 am: Ukrainian air defense units attempted to repel a Russian air attack on Kiev early Sunday, the capital’s military administration said. A witness told Reuters that he heard explosions that sounded like air defense systems. An air raid warning was issued for Kiev and the surrounding regions during the night.
16:51: Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom has informed the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) of a worsening situation at the Kursk nuclear power plant and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Moscow. Rosatom boss Alexei Likhachev also invited IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi in a telephone call to visit the nuclear power plant in the Kursk region and the associated town of Kurchatov to see for himself the situation. Rosatom announced this in Moscow, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
According to the report, there are several air raid warnings in Kurchatov every day due to the danger of Ukrainian attacks. According to Russian sources, rocket parts were recently found on the Kursk nuclear power plant site.
16:31: Have secret talks on a partial ceasefire between Ukraine and Russia failed because of the Ukrainian offensive in Kursk? A report in the Washington Post at least suggests this. According to the report, Ukraine and Russia planned to send delegations to Doha in Qatar this month to negotiate an agreement there. It should at least stop the attacks on energy and power infrastructure on both sides. Read more about it here.
14:04: According to President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian army has “strengthened” its positions during its offensive in the western Russian border region of Kursk. Army chief Oleksandr Syrsky informed him of “the strengthening of the positions of our armed forces in the Kursk region and the expansion of the stabilized area,” Zelensky said on Saturday in the online service Telegram. The army had already reported progress in the offensive on Friday.
Moscow, however, again declared on Saturday that the Ukrainian soldiers were being pushed back. This had now been achieved near three other towns, according to a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry.
7.06 am: Ukraine is allowed to use weapons it received from Canada in its advance in the Kursk region. This is according to an email from Andrée-Anne Poulin, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Ministry of Defense, to Politico.
“Ukrainians know best how to defend their homeland, and we are committed to supporting their ability to do so,” Poulin said. “Canada steadfastly supports Ukraine’s right to defend itself against Russia’s illegal and unjustified war.”
Because of report: Russia threatens Italian journalist
6.48 am: The Russian Foreign Ministry summoned the Italian ambassador on Friday to complain about a team from the television channel Rai Italia. Two of the channel’s journalists had accompanied a unit of the Ukrainian army during its advance into the Russian region of Kursk this week and published a report about it.