Reports EU set to suspend visa travel agreement with Russia – as it happened | Ukraine

• The EU is set to suspend its visa travel agreement with Russia this week, The Monetary Occasions experiences. The plan to freeze a 2007 deal will make it more durable and dearer for Russians to get Schengen-area paperwork, the FT experiences. It comes after some jap member states threatened to unilaterally shut their borders to Russian vacationers, with different nations calling for collective motion to cease strange Russians from travelling to the EU on vacationer visas. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has beforehand referred to as for a whole ban.`

• Russia claims it has hit workshops on the Motor Sich manufacturing facility within the Zaporizhzhia area of Ukraine. The ability is the place helicopters for the Ukrainian air pressure are being repaired, the defence ministry stated. However Ukrainian officers later stated the hit resulted important civilian damages: damaging 9 multi-story buildings and 40 non-public houses.

• A Russian missile has struck navy infrastructure in Rivne oblast in northern Ukraine. Reviews thus far are that there have been no casualties, and that the missiles got here from simply over the border from Belarus.

• The USA as we speak referred to as out Russia’s “cynical obstructionism” after Moscow remained the only real holdout in blocking the adoption of a joint declaration on nuclear non-proliferation following prolonged worldwide negotiations on the United Nations. The 191 signatories evaluation the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty each 5 years, which goals to cease the unfold of nuclear weapons and promote cooperation within the peaceable use of nuclear vitality. However on Friday, Russia prevented the declaration’s adoption, saying it took concern with “political” elements of the textual content.

• It’s unclear if Russia will attempt to fill its enhance in armed forces members by recruiting extra volunteer “contract” troopers or by lifting annual targets for conscriptions, British intelligence says. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week to extend the dimensions of the armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million within the wake of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its sixth month. The newest UK Ministry of Defence briefing says that beneath the Russian laws now in place, the decree is unlikely to make “substantive progress” in direction of growing Russia’s fight energy.

• Two individuals had been killed in Russian firing on Bakhmut, the governor of the Donetsk area, Pavlo Kyrylenko, stated on Saturday. The jap metropolis is a big goal for Russian and separatist forces searching for to take management of the elements of Donetsk they don’t maintain. Related Press additionally reported native authorities officers as saying that within the Black Sea area of Mykolaiv, one individual was killed and one other wounded in Russian firing.

• On the alternative shore from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets had been hit by shells on Saturday afternoon and night, Nikopol’s mayor, Yevhen Yevtushenko, stated on Telegram.

• Concern persists in regards to the potential for a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant. Ukraine’s state vitality operator has warned there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances” on the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities had been distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the plant in case of radiation publicity.

• Russia and Ukraine traded recent accusations of one another shelling the world across the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, on Saturday. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the plant over the previous day, the Ukrainian state nuclear firm, Energoatom, stated. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station 3 times” up to now day.

• The UN nuclear watchdog, the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company, is attempting to barter entry to the plant for an pressing inspection mission “to assist stabilise the nuclear security and safety state of affairs there”. Energoatom head Petro Kotin informed the Guardian a go to may come earlier than the tip of the month, however the Ukrainian vitality minister, Lana Zerkal, informed an area radio station she was not satisfied Russia was negotiating in good religion.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy met as we speak with representatives of his defence and safety sector, his workplace stated.

The key assembly was attended by the heads of the armed forces, intelligence companies, the ministry of defence, the ministry of inside affairs, the Ukrainian safety service in addition to different defence forces.

They mentioned the state of affairs on the entrance and the wants of the Ukrainian forces.

The USA as we speak referred to as out Russia’s “cynical obstructionism” after Moscow remained the only real holdout in blocking the adoption of a joint declaration on nuclear non-proliferation following prolonged worldwide negotiations on the United Nations.

The 191 signatories evaluation the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty each 5 years, which goals to cease the unfold of nuclear weapons and promote cooperation within the peaceable use of nuclear vitality.

However on Friday, Russia prevented the declaration’s adoption, saying it took concern with “political” elements of the textual content. Vedant Patel, a deputy spokesman for the US state division, stated in an announcement that Moscow did this “in an effort to block language that merely acknowledged the grave radiological threat on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant” – the most important nuclear reactor in Europe that’s at present occupied by the Russian navy.

The newest draft textual content had expressed “grave concern” over navy actions round Ukrainian energy vegetation, together with Zaporizhzhia, in keeping with Agence France-Presse. Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused the opposite of shelling the plant, and its operator has warned of the dangers of a radioactive leak.

“For the Russian Federation to not settle for such language within the face of overwhelming worldwide consensus underscores the necessity for america and others to proceed urging Russia to finish its navy exercise close to ZNPP and return management of the plant to Ukraine,” Patel stated.

It’s simply after 6pm in Ukraine. Here’s what you might need missed:

• The EU is set to suspend its visa travel agreement with Russia this week, The Monetary Occasions experiences. The plan to freeze a 2007 deal will make it more durable and dearer for Russians to get Schengen-area paperwork, the FT experiences. It comes after some jap member states threatened to unilaterally shut their borders to Russian vacationers, with different nations calling for collective motion to cease strange Russians from travelling to the EU on vacationer visas. Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has beforehand referred to as for a whole ban.

• Russia claims it has hit workshops on the Motor Sich manufacturing facility within the Zaporizhzhia area of Ukraine. The ability is the place helicopters for the Ukrainian air pressure are being repaired, the defence ministry stated.

• It’s unclear if Russia will attempt to fill its enhance in armed forces members by recruiting extra volunteer “contract” troopers or by lifting annual targets for conscriptions, British intelligence says. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree this week to extend the dimensions of the armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million within the wake of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its sixth month. The newest UK Ministry of Defence briefing says that beneath the Russian laws now in place, the decree is unlikely to make “substantive progress” in direction of growing Russia’s fight energy.

• Two individuals had been killed in Russian firing on Bakhmut, the governor of the Donetsk area, Pavlo Kyrylenko, stated on Saturday. The jap metropolis is a big goal for Russian and separatist forces searching for to take management of the elements of Donetsk they don’t maintain. Related Press additionally reported native authorities officers as saying that within the Black Sea area of Mykolaiv, one individual was killed and one other wounded in Russian firing.

• On the alternative shore from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant, the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets had been hit by shells on Saturday afternoon and night, Nikopol’s mayor, Yevhen Yevtushenko, stated on Telegram.

• Dell Applied sciences says it has ceased all Russian operations after closing its places of work in mid-August, the newest in a rising record of western companies to exit Russia. Reuters experiences that the US pc agency – a key provider of servers in Russia – has joined others in curbing operations since Moscow’s February invasion of Ukraine. Dell suspended gross sales in Ukraine and Russia in February, saying it could monitor the state of affairs to find out subsequent steps.

• Concern persists in regards to the potential for a radiation leak at Zaporizhzhia nuclear energy plant. Ukraine’s state vitality operator has warned there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances” on the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities had been distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the plant in case of radiation publicity.

• Russia and Ukraine traded recent accusations of one another shelling the world across the nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, on Saturday. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the site of the plant over the previous day, the Ukrainian state nuclear firm, Energoatom, stated. Russia’s defence ministry has claimed Ukraine’s troops “shelled the territory of the station 3 times” up to now day.

• The UN nuclear watchdog, the Worldwide Atomic Vitality Company, is attempting to barter entry to the plant for an pressing inspection mission “to assist stabilise the nuclear security and safety state of affairs there”. Energoatom head Petro Kotin informed the Guardian a go to may come earlier than the tip of the month, however the Ukrainian vitality minister, Lana Zerkal, informed an area radio station she was not satisfied Russia was negotiating in good religion.

• Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has issued an announcement marking Ukraine’s Aviation Day, during which he pledged that Kyiv’s troops would “destroy the occupiers’ potential step-by-step”. The Ukrainian president vowed that the Russian “invaders will die like dew on the sun”.

• Russia has most likely elevated the depth of its assaults within the Donetsk space of jap Ukraine’s Donbas area over the previous 5 days, in keeping with British intelligence. Professional-Russia separatists have probably made progress in direction of the centre of Pisky village, close to Donetsk airport, however Russian forces general have secured few territorial positive aspects, the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defence says.

• Russia has blocked an settlement on the UN geared toward bolstering the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The failure to conform to a joint assertion, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause about control over the Zaporizhzhia plant, is the newest blow to hopes of sustaining an arms management regime and conserving a lid on a rekindled arms race.

• Ukrainian sailors might be allowed to depart the nation for work, Ukraine’s cupboard of ministers has stated. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, stated males of draft age employed as crew members would be allowed to leave the country as long as that they had permission from their native conscription places of work to cross the border.

• Britain’s defence ministry has stated it’s giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to assist clear its shoreline of mines and make grain shipments safer. As well as, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel might be taught to make use of the drones over the approaching months, the ministry said.

• Kazakhstan, a neighbour and ally of Russia, has suspended all arms exports for a yr, its authorities stated, amid the battle in Ukraine and western sanctions towards Moscow.

• Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to guard the airspace of their Nato ally Slovakia, because it upgrades its air pressure from legacy Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to a brand new batch of F-16 jets from the US.

Emma Graham-Harrison

Emma Graham-Harrison experiences for us from Chernihiv:

The woods outdoors Chernihiv had been quiet in late August when Anatoliy Pavelko scrambled right into a 10-metre bomb crater with a trowel and an icebox stuffed with pattern jars. He wished to seek out out what the Russian FAB-250 bomb left behind when it carved this gaping gap into the bottom within the spring.

4 months earlier, the environmental lawyer was dug in on a frontline only a few kilometres away, shells crashing round him within the bitter battle to maintain Russian forces out of Kyiv.

Now he has taken non permanent depart from his unit of volunteers and returned to Chernihiv for a extra acquainted battle on a unique entrance within the warfare towards Moscow.

Russia’s invasion has killed tens of hundreds of Ukrainians and destroyed houses and full cities. It’s also devastating Ukraine’s surroundings, an “ecocide” that activists fear goes largely unrecorded amid the broader nationwide tragedy.

Learn extra: Toxins in soil, blasted forests – Ukraine counts cost of Putin’s ‘ecocide’