Russia’s war on Ukraine latest news: UN warns of disaster as nuclear plant shelled

Reuters / 10:39 AM November 21, 2022

Ukrainian servicemen fire a 130 mm towed field gun M-46 on a front line, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near Soledar, Donetsk region, Ukraine, in this handout image released November 10, 2022. Iryna Rybakova/Press Service of the 93rd Independent Kholodnyi Yar Mechanized Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces/Handout via REUTERS ATTENTION

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, was rocked by shelling on Sunday, drawing condemnation from the head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog who said such attacks risked a major nuclear disaster. Moscow and Kyiv both blamed the other for the shelling of the facility.

Power supplies

* Ukrainian electricity supplies are under control despite Russian attacks on power-generating infrastructure and there is no need to panic, the energy ministry said on Saturday, a day after authorities in Kyiv warned that the capital could face a “complete shutdown” of the power grid as winter sets in.

Kherson residents

* Hundreds of Kherson residents flocked to buy groceries at the first Ukrainian supermarket to open since the city was retaken by pro-Kyiv forces earlier this month. Earlier on Saturday, jubilant Ukrainians rolled into Kherson by train on Saturday for the first time in more than eight months.

* Citing damage done by Russian forces, Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk announced on Saturday that evacuations of people who want to leave Kherson and the surrounding areas would soon begin.

Fighting

* Russian forces are pounding Ukrainian positions with artillery fire and in the eastern region alone launched almost 400 strikes on Sunday, President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address.

* Around 60 Russian soldiers were killed in a long-range Ukrainian artillery attack this week, Kyiv said on Saturday, the second time in four days that Ukraine claimed to have inflicted major casualties in a single incident. The Russian defense ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

* Reuters could not immediately verify the battlefield reports.

Diplomacy, war aims

* Britain’s new Prime Minister Rishi Sunak made his first visit to Kyiv on Saturday, pledging to continue the firm support for Ukraine that was a focus of his predecessors, and providing a new air defense package to help shoot down Russian drones.

* Russia’s surge in missile strikes in Ukraine is partly designed to exhaust Kyiv’s supplies of air defenses and finally achieve dominance of the skies above the country, a senior Pentagon official said on Saturday.

Oil, gas supply

* European traders are rushing to fill tanks in the region with Russian diesel before an EU ban begins in February, as alternative sources remain limited.