Kyiv ‘blows up’ second bridge in Kursk as Putin hits back with missiles attack – live

The safety at Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is “deteriorating” after drone strikes near the facility, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IAEA said its team visited the site, under Russian occupation since March 2022, and found that the damage at Europe’s largest nuclear facility seemed to have been caused by a drone carrying explosives.

While there are no reported human casualties near the plant or damage to equipment, military activity near the ZNPP has been “intense” in recent days, according to the agency’s report.

“Nuclear power plants are designed to be resilient against technical or human failures and external events including extreme ones, but they are not built to withstand a direct military attack, and neither are they supposed to, just as with any other energy facility in the world,” IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko said that Minsk had deployed nearly a third of its armed forces along the entire border, the Belta state news agency reported.

He did not say exactly how many troops were deployed. Belarus’ professional army has about 48,000 troops and around 12,000 state border troops, according to the 2022 International Institute for Strategic Studies’ Military Balance.

“Seeing their aggressive policy, we have introduced there and placed in certain points – in case of war, they would be defence – our military along the entire border,” Belta cited Lukashenko as saying in an interview with Russian state television.

Kyiv did not immediately respond to a Reuters’ request for comment. On Saturday Kyiv said it had seen no signs of a Belarusian troop buildup at the border.

Russian forces took control of the village of Svyrydonivka in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, the TASS state news agency reported on Sunday, citing the defence ministry.

It comes as Russian forces carried out its third ballistic missile attack on Kyiv this month on Sunday.

Ukraine’s invading forces in the Russian region of Kursk have destroyed a key bridge and supply route for Moscow, as reporters described a “trail of destruction” left in the wake of Kyiv’s incursion.

Some 12 days into the largest invasion of Russia since the Second World War, Kyiv’s troops are strengthening their positions in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.

Artillery fire has blown chunks out of a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that stands in the town of Sudzha, which is now occupied by Ukrainian forces. Buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes and the streets, which were strewn with debris, were mainly empty as residents retreated to basements.

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Following Russia’s fresh attack on Ukraine, Kyiv officials said there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage in the capital. However, Kyiv region governor Ruslan Kravchenko said two private houses were destroyed and 16 others were damaged by falling debris.

“Russia always knows where it is hitting with its missiles and bombs, and this is deliberate and targeted Russian terror,” President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Telegram.

He said Russia had launched more than 40 missiles, 750 guided aerial bombs and 200 attack drones this week against Ukrainian villages and cities.

Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko has said that Ukraine has stationed more than 120,000 troops at its border.

Minsk has now sent military formations along its entire border in response, Russia’s RIA state news agency said.

Lukashenko, an ally of Vladimir Putin, said the Belarusian-Ukrainian border is mined “as never before” and that Ukrainian troops would incur huge losses if they tried to cross it.

The commander of Ukraine’s air force, Mykola Oleshchuk, said it had destroyed eight Russian attack drones and five out of eight missiles launched overnight across the country, including Kyiv.

Oleshchuk said anti-aircraft combat, anti-aircraft missile troops, mobile firing groups and electronic warfare units had downed 13 air targets in the Kyiv, Sumy and Poltava regions.

He said Russia launched eight missiles on Sunday morning, including three ballistic, three cruise and two guided aircraft missiles. Ukraine shot down five of them, he said, and the three missiles it missed had failed to reach their targets.

North Korea has dramatically upgraded its ties with Russia in the past year with two summit meetings by their leaders who pledged closer cooperation in all areas.

In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact in Pyongyang on “comprehensive strategic partnership” that included a mutual defence agreement.

South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Russia have denied the allegations.

North Korea has condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable act of terror backed by Washington and the West, adding it will always stand with Russia as it seeks to protect its sovereignty, state media said on Sunday.

Ukraine’s drive into Russia is a product of the anti-Russia confrontational policy of the United States, which is pushing the situation to the brink of World War Three, KCNA news agency said.

The U.S. handed “astronomical” sums of lethal weapons to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the report said.

“We strongly condemn the armed attack against the Russian territory by the Zelenskiy puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West as an unforgivable act of aggression and terror,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement, according to KCNA.

Russia launched on Sunday its third ballistic missile on Kyiv this month, with preliminary data showing that all the air weapons were destroyed on their approach to the city, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said.

“This is already the third ballistic strike on the capital in August, with exact intervals of six days between each attack,” Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

“According to preliminary information, the Russians again, for the third time in a row, most likely used North Korean ballistic missiles.”

Reuters could not independently verify the type of missiles launched.