Moment of the explosion at Enerhodar near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Russian state-controlled Gazprom launched a major escalation in its energy war with Western Europe on Friday by announcing that the Nord Stream 1 pipeline will remain shut indefinitely, a move that threatens the prospect of blackouts and economic turmoil across the continent .
The announcement was immediately condemned in capitals across the continent, but despite the anger, Gazprom’s decision will only serve to heighten fears that Europe, long dependent on Russian energy, faces a long hard winter with rationing and potentially crippling price hikes.
The 1,200-km (745-mile) subsea gas link, which runs from under the Baltic Sea near St Petersburg to northeastern Germany, was due to reopen on Saturday after several days of maintenance work .
Gazprom said on social media that the leak was discovered in a vital turbine and had identified “malfunction”. He did not give a time frame for reopening.
Friday’s announcement by the Russian gas giant came just hours after G7 finance ministers agreed on a global price cap for Russian oil and oil products.
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Good morning! Welcome to our coverage of the war in Ukraine for Friday, September 2.
Arpan Rai September 2, 2022 4:44 am
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Zelensky calls for demilitarization, full control of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called for all troops to be withdrawn from the critical site of the Enerhodar nuclear power plant as a group of UN nuclear agency officials visited the Zaporizhzhia plant on Thursday.
He said the nuclear power plant will only be fully operational again after the Russian army has finally left the territory, “when they take away their weapons, ammunition, when they stop bombing Enerhodar and neighboring areas and stop their provocations.”
Zelensky added: “And the key thing that should happen is the demilitarization of the territory of the plant. This is exactly the goal of Ukrainian and international efforts. And it is bad that we have not yet heard the timely calls of the IAEA.”
Claiming that the IAEA has not helped Ukraine by calling for demilitarization, the Ukrainian president said: “Although we have discussed this with Mr. Grossi. [IAEA chief] at our meeting in Kyiv. That was the key, the key! – security point of our agreements. It was clearly stated: demilitarization and full control by Ukrainian nuclear specialists.”
On the Russian side, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Moscow was doing everything it could to ensure the plant could operate safely and that IAEA inspectors could complete their tasks.
Arpan Rai 2 September 2022 05:22
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3 dead and 5 injured in Ukraine’s Enerhodar
At least three people have been killed and five wounded in a Ukrainian shelling of Enerhodar, the governor of the Russian-based Zaporizhzhia Oblast, Yevgeny Balitsky, said.
A residential building was also hit by shelling in Russian-held Enerhodar on the Dnipro River and witnesses reported soldiers running with helicopters flying overhead. The victims of the bombings were not immediately clear.
Ukrainian officials reported heavy shelling late yesterday and said a dozen southern cities had been targeted by Russia, including regions such as Kharkiv in the north and Donetsk in the east.
Arpan Rai September 2, 2022 5:44 am
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The physical integrity of the nuclear power plant has been violated, says the UN inspector
Officials from the UN atomic watchdog who visited the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant said the physical integrity of Europe’s critical infrastructure has been damaged.
“It’s obvious that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant has been violated, multiple times … this is something that cannot continue to happen,” said the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Doctor Rafael Grossi.
The IAEA team arrived at the power plant site after being delayed by several hours due to heavy shelling in the region. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, captured by Russia within days of the invasion, has been witnessing heavy gunfire from both sides, Ukraine and Russia, for months.
“This morning the situation was quite difficult, but … having come this far, it was not going to stop,” said Dr. Grossi, who came uncomfortably close to the shot.
“There were times when the fire was evident, heavy machine guns, artillery mortars, in two or three times (it was) really very worrying, I would say for all of us,” he said.
Arpan Rai September 2, 2022 6:01 am
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Russian bombing continues in Kharkiv
Ukrainian officials confirmed this morning the shelling by Russian forces in the city of Kharkiv, in northeastern Ukraine.
The shelling was reported from Kholodnohirskyi district around 6 am by Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.
At least four cars have been damaged but no casualties have been reported so far, according to initial information.
Arpan Rai 2 September 2022 06:25
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More than 100 Russian soldiers were killed in the last 24 hours, according to Ukraine
More than 100 Russian soldiers have been killed in the past 24 hours, Ukrainian military officials said Friday morning.
A total of 102 Russian soldiers have been killed, while six tanks, an Msta-B howitzer, a Grad multiple rocket launcher, a 120mm mobile mortar, eight armored vehicles and five ammunition depots were destroyed on September 1, the operational command of Ukraine. south said
Ukrainian forces also hit a drone checkpoint and a ferry crossing in the south, military officials added.
Arpan Rai September 2, 2022 6:36 am
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Heavy fighting and shelling continue near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Heavy fighting continues in southern Ukraine, including shelling in the Enerhodar district near the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Britain’s Ministry of Defense said today.
He added that the Kremlin has gone ahead with the Vostok 22 military exercise, an annual joint strategic exercise affair, marking the culmination of a year of military training even as its war in Ukraine unfolds.
“Russia has publicly stated that 50,000 troops will participate, but it is unlikely that more than 15,000 troops will be actively participating this year. That is about 20% of the forces that participated in the last Vostok exercise in 2018” , the British Ministry of Defense said today.
He added that Russia’s military performance in Ukraine has highlighted that its “strategic military exercises, such as Vostok, have failed to sustain the military’s ability to conduct large-scale complex operations.”
These events are heavily scripted, do not encourage initiative and are primarily aimed at impressing Russian leaders and the international public, the ministry said.
Arpan Rai 2 September 2022 07:04
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Norwegian energy firm Equinor completes exit from Moscow
Norwegian energy firm Equinor said on Friday it had completed its exit from Russia in the wake of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, fulfilling a promise made in February, Reuters reports.
This is the first orderly and complete exit from Russia by an international oil and gas company as pressure mounts on others, such as TotalEnergies and Exxon Mobil, to also leave.
On February 28, Equinor said it would begin the process of divesting joint ventures in Russia, calling its position “untenable” due to the outbreak of war the previous week.
Since then, Equinor was left with one asset to divest, a stake in the Arctic Kharyaga oil field, operated by Russia’s Zarubezhneft and of which TotalEnergies is a partner.
“Equinor can now confirm that the full exit of Kharyaga has also been completed,” Equinor said in a statement.
“Following Kharyaga’s exit, Equinor has no remaining assets or projects in Russia.”
Joe Middleton September 2, 2022 7:25 am
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Cargo ship carrying corn from Ukraine anchors in Istanbul
A cargo ship carrying more than 3,000 tons (3,307 tons) of corn from Ukraine was towed to an anchorage in Istanbul on Friday after briefly running aground, a shipping agency said, the first incident this rate in an export agreement negotiated by the United Nations.
Turkish state broadcaster TRT Haber said traffic in the Bosphorus strait had reopened after it was halted due to the grounding of the 173-meter (567.59-foot) Lady Zehma due to a rudder failure around 1800 GMT.
The Tribeca Shipping Agency said the Lady Zehma’s towing and salvage operation began at 21:10 GMT and anchored in the southern anchorage area of the Bosphorus at 23:30 GMT.
No one was injured in the incident, the Istanbul governor’s office said. During the burial, the ship’s bow had been about 150 meters from the shore in the busy Bebek district, according to a witness and data from Refinitiv Eikon.
Shipping data showed the ship was anchored in the Sea of Marmara, off the coast of Istanbul, on Friday morning.
Ukraine’s grain exports fell after Russia invaded the country on February 24 and blockaded its Black Sea ports, raising global food prices and sparking fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East, Reuters reports.
Three ports were unblocked under the agreement signed on July 22 by Moscow and Kyiv, and negotiated by the UN and Ankara.
Joe Middleton September 2, 2022 7:52 am
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G7 plans price cap on Russian oil
Group of Seven finance ministers are expected to confirm plans on Friday to impose a price cap on Russian oil in a bid to reduce revenue from Moscow’s war in Ukraine but keep crude flowing to avoid spikes of prices, G7 officials said.
Ministers from the club of rich industrial democracies are due to meet virtually and are expected to issue a statement outlining their implementation plans.
“There is likely to be an agreement,” said a European G7 official, adding that it was unclear how many details would be revealed, such as the per-barrel level of the price cap, above which compliant countries would they will refuse insurance and financing to Russian crude oil and cargoes of petroleum products.
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