Russia-Ukraine war live: claims over shelling at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as UN to inspect site | Ukraine

The time in Kyiv is 1pm. Here is a round-up of the day’s headlines so far:

• The southern Ukrainian city of Nikopol was hit by Russian shelling overnight, according to city officials. The shelling reportedly hit a residential area injuring a 78-year-old man, the Kyiv Independent reports city governor, Valentyn Reznichenko, as saying.

• The Kremlin said it was concerned by what it claimed was repeated Ukrainian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. It called on global powers to ensure that Kyiv ceased attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power station. Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, was rocked by shelling on Sunday, drawing condemnation from the UN nuclear watchdog which said such attacks risked a major disaster.

• The UN nuclear watchdog will conduct an assessment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Monday after the site was shelled more than a dozen times over the weekend. The blasts damaged buildings and equipment, though none had been “critical” for nuclear safety and security, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

• Russia also said that it would bring to justice those responsible for the alleged execution of Russian prisoners of war in Ukraine and that it would do everything possible to draw attention to what it has claimed is a war crime. Russia has accused Ukrainian soldiers of executing more than 10 Russian prisoners of war, citing a video circulating on Russian social media. Ukraine denies the claims.

• Russian forces launched almost 400 strikes on Sunday in Ukraine’s east as part of a campaign of artillery fire, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Sunday night address. “The fiercest battles, as before, are in the Donetsk region. Although there were fewer attacks today due to worsening weather, the amount of Russian shelling unfortunately remains extremely high,” Zelenskiy said.

• Russian forces are constructing defensive positions partially staffed by poorly trained mobilised reservists around the Svatove sector in the Luhansk region in north-eastern Ukraine, according to the UK Ministry of Defence. With Russia’s south-western frontline now more readily defendable along the east bank of the Dnipro River, the Svatove sector is likely now a more vulnerable operational flank of the Russian force, the latest British intelligence report reads.

• A new training centre for Ukrainian troops in the central Spanish city of Toledo will start operating at the end of November, Spain’s prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, told the Nato parliamentary assembly. Spanish police will also be deployed in Ukraine over the coming weeks to help investigate alleged Russian war crimes, Sanchez added.

• A video purportedly showing the detention of two Russian servicemen who refused to fight against Ukraine has appeared across multiple Russian and Ukrainian Telegram channels. The video shows two men – each dressed in military uniform – called to appear in front of their commander.

• Italy’s government will ask parliament to pass a new law on military and civilian supplies to Ukraine throughout 2023, defence minister Guido Crosetto said in an interview. The Rome government can send aid to Ukraine without seeking parliamentary authorisation each time on the basis of a decree that expires at the end of the year.

• Forty-five countries and institutions will meet in Paris on Monday to pledge millions of euros of aid for Moldova, as fears mount that it could be further destabilised by the conflict in Ukraine, according to a Reuters report. Moldova, which lies between Ukraine and Romania, has felt the effects of rising food and energy prices as well as an influx of thousands of refugees arriving in the country of about 2.5 million people.

• Ukraine has exported almost 16.2m tonnes of grain so far in the 2022-23 season, down 31.7% from the 23.8m tonnes exported by the same stage of the previous season, agriculture ministry data showed. The volume included almost 6.3m tonnes of wheat, 8.6m tonnes of corn and 1.3m tonnes of barley, Reuters reported.

• Negotiating with Russia would be “capitulation”, a key adviser to the Ukrainian presidency has said. Mykhaylo Podolyak said attempts by the west to urge Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow were “bizarre” given a series of major military victories by Kyiv. He added it would mean that a country “that recovers its territories must capitulate to the country that is losing”. The comments come after recent US media reports that some senior officials were beginning to encourage Ukraine to consider talks.

• The first Ukrainian supermarket has opened in Kherson since the city was liberated earlier this month. ATB, a 24/7 shop in the city, had queues of people outside on Sunday as it welcomed customers back. Kherson remains without electricity, running water or heating, but residents found some relief in being able to purchase Ukrainian pickled gherkins, dumplings, horseradish and other favourites.

• France has sent another two air defence systems to Ukraine, along with two multiple rocket launchers, according to an interview given by a French defence minister.

• Emmanuel Macron has accused Russia of feeding disinformation to further its “predatory project” in Africa, where France has had military setbacks. In an interview with TV5 Monde on the sidelines of a conference of Francophone nations in Tunisia, the French president said there was a “predatory project” pushing disinformation into African countries, which was “a political project financed by Russia, sometimes others”.

That’s it from me, Tom Ambrose, for today. My colleague Léonie Chao-Fong will be along shortly to continue bringing you all the latest news from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Kremlin has said it was concerned by what it claimed was repeated Ukrainian shelling of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. It called on global powers to ensure that Kyiv ceased attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power station.

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is under Russian control, was rocked by shelling on Sunday, drawing condemnation from the UN nuclear watchdog which said such attacks risked a major disaster.

“This cannot but cause our concern,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “We call on all countries of the world to use their influence so that the Ukrainian armed forces stop doing this.”

Ukraine says it was Russia that shelled the plant. Reuters was unable to independently verify which side was responsible.

Russian forces are constructing defensive positions partially staffed by poorly trained mobilised reservists around the Svatove sector in the Luhansk region in north-eastern Ukraine, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

With Russia’s south-western frontline now more readily defendable along the east bank of the Dnipro River, the Svatove sector is likely now a more vulnerable operational flank of the Russian force, the latest British intelligence report reads.

Russian leaders will highly likely see retaining control of Svatove as a political priority though their commanders are likely struggling with the military realities of maintaining a credible defence, while also attempting to resource offensive operations further south in Donetsk.

“Both Russian defensive and offensive capability continues to be hampered by severe shortages of munitions and skilled personnel,” the report adds.

The UN nuclear watchdog will conduct an assessment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Monday after the site was shelled more than a dozen times over the weekend.

The blasts damaged buildings and equipment, though none had been “critical” for nuclear safety and security, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.

Its head, Rafael Grossi, said the forces behind the shelling were “playing with fire”, adding that “it must stop immediately”.

A statement published by the IAEA late on Sunday read:

Repeated shelling at the site of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP) yesterday evening and this morning damaged buildings, systems and equipment, with some of the explosions occurring near the reactors.”

The agency said the plant was hit with “more than a dozen blasts within 40 minutes” though radiation levels at the site remained normal and there were no reports of casualties.

The ZNPP’s external power supplies, which have been knocked out several times during the conflict, were also not affected.

According to the IAEA experts, site management reported damage in several places, including a radioactive waste and storage building, cooling pond sprinkler systems, an electrical cable to one of the reactors, condensate storage tanks, and to a bridge between another reactor and its auxiliary buildings.

Rafael Grossi added:

Even though there was no direct impact on key nuclear safety and security systems at the plant, the shelling came dangerously close to them. We are talking metres, not kilometres. Whoever is shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, is taking huge risks and gambling with many people’s lives.”

The IAEA team of experts plan to conduct an assessment on Monday of the shelling impact on the site.

Russian forces launched almost 400 strikes on Sunday in Ukraine’s east as part of a campaign of artillery fire, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Sunday night address.

The fiercest battles, as before, are in the Donetsk region. Although there are fewer attacks today due to the deterioration of the weather, the number of Russian shelling occasions remains, unfortunately, extremely high.

Luhansk region – little by little we are moving forward with battles. As of now, there have been almost 400 shelling occasions in the east since the beginning of the day.”

Russia has moved troops to reinforce positions in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions after withdrawing from the southern city of Kherson.

Referring to Ukrainian positions in the south, Zelenskiy said Kyiv’s forces “are holding the line, consistently and very calculatedly destroying the potential of the occupiers.”

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

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.

Russian forces launched almost 400 strikes on Sunday in Ukraine’s east as part of a campaign of artillery fire, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Sunday night address.

Away from the battlefield, the UN nuclear watchdog will conduct an assessment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Monday after the site was shelled more than a dozen times over the weekend.

For any updates or feedback you wish to share, please feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.

If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:

• Russian forces launched almost 400 strikes on Sunday in Ukraine’s east as part of a campaign of artillery fire, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a Sunday night address. “The fiercest battles, as before, are in the Donetsk region. Although there were fewer attacks today due to worsening weather, the amount of Russian shelling unfortunately remains extremely high,” Zelenskiy said. “In the Luhansk region, we are slowly moving forward while fighting. As of now, there have been almost 400 artillery attacks in the east since the start of the day.” Russia has moved troops to reinforce positions in the eastern Donetsk and Luhansk regions after withdrawing from Kherson.

• The UN nuclear watchdog will conduct an assessment of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Monday after the site was shelled more than a dozen times over the weekend. The blasts damaged buildings and equipment, though none had been “critical” for nuclear safety and security, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Its head, Rafael Grossi, said the forces behind the shelling were “playing with fire”, adding that “it must stop immediately”.

• Germany has offered Poland the Patriot missile defence system to help it to secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed in the country last week, the defence minister, Christine Lambrecht, said. “We have offered Poland support in securing airspace – with our Eurofighters and with Patriot air defence systems,” Lambrecht told the Rheinische Post and General Anzeiger. Ground-based air defence systems such as Raytheon’s Patriot are built to intercept incoming missiles.

• Ukraine has denied its forces executed Russian prisoners of war, arguing its soldiers were defending themselves against Russians who feigned surrender. The Ukrainian parliament’s commissioner for human rights responded on Sunday to videos circulated on Russian social media this week purporting to show the bodies of Russian servicemen killed after surrendering to Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said “excerpts” of a video showed that Russians “using a staged capture … committed a war crime by opening fire on the Ukrainian armed forces”. This means the soldiers “cannot be considered prisoners of war”, he said. A UN spokesperson told AFP it was “aware of the videos” and was “looking into them”.

• Negotiating with Russia would be “capitulation”, a key adviser to the Ukrainian presidency has said. Mykhaylo Podolyak said attempts by the west to urge Ukraine to negotiate with Moscow were “bizarre” given a series of major military victories by Kyiv. He added it would mean that a country “that recovers its territories must capitulate to the country that is losing”. The comments come after recent US media reports that some senior officials were beginning to encourage Ukraine to consider talks.

• The first Ukrainian supermarket has opened in Kherson since the city was liberated earlier this month. ATB, a 24/7 shop in the city, had queues of people outside on Sunday as it welcomed customers back. Kherson remains without electricity, running water or heating, but residents found some relief in being able to purchase Ukrainian pickled gherkins, dumplings, horseradish and other favourites.

• France has sent another two air defence systems to Ukraine, along with two multiple rocket launchers, according to an interview given by a French defence minister.

• Emmanuel Macron has accused Russia of feeding disinformation to further its “predatory project” in Africa, where France has had military setbacks. In an interview with TV5 Monde on the sidelines of a conference of Francophone nations in Tunisia, the French president said there was a “predatory project” pushing disinformation into African countries, which was “a political project financed by Russia, sometimes others”. Macron said: “A number of powers, who want to spread their influence in Africa, are doing this to hurt France, hurt its language, sow doubts, but above all pursue certain interests.”