September 7, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Shelling on Tuesday damaged a backup power line that would supply Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in case of emergency, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been held by Russian forces since early March, but is still operated by Ukrainian staff. The IAEA Director General visited the power plant last week, and two IAEA experts stayed to maintain a permanent presence at the plant. 

The IAEA said that the shelling damage did not “have an immediate impact” on the plant, because the electricity line was not connected to the grid at the time.

“For the last few days, the ZNPP has relied on its sole operating reactor for the power it needs for cooling and other safety functions,” the IAEA said on Wednesday. “While the plant also has emergency diesel generators available if needed, Director General Grossi has repeatedly expressed concern about the power supply situation.”

“A secure off-site power supply from the grid and back-up power supply systems are essential for ensuring nuclear safety and preventing a nuclear accident. This requirement is among the seven indispensable nuclear safety and security pillars that the Director General outlined at the beginning of the conflict," the agency continued.

The US State Department alleged that members of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s administration are personally “overseeing and coordinating” Russia’s so-called “filtration camps” for Ukrainians, which Russia has allegedly used to interrogate and forcibly transport Ukrainian citizens to Russia.

“We are further aware that the Russian presidential administration officials are providing lists of Ukrainians to be targeted for filtration and receiving reports on the scope and progress of operations,” said State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel at a briefing with reporters.

The allegations come as part of “newly downgraded information” from the US government, including maps from the director of national intelligence of the alleged filtration sites on how Russia is “using dedicated information technology to support filtration operations, including online databases, tools, equipment to support the gathering of biometric data and facial recognition and tracking and monitoring of Ukrainian cell phones.”

However, Patel would not say whether Putin himself was involved in these efforts.

And while Patel said “the fear and misery” that Russia’s filtration effort “evokes for people forced to live under the Kremlin’s control are hard to overstate,” he would not directly call these operations a war crime.

The presence of Russian troops at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine is “the best guarantee of its safety and security,” Russian Permanent Representative to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov told CNN's Christiane Amanpour on Wednesday.  

“I can assure you that the presence of Russian specialized military forces at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station is the best guarantee of its safety and security,” Chizhov claimed in the interview.  

The Russian diplomat was referring to International Atomic Energy Director General Rafael Grossi’s calls on Tuesday for “a shield, a bubble around the perimeter of the facility” as a safety zone to prevent any nuclear incident. 

Chizhov told CNN that the onus was on the Ukrainians:

For context: Both Ukraine and Russia have repeatedly blamed each other for shelling at and around the Moscow-controlled plant. CNN is unable to independently verify their claims.

Chizhov also said he shares Grossi's concerns.

“The important thing is for the Ukrainian side to stop shelling the site and abandon attempts to take it by force, which it has been doing in the last few days and weeks,” Chizhov said. 

The European Commission on Wednesday proposed 5 billion euros (about $5 billion) in macro-financial assistance loans to Ukraine, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said. 

The proposal would help the country address "its immediate financial needs caused by Russia's brutal invasion," she said.

The commission said in a news release that the aid was part of a 9 billion euros (about $9 billion) funding package agreed by EU leaders in May. 

The proposal now needs to be approved by the European Parliament and the EU Council. 

Ukraine "must win this war: it must regain the freedom and independence it is so courageously fighting for. The EU will continue to do its part to make sure this happens – solidarity will prevail, and peace will come," von der Leyen also said. 

Switzerland said it would seek closer ties to NATO and the European Union to strengthen its “defense capabilities” in the wake of Russia’s war in Ukraine while maintaining its traditional neutrality in the crisis.  

The Swiss Federal Council said in a statement Wednesday that the government has decided to focus on country’s security and defense policy “more consistently than before towards international cooperation.” 

The war in Ukraine has showed the increasing threat also posed by disinformation, cyberattacks, covert operations and armed conflict, the council said.  

The country will seek to increase participation in joint exercises with NATO and join the EU’s rapid-deployment teams for rescue and evacuation operations.  

The Swiss Federal Council also said it decided to modernize the country's armed forces by “incorporating lessons learned from" the war in Ukraine.   

Ukraine’s top general said that there is “no certain final outcome in view” in the country's battle against Russia and that success will only be possible by increasing the distance that Ukraine can strike with its missiles.

“Only by balancing out the weapons’ operating range, thus disturbing the said center of gravity for the enemy, can we get to a turning point in the ongoing war,” Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi wrote on Wednesday in a piece co-authored with Lt. Gen. Mykhailo Zabrodskyi, first deputy chairman of the national security, defense, and intelligence committee of Ukraine's parliament.  

In a wide-ranging and revealing analysis published by Ukrainian state media Ukrinform, Zaluzhnyi and Zabrodskyi said that the country needs more weapons to battle Russian forces.

As an example, they cited Ukraine’s strikes on Russian bases in Crimea last month. This is believed to be the most explicitly Ukrainian military leaders have publicly acknowledged the strikes on Crimea.

“This was done by a series of successful missile strikes on the enemy's Crimea-based air bases, first of all, the Saki airfield. The task of the Armed Forces of Ukraine for 2023 is to make these experiences even sharper and more tangible for the Russians and for other occupied regions, despite the massive distance to the targets,” they wrote.

They also said that acquiring more-capable weapons systems from foreign allies can only be a solution as a “transition period,” and that Ukraine must better develop a domestic production capability.

Since the start of the war, they believe, two factors have most hindered Ukraine’s efforts to get more weaponry from allied countries: a “misconception about the scale of the Russo-Ukrainian war” and “the direct threat of the use by Russia, under certain circumstances, of tactical nuclear weapons,” which would threaten all of Europe.

The generals are realistic about Ukraine’s immediate military challenges, saying that “this will be a long conflict, bringing human losses and massive expenses, with no certain final outcome in view.”

They also noted that Donetsk region, the cities of Mykolaiv and Odesa, and even the capital of Kyiv are still vulnerable to capture by the Russians.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz stressed to his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky in a phone call Wednesday that Berlin would continue to support Kyiv not only militarily, but also politically, financially and humanitarianly, according to a German readout of the call.  

Scholz and Zelensky exchanged views on Ukraine's military, humanitarian and economic situation and possibilities for further concrete support, including in reconstruction, the readout said. 

Scholz also informed Zelensky about the “intensive preparations” for an international conference on Ukraine reconstruction in Berlin on Oct. 25 this year. 

Both the leaders agreed that the safety and protection of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant were of “utmost importance” and supported measures recommended in a report published Tuesday by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).  

The IAEA in the report called for the "immediate establishment of a nuclear safety and security protection zone" around the nuclear power plant.  

"There is an urgent need for interim measures to prevent a nuclear accident arising from physical damage caused by military means," the IAEA wrote in its report.  

Ukraine is considering shutting down the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, according to a top nuclear inspector, while officials say troops are looking to retake Kherson by the end of the year.

These are Wednesday's latest developments in the war:

Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant: Ukraine is considering shutting down the Zaporizhzhia plant — the largest in Europe — due to the deteriorating security situation, according to the country's chief state inspector for nuclear and radiation safety.

Russia and Ukraine continue to blame each other for shelling at and around the plant after the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a report yesterday that it was “gravely concerned” about the situation on the ground.

Ukraine sets its sights on Kherson: The last week has seen the most ambitious ground assaults by the Ukrainians since the beginning of Russia's invasion, and both US and Ukrainian officials said that Ukrainian forces aim to take back most of the southern Russian-occupied region of Kherson by the end of 2022.

Proposal to reduce electricity: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen made a series of proposals, including a “mandatory target for reducing electricity use at peak hours.” 

The proposals were introduced with the goal of helping European citizens deal with rising energy costs as Russia’s actions in “actively manipulating the gas market” and the effects of climate change cause prices to surge.

US analyzing long-term support: The Pentagon is preparing detailed analysis and working out how to support Ukraine's military in the medium- and long-term, including after the war with Russia has ended, according to three defense officials. The US has provided billions of dollars in military aid to Ukraine since Russia invaded in February.

Ukrainian forces near Kharkiv: Ukrainian forces are advancing to the east of Ukraine's second-largest city Kharkiv, with recent social media footage geolocated by CNN showing soldiers in the town of Volokhiv-Yar, which was occupied by Russian forces until recently. If Ukrainian forces are able to consolidate their presence in Volokhiv-Yar, they could encircle Russian troops in the neighboring town of Balakliya.

CNN has geolocated videos showing Ukrainian forces on the outskirts of Balakliya. There are indications fighting is ongoing in the area.

Putin makes claims on grain and war gains: Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed that Russia has “lost nothing” in its invasion of Ukraine in a speech on Wednesday. But based on downgraded intelligence, the US believes that Russia is facing "severe" shortages of military personnel in Ukraine.

He also used misleading figures to claim that low- and middle-income countries are receiving a fraction of the Ukrainian grain exports they were expecting under the landmark UN-brokered Black Sea Grain Initiative. In a statement to CNN, the United Nations said that under the Black Seas Initiative, roughly 30% of “grains and other foodstuffs” have made it to low- and lower-middle-income countries, or roughly 700,000 metric tons.

The Austrian government on Wednesday announced plans for a cap on electricity costs starting in December to tackle the rise in energy prices, partly triggered by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. 

The price cap “is effective for about 80 percent of the average consumption of a household and massively dampens the cost increase. For consumption beyond 2900 kWh, the market price must be paid. This also provides an incentive to save electricity,“ Chancellor Karl Nehammer said ahead of a Council of Ministers meeting. 

The electricity cost freeze is expected to take effect starting on Dec. 1 and will remain in force until June 30, 2024, and should relieve a household of an average of around 500 euros ($497) per year, according to a Council of Ministers' news release.

The government aims to pass the plan in parliament “as quickly as possible, probably in October,“ it said.