August 29, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Four holes have appeared in the roof of a building at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant near at least three Russian armored personnel carriers, according to new satellite images from Maxar Technologies.

The Russian-appointed leader for the Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov, claimed that the holes were the result of a Ukrainian military strike on the complex. Rogov published photos showing one of the holes on his Telegram channel.

CNN has geolocated and confirmed the authenticity of the photos, but not the claims that the holes were the result of a Ukrainian military strike.

The Ukrainian government has repeatedly denied that they have conducted military strikes at or near the plant in recent weeks.

In the satellite images, at least three Russian armored personnel carriers are seen sitting underneath a large structure with pipes, which feed from the building into all six of the nuclear reactors.

More context: Russia has repeatedly claimed that they do not have any "heavy weaponry" at the nuclear power plant. The holes in the building are almost 500 feet away from one of the nuclear reactors at the plant.

CNN reached out to Ukrainian authorities about whether they conducted a military strike at the plant, but have not yet received a response. CNN has also reached out to Energoatom, Ukraine's state nuclear power plant authority for comment and to inquire on what the building's purpose is.

The satellite image also shows a fire burning just north of the plant.

Ukrainians are expected to face the coldest winter in decades, with the state gas company set to lower temperatures across the country’s centralized Soviet-era heating systems.

Indoor temperatures will be set at between 17 to 18 degrees Celsius (62.6 to 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit), Yurii Vitrenko, the head of state gas company Naftogaz, said on Monday.

That's around four degrees lower than normal for a country where temperatures can fall beyond the winter average of negative 10 degrees Celsius (14 degrees Fahrenheit).

Vitrenko warned that if Ukraine faces a coal shortage, power will need to be generated using gas, adding that if the country has to import additional gas, it will need funding from international partners. 

“Without the [western] financial support, we will lack gas and it will mean we’ll have really high risks for the power system [going] down,” Vitrenko said.

In a scenario, where there is not enough gas or coal, Ukraine could face power blackouts.

“We have a single energy system, so in case there is not enough coal, then gas will be needed but it won't be enough of it either. Then, accordingly, the energy system will not have enough electricity and we will have to resort to rolling blackouts across Ukraine,” Vitrenko said.

Ukrainian troops have taken four villages back from Russian occupation in the south near the city of Kherson, a Ukrainian military source tells CNN. Their main "target" is Kherson, the source added.

“The main direction of the attack was on Pravdyne. We hit their infantry from the DNR (Donetsk People's Republic) and LNR (Luhansk People's Republic), and they fled. The Russian landing force fled after them," the source told CNN.

“We have now liberated four villages. Their first line of defense has been broken through in three places,” the military source said. 

The source said the village names are Nova Dmytrivka, Arkhanhel's'ke, Tomyna Balka and Pravdyne.

“Many of them were killed and captured, and a lot of [Russian] military vehicles [were destroyed].”

“We'll see how it goes from here. Our target is Kherson," according to the source. 

The White House says it has seen reports that Ukraine has begun a counteroffensive against Russian forces in southern Ukraine but does not want to comment further on specific Ukrainian military operations, John Kirby, the communications coordinator for the National Security Council, said.

Kirby did note, however, that regardless of the size, scale and scope of the latest counteroffensive, the Ukrainians “have already had an impact on Russian military capabilities.”

Kirby also said that Russia “continues to have manpower problems” in Ukraine, and is trying to expand its recruitment of fighters inside Russia as well as “entice” some of their conscripts and contract soldiers to serve beyond their time frames.  

That is “because they are experiencing manpower challenges—manpower challenges that are not made any easier by the way they’ve had to respond to reports of a potential counteroffensive by the Ukrainians,” Kirby said.

Kirby also said that “the idea of going on the offense is not new to the Ukrainians.”

“Now I recognize that what we're talking about here is the potential for a major counteroffensive, which is different than going on the offense in a more localized way,” Kirby said. But he said Ukrainian forces “have been taking the fight to the Russians inside” Ukraine for quite some time now, including in the early months of the war around the capital Kyiv.        

“So, it’s not a new development for them to do this,” Kirby said.

What Russia is saying: Moscow on Monday acknowledged Kyiv’s counteroffensive in Ukraine’s south, but said the Ukrainian troops “suffered heavy losses” and “failed miserably” in their “attempted” offensive. 

Ukrainian forces on Monday “attempted an offensive in the Mykolaiv and Kherson regions from three directions,” the Russian defense ministry said in a statement, adding, "as a result of the active defense of the grouping of Russian troops, units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered heavy losses."

The ministry said that during the fighting, 26 Ukrainian tanks, 23 infantry fighting vehicles, nine other armored fighting vehicles were destroyed and two Su-25 attack aircraft were shot down.

“Another attempt at offensive actions by the enemy failed miserably,” it concluded.

An inspection team from the UN nuclear watchdog on its way to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine will arrive in Kyiv on Monday, according to Ukrainian foreign ministry spokesperson Oleg Nikolenko. 

A delegation of 14 international experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) “has already left Vienna and is due to arrive in Kyiv today [Monday]. It is expected that the mission will start work at the (nuclear plant) in the coming days,” Nikolenko said on Monday. 

The inspection mission is headed by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, the spokesperson added. 

Russian shelling has killed at least two people and injured 11 more in Ukraine’s southern port city of Mykolaiv near the Black Sea Coast on Monday, according to Vitalii Kim, head of the Mykolaiv region civil military administration.

The mayor of Mykolaiv condemned what he called Russia’s targeting of civilians.

Russia “cynically strikes at civilians,” says Mayor Oleksandr Senkevych said in a post on his Telegram channel.

Residential buildings and educational institutions were hit, he said, adding that rescue and emergency workers were on the scene. 

Russia blocked a consensus document at the tenth review conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), which is a key arms control treaty conference.

Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy director of arms control and nonproliferation at the Russian Foreign Ministry, reportedly said that this conference’s final document was not balanced.

“Russia did so in order to block language that merely acknowledged the grave radiological risk at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, the very kind of challenge the conference is called upon to address,” US State Department principal deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said in a statement.

Russia's opposition despite "overwhelming international consensus underscores the need" for countries to "continue urging Russia to end its military activity" near the plant and return its control to Ukraine, Patel added. 

Some background: This is the second consecutive time that parties to the NPT failed to reach consensus. They also were unable to do so at the review conference in 2015. The review conference typically takes place every five years to discuss the landmark nuclear arms control treaty. This tenth review conference was originally scheduled to take place in April 2020 – coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the NPT entering into force, but it was postponed due to Covid-19.

UN Secretary General António Guterres and EU's top diplomat Josep Borrell also expressed disappointment after conference concluded with no substantial outcome.

A “long-awaited” Ukrainian counteroffensive against Russian forces is underway in southern Ukraine to retake Moscow-controlled territory, former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko told CNN on Monday. 

"This is first time since February 2022 when such a [concentration] of Ukrainian troops with western artillery, with western HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System) and western missiles was collected together for this counterattack,” Poroshenko added.

The counteroffensive comes as Russia's war in Ukraine has passed its six-month mark, with US assessments indicating that Russia has been able to deploy fewer units to the frontlines than initially thought, according to a senior US official. 

On Monday morning, Ukraine indicated that actions were underway.

"Ukrainian armed forces have started the offensive actions in several directions on the South front towards liberating the occupied territories," Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine's Operational Command South, told CNN.

"All the details will be available after the operation is fulfilled," she added.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors are expected to go to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeast Ukraine sometime this week amid renewed shelling at the Russian-held facility and mounting fears over a potential nuclear accident -- which has seen Ukrainian officials make iodine pills available to residents.

This comes as Ukraine forces prepare for a counteroffensive in the south, according to United States officials.

"Shaping" operations begin: Ukraine's forces are preparing the battlefield for a significant Ukrainian counteroffensive, two senior US officials told CNN. Shaping operations are standard military practice prior to an offensive and involve striking weapons systems, command and control, ammunition depots and other targets to prepare the battlefield for planned advances. According to the officials, the US believes the much-anticipated counteroffensive will include a combination of air and ground operations.

IAEA inspectors heading in: A team from the IAEA -- the UN nuclear watchdog -- is on its way to Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and will be there "later this week," IAEA Chief Rafael Mariano Grossi tweeted Monday. The mission will assess damage to the plant's facilities, evaluate the working conditions of the staff and perform urgent safeguard activities. Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the international community should demand Russia's withdrawal from the plant so as to ensure nuclear security. The Kremlin welcomed the news of the visit, saying the IAEA mission will enter Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant from the Ukrainian side, but Russia will ensure its safety on the territory occupied by the Russian army.

Renewed shelling: The city of Orikhiv in the Zaporizhzhia region suffered more than 200 attacks in a six-hour time span, say Ukrainian officials. Shelling also occurred in the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar, close to the nuclear plant, on Sunday night, Russian and Ukrainian officials said -- with each side blaming the other for the attacks.

Close call: Shelling in the vicinity of the Zaporizhzhia plant over the past few days hit a "special building" located just 100 meters from its reactor buildings, IAEA said Sunday. The nuclear agency's chief Grossi said safety systems at the plant remain operational, there has been no increase in radiation levels, radioactivity levels are within a normal range, there is no indication of hydrogen leakage and the plant has continued access to off-site electricity.

Iodine pills: It emerged over the weekend that Zaporizhzhia city authorities made iodine tablets available to residents as concern grows over a possible accident. The pills protect users against radioactive iodine and help prevent thyroid cancer in case of a nuclear accident.

Dugina murder: Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused a second suspect in the murder of Darya Dugina, who was a Russian political commentator and the daughter of prominent ultranationalist ideologue Alexander Dugin. CNN is unable to independently verify the FSB claims of those who perpetrated the killing and is therefore not naming the two suspects at this time. Ukraine has denied any involvement in Dugina’s killing, calling the FSB claims fiction.