October 6, 2020 Russia-Ukraine news

All eyes were on Zaporizhzhia on Thursday after a Russian missile attack left at least one person dead in the southern city while the head of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency met with Ukraine's president for an update on the embattled power plant.

Elsewhere, Ukrainian forces pressed ahead with their counteroffensive in the south and east.

Here are the latest developments:

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has appealed to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to denounce the decree by President Vladimir Putin unilaterally taking the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant into Russian ownership.

Zelensky also requested Grossi's views on the presence of Russian forces at the plant, which he said was "not resolved."

"According to our data, confirmed by the workers of the plant — there are around 500 soldiers there," the Ukrainian President said.

Zelensky thanked Grossi for the IAEA's assistance in securing the release of the director of the plant, Ihor Murashov, after he was detained by Russian forces at the weekend.

Earlier Thursday, Grossi told CNN's Fred Pleitgen that the Zaporizhzhia plant is a Ukrainian facility and possible changes "would be a complex issue" that he'll have to discuss during his upcoming visit to Moscow.

The head of the UN's nuclear watchdog agency said Russia's annexations in Ukraine are not accepted by international law — and that is the legal framework guiding his organization.

Rafael Grossi, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), made the remarks at a news conference in Kyiv Thursday. CNN's Fred Pleitgen asked whether he will address Russia's claim that it now owns the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during upcoming meetings in Moscow.

"But there are practical consequences, and I am dealing with that as well," he added. 

During the news conference, the IAEA chief also highlighted the plight of the plant's workers, who he said are "operating under almost unbearable circumstances." 

Grossi said uncertainty about the plant's ownership has only exacerbated the stress workers are experiencing.

He also said the IAEA plans to increase the number of its staff members based at the plant from two to four, likely carrying out three-to-four-week rotations.

Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is a Ukrainian facility and possible changes "would be a complex issue" that he'll have to discuss during his upcoming visit to Moscow. 

When asked by CNN's Fred Pleitgen on Thursday if IAEA would boycott the process of Zaporizhzhia staff potentially becoming employees of Russia's Rosatom, Grossi said "I can neither boycott nor play along. I have to do the right things and the right thing in this case is first of all to look at the security, the safety and the wellbeing of the staff."

Grossi added that "when it comes to the contractual changes that may be coming as a result of the announcements, is something that I will have to be discussing in Russia in the next few days."

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on Wednesday that puts the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine under Russian state control. 

But just as Putin was signing the decree, Ukrainian state nuclear operator Energoatom said its president would assume the duties of the plant's director general.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said Thursday he will travel to Moscow to discuss nuclear safety and the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, after he met with Ukrainian President Volodymir Zelensky in Kyiv.

"My work is to prevent a nuclear accident, and this is what I am doing," Grossi told reporters at a press conference in Kyiv.

Grossi said he will travel to Russia "very soon" and that he believes the conversations he'll have here will be at a "very high level." 

The staff at the plant are working in "unbearable circumstances," but that the IAEA staff will continue their rotation at the plant, he added, saying there have been indications that there are mines in the perimeter of the plant, but not inside the plant itself.

Serhiy Hayday, head of the Luhansk region military administration, has confirmed that Ukrainian troops have re-entered the eastern Luhansk region and will "keep moving in that direction."

CNN reported Wednesday that Ukrainian units had entered the village of Hrekivka in Luhansk. 

Hayday said he expected difficult battles ahead as Ukrainian forces push into Luhansk, now absorbed into Russia after President Vladimir Putin signed a decree declaring the annexation of the region. 

"After liberating Lyman [in Donetsk at the end of last month], as expected, the main battles are on the direction of Kreminna. The occupiers are pulling their main forces there. This is where the beginning of de-occupation of Luhansk oblast lies," Hayday said.

"Luhansk region liberation will be tougher than Kharkiv region. All those Russian military who ran from Kharkiv region and Lyman ran to our direction, so the occupation forces increased in number," he added.

"There will be no element of surprise, like during the Kharkiv region operation. Now they had the time to prepare, to build fortifications, to entrench deeper, to bring in some equipment, some reserves. However, I believe in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and I believe that the forces of L/DPR [Luhansk and Donetsk People's Republics] will not be able to hold the defense for long," he continued.

More on Ukraine's counteroffensive: Between April and June, the Ukrainian military was gradually pushed out of parts of Luhansk region that it held. Several towns and cities in the region were largely destroyed in weeks of bitter fighting.

Analysts expect Russian forces and their allies to seek to defend new lines running north from Kreminna to Svatove.

More than 1,000 Ukrainian refugees trying to enter Estonia from Russia have been stopped from fleeing and taken to an undisclosed location, according to Estonia’s interior minister.

The Ukrainian embassy accused Russia of blocking Estonians from crossing the border in a Facebook post Wednesday, following a visit by the Ukrainian ambassador and Läänemets to the border.

Läänemets said Estonia’s border guard is patrolling with drones in case Russia forces the Ukrainians across forested parts of the border back into Russia.

On Thursday, an Estonian border official said there are as many as a few hundred vehicles waiting on the Russian side of the southeastern Luhamaa and Koidula border crossings.

Russian President Vladimir Putin's "partial mobilization" order has sparked a surge in border crossings. Earlier Thursday, the Kremlin said it does not have the “exact numbers” of people who have fled since the order was announced on Sept. 21.

The head of Russia’s State Duma Defense Committee demanded officials report the truth about developments on the battlefield in Ukraine, telling a journalist that senior figures need to "stop lying."

“First of all, we need to stop lying. We brought this up many times before… But somehow it's apparently not getting through to individual senior figures," Col. Gen. Andrei Kartapolov said in an interview with Vladimir Solovyov, which was posted on Solovyov's Telegram channel on Wednesday.

"The reports from the Ministry of Defense do not change in substance. They say they destroyed 300 rockets, killed Nazis and so on. But people know. Our people are not stupid. But they don’t want to even tell part of the truth. This can lead to a loss of credibility,” he continued, using Russian President Vladimir Putin's false accusations of Nazism to justify his war in Ukraine.

Valuyki is in the region of Belgorod in western Russian, near the border with Ukraine. 

CNN's Lauren Said-Moorhouse and Mick Krever contributed previous reporting to this post.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov welcomed news reports in the United States that the US intelligence community suspected Ukrainian officials were behind the bombing that killed activist Darya Dugina near Moscow in August.

CNN reported Wednesday that the US intelligence community believed that the car bombing that killed Dugina, daughter of prominent Russian nationalist Alexander Dugin, was authorized by elements within the Ukrainian government.

The US was not aware of the plan beforehand, according to the sources who spoke with CNN, and it is still unclear who exactly the US believes signed off on the assassination. It is also not clear whether the US intelligence community believes that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky was aware of the plot or authorized it.

The intelligence finding was first reported by The New York Times.

Peskov added that he hoped US was not trying to distance itself from any future crimes allegedly planned by Kyiv.

“We really want to believe that this is not an attempt by American colleagues, having obtained some information, to relieve themselves of responsibility from the preparation of future terrorist acts by the Kyiv state,” Peskov said during the daily Kremlin call with reporters. 

“If this is not a fake, then it is indeed positive that American intelligence agreed with this,” Peskov said.

More background: Ukrainian government officials did not immediately respond to CNN's requests for comment. They have previously denied any Ukrainian involvement in the murder. 

“Quite promptly, those responsible were established, and who the customers were is clear enough,” he said. 

The Russian security service, the FSB, published the name of the alleged assailant within two days of the assassination, saying that she was working on behalf of Ukrainian special services. By then, she had left Russia via Estonia by car, according to the FSB. She has not been seen since.