Russia-Ukraine updates: Warnings of sabotage at nuclear plant

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has requested “additional access” to parts of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) in southern Ukraine after reports of possible military action around the site intensified.

The IAEA has experts on the ground in Zaporizhzhia who have been monitoring and inspecting the site in recent days and weeks, said a press release on Wednesday. So far, they have not found “any visible indications of mines or explosives”, said the statement, citing IAEA Director-General General Rafael Grossi.

Grossi stressed the importance of the additional access in view of the situation at the site in recent days. Moscow and Kyiv have both been warning of an imminent attack on the plant by the other side.

“With military tension and activities increasing in the region where this major nuclear power plant is located, our experts must be able to verify the facts on the ground,” said Grossi.

“Their independent and objective reporting would help clarify the current situation at the site, which is crucial at a time like this with unconfirmed allegations and counter allegations,” he continued.

Russia has opened a criminal case after a prominent female journalist and a lawyer were brutally attacked in Russian republic of Chechnya, Russian Investigative Committee reported on Wednesday.

“Currently, the investigation team is conducting a set of investigative actions and search measures aimed at establishing individuals involved in this crime and all the circumstances of the incident,” the statement said.

Yelena Milashina, a well-known journalist for the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, was travelling to the Chechen capital Grozny from the local airport with Alexander Nemov, a lawyer, when they were attacked a day earlier. The two were beaten, and threatened with guns. Both are now in a Moscow hospital.

The White House has said it is continuing to monitor conditions at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine after Moscow and  Kyiv accused each other of plotting to stage an attack on the facility.

Experts from the UN nuclear watchdog based at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine have yet to observe any indications of mines or explosives at the plant, but they need more access to be sure, the agency said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has signed a bill that adopts sanctions against 18 entities which he claimed are linked to Russia.

“Our principle is clear: the activity of all individuals and legal entities, which is the foundation of the Russian regime’s ability to terrorize Ukraine and the rules-based international order, must be blocked,” Zelenskyy said in a statement on Telegram.

The statement, which was shared by the Ukrainian presidency, noted 18 legal entities registered in Russia, Luxembourg and the Republic of Cyprus.

The presidency said Oleksiy Danilov, the head of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council, will be responsible for monitoring the implementation of the decision.

A man who detonated explosives in a court in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv has died, Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said.

Klymenko, in a statement at the site of the explosion at the Shevchenkivskyi court said the man may have stepped inadvertently on explosives.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov raised the specter of a potentially “catastrophic” provocation by the Ukrainian army at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power, which is Europe’s largest.

“The situation is quite tense. There is a great threat of sabotage by the Kyiv regime, which can be catastrophic in its consequences,” Peskov said. in response to a reporter’s question about the plant. He also claimed the Kremlin was pursuing “all measures” to counter the alleged Ukrainian threat.

Renat Karchaa, an adviser to Russian state nuclear company Rosenergoatom that controls the plant, said there was “no basis” for Ukraine’’s claims of a Russian plot to simulate an explosion.

“Why would we need explosives there? This is nonsense” aimed at “maintaining tension”, Karchaa said.

Ukraine’s health ministry released guidelines in the event of an emergency at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and urged residents to pack emergency bags containing supplies such as face masks and food wrapped in plastic.

“If authorities have officially announced a radiation emergency, stay indoors or get out as soon as possible,” it said in a statement. “Stay tuned for further announcements and follow the instructions.”

Dr Olena Havrylenko, 55, based in Zaporizhzhia, said listening to trusted experts and following reliable news sources was critical.

“I think those who have prepared themselves shouldn’t be afraid,” she said.

A man died in a Kyiv court after apparently blowing himself up while also wounding two law enforcement officers.

“An offender died at the scene. According to preliminary information he blew himself up,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on social media.

Two law enforcement officers were wounded as they stormed the premises, Klymenko added.

The city military administration said the explosion took place at 5:20pm (14:20 GMT) in the Shevchenkivskyi court in the centre of Ukraine’s capital.

Klymenko made no mention of any link with Russia, which began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Russia accused a small US-based charity of “sabotaging” the construction of a huge gas pipeline to China and banned it as an “undesirable organisation”.

The Russian prosecutor general’s office said while claiming to advocate nature conservation, the Altai Project was meddling in Russia’s internal affairs and could damage its economic security.

“The key direction of the organisation’s work is sabotaging the construction of the Power of Siberia-2 gas pipeline,” it said.

Jennifer Castner, director of the Altai Project, described the accusation as absurd but said it had been only a matter of time.

The move followed clampdowns on many foreign NGOs in Russia, including a similar ban last month on the local arm of the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) environmental group.

Russia’s Ministry of Defence has called the assessment of British Admiral Tony Radakin about Moscow’s combat “losses” as a “discouraging lie”, according to a report by Russian state media RIA Novosti.

Earlier, Admiral Radakin had said that Russia had lost half its combat capability in Ukraine.

“The purpose of the admiral’s statements is to knock out money for the purchase of new weapons for the army instead of the rubbish sent to Ukraine,” the Russian defence ministry said and added that “the over-hyped Storm Shadow missiles are increasingly falling flat without bursting, and all the British scrap metal delivered to Kyiv, after being melted down, will serve as raw materials for new regions for restoration work.”

Ukraine’s internal ministry has said that an explosion has occurred in a court in Kyiv.

“The explosion took place in the courthouse in the Shevchenkiv district. An investigative and operative group, special forces, explosives technicians and dog experts are working on the spot,” the ministry said in a statement on the Telegram messaging app.

According to police authorities in Kyiv, a device had been detonated by a man who had been taken to a court hearing.

There are no confirmations about whether this explosion was linked to Russia’s continuing war in Ukraine.

The UN’s International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) says in a statement that it has inspected parts of the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in southeastern Ukraine in recent days and weeks and has so far not observed any indications of mines or explosives.

But IAEA experts “have requested additional access that is necessary to confirm the absence of mines or explosives”, the international nuclear watchdog said.

“In particular, access to the rooftops of reactor units 3 and 4 is essential, as well as access to parts of the turbine halls and some parts of the cooling system at the plant,” IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda says Ukraine will not be left disappointed at the upcoming NATO summit in the Lithuanian capital, Vilnius, according to a report by Lithuanian National Radio and Television.

“I have a feeling that we will find wording that will not disappoint Ukrainians and will state more than we are used to saying,” Nauseda said.

But he did not confirm whether Ukraine, which applied for NATO membership in September, will get an invitation to attend the defence alliance’s summit.

Ukraine’s General Staff Deputy Chief Oleksii Hromov has said that the presence of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus is “currently unlikely”, according to a report by Ukraine’s national news agency Ukrinform.

“It is necessary to create special conditions for the storage of nuclear munitions, to deploy a base for their maintenance. This is a very complex technological process,” Hromov told Ukrinform.

Last month, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said Russian nuclear weapons will be deployed in Belarus in “several days”.

“Today, the presence of nuclear charges on the territory of Belarus is unlikely,” Ukraine’s Hromov said.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan spoke by phone with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and discussed the Black Sea grain deal, a Turkish foreign ministry source told Reuters.

Fidan also discussed NATO enlargement with Blinken, the source said.

Journalist Yulia Shapovalova, reporting from Moscow, tells Al Jazeera that the head of Russia’s Rosenergoatom, a nuclear power station operator, says tensions will remain high around the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant until the NATO summit in Vilnius next week.

“He also said Ukraine intended to attack the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant last night with kamikaze drones and missiles with a radioactive warhead,” Shapovalova said.

Kyiv has denied these claims.

Russia seized the Ukrainian power plant shortly after it launched its full-scale invasion in February last year. Since then, Kyiv and Moscow have blamed one another for attacks near the plant, whose reactors have been shut down.

Reporting from Kyiv, Al Jazeera’s Rob McBride says while fears about the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant are not new, recent warnings are very detailed.

Zelenskyy has accused Russia of “trying to create dangerous provocations” at the Zaporizhzhia plant.

“The Ukrainian media here are saying that this is based on satellite photographs that the Ukrainians have access to,” McBride said.

“The issue here, as always, is that one side would never want to give an insight into its intelligence gathering to the other side. But what is interesting is the specifics of this allegation – and also a very similar allegation that was made less about two weeks ago, when the Ukrainians claimed the Russians were planting mines around some of the cooling ponds at the Zaporizhzhia plant,” he added.