Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Amy Walker and Harry Taylor with Guardian staff and agencies

Russia-Ukraine war at a glance: what we know on day 270 of the invasion

Residents wait for aid supplies in the centre of Kherson.
Residents wait for aid supplies in the centre of Kherson. Photograph: Bülent Kılıç/AFP/Getty Images
  • Attacks on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are “playing with fire”, the UN nuclear watchdog’s director general has said. It comes after a series of explosions in the area overnight, which damaged buildings and equipment. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) boss, Rafael Grossi, said none of the blasts had been “critical” for nuclear safety and security. But he said that whoever was behind the attacks, “it must stop immediately”, adding: “You’re playing with fire.”

  • Ukraine and Russia blamed each other for the attacks The Ukrainian operator of the nuclear power plant said on Telegram that Russian forces were behind “targeted” shelling on Saturday night and Sunday morning. The Russian nuclear power operator Rosenergoatom had earlier accused Ukraine of shelling at the plant, which is under Russian occupation.

  • Ukraine will investigate footage that is said to show its forces killing Russian troops. Moscow has said videos circulating on social media show Ukrainian soldiers killing Russian soldiers as they tried to surrender. Olha Stefanishyna, Ukraine’s deputy prime minister, said Ukrainian authorities would investigate the footage but it was “very unlikely” that the clips showed what Russia claims.

  • 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.

  • Nearly 45,000 criminal proceedings have been initiated over crimes allegedly committed by Russian service personnel during the invasion of Ukraine, the Ukrainian national police have said. An update published on Sunday said 47 places had been identified where Russian forces are accused of illegally detaining and torturing Ukrainians. They include places in liberated regions including Sumy, Chernihiv, Kyiv, Kharkiv, Donetsk, Kherson and Mykolaiv.

  • There are more signs of life starting to return to a modicum of normality in Kherson as supermarkets are reopening. ATB, a 24/7 shop in the city, had queues of people outside on Sunday as it welcomed customers back. The city was recently recaptured by Ukrainian forces after a Russian retreat.

  • 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.

  • Rishi Sunak made an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Saturday to meet Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy – Sunak’s first visit to the country since taking office.

  • Sunak announced that Britain would provide a £50m air defence package for Ukraine, including anti-aircraft guns and technology to counter Iranian-supplied drones.

  • Zelenskiy thanked Sunak, for his support and tweeted: “With friends like you by our side, we are confident in our victory. Both of our nations know what it means to stand up for freedom.”

  • Ukraine’s prosecutor general’s office said at least 437 Ukrainian children have been killed and more than 837 injured as a result of Russia’s invasion.

  • Five people were injured in a Russian strike on a humanitarian station in southern Ukraine, said Kyrylo Tymoshenko, a senior aide to Zelenskiy.

  • Nine people, including four children, died in a suspected gas explosion in a residential building in Russia’s Sakhalin island, the local governor said.

  • About 60 Russian soldiers were killed in a long-range Ukrainian artillery attack this week, Kyiv said on Saturday. In a Facebook post, the armed forces general staff said Russia sustained the losses on Thursday when Ukrainian forces shelled the town of Mykhailkva, 40km to the south of Kherson. Russian forces abandoned the city earlier this month.

  • Kyiv is in a “critical situation” with power shortages and faces hours-long blackouts, officials say, amid Russian attacks on energy infrastructure. But the energy ministry said on Saturday that Ukrainian electricity supplies were under control and there was no need to panic.

  • Zelenskiy said on Saturday that the supply problems were worst in and around Kyiv as well as in six other regions. “We are working throughout the country to stabilise the situation,” he said in a video address.

  • Ukrainian forces could be in Crimea by the end of December, the country’s deputy defence minister, Volodymyr Havrylov, has said.

  • The UK Ministry of Defence released its latest intelligence update on the war Ukraine. Russia made its largest single-day issuance of debt in history on Wednesday, it said.

  • The first passenger train to the recently liberated Kherson city arrived from Kyiv for the first time since Russian troops occupied the southern Ukrainian city.

  • The funeral took place on Saturday of a Polish man who was one of two people killed when a missile crashed into a grain storage facility in the Polish village of Przewodow.

  • The US defence secretary, Lloyd Austin, said China and Russia were seeking a world where force is used to resolve disputes, and he vowed that the United States would continue to defend humanitarian principles and international law.

  • Asia-Pacific leaders added their voices on Saturday to international pressure on Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, issuing a summit statement saying “most” of them condemned the war.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.