Here is the situation as it stands on Tuesday, September 6.
Get the latest updates here.
Energy
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The International Atomic Energy Agency is due to issue a report on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, in southern Ukraine, and brief the United Nations Security Council on Tuesday.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has warned of a near “radiation catastrophe” as a fire forced the shutdown of the last working reactor at the facility. He alleged that Russian shelling showed Moscow “does not care what the IAEA will say”. Ukraine and Russia have each accused the other of risking disaster by shelling near the plant.
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European gas prices soared on Monday as Russia kept its main gas pipeline to Germany shut, bringing fears of a bleak winter for consumers and businesses across the continent.
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The Kremlin blamed Western sanctions for the pipeline outages, saying they were “causing chaos” in maintenance work. It also warned it would retaliate if the West followed through with the Group of Seven proposal to impose a cap on the price of Russian oil.
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European Union energy ministers will meet on September 9 to discuss urgent measures to tackle soaring energy prices, including gas price caps and emergency credit lines for energy market participants.
Battlefield reports
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Ukraine made its boldest claim yet of success on the battlefield in its week-old counteroffensive against Russian forces in the south.
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Ukrainian officials posted an image online of three soldiers raising Ukraine’s blue and yellow flag on a rooftop purportedly in Vysokopillia, in the north of Kherson.
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Ukraine’s southern command said on Tuesday four Russian ammunition depots had been destroyed in three districts of the Kherson region in the previous 24 hours.
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In a rare acknowledgement of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, TASS news agency on Monday quoted a Moscow-installed official in the Kherson region as saying plans for a referendum on joining Russia had been put on hold due to the security situation.
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United States President Joe Biden on Monday said Russia should not be designated a state sponsor of “terrorism”, a label Ukraine has pushed for but which Moscow has warned would rupture US-Russian ties.
Policy
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Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, approved a new foreign policy doctrine based on the concept of a “Russian World”, a notion that conservative ideologues have used to justify intervention abroad in support of Russian speakers.
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The 31-page “humanitarian policy”, published more than six months into the war in Ukraine, said Russia should “protect, safeguard and advance the traditions and ideals of the Russian World”.
