Russia Ukraine war live: Kyiv ‘blows up’ second bridge in Kursk as Putin hits back with missiles attack on capital

The safety at Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is “deteriorating” after drone strikes near the facility, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

IAEA said its team visited the site, under Russian occupation since March 2022, and found that the damage at Europe’s largest nuclear facility seemed to have been caused by a drone carrying explosives.

While there are no reported human casualties near the plant or damage to equipment, military activity near the ZNPP has been “intense” in recent days, according to the agency’s report.

“Nuclear power plants are designed to be resilient against technical or human failures and external events including extreme ones, but they are not built to withstand a direct military attack, and neither are they supposed to, just as with any other energy facility in the world,” IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said.

North Korea has dramatically upgraded its ties with Russia in the past year with two summit meetings by their leaders who pledged closer cooperation in all areas.

In June, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a pact in Pyongyang on “comprehensive strategic partnership” that included a mutual defence agreement.

South Korea, Ukraine and the United States have accused North Korea of supplying artillery and missiles to Russia for use in its war against Ukraine. North Korea and Russia have denied the allegations.

North Korea has condemned Ukraine’s incursion into Russia as an unforgivable act of terror backed by Washington and the West, adding it will always stand with Russia as it seeks to protect its sovereignty, state media said on Sunday.

Ukraine’s drive into Russia is a product of the anti-Russia confrontational policy of the United States, which is pushing the situation to the brink of World War Three, KCNA news agency said.

The U.S. handed “astronomical” sums of lethal weapons to Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the report said.

“We strongly condemn the armed attack against the Russian territory by the Zelenskiy puppet regime under the control and support of the United States and the West as an unforgivable act of aggression and terror,” North Korea’s foreign ministry said in a statement, according to KCNA.

Russia launched on Sunday its third ballistic missile on Kyiv this month, with preliminary data showing that all the air weapons were destroyed on their approach to the city, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said.

“This is already the third ballistic strike on the capital in August, with exact intervals of six days between each attack,” Serhiy Popko, the head of the Kyiv military administration, said on the Telegram messaging app.

“According to preliminary information, the Russians again, for the third time in a row, most likely used North Korean ballistic missiles.”

Reuters could not independently verify the type of missiles launched.

Ukraine’s forces destroyed eight Russian attack drones and five out of eight missiles launched overnight, Ukraine’s Air Force chief said on Sunday.

“As a result of the anti-aircraft combat, anti-aircraft missile troops of the Air Force, mobile firing groups of the Ukrainian Defence Forces and electronic warfare units shot down 13 air targets in Kyiv, Sumy and Poltava regions,” the commander said.

Debris from a Ukrainian drone sparked a fuel fire at a warehouse in Russia’s Rostov, the region’s governor said in a post on Telegram.

An oil depot was reportedly damaged following the drone strike.

“Firefighting units were called in to put out the fire,” governor Vasily Golubev said, according to Reuters.

Ukraine has often held that its drone strikes on Russian energy infrastructure are in response to Moscow’s attack on Kyiv’s utilities.

Chechen soldiers revealed a Tesla Cybertruck outfitted with a machine gun that they plan to send to fight at the front lines in Ukraine.

Chechen warlord Ramzan Kadyrov thanked Elon Musk, praising him as “the strongest genius of our time” for the Tesla “Cyberbeast” all-wheel drive electric truck in a video shared yesterday.

Kadyrov claims the electric vehicle was a gift from Musk but it remains unclear how the Tesla truck got to Chechnya.

“I had the pleasure of testing the new technology and saw for myself that it is not by chance that it is called ‘Cyberbeast.’ … I am sure this ‘beast’ will be of great use to our fighters,” the warlord said.

Tesla is yet to comment on Kadyrov’s statements.

Brady Africk, a US analyst mapping Russia’s defences, has told Reuters that those in Kursk had fewer anti-vehicle ditches, obstacles and fighting positions when compared to Russian positions in occupied southern Ukraine – where a Ukrainian counteroffensive struggled to break through last summer.

“It was likely easier for Ukrainian forces to progress around and through Russia’s fortifications in the region, especially if they were manned by fewer or poorly trained personnel,” he said.

Images gathered by the UK military’s first satellite will be shared with allies, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The department said the war in Ukraine had shown that the use of space is “crucial” to military operations.