41 killed in Russian missile strike on Poltava
At least 41 people have been killed and 180 more wounded in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Poltava on Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy said in a video that the Russian forces hit the city with two ballistic missiles, damaging a building of the Institute of Communications.
Key events
Two independent members of the supervisory board of Ukraine’s national power grid operator resigned on Tuesday, saying they believed the decision to dismiss the operator’s head was “politically motivated”.
On Sept. 2, a majority of Ukrenergo supervisory board members decided terminate early the powers of Volodymyr Kudrytskyi after he presented a report on ensuring the protection of grid facilities during Russian attacks.
“Today, on September 3, we have submitted our written notices about the early termination of powers as members of the Company’s Supervisory Board,” chairman of the board Daniel Dobbeni and board member Peder Andreasen said in a statement.
“We strongly believe that the decision on the early dismissal of the CEO of Ukrenergo is politically motivated and, based on the results of the presented report, there are no valid grounds for it,” they added.
US close to agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles
The U.S. is close to an agreement to give Ukraine long-range cruise missiles that could reach deep into Russia, but Kyiv would need to wait several months as the U.S. works through technical issues ahead of any shipment, U.S. officials told Reuters.
The inclusion of Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles (JASSM) in a weapons package is expected to be announced this autumn, three sources said, though a final decision has not been made. The sources declined to be named because they are not authorized to discuss the topic.
According to the foreign ministry, the type of weapons used in the strike on a military institute in the central town of Poltava with two missiles – in which at least 41 people were killed and more than 180 wounded – left little time for people to find cover once the air alert had sounded.
Photographs posted on social media in Ukraine showed several bodies lying on the ground covered in dust and debris, with the badly damaged side of a large building behind them. Reuters could not immediately verify the images.
“One of the institute’s buildings was partially destroyed, and many people were trapped under the rubble,” the defence ministry said on Telegram.
“Thanks to the coordinated work of rescuers and medics, 25 people were rescued, 11 of whom were taken from the rubble. The rescuers are currently continuing their work.”
Russia has yet to comment on the attack.
UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi met Ukrainian energy officials on Tuesday before a planned visit to the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, part of efforts to prevent a wartime nuclear catastrophe.
On his latest visit to Ukraine since Russia’s invasion in February 2022, Grossi – the director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) – met energy minister German Galushchenko, as well as Petro Kotin, head of state nuclear power company Energoatom, and Oleh Korikov, acting head of Ukraine’s state nuclear regulatory Inspectorate.
The IAEA was “fully committed to safety & security of (Ukrainian) nuclear sites, with (a) presence at each”, Grossi wrote on X alongside photos showing him and Ukrainian officials holding talks.
He said they were “exchanging (views) on our support to Ukraines NPPs (nuclear power plants) ahead of my ZNPP visit”.
Reuters has some more comments from Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy about the strike on Poltava.
“The Russian scum will definitely be held accountable for this strike,” Zelenskiy said on the Telegram messaging app.
He repeated his calls for more western air defences and urged allies to allow their long-range weapons to be used for strikes deeper into Russian territory in order to protect Ukraine.
“We keep telling everyone in the world who has the power to stop this terror: air defence systems and missiles are needed in Ukraine, not in a warehouse somewhere.
“Long-range strikes that can protect us from Russian terror are needed now, not some time later. Unfortunately, every day of delay means loss of life.”
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) has said at least six children have been seriously wounded by heavy bombing in Sumy in recent days.
In response, it is donating medical supplies to the Regional Children’s Clinical hospital in Sumy, meeting the needs of approximately 4,000 paediatric patients. The hospital treats about 5,500 children per month, and can host up to 375 patients at a given time.
Andrii Moskalenko, pharmaceutical manager at the IRC, said: “It is difficult to imagine the horror of children being woken up by explosions, with the roof shattered above their heads. There are no words strong enough to condemn bombarding and wounding children. They are bearing the heaviest burden of this war.
“Our paediatric patients need medical care and critical supplies to recover from the attacks. Most importantly, though, children need an end to the hostilities targeting innocent people so they can safely sleep at night.”
41 killed in Russian missile strike on Poltava
At least 41 people have been killed and 180 more wounded in a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian city of Poltava on Tuesday, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said.
Zelenskiy said in a video that the Russian forces hit the city with two ballistic missiles, damaging a building of the Institute of Communications.
The Associated Press has some colour from Vladimir Putin’s visit to Mongolia:
Russian president Vladimir Putin was welcomed in the main square in Ulaanbaatar, the capital, by an honour guard dressed in vivid red and blue uniforms styled on those of the personal guard of 13th century ruler Genghis Khan, the founder of the Mongol Empire.
He and Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa walked up the red-carpeted steps of the government palace and bowed before a statue of Genghis Khan before entering the building for their meetings.
A small group of protesters who tried to unfurl a Ukrainian flag before the welcome ceremony were taken away by police.
The two governments signed agreements for a feasibility study and the design of an upgrade to a power plant in Ulaanbaatar and to ensure the continuous supply of aviation fuel to Mongolia. Putin also outlined plans to develop the rail system between the two countries.
He invited the Mongolian president to attend a summit of the BRICS nations – a group that includes Russia and China among others – in the Russian city of Kazan in late October. Khurelsukh accepted, according to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti.
The head of Russia’s state nuclear energy company Rosatom said on Tuesday that Moscow sees a very high risk of attacks on a nuclear plant in the Kursk region where Ukrainian forces pierced the Russian border last month, the RIA state news agency said.
The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog visited the plant last week and warned of the risk of a serious accident, after Russia had accused Ukraine of attacking it with drones.
Ukrainian forces crossed into the Kursk region on Aug. 6 in a surprise incursion which is still ongoing, and fighting has taken place within about 40 km (25 miles) of the nuclear facility.
Only ‘madmen’ would arrest Putin under ICC warrant, Russia security council
Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council, denounced the ICC warrant against Putin as “illegal” in an online statement Tuesday and those who would try to carry it out as “madmen.”
More than 50 Russians outside the country have signed an open letter urging the government of Mongolia to “immediately detain Vladimir Putin upon his arrival.” The signers include Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was freed from a Russian prison in August in the biggest East-West prisoner swap since the Cold War.
On Monday, the EU expressed concern that the ICC warrant might not be executed and said it had shared its concern with Mongolian authorities.
“Mongolia, like all other countries, has the right to develop its international ties according to its own interests,” European Commission spokeswoman Nabila Massrali said. But she added, “Mongolia is a state party to the Rome Statute of the ICC since 2002, with the legal obligations that it entails.”
Kenneth Roth, the former longtime director of Human Rights Watch, described Putin’s trip to Mongolia as “a sign of weakness,” posting on X that the Russian leader “could manage a trip only to a country with a tiny population of 3.4 million that lives in Russia’s shadow.”
