Ukraine latest updates: IAEA says nuclear plant partly offline

President Zelenskyy has expressed his sorrow over an explosion at a public event in the northern city of Chernihiv that caused a grenade launcher to go off.

In his daily address, Zelenskyy said a child was among the victims while another was in critical condition in intensive care. He described the incident as an “absolutely unacceptable event”.

“Law enforcement officers should find out as soon as possible why this happened, who brought combat weapons to this city event. All those responsible must be brought to justice. And they will be,” Zelenskyy said.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hailed Boris Johnson as a “true friend” to Ukraine, days before the British prime minister leaves office.

Writing for the Mail on Sunday, Zelenskyy paid tribute to British solidarity with the country since the Russian invasion, while promising to forge “close relations” with the new prime minister.

“At each and every meeting and conversation between us, Boris had one very good question: What else? What else do you need? It became our watchword, guaranteeing effective progress. Believe me, not many politicians are ready to do this,” he wrote.

“I know it has not been an easy ride for Boris Johnson as he had to deal with many internal challenges. Prioritising support for Ukraine demanded a great courage and determination,” he added.

The head of the UN nuclear watchdog has said the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine was disconnected to its last external power line but was still able to run electricity through a reserve line after sustained shelling in the area.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said in a statement that the agency’s experts, who remained in Zaporizhzhia after arriving for an inspection on Thursday, were told by senior Ukrainian staff that the fourth and last operational line was down. The three others were lost earlier during the conflict.

The IAEA experts learned that the reserve line linking the facility to a nearby thermal power plant was delivering the electricity the plant generates to the external grid, the statement said. The same reserve line can also provide backup power to the plant if needed, it added.

Russian-backed authorities earlier said the plant had been knocked offline.

Ukraine has offered to supply Germany with its surplus electricity as it attempts to end its dependence on Russian energy imports.

Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal told the German news agency DPA that Ukraine currently exports its electricity to Moldova, Romania, Slovakia and Poland but is willing to expand exports to Germany.

“We have a sufficient amount of electricity in Ukraine thanks to our nuclear power plants,” Shmyhal said, adding that he would be raising the issue during his visit to the German capital next weekend.

He added that an agreement on energy would be beneficial for both sides. “The EU would get more energy and we would get the foreign currency we urgently need,” Shmyhal said.

An eight-year-old child was killed by Russian shelling in the region of Mykolaiv, the head of the regional council has said, as Ukraine continues a counteroffensive to push Russian forces out of the country’s south.

Hanna Zamazeyeva said on Telegram that two other children were injured during attacks in the cities of Mykolaiv and Bereznehuvate.

The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine was continuing its “unsuccessful” attempts to recapture the area between the cities of Mykolaiv and Kryvyi Rih. It claimed Kyiv had lost 23 tanks and 27 combat vehicles, as well as more than 230 soldiers.

Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from Kyiv, said it was “clear that this counteroffensive going to be very slow, very methodical, but … there is definitely fighting going on.”

Sweden will offer several hundred billion Swedish crowns in liquidity guarantees to energy firms to help avert a financial crisis after Russia’s Gazprom shut the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline, the prime minister has said.

Magdalena Andersson announced the move after Russia scrapped a Saturday deadline to resume gas flows via Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea, deepening Europe’s difficulties in securing winter fuel.

“If we do not act, there is a serious risk of disruptions in the financial system, which in the worst case could lead to a financial crisis,” Andersson said. “Putin wants to create division, but our message is clear: you will not succeed.”

Finance Minister Mikael Damberg said the government will put forward a proposal that allows it to issue credit guarantees, adding that all of the country’s parliamentary parties and the speaker had been informed.

About 70,000 people have gathered in Prague’s historic centre to protest against the Czech government, which they accuse of paying more attention to war-ravaged Ukraine than to its own citizens.

Called “Czech Republic in the first place”, the protest highlighted growing inflation dragged upwards by a spike in energy prices, COVID-19 vaccination as well as immigrants.

“The best for Ukrainians and two sweaters for us,” read a banner, a reference to concerns over winter heating bills.

Protesters in Prague’s iconic Wenceslas Square demanded the resignation of the centre-right government of Petr Fiala, which took office last December.

Claims by local Russian-backed authorities that the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was knocked offline in the early hours of the day amid sustained shelling have not been verified and lack credibility, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo has said.

Reporting from Kyiv, Elizondo said Russian officials have not confirmed the claims. “Also, we have not heard from any of the Ukrainian nuclear officials here … If the power plant was taken offline, they probably would have commented,” Elizondo said.

The UN nuclear agency, IAEA, which still has investigators at the site after an official visit on Thursday, has not issued any statement, the reporter added.

The president of the European Council has paid tribute to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “courage and professionalism” following a visit by its inspectors to the Zaporizhzhia plant in Ukraine, adding that their continued presence was “necessary” to ensure safety.

“Russia has put the word in danger,” Charles Michel said on Twitter. Europe’s largest nuclear plant was occupied by Russia soon after it invaded Ukraine in February. Ukrainian staff who continue to operate the site say Russian troops have used it as a military base.

Michel said he spoke to the head of the UN nuclear agency, Rafael Grossi, following the long-awaited visit on Thursday. Several inspectors from the 14-member mission have remained on site.

Their courage and professionalism in accomplishing the first mission to #ZNPP is impressive.

Russia has put the world in danger.

Ensuring nuclear safety and security is key: continued @iaeaorg presence at the plant is necessary.

— Charles Michel (@CharlesMichel) September 3, 2022

EU Economy Commissioner Paolo Gentiloni has said the EU is “well prepared” in the event of a total halt in Russian gas deliveries, thanks to storage capacity and energy-saving measures.

“We are well prepared to resist Russia’s extreme use of the gas weapon,” he told reporters on the sidelines of an economic forum organised by The European House – Ambrosetti.

“We are not afraid of Putin’s decisions, we are asking the Russians to respect contracts, but if they don’t, we are ready to react,” he said.

Russian gas giant Gazprom said on Friday that the Nord Stream pipeline linking Russia to northern Germany, which was due to resume service Saturday after a three-day interruption for maintenance operations, would be “completely” stopped until a turbine is repaired.

Siemens Energy has not been commissioned to carry out maintenance work for the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline but is available, the company said, after Russia’s Gazprom said there was nowhere available to carry out the work

“Irrespective of this, we have already pointed out several times that there are enough additional turbines available in the Portovaya compressor station for Nord Stream 1 to operate,” a spokesperson for the company said.

Russians paid their final respects to the last leader of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev, in a ceremony held in Moscow without much fanfare and with President Vladimir Putin notably absent.

With Russia facing increasing international isolation over its military action in Ukraine, many of those in attendance pointed to Gorbachev’s opening of the country to the rest of the world. “It was a breath of freedom, which was lacking for a long time, an absence of fear,” 41-year-old translator Ksenia Zhupanova said.

“I am against shutting us out from the outside world, I am for openness, for dialogue. This is what Mikhail Sergeyevich showed the world,” she said, using Gorbachev’s patronymic.

Europe’s largest nuclear plant was once again knocked offline in the early hours of the day amid sustained shelling that destroyed a key power line and penetrated deep into the plant, local Russian-backed authorities said.

The claims came barely a day after a team of inspectors from the UN nuclear agency arrived at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, which has been caught in fierce fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces.

Turkey can mediate in a standoff over Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant which is occupied by Moscow’s troops, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has told his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.

“President Erdogan stated that Turkey can play a facilitator role in the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, as they did in the grain deal,” the Turkish presidency said, referring to a grain export agreement signed in July by Kyiv and Moscow with the United Nations and Turkey as guarantors.

Last month, Erdogan warned of the danger of a nuclear disaster when he visited Lviv for talks with his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

“We are worried. We do not want another Chornobyl,” the Turkish leader had said.

A top Russian official has accused the US and its allies of trying to provoke the country’s breakup and warned that such attempts could lead to doomsday.

Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy secretary of Russia’s Security Council chaired by President Vladimir Putin, warned the West that an attempt to push Russia towards collapse would amount to a “chess game with death”.

Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012 when term limits forced Putin to shift into the prime minister’s post, was widely seen by the West as more liberal than his mentor. In recent months, however, he has made remarks that have sounded much tougher than those issued by the most hawkish Kremlin officials in an apparent attempt to curry favour with Putin.

Ukrainian forces attempted to capture the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in an attack on the facility on Friday night, Russia’s defence ministry has said in its daily briefing.

The ministry said a group of the Ukrainian navy, with more than 250 soldiers, attempted to land on the coast of a lake near the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine at about 11pm (20:00 GMT).

Russia said its forces foiled the attack using military helicopters and fighter jets.