Russia-Ukraine war: Moscow imposes conditions on nuclear plant visit; Zelenskiy shakes up security chiefs – live

Multiple unconfirmed reports and video footage of explosions are filtering in this morning from occupied territories in Ukraine’s south and southeast.

Ukrainian broadcaster NEXTA-TV published unconfirmed footage of a blast purportedly from Dzhankoi in Crimea.

Russian media outlet RIA Novosti also reported that a transformer substation caught fire in the city around 6am on Tuesday.

The Russian-appointed administrative head of Crimea, Sergei Aksyonov, said that he urgently left for the village of Mayskoye near Dzhankoi.

“I left for the village of Mayskoye, Dzhankoy district. The circumstances of the incident are being investigated. I will inform you as information becomes available,” Aksenov said in his Telegram channel, as reported by RIA.

Zelenskiy dismissed or reshuffled the security service heads of four regional departments.

According to the decrees published on the president’s website, Serhiy Zayats was dismissed from the post of head of the SBU main directorate in the Kyiv region. Yuriy Boreichuk was dismissed from the post of head of the SBU main directorate in the Ternopil region.

Artem Bondarenko was moved from the post of head of the SBU main directorate in the Lviv region, to head of the SBU main directorate in Kyiv and its region.

The United Nations has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a spokesman said, but a Russian diplomat imposed conditions, saying routing any mission through Ukraine’s capital was too dangerous.

UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said that “in close contact with the IAEA, the UN secretariat has assessed that it has in Ukraine the logistics and security capacity to be able to support any IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant from Kyiv”.

But he said both Russia and Ukraine have to agree.

However, a senior Russian diplomat said that any such IAEA mission could not pass through the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and through the frontline as it was too dangerous.

Russian state media RIA news agency quoted Igor Vishnevetsky, deputy head of the foreign ministry’s nuclear proliferation and arms control department, as telling journalists:

Imagine what it means to pass through Kyiv – it means they get to the nuclear plant through the front line.

This is a huge risk, given that Ukraine’s armed forces are not all made up in the same way.”

Russia’s Tass news agency also quoted Vishnevetsky as saying that any such mission had no mandate to address the “demilitarisation” of the plant as demanded by Kyiv as it could only deal with “fulfilment of IAEA guarantees”.

The UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, earlier called for an end to military activity around the plant.

Russia’s defence minister and the UN chief discussed the security situation at the plant by phone on Monday, the Russian defence ministry announced. Russia earlier said it would facilitate an IAEA mission to the plant amid warnings from the UN’s nuclear agency of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for action at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant, urging the world not to “lose to terrorism” or “give in to nuclear blackmail”.

In his nightly address he said:

All Russian troops must be immediately withdrawn from the plant and neighbouring areas without any conditions.

… if now the world lacks the strength and determination to protect one nuclear plant, it means that the world loses. Loses to terrorists. Gives in to nuclear blackmail.

If now the world does not show strength and decisiveness to defend one nuclear power station, it will mean that the world has lost.

Any radiation incident at the Zaporizhzhia NPP can affect the countries of the European Union, Turkey, Georgia and countries from more distant regions. Everything depends solely on the direction and speed of the wind. If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.”

Ukrainian and Russian officials reported shelling near Europe’s largest nuclear plant on Monday with both sides blaming each other.

One Russian-installed regional official said 25 heavy artillery strikes from US-made M777 howitzers had hit near the plant and residential areas. Ukraine said it was Russian forces that had shelled the city to try to make it appear that Ukraine was attacking it.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.

The United Nations has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspectors to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a spokesman said, but a Russia diplomat imposed conditions, saying routing any mission through Ukraine’s capital was too dangerous.

Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, dismissed the security service heads of regional departments in Kyiv, Kyiv region, Ternopil and Lviv regions – the latest in a slew of expulsions of top officials.

It is 7.30am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:

• Ukrainian and Russian officials reported shelling near the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, on Monday with both sides blaming each other. One Russian-installed regional official said 25 heavy artillery strikes from US-made M777 howitzers had hit near the plant and residential areas. Ukraine said it was Russian forces that had shelled the city to try to make it appear that Ukraine was attacking it.

• Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, called for action at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia plant, urging the world not to “lose to terrorism” or “give in to nuclear blackmail … If now the world does not show strength and decisiveness to defend one nuclear power station, it will mean that the world has lost,” he said in his nightly address. “If Russia’s actions cause a catastrophe, the consequences may also hit those who remain silent so far.”

• Russia’s defence minister and the UN chief discussed the security situation at the plant by phone on Monday, the Russian defence ministry announced. Russia earlier said it would facilitate an IAEA mission to the plant amid warnings from the UN’s nuclear agency of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops.

• However, a senior Russian diplomat said that any such IAEA mission could not pass through the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, and through the frontline as it was too dangerous, according to Russian news agencies. The UN says it has the logistics and security capacity to support a visit by experts.

• Five Europeans face trial on mercenary charges in separatist-controlled Donetsk, Ukraine. Mathias Gustafsson of Sweden, Vjekoslav Prebeg of Croatia, and Britons John Harding, Andrew Hill and Dylan Healy all pleaded not guilty to charges of being mercenaries and “undergoing training to seize power by force”, according to Russian media reports. They could face the death penalty under the laws of the self-proclaimed, unrecognised Donetsk People’s Republic.

• Three civilians were killed and two wounded by an explosive device while swimming in the Black Sea in the Ukrainian southern region of Odesa, local police said. People working on a construction site reportedly ignored barriers and warning signs on a beach in the Belhorod-Dnistrovskyi district and went swimming in the sea. Three men aged 25, 32 and 53 were killed and another man and a woman were wounded, police said.

• The British military is training 10,000 Ukrainian soldiers in marksmanship, battlefield first aid and urban warfare. British trainers aim is to turn raw recruits into battle-ready soldiers in a matter of weeks. The first batch arrived last month and have already been sent back to replenish depleted Ukrainian units. Canada, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Nordic nations have also sent trainers.

• The Moscow-appointed administration in Ukraine’s Kherson region plans to hold a referendum on 11 September, according to Kremlin sources. Referendums are also planned in three other Ukrainian regions – Donetsk, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia – where Moscow aims to annex the territories and declare them to be a new region of Russia.