Investigators from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) have arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar on Thursday, amid “increased military activity in the area” and following several delays.
Ukraine has accused Russia of shelling Enerhodar, as well as the agreed upon route of the UN team. Meanwhile, Russia’s defence ministry has accused Ukrainian “saboteurs” of trying to seize the plant.AEA inspectors arrive at Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
UN inspectors from have arrived at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southeastern Ukraine.
A Reuters reporter saw the IAEA team arrive at the plant in a large convoy with a heavy presence of Russian soldiers nearby.
The delegation had been delayed after reports of fighting earlier on Thursday around Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, which Russian has controlled since March.Red Cross denied access to prisoners at Russian-held town Olenivka: ICRC chief
Red Cross officials have failed to secure access to Ukrainian prisoners of war held in the Russian-controlled town of Olenivka where dozens were killed in an attack in July, the head of the international aid group has said.
Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over the missile strike or explosion in the front-line town of Olenivka in eastern Donetsk that killed prisoners held by Moscow-backed separatists.
ICRC Director-General Robert Mardini told reporters in Kyiv that the group was engaged in intense negotiations with Russian authorities, but had not been granted access to those POWs and also lacked security guarantees to carry out such a visit.
The Red Cross registered 1,800 people taken from the besieged Azovstal steel works in the Ukrainian port of Mariupol, with the understanding that it would be allowed to visit them, but that has not been possible, he told a news conference.Putin will not attend Gorbachev funeral: Kremlin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the funeral of the last Soviet leader, Mikhail Gorbachev, on Saturday because of schedule constraints, the Kremlin has said.
In a call with reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin had paid his respects on Thursday morning by visiting Moscow’s Central Clinical Hospital, where Gorbachev died on Tuesday.
Putin offered a muted response following’s the death of Gorbachev, who ushered in the end of the Cold War and opening to the West, which coincided with the collapse of the Soviety Union.
Putin has called the dissolution of the Soviet Union the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the century”.Finland cuts tourist visas for Russians
Finland has slashed the number of visas issued to Russian citizens to a tenth of the regular amount, a decision announced in August that went into effect a day after EU foreign ministers agreed to make it more difficult for Russians to receive visas.
Finland, which shares the longest border with Russia of all European Union member countries, announced the decision in August amid growing pressure from politicians and ordinary citizens to restrict the movement of Russian tourists through the Nordic country.
“It’s important that we show that at the same time when Ukrainians are suffering, normal tourism shouldn’t continue business as usual,” Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said during EU foreign ministers meeting meeting in the Czech capital Prague on Wednesday.
On top of its visa decision, the Finnish Foreign Ministry said the government is currently exploring the possibility of helping Russian human rights defenders, civil society members and journalists critical to the Kremlin by establishing a new kind of humanitarian visa enabling them to access the Nordic country.Lavrov warns Moldova about threats to peacekeepers
Russia’s foreign minister has warned that any actions seen as endangering a Russian peacekeeping contingent in a separatist region of Moldova would be considered an attack on Russia itself.
Sergey Lavrov’s statement in an address at Russia’s top foreign affairs school underlined concerns that Moldova’s Transnistria region, which borders Ukraine, could be drawn into the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Russia has stationed peacekeepers there since the 1992 end of a three-month war that left Transnistria outside Moldovan control. Russian forces also guard a large ammunition dump in the region. In April, tensions in Moldova soared after a series of explosions in Transnistria.Russian energy giant Lukoil says chairman dies after ‘serious illness’
Russian oil producer Lukoil has said on Thursday its chairman Ravil Maganov had died following a “serious illness”, after Russian media cited sources saying the 67-year-old died after falling out of a hospital window.
“We deeply regret to announce that Ravil Maganov … passed away following a serious illness,” Lukoil said in a statement without providing further details about his death.
A source familiar with the situation also told Reuters news agency Maganov had died after falling from a window.