Russian energy minister says price cap will lead to shipping more Russian oil to Asia
A worker walks from the Sans Vitesse accommodation towards the gas receiving compressor station of the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany, on Tuesday, Aug 30, 2022.
Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Russian energy minister Nikolai Shulginov said the country will ship more oil to Asia in response to price caps on its oil exports, Reuters reported.
“Any actions to impose a price cap will lead to deficit on (initiating countries’) own markets and will increase price volatility,” he told reporters at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, according to Reuters.
Last week, the G-7 economic powers agreed to cap the price of Russian crude to punish Moscow for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Before the invasion, Russia exported approximately half of its crude and petroleum product exports to Europe, according to the International Energy Agency.
— Natalie Tham
Zelenskyy vows ‘response’ for attack on hometown, applauds destruction of Russian missile warehouse
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commended Ukrainian fighters who destroyed a Russian missile warehouse and vowed action following an attack on his hometown.
“I especially want to thank the fighters of one of our rocket artillery brigades who with their accurate fire destroyed the very Russian warehouse from which the occupiers got S-300 missiles to bomb Kharkiv,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to his official Telegram and translated by NBC.
Zelenskyy added that the “occupiers will definitely get a response” for Monday’s missile attack on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih, and the continued shelling across other territories.
— Samantha Subin
Macron urges French to cut energy use 10% to avoid rationing
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for a 10% reduction in France’s energy use in the coming weeks to avoid rationing and cuts amid tensions with supplier Russia, according to the Associated Press.
Energy rationing plans are being prepared “in case” they’re needed, and that “cuts will happen as a last resort,” he said at a news conference.
“The best energy is that which we don’t consume,” Macron said, urging French businesses and households to save energy, including by turning down heating and air conditioning, the AP said.
Speaking after a videoconference Monday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Macron announced a plan to boost gas supplies to Germany from France to make up for a drop in Russian gas supplies from the east.
Germany will continue supplying power to France to make up for shortages caused by maintenance on many French nuclear reactors.
—AP
Ukraine’s nuclear plant reportedly disconnected amid Russian shelling
A motorcade transporting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) expert mission, escorted by the Russian military, arrives at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine, September 1, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters
The last working reactor at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine was switched off from the country’s grid on Monday amid Russian shelling, Reuters reported on Monday, citing the state’s nuclear company Energoatom.
“Today, as a result of a fire caused by shelling, the (last working) transmission line was disconnected,” Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram, the news agency reported.
An International Atomic Energy Agency spokesperson told NBC News that they were informed the reserve line was deliberately cut off in order to stop a fire but will be reconnected once the issue is resolved.
Zaporizhzhia, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was captured by Russian forces earlier this year but continues to host a Ukrainian workforce.
Herman Galushchenko, the country’s minister of energy said in a post on his official Facebook account that the last line was disconnected as a result of shelling and subsequent fire.
“The world is once again on the brink of a nuclear disaster,” he wrote, according to a translation from NBC News. “The de-occupation of the ZNPP and the creation of a demilitarized zone around it is the only way to ensure nuclear safety.”
— Reuters, NBC News
Boris Johnson says Ukraine will defeat Russia in outgoing call
Boris Johnson told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine can and will defeat Russia in his final call as U.K. prime minister.
Johnson, who on Monday was replaced as leader of the Conservative Party by Liz Truss, pledged to maintain a close friendship with Zelenskyy even as he leaves office.
“The Prime Minister told President Zelenskyy it had been a privilege to work with him and support him, and the leaders agreed to stay in close touch as friends,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
— Karen Gilchrist
Zelenskyy thanks Boris Johnson as Truss named prime minister
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanked outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson after Conservative Party members chose its next leader on Monday.
“On behalf of all [Ukrainian] people, I thanked him for his personal bravery, principles & a major contribution to countering RF’s aggression,” Zelenskyy wrote in a tweet posted to his Twitter account. “I look forward to cooperation with a great friend of [Ukraine] in a new status.”
It comes as Britain picked Liz Truss on Monday to serve as the country’s new prime minister.
— Samantha Subin
Russia ‘hasn’t been sufficiently held accountable’ for crimes in Ukraine, Vindman says.
Russia “hasn’t been held sufficiently accountable” for its war crimes in Ukraine, Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman told CNN’s “New Day” on Monday.
“We could just say this is a disastrous human toll imposed by Russia, imposed by an illegal war, a barbarous war, an unprovoked war,” the retired officer said during an interview with his brother, Lt. Col. Yevgeny Vindman. “And again, Russia hasn’t been sufficiently held accountable yet. There are efforts to undertake that through sanctions. Ukrainians are doing that on the battlefield by delivering major defeats in terms of thwarting Russians objectives. This war’s far from done, but that’s clearly happening.”
Yevgeny Vindman, who has been traveling intermittently to Ukraine, said he expects accountability. While some prosecutions have already kicked off, the world will be handling Russia’s war crimes for “quite some time into the future,” he said.
“So, the short answer is there will be accountability,” he said. “The law of war is a mechanism under internal law, frankly where one of the few available now since the Russians have a veto on the security council and they can’t be held accountable in the U.N., where they can be held accountable under international law, whether they like it or not. And I have no doubt there will be accountability.”
— Samantha Subin
European Union is running low on weapons, top diplomat warns
Ukrainian Military Forces servicemen stand by a Next generation Light Anti-tank Weapon (NLAW) Swedish-British anti-aircraft missile launcher before taking part in a drill at the firing ground of the International Center for Peacekeeping and Security, near the western Ukrainian city of Lviv on January 28, 2022.
AFP | Getty Images
The EU is burning through its weapons stocks as countries in the bloc send billions of dollars worth of arms to Ukraine in its fight against Russia’s invasion, warned Josep Borrell, the EU’s high representative for foreign affairs and security policy.
“The military stocks of most member states has been, I wouldn’t say exhausted, but depleted in a high proportion, because we have been providing a lot of capacity to the Ukrainians,” Borrell said during a discussion with other EU officials.
He stressed the need for better coordination between the bloc’s member states on spending, saying that the supply of weapons “has to be refilled. The best way of refilling is doing that together. It will be cheaper.” This would also avoid unnecessary and expensive duplications, he said.
Borrell added that the situation would be better today had the EU started training Ukrainian soldiers well before Putin’s invasion, as some member states had requested in 2021 due to signs of a growing threat from Russia.
“Unhappily we didn’t, and today we regret,” taking those preemptive measures, he admitted. “We regret that last August we were not following this request.”
— Natasha Turak
Kremlin doesn’t expect ‘anything positive’ for Russia-UK relations under new prime minister
The Kremlin does not have high hopes for its relations with the U.K. after a new prime minister is chosen, Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov told media when asked about the selection of Britain’s new head of government.
“I don’t think we can hope for anything positive,” Peskov said regarding the impact on U.K.-Russia relations.
“I wouldn’t like to say that things can change for the worse, because it’s hard to imagine anything worse,” he said, speaking before the next prime minister was revealed.
Following the remarks, Liz Truss was named the next U.K. prime minister after a long and drawn-out contest leadership contest.
Britain’s Foreign Secretary Liz Truss leaves at the end of a cabinet meeting in Downing Street in London on July 5, 2022.
Justin Tallis | Afp | Getty Images
Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was a staunch supporter of Ukraine, pledging the provision of more than £3.8 billion ($4.6 billion) in aid and weapons to the country as of late August. He also oversaw numerous sanctions imposed on Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine.
The U.K. is Kyiv’s second-largest backer in terms of financial and weapons aid after the U.S., and Johnson in August urged whoever succeeds him to “stick with Ukraine.”
Peskov, when asked if Russian President Vladimir Putin would congratulate the next British leader, he said, “Let’s wait and see who becomes prime minister.”
— Natasha Turak
Moscow warns of ‘retaliatory measures’ in response…
Read More: EU warns of depleted weapon stocks; Macron urges French to cut energy use by 10%