IAEA investigation finds no indication of undeclared nuclear materials in Ukraine
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shakes hands with International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi, who is to head a planned mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, in Kyiv, Ukraine August 30, 2022.
Ukrainian Presidential Press Service | via Reuters
The International Atomic Energy Agency concluded its inspection of three nuclear sites in Ukraine and said it found no evidence of undeclared nuclear activities or materials.
“Over the past few days, the inspectors were able to carry out all activities that the IAEA had planned to conduct and were given unfettered access to the locations,” the IAEA said in a statement. “Based on the evaluation of the results available to date and the information provided by Ukraine, the Agency did not find any indications of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the locations.”
The inspectors also collected environmental samples, which will provide additional information on the presence, both past and present, of nuclear materials, according to the agency.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi “stressed that the IAEA remained ready to conduct further such verification activities in Ukraine to verify the absence of undeclared activities and materials and thereby deter any misuse of such materials,” according to the statement.
Following the announcement, Ukrainian Foreign Affairs Minister Dmytro Kuleba tweeted that the results of the inspection confirmed Russia’s “status of the world’s top liar.”
Ukraine requested the inspections to dispel Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu’s claims that Ukraine was planning to use a “dirty bomb,” which contaminates surrounding areas with radiation, making them uninhabitable.
— Rocio Fabbro
Illegal evacuation of Ukrainians from Kherson continues as Russian soldiers move in, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry says
People attend an event marking the declared Russia’s annexation of the Russian-controlled territories of four Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, after holding what Russian authorities called referendums in the occupied areas of Ukraine that were condemned by Kyiv and governments worldwide, in Luhansk, Russian-controlled Ukraine, September 30, 2022.
Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters
The Russian evacuation of Ukrainian citizens from Kherson is still taking place through forced displacement tactics, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry.
“To encourage people to move, they are offered so-called ‘housing certificates’ for the purchase of housing in the Russian Federation,” the ministry said in a Telegram post.
Local residents are “forcibly evicted” from their homes, as Russian plain-clothed soldiers move into vacated apartments and houses, the ministry said.
Children were removed from boarding schools in Kherson and taken to Crimea, the ministry said. Other Russian “collaborators and representatives” have also been resettled in boarding houses along the Arabat Spit, which lines the Sea of Azov on the northeastern border of Crimea.
The Russian military “is searching for vacant premises for resettlement” in occupied areas of Ukraine, the ministry said.
Human Rights Watch released a report on Sept. 1 detailing the forcible transfer of civilians from Ukraine’s Mariupol and the Kharkiv region to Russia and Russian-occupied territories. Forced displacement and transfer of civilians, as described in the report, is a violation of international humanitarian law and can be prosecuted as a war crime.
— Rocio Fabbro
7 vessels carrying agricultural products to leave Ukraine as part of revived export pact
A photograph taken on October 31, 2022 shows a cargo ship loaded with grain being inspected in the anchorage area of the southern entrance to the Bosphorus in Istanbul.
Ozan Kose | AFP | Getty Images
The organization overseeing the export of Ukrainian agriculture products said that seven vessels will depart the besieged country, adding to the haul that has gone out since Russia agreed to rejoin a pact that secured shipping routes.
The ships leaving under the Black Sea Grain Initiative are carrying 290,102 metric tons of grain and food products.
Three vessels are destined for China, one will travel to Spain and another to Oman. One ship will arrive in Italy and another will travel to The Netherlands.
On Saturday, Moscow suspended its participation in the Black Sea Grain Initiative, citing retaliation for Kyiv’s “act of terrorism” against Russian warships. Moscow returned to the deal on Wednesday.
The Black Sea Grain Initiative, a deal brokered in July among Ukraine, Russia, Turkey and the United Nations, eased Russia’s naval blockade and saw the reopening of three key Ukrainian ports.
— Amanda Macias
‘We do not want to see more weapons go into that theater,’ U.N. says of U.S. claims that North Korea may supply Russia with weapons
Stephane Dujarric, spokesperson for the UN Secretary-General attends a press briefing at UN Headquarters.
Lev Radin | Pacific Press | Lightrocket | Getty Images
The United Nations said it was concerned about reports that North Korea is preparing to transfer weapons to Russia for its war in Ukraine.
“Our feeling is that we do not want to see more weapons go into that theater,” Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for the U.N. secretary-general, said during a daily press briefing.
Dujarric’s comments follow White House allegations that North Korea has agreed to supply Russian President Vladimir Putin with weapons.
“We don’t believe that this will change the course of the war,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a conference call.
“It’s certainly not going to change our calculus,” Kirby said, adding that the U.S. and its allies will continue to supply Kyiv with more weapons.
Kirby said that the U.S. also had indications that Iran was preparing to send Russia more drones as well as surface-to-surface missiles.
Iran and Russia have sharply denied reports that Tehran supplied Moscow with a fleet of drones for use in Ukraine, and the Kremlin has repeatedly denied that it uses Iranian-made drones to target residential and other civilian areas.
— Amanda Macias
Ukraine says it trusts Musk’s Starlink but is looking for other providers
Elon Musk said Friday that SpaceX cannot continue fund Starlink terminals in Ukraine “indefinitely” in light of the cost. However, Musk, who is also CEO of electric car company Tesla, he said Saturday that SpaceX will keep funding the Ukrainian government “for free” even though Starlink is “still losing money.”
Adrees Latif | Reuters
Ukraine trusts Elon Musk to continue providing internet access through his SpaceX rocket company’s Starlink satellite system despite a wobble last month, but is also seeking additional providers, one of its deputy prime ministers said.
Mykhailo Fedorov, in Portugal for Europe’s largest tech conference, the Lisbon Web Summit, said Ukraine had discussed Starlink directly with Musk and was confident the Tesla and Twitter boss would not shut the service down in Ukraine.
Starlink has “worked, is working and will definitely work in Ukraine”, Federov, who runs Ukraine’s digital transformation ministry, told a news conference in response to a question about the service from Reuters. “Elon Musk publicly spoke about this and we had a conversation with him about it, so we do not see a problem in this regard,” Fedorov said.
“One of the reasons why I came to the Web Summit is also to look for new partners and continue to develop and engage with new partners,” he said.
SpaceX activated Starlink over Ukraine after Russia’s invasion in February and has since provided Kyiv with thousands of terminals, allowing Ukrainians to hook up to the internet in places out of reach of the domestic telecoms system. The links are used both by civilians and by Ukraine’s military.
— Reuters
Russian troops are frustrated with combat vehicles they call aluminum cans, UK says
Destroyed russian Infantry fighting vehicle near the road in Kharkiv region, Ukraine. October 02, 2022.
Nurphoto | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Russian soldiers fighting in Ukraine are likely to be frustrated that they are forced to serve in old infantry combat vehicles, according to the U.K.’s Ministry of Defence.
In its latest intelligence update, the ministry said troops often refer to such vehicles as aluminum cans, and that Russia was losing armored vehicles at a rapid rate.
“In mid-October, in the face of Ukrainian offensives, Russian armoured vehicles losses increased to over 40 a day: roughly equivalent to a battalion’s worth of equipment,” the ministry noted on Twitter.
“In recent weeks Russia has likely resorted to acquiring at least 100 additional tanks and infantry fighting vehicles from Belarussian stocks.”
Armored units and artillery are central to Russia’s way of war, the U.K. said, and Russia’s forces were “now struggling partially due to difficulties in sourcing both artillery ammunition and sufficient serviceable replacement armoured vehicles.”
— Holly Ellyatt
Russian-installed official: Russian units likely to quit west bank of Dnipro river
A Russian-installed official in Ukraine’s southern Kherson region said on Thursday that Russia’s armed forces were likely to quit the western bank of the Dnipro river, where Moscow has been evacuating citizens in recent weeks.
“Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left (eastern) bank,” Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, said in an interview with Solovyov Live, a pro-Kremlin online media outlet.
The city of Kherson, the only major Ukrainian city that Russian forces have captured intact, is located on the western bank of the Dnipro. Damage to the main river crossings means Russian units are at risk of being pinned against the river by the advancing Ukrainian army.
People arrived from Kherson wait for further evacuation…
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