Ukraine

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Ukrainian forces on Friday claimed new success in their counteroffensive against Russian forces in the country’s east, taking control of a sizeable village and pushing toward an important transport junction. The United States’ top diplomat and the head of NATO noted the advances, but cautioned that the war is likely to drag on for months.

KYIV, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The European Union on Thursday condemned the detention of a senior diplomat to Belarus who attended the trial of opposition activists in the capital Minsk as "unacceptable and deplorable".

Evelina Schulz, chargée d’affaires of the EU delegation in Minsk, was detained by Belarusian police for more than two hours on Tuesday as she exited court after the public reading of verdicts in an otherwise closed-door trial, a spokesperson for the EU's diplomatic service said.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The head of Ukraine’s atomic energy operator accused Russia on Thursday of trying to “steal” Europe’s largest nuclear plant by cutting it off from the Ukrainian electricity grid and leaving it on the brink of a radiation disaster.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been without an outside source of electricity since Monday and receives power for its own safety systems from the only one of its six reactors that remains operational, Enerhoatom chief Petro Kotin told The Associated Press.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken paid an unannounced visit to Kyiv on Thursday as the Biden administration announced major new military aid worth more than $2.8 billion for Ukraine and other European countries threatened by Russia.

KYIV, Sept 7 (Reuters) - In rare public comments Ukraine's military chief warned on Wednesday of the threat of Russia using nuclear weapons in Ukraine, which would create the risk of a "limited" nuclear conflict with other powers.

The war in Ukraine that began with Russia's invasion on Feb. 24 was likely to rage on into next year, General Valeriy Zaluzhnyi said in an article co-authored by lawmaker Mykhailo Zabrodskyi and published by state news agency Ukrinform.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — Russia resumed shelling near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, a local official said Wednesday, a day after the U.N. atomic watchdog agency pressed for the warring sides to carve out a safe zone there to prevent a catastrophe.

The city of Nikopol, on the opposite bank of the Dnieper River from Europe’s largest nuclear plant, was fired on with rockets and heavy artillery, regional Gov. Valentyn Reznichenko said. The report could not independently verified.

Kyiv, Sep 7 (AP/PTI) The UN atomic watchdog agency has urged Russia and Ukraine to establish a nuclear safety and security protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia power plant amid mounting fears the fighting could trigger a catastrophe in a country still scarred by the Chernobyl disaster.

We are playing with fire, and something very, very catastrophic could take place, Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, warned the UN Security Council, days after leading an inspection visit to the plant.

KYIV/VIENNA, Sept 6 (Reuters) - Ukrainian officials said they would announce on Tuesday a major new military success in the east of the country, an unexpected advance just a week after Kyiv declared a big new counter-offensive hundreds of kilometres away in the south.

"Tonight there is going to be great news from President Zelenskiy on (the) counteroffensive operation in Kharkiv region," Zelenskiy advisor Serhiy Leshchenko said on Twitter, referring to the northeastern province around Ukraine's second biggest city.

KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — The U.N. atomic watchdog agency urged Russia and Ukraine on Tuesday to establish a “nuclear safety and security protection zone” around the Zaporizhzhia power plant amid mounting fears the fighting could trigger a catastrophe in a country still haunted by the Chernobyl disaster.

KYIV, Sept 5 (Reuters) - The final working reactor at the vast Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was disconnected from Ukraine's grid on Monday after Russian shelling disrupted power lines, state nuclear company Energoatom said.

The imperilled six-reactor facility in southern Ukraine, which is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, was captured by Moscow in March, but is still run by Ukrainian staff.

"Today, as a result of a fire caused by shelling, the (last working) transmission line was disconnected," Energoatom said in a statement on Telegram.