Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron on Friday agreed on the need to send a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, according to the French presidential office. In a phone conversation, the two leaders also agreed to have discussions before the deployment of an inspection mission. Read about the day’s events as they unfolded on our liveblog. All times Paris time (GMT+2).
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9:10pm: Russia has ‘no moral right’ to sit at G20, says UK
Russia has no moral right to sit at the Group of 20 nations while it presses on with its invasion of Ukraine, a spokesperson for Britain’s foreign ministry has said.
The declaration came hours after Indonesian President Joko Widodo said Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping would attend the upcoming G20 summit. Indonesia currently holds the rotating G20 presidency.
Britain has, however, objected to Russia’s participation. “Russia has no moral right to sit at the G20 while its aggression in Ukraine persists,” the foreign ministry spokesperson said.
Indonesia has come under Western pressure to exclude Putin from the G20 gathering after announcing in April he had been invited.
But Jakarta has maintained a neutral position and called for a peaceful resolution to the Russian invasion, with Widodo visiting both Kyiv and Moscow earlier this year.
6:17pm: ‘Maintenance’ to halt Nord Stream gas deliveries for three days, Gazprom says
Nord Stream gas deliveries to Europe will be halted from August 31 to September 2 for “maintenance”, Russian energy giant Gazprom said Friday, amid fears of winter energy shortages in Europe.
“It is necessary to carry out maintenance every 1,000 hours” of operation, Gazprom said in a statement.
6:14pm: With lack of battlefield progress, Putin appears willing to negotiate
FRANCE 24 international affairs editor Philip Turle discusses the outcomes and stakes of the latest phone conversation between French President Emmanuel Macron and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin.
Concerning Putin’s agreement on the need for an IAEA inspection mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Turle says, “We need to think why this is taking place now. If you look at the situation in Ukraine, as far as the Russians are concerned, they are becoming more and more the victims of attacks in Crimea.”
On the eastern Ukrainian front, the Russians have not progressed, says Turle. “This could be an effort by Vladimir Putin to try to show that he’s willing to try to negotiate because he’s been the missing link in this call for an IAEA team to visit the nuclear plant.”
6:04pm: US announces new military aid package to Ukraine
The US defence department has announced a new $775 million package of military equipment and ammunition for Ukraine, including HIMARS missiles, artillery and mine-clearing systems.
“We want to make sure that Ukraine has a steady stream of ammunition to meet its needs, and that’s what we’re doing with this package,” a senior US defence official told reporters in Washington.
5:28pm: Putin agrees to reconsider IAEA nuclear plant visit via Ukraine, says France
More details on the Macron-Putin phone conversation are coming in from the French presidential office. Macron’s call to his Russian counterpart was justified due to the serious safety risk to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which is subject to combat activity, an official at the French presidency told journalists in a briefing.
Macron, who last called Putin in May, has been criticised in the past for keeping up diplomatic talks with the Russian leader despite his decision to invade Ukraine and actions by the Russian army that international observers have qualified as war crimes.
The Élysée presidential palace official added that during the call, in which the two leaders agreed on the need to send an IAEA mission to the plant, Putin expressed his readiness to reconsider a previous demand that the mission should travel to the site via Ukraine, which is what Kyiv and its Western partners want.
4:42pm: Putin and Macron agree IAEA inspection of Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant
In his phone conversation with his Russian counterpart, French President Emmanuel Macron “reiterated his concern about the risks to nuclear safety and security” posed by the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, said the French readout of the call.
Macron “supported sending an IAEA expert mission to the site as soon as possible, under conditions agreed by Ukraine and the United Nations”, noted the readout. Russian President Vladimir Putin “indicated his agreement to the deployment of this mission and the terms and conditions mentioned”, the statement added.
The two presidents agreed to continue their talks in the coming days.
4:16pm: Putin, Macron discuss Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant crisis in phone call
Russian President Vladimir Putin and French President Emmanuel Macron discussed the situation in Ukraine in a phone call on Friday, the Kremlin said.
According to the Kremlin readout of the call, Putin said shelling of the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine, which he blamed on Kyiv, created the risk of “large-scale catastrophe”.
The Russian president also told Macron about continuing obstacles to supplying Russian food and fertilizer products to world markets.
4:07pm: Two Russian villages evacuated after fire at munitions depot
A fire at a munitions depot near the Russian village of Timonovo has led to the evacuation of two villages in Russia’s Belgorod region on Ukraine’s northeastern border, according to a local official.
The blaze was the latest in a series of destructive incidents on Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine or inside Russia itself.
Roughly 1,100 people reside in the villages of Timonovo and Soloti, around 25 kilometres (15 miles) from the Ukrainian border. There were no casualties in the blaze late Thursday, Belgorod regional governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said.
The fire came days after another ammunition depot exploded in Crimea, a Russian-occupied territory on the Black Sea that Moscow annexed in 2014.
2:45pm: Electricity at Zaporizhzhia plant belongs to Ukraine, says Guterres
At the press briefing in Odesa, UN chief Guterres was asked about possible Russian plans to divert power from the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine to the Russian power grid.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant must be demilitarised, Guterres replied. “Obviously the electricity from Zaporizhzhia is Ukrainian electricity and it’s necessary especially during the winter for the Ukrainian people. And this principle must be fully respected,” he said.
2:28pm: ‘Still a long way to go’ to enable grain access, says Guterres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for “massive and generous support” to enable full global access to Ukrainian food products and Russian food and fertilisers after a UN-brokered food export deal opened up three designated Ukrainian ports.
At a briefing in the Black Sea port of Odesa, Guterres said developing countries needed help to purchase such grain and called for unimpeded access to global markets for Russian food and fertilisers that are not subject to sanctions.
“This is an agreement between two parties locked in bitter conflict. It is unprecedented in scope and scale. But there is still a long way to go on many fronts,” he said.
“It is time for massive and generous support so developing countries can purchase the food from this and other ports – and people can buy it,” he said.
The grain export deal, the only significant agreement between Russia and Ukraine since Moscow invaded in February, has so far seen 25 boats carrying around 600,000 tonnes of agricultural products depart from three designated ports, according to Ukrainian officials.
1:44pm: Tales of death, destruction and ensuing despair pervasive in Kharkiv
Nearly six months into its war on Ukraine, the Kremlin has still failed to capture Kharkiv, though it hasn’t given up. The already near-constant shelling since the start of the invasion has only intensified in recent days. Moscow denies targeting civilians, claiming instead to have bombed a temporary base for foreign mercenaries in Ukraine’s second-largest city. Click on the video player below for more.
10:59am: Ukraine says Russia plans to disconnect nuclear plant’s blocks from grid
Ukraine’s Energoatom state nuclear company said on Friday Russian forces planned to switch off the functioning power blocks at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and to disconnect them from the Ukrainian power grid.
In a statement, Energoatom said it believed that Russia, which controls the power plant in southern Ukraine, was preparing to conduct a “large-scale provocation” there. Moscow itself accused Kyiv of preparing a “provocation” at the site on Thursday.
10:33am: Food accumulated at Odesa port will take a long time to ship out
An agreement in July between the United Nations,Turkey, Russia, and Ukraine to lift a blockade of Ukrainian grain shipments allowed exports to resume in the beginning of August.
“Since the agreement was reached . . . . almost four weeks ago now . . . twenty-five ships are reported to have sailed from Odesa’s ports in that period — 600,000 tons of grain, soya, sunflower oil and other products- but that is not enough. There is so much food that has accumulated at the Odesa Sea Port that it’s going to take a long time to clear it, probably well into next year, even if they step up the number of ships departing”, reports Rob Parsons, FRANCE 24’s chief foreign editor.
9:04am: Russia bombarding Kharkiv to keep Ukraine from using forces elsewhere, says UK
Russia is keeping up steady bombardment of the northeastern Kharkiv front to tie down Ukrainian forces and prevent them from being used for counter-attacks in other regions, Britain’s defence ministry said on Friday.
Kharkiv, some 15 km (9 miles) from Russian front lines, has been consistently shelled since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as it is within range of most Russian artillery, it said in a daily intelligence bulletin.
Seventeen people were killed and 42 injured in two Russian attacks in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, on Wednesday and Thursday, the regional Ukrainian governor said. Russia denies deliberately targeting civilians in what it calls a “special military operation” in Ukraine.
12:20am: Biden administration readying about $800 million in additional security aid for Ukraine, say sources
President Joe Biden’s administration is readying about $800 million of additional military aid to Ukraine and could announce it as soon as Friday, sources familiar with the matter said on Thursday.
Biden would authorise the assistance using his Presidential Drawdown Authority, which allows the president to authorise the transfer of excess weapons from US stocks, the sources told Reuters.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that an announcement could occur next week, cautioning that weapons packages can change in value before they are announced.
8:45pm: Russian ammunition depot ablaze near Ukraine border
Two Russian villages were evacuated on Thursday after a fire broke out at an ammunition depot near the border with Ukraine, local authorities said.
“An ammunition depot caught fire near the village of Timonovo,” less than 50 kilometres (30 miles) from the Ukrainian border in Belgorod province, the region’s governor Vyacheslav Gladkov said in a statement.
No casualties were reported, but residents of Timonovo and the nearby village of Soloti were “moved to a safe distance”, he said, adding that authorities were investigating the cause of the fire.
6:31pm: Erdogan says he discussed ways to end Ukraine conflict with Guterres, Zelensky
Turkish President Erdogan said he discussed possible ways of ending the war between Ukraine and Russia in a trilateral meeting with his Ukrainian counterpart Zelensky and UN chief Guterres.
He also said they discussed the exchange of prisoners of war between Ukraine and Russia, and that he would later raise the issue with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“We attach great importance to this issue…of what happened to the exchange of these captives,” Erdogan told reporters at a joint press conference in Lviv.
6:05pm: Zaporizhzhia plant must be demilitarised, says Guterres
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for the demilitarisation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and said he was gravely concerned by the situation inside and around the facility.
Speaking to reporters in Lviv following talks with Ukrainian President Zelensky and Turkish President Erdogan, the UN chief called for the withdrawal of all military equipment and personnel from the plant.
“The facility must not be used as part of any military operation. Instead, agreement is urgently needed to reestablish Zaporizhzhia’s purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the safety of the area,” said Guterres.
Russia and Ukraine have blamed each other for shelling the nuclear plant, which was captured by Russian forces in early March.
4:52pm: Zelensky seeking formulas for defusing Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant crisis
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky invited UN chief Antonio Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks “because he was impressed by their persuading (of) Russian President Vladimir Putin to set up the grain export operation”, explains FRANCE 24’s Turkey correspondent Jasper Mortimer, referring to the Black Sea Grain Initiative.
“Erdogan is known to have a certain influence with Putin, and I think Zelensky and Guterres will explore with Erdogan possible formulas for defusing the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant,” Mortimer added.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
