Explosions in Kyiv as Zelensky says Putin is afraid to use nuclear weapons: Live

The management of the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station said Ukrainian forces had launched a new attack on a nearby electricity substation, destroying a transformer yesterday.

Russia seized the Zaporizhzhia station, Europe’s largest with six reactors, in the early days of its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Each side regularly accuses the other of attacking or plotting to attack the plant.

Yesterday, an artillery strike hit a transformer at the “Raduga” substation in the town of Enerhodar in southeastern Ukraine, the plant’s management said on Telegram.

It described the incident as “yet another terrorist act aimed at destabilising the situation in the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant’s satellite city”. A photograph shared by authorities showed smoke billowing from the top of a building. It said power supplies to Enerhodar had not been interrupted.

The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, has stationed monitors permanently at the plant and urged both sides to refrain from all attacks on it.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov says amendments to Russia’s nuclear doctrine have been prepared and are about to be formalised.

“The amendments have been prepared, and will now be formalised,” Mr Peskov told a Russian state TV reporter yesterday.

Last week, president Vladimir Putin warned the West that under proposed changes to the doctrine Russia could use nuclear arms if it was struck with conventional missiles and would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power to be a joint attack.

Mr Peskov cited the international situation, escalating tensions near Russia’s borders and the growing proximity of Nato infrastructure to them, and what he called the deeper involvement of Western nuclear powers’ in the Ukraine war on Kyiv’s side, as the backdrop for the changes to the doctrine.

He did not mention Russia’s arms imports from Iran and North Korea, including drones and ballistic missiles, which are widely reported to have been used to strike Ukrainian cities.

More than 100 Ukrainian drones were shot down over Russia yesterday, officials said.

Russia’s ministry of defence reported that it had shot down 125 drones overnight across seven regions. The southwestern region of Volgograd came under particularly heavy fire, with 67 Ukrainian drones reportedly downed by Russian air defences.

The barrage of drones sparked a wildfire and set an apartment block alight in one of the largest barrages seen over Russian skies since Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.

Of these, 17 drones were also seen over Russia’s Voronezh region, where falling debris damaged an apartment block and a private home, said governor Aleksandr Gusev. Photos posted on social media showed flames rising from the windows of the top floor of a high-rise building. No casualties were reported. A further 18 drones were reported over Russia’s Rostov region, where falling debris sparked a wildfire, said governor Vasily Golubev.

Russia never confirms the full extent of damage or loss to life caused by Ukrainian attacks, especially those that succeed in causing military losses.

Three days before his communist government turns 75, China’s foreign minister warned fellow leaders Saturday against an “expansion of the battlefield” in Russia‘s war with Ukraine and said the Beijing government remains committed to shuttle diplomacy and efforts to push the conflict toward its end.

Russian attacks on Ukraine killed three people and injured at least 45 more over the past day, regional authorities said on Sept 30.

Two people were killed in the villages of Lysivka and Shevchenko in the Donetsk region, with three injured across the region.

One person was killed and 12 injured in the Kherson region, where Russian forces targeted 17 towns and cities including Kherson city itself.

An air strike on Zaporizhzhia in southeastern Ukraine injured at least 16 people, including two boys aged 17 and eight, while damaging residential buildings and a railway.

Ten people were injured in the northeastern Sumy region as a result of guided aerial boom and FPV drone attacks, The Kyiv Independent reported.

President Volodymyr Zelensky has praised the “professional, brave and resilient” Ukrainian medics, who are central in helping the country “stand against Russian territory”.

He posted a handful of powerful pictures alongside the message on Monday.

Lithuania has requested the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate their neighbours, Belarus, over alleged crimes against humanity.

The Lithuanian justice ministry said on Monday it was asking the ICC to open an investigation into alleged crimes committed by the regime of authoritarian leader and Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko.

Lithuania accuses Lukashenko and Belarus of “forced deportation, persecution of persons and other cruel behaviour which is contrary to the main norms of international law”, Reuters reported.

Lukashenko’s regime has ruled Belarus since 1994 and has long been an ally of Putin. Around 300,000 Belarusians have been forced to flee the country due to the nature of the regime.

Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the exiled opposition leader who is recognised by Lithuania as the legitimate leader of Belarus, said: “The crimes committed by this regime, from forced deportations to illegal arrests and torture, cannot go unpunished. Lithuania’s courage gives us hope that the world is finally holding the regime accountable for its atrocities.”

Tsikhanouskaya ran against Lukashenko in the August 2020 presidential election and was forced to flee the country after he was declared the winner.

Western governments denounced the result as fraudulent.

Russia aims to draft 133,000 servicemen between October and January after a new decree signed by president Vladimir Putin on Monday.

Men aged 18 to 30 will be eligible for draft as part of the autumn conscription campaign, The Kyiv Independent reported.

In autumn 2023, the conscription campaign included people who lived in the annexed regions of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia.

Russia is likely recruiting around 30,000 people per month to the war effort, the UK defense ministry said in March.

Kyiv went through multiple waves of drone attacks over Sunday night, the city’s authorities said.

An air raid alert was in place in the capital from 1am until just after 6am this morning, as Ukrainian air defense systems battled the drones.

Vitalii Klitschlo, the mayor of Kyiv, warned residents shortly before 5am to “stay in shelters” due to a wave of drones “over and near the capital”, The Kyiv Independent reported.

There have been no casualties or damage to the city reported.

Ukraine’s Air Force said Russian forces launched 73 Shahed-type drones across Ukraine overnight, with 67 intercepted.

Serhii Popko, head of the Kyiv City Military Administration, said: “All Russian attack drones that threatened Kyiv were neutralized.” It is not clear how many drones attacked Kyiv.

Volodymyr Zelensky has said his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin is afraid to use nuclear weapons because “he loves his life”.

“Nobody knows what’s in his head,” Mr Zelensky said in the interview with Fox News. “He could use nuclear (weapons) on any country at any time – or not. (But) I don’t think that he will,” he said.

Putin warned the West last week that under proposed changes to its nuclear doctrine, Russia could use atomic weapons if it were struck with conventional missiles – saying it would consider any assault on it supported by a nuclear power as a joint attack.

The warning has been viewed as a direct response to the discussions among Western leaders, including prime minister Keir Starmer and US president Joe Biden, about allowing Kyiv permission to strike Russia with long-range weapons supplied by the West.