The shelling resumed near Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, with the warring parties again blaming Wednesday, a day after the UN atomic bomb watchdog insisted on a safe zone there to prevent catastrophe. Follow the FRANCE 24 live blog for the latest developments. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
10:45 PM: Ukrainian Zelensky claims recapture of settlements near Kharkiv
Ukrainian forces have recaptured several settlements in the Kharkov region of the country’s northeast, Volodymyr Zelensky said in his daily address to the nation.
“This week we have good news from the Kharkiv region,” the Ukrainian president said, adding that “now is not the right time to name those settlements where the Ukrainian flag has returned”.
The Kharkiv region has been partially occupied by Russian forces since the invasion began on February 24. But observers have reported a breakthrough of Ukrainian troops in the region in recent days, with no official confirmation of the potential gains.
The city of the same name – Ukraine’s second largest – is regularly targeted by deadly bombing raids, but Russian forces have never been able to capture it.
10.35 p.m.: ‘Credible’ accusations of Ukraine children forced to move to Russia, UN says
The UN human rights agency says there are credible allegations that Moscow troops brought children from Ukraine to Russia for adoption as part of large-scale forced relocations and deportations.
“We are concerned that the Russian authorities have adopted a simplified procedure to grant Russian citizenship to children without parental care, and that these children are eligible for adoption by Russian families,” said Ilze Brands Kehris, the assistant secretary of state. UN General for Human Rights. , told the Security Council on Wednesday.
“There are credible allegations of forcible transfer of unaccompanied minors to Russian-occupied territory or to the Russian Federation itself,” she said.
9:30 p.m.: Putin says Ukraine helps Europe grain deal at the expense of poorer countries
“Almost all” Ukrainian grain shipped under a UN-backed deal to alleviate a global food crisis reaches rich European countries, Russian Vladimir Putin claimed, accusing the West of cheating developing countries.
The UN has hailed the deal as the world’s best chance to alleviate an acute global food crisis fueled by the Black Sea grain blockade. But Moscow has expressed growing frustration with the way the agreement is being implemented.
“Almost all grain exported from Ukraine is not sent to the poorest developing countries, but to EU countries,” Putin told an economic forum in the Russian port city of Vladivostok.
Data collected by a joint center in Istanbul following the July agreement shows that just over a third of the grain is delivered to European countries and another 20 percent to Turkey. It also showed that 30 percent reached “low and low-middle income countries” around the world.
More shipments are expected to arrive in famine-stricken parts of Africa and the Middle East under the UN World Food Programme, which is just getting underway.
8:55 p.m.: Ukraine admits hitting Russian military bases in Crimea
Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, the Supreme Commander of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has admitted for the first time that Ukraine has carried out rocket attacks on Russian military bases in annexed Crimea.
Major explosions at Saki Air Force Base in Crimea last month, killing at least one person and destroying military aircraft equipment, are being declared an accident by Moscow.
But analysts have said satellite images pointed to a likely attack by Ukrainian forces, with no public acknowledgment by Kiev officials at the time.
Ukraine has “successfully carried out missile strikes on enemy military bases, including Saki airport,” Zaluzhnyi wrote in an article published Wednesday by state-run Ukrinform news agency. of the Crimea.
5:20 p.m.: Putin praises Asia as pivotal threat to the West
FRANCE 24 regional correspondent Nick Holdsworth has more on Vladimir Putin’s comments earlier today, in which he threatened to cut gas and oil supplies to Western countries that impose a price cap on supplies from Russia.
Speaking at an economic forum earlier today, Putin sought to target allies in Asia, the Middle East and Africa as his country faces a barrage of Western sanctions.
Holdsworth summed up the Russian leader’s pitch: “What Putin is saying is, ‘Okay, you in the West want to pressure us. Well, we just won’t sell you what you need. You have to go through a really hard, cold winter, and we have new partners right here in the far east of Russia that we can interact with, trade with, work with.”
03:14
4:55 p.m.: Russian ruling party proposes November 4 annexation votes for occupied Ukraine
President Vladimir Putin’s ruling United Russia party has proposed holding referendums on Nov. 4 to annex areas occupied by Moscow’s forces in Ukraine.
“It would be appropriate and symbolic” to hold the votes on Nov. 4, Russia’s Day of National Unity, party secretary general Andrey Turchak said on his website.
After the votes, he said: “Donetsk, Lugansk and many other Russian cities will finally return to their home ports. And the Russian world, now separated by formal borders, will regain its integrity.”
2:50 pm: West provokes Russia, Erdogan says. from Turkey
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the West of organizing “provocations” against Russia, saying he understands Moscow’s decision to cut off natural gas supplies to Germany through the Nord Stream pipeline.
“I can say very clearly that I think the attitude of the West – not naming names – is correct, because it is a policy based on provocations,” Erdogan told reporters during a visit to Belgrade. “As long as you try to wage such a provocation war, you will not be able to get the desired result.”
Erdogan has maintained good working relations with Russia’s Vladimir Putin as he tried to remain neutral in the conflict and provide Ukraine with weapons and combat drones. He has tried to use his open relations with both Moscow and Kiev to mediate talks.
“As Turkey, we have always had a balanced policy between Ukraine and Russia. From now on, we will continue to follow that balanced policy,” he said.
Read more analysis about the war in Ukraine © Studio graphique France Médias Monde
(FRANCE 24 with Reuters, AP and AFP)