Ukraine war in Newsblog | Drone explodes in small Russian town

Day 395 since the beginning of the war: Putin has announced the stationing of tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus – and apparently receives regular deliveries of drones. All information in the news blog.

11.30 p.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on the population to give more support to the soldiers in the war against Russia. “The situation at the front is always the focus of our attention,” Zelenskyj said in a video speech on Sunday evening. “It is wrong and unfair when our soldiers, who come back from the front, have the feeling that the war is already over for many in the rear.” What is meant above all are people who live far away from the combat zones, “and who are mentally far away from the trenches”.

10:30 p.m.: According to Russian information, a Ukrainian drone exploded in a small town about 200 kilometers south of Moscow on Sunday. Three people were injured and three residential buildings were damaged, the state news agency Tass reported. There was initially no comment from the Ukrainian side.

“A Ukrainian Tu-141 Strish UAV was the cause of an explosion in the city of Kireyevsk, Tula Region,” Tass quoted an unnamed law enforcement official as saying. The drone was loaded with explosives. A crater was formed during the afternoon explosion in the city center, the agency reports, citing rescue services. The injured are not in mortal danger.

7:49 p.m.: According to their own account, the Ukrainian troops repelled around 50 attacks by Russian units on various front sections in the east of the country on Sunday. According to the General Staff in Kiev, the main focus of the attacks was around the towns of Limansk, Bakhmut, Avdiivka and Marijinsk.

The advances were repelled “with professional and coordinated actions”. The Russian units suffered heavy losses again. The information could not be independently verified.

The Russian military has been trying for weeks to break through the largely rigid front lines in eastern Ukraine. Russia launched a war of aggression against Ukraine in February last year.

5:23 p.m.: Ukraine has called for an immediate special session of the UN Security Council on Russia’s plans to station tactical nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus. The plans are a “further provocative step by the criminal regime” of Kremlin chief Vladimir Putin, the foreign ministry said in Kiev on Sunday. This would undermine the principles of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, the nuclear disarmament architecture and the international security system as a whole.

Russia is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the United Nations’ most powerful body in New York. Ukraine appealed to the four other permanent members – the US, Great Britain, France and China – to adopt measures against “nuclear blackmail”. In addition, Kyiv called on the Group of Seven Economic Powers (G7) and the European Union to warn Belarus about the consequences of such a deployment.”

2:17 p.m.: The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, wants to visit the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is occupied by Russian troops, next week. He decided to visit the nuclear power plant again “to see for himself how the situation has developed since September,” said Grossi on Saturday in Vienna. He also wanted to “talk to those who operate the plant under unprecedented and very difficult conditions”. The situation is “delicate” despite the presence of IAEA experts in the nuclear power plant.

After September last year, this will be Grossi’s second trip to Zaporizhia. The Argentine will be accompanied by experts. In the past there had been several difficulties for the local teams. The nuclear power plant was occupied by troops loyal to Moscow in March 2022, shortly after the start of the Russian war of aggression. Located in the town of Enerhodar, near the front lines, it has come under fire on several occasions. Both sides blame each other for it.