Latest Ukraine war: Putin’s energy grid attacks condemned as ‘nuclear terrorism’

Speaking on Friday, Mr Zelensky described the situation in Pokrovsk as “difficult”, while also denying recent Russian claims that the devastated city is under siege after more than a year of intense fighting.

He acknowledged that some Russian units had infiltrated, but also said that Ukrainian defenders were actively “taking them out”.

President Zelensky said yesterday that Ukraine’s foreign intelligence service has identified a list of 339 Ukrainian children abducted by Russia, as well as individuals and groups responsible for their deportation.

The Ukrainian president said, “The foreign intelligence service has a list of 339 children. In addition to locating them, I have asked my intelligence to provide data that would be indisputable to the Russians.”

“Within a week or two, we will have a document listing all 339 children – with addresses, names and the institutions that took them and tried to erase their identities,” he said.

Zelensky said Kiev would seek international sanctions against those responsible for the abduction, who will be named in an upcoming report.

“It is important that those responsible – individuals and institutions – face consequences,” he said.

Disinformation experts have warned that Russian intelligence services are using methods similar to ISIS to recruit operatives using social media.

The Center for Countering Disinformation on Telegram said in a report that Russian intelligence is running targeted psychological operations on social media directed at people within the EU using a playbook similar to that used by ISIS between 2013 and 2019.

The report said campaigns are targeting marginalized Russian-speaking groups with religious or nationalist narratives in order to coax them into online communities where radicalization occurs using disinformation.

According to the report, individuals recruited into the EU are given small tasks such as gathering and delivering intelligence about key infrastructure in efforts to create a network of “disposable agents”.

The Trump administration is expected to further cut the number of US troops stationed in Eastern Europe next month.

A smaller number of troops are likely to be withdrawn from Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia in what the Pentagon has called an “appropriate” recalibration of the US presence on the continent. Kyiv post The report quoted Western officials with knowledge of the matter.

The earlier US decision to withdraw a brigade from Romania had already faced bipartisan backlash, with both Republicans and Democrats warning that the move could embolden Moscow.

Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen said, “This decision sends exactly the wrong signal to Vladimir Putin as he continues his murderous campaign in Ukraine and tests NATO’s resolve through provocations against other border states.”

Republican Senator Mike Turner also urged a “strong and determined” US presence in Europe amid Russia’s aggressive stance.

“Russia’s aggressive actions against eastern flank countries through deliberate airspace incursions underscore Russia’s ambitions beyond Ukraine,” Turner said.

Volodymyr Zelensky said yesterday that Ukrainian agents had destroyed a Russian Oresnik ballistic missile inside Russia last summer.

The Ukrainian president said Kiev’s spies destroyed the nuclear-capable missile at the Kapustin Yar missile range in Russia’s Astrakhan Oblast, one of the key sites where Moscow tests its secret weapons.

Zelensky said Russia is capable of producing six such missiles per year, which Moscow wants to deploy in Belarus.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has claimed that Western air defense systems are not capable of intercepting the nuclear-capable Orasnik missile, which has an estimated range of up to 5,000 km.

Energy ministers of the Group of Seven (G7) countries today issued a joint statement condemning Russia’s attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, calling the attacks “nuclear terrorism.”

Ministers representing the UK, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the US said Russia’s attacks on substations powering Ukraine’s nuclear plants “continue to have devastating social, environmental and economic consequences for the Ukrainian people”.

“Russia’s recent attacks on Ukraine’s natural gas infrastructure pose a risk to communities and human life, undermining civilian infrastructure and the energy security of the Ukrainian people,” the G7 statement said.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Sviridenko said that with winter approaching, Moscow’s “goal is to plunge Ukraine into darkness”.

“Russia continues its systematic energy terror – attacking the lives, honor and warmth of the Ukrainian people on the eve of winter,” Sviridenko said.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Russia’s attacks on substations affected Ukraine’s “nuclear safety and security.”

The IAEA said it had conducted a “thorough inspection” of one of the targeted substations supplying electricity to a Ukrainian nuclear power plant (NPP).

It today confirmed damage to the substation’s equipment and determined that it “had a negative impact on the reliability of the off-site power supply to the Ukrainian NPP”.

IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi said, “Attacks on Ukraine’s power grid represent an ongoing threat to nuclear security and the security of all nuclear facilities in Ukraine.”

Geolocated footage shows Ukrainian forces making modest advances north of Pokrovsk even after Russia deployed an estimated 170,000 troops to encircle and capture the city.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said, “There are Russians in Pokrovsk. Our people are destroying them, destroying them slowly – because we have to protect our personnel as well.”

“All their forces are present there,” he said.

According to the Institute for War Studies, Ukrainian forces have made some progress with their counter-attacks in Eastern Rodynske, north of Pokrovsk.

Ukrainian troops are also launching counter-attacks against Russian incursions in North Pokrovsk and Eastern Rih, just east of Pokrovsk.