Ukraine Russia war latest: Kyiv ‘controls 100 settlements in Kursk’ amid reports of new cross-border attack

The head of the international nuclear watchdog has said Russia’s Kursk power plant is especially vulnerable to a serious accident after visiting on Tuesday.

The UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi told reporters at the site, which Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine tried to attack last week, lacks a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones or artillery.

“This means that the core of the reactor containing nuclear material is protected just by a normal roof. This makes it extremely exposed and fragile, for example, to an artillery impact or a drone or a missile,” he said.

“So this is why we believe that a nuclear power plant of this type, so close to a point of contact or a military front, is an extremely serious fact that we take very seriously.”

The RBMK-type facility – the same model as the Chornobyl plant in Ukraine that witnessed the world’s worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986 –

Although the facility is the same model as the Chornobyl plant – which witnessed the world’s worst civilian nuclear disaster in 1986 -, Grossi said it would be an exaggeration to equate Kursk with Chornobyl.

“But this is the same type of reactor and there is no specific protection. And this is very, very important. If there is an impact on the core, the material is there and the consequences could be extremely serious.”

Whereas a typical containment dome could resist an impact as powerful as that of a falling aircraft, Grossi said, the Kursk design was “completely different”.

“This is like the building across the street, all right? With all this nuclear material. So this is why I’m drawing this comparison, because I think it’s relevant.”

The NATO-Ukraine council will meet on Wednesday at Kyiv’s request, a spokesperson has confirmed.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will convene the meeting which will brief allies on the frontline situation, spokesperson for the Western military alliance said on Tuesday.

“The meeting will be held at ambassadorial level,” said the spokesperson, Farah Dakhlallah. “Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov is expected to brief Allies via video-link on the battlefield situation and priority capability needs,” she added.

The NATO-Ukraine Council was established last year to enable closer coordination between the alliance and Kyiv. Ambassadors from NATO’s member countries and Ukrainian officials normally attend meetings of the council.

“Tomorrow’s meeting comes after recent waves of heavy Russian strikes against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure,” Dakhlallah said in an emailed statement seen by Reuters.

Slovakia has withdrawn protection it had given a Ukrainian-Israeli citizen who is accused of running a pro-Russian influence campaign, the Slovak Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.

Artem Marchevskyi was granted temporary protection in Slovakia earlier this year, after losing that same status in the Czech Republic which he had received following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as part of European Union efforts to help those fleeing the fighting.

Czech intelligence services say Marchevskyi ran the Czech-registered Voice of Europe news website, used for spreading anti-Ukrainian propaganda and disinformation.

After a review, Slovak authorities cancelled his protection in July, according to a report in Czech daily Denik N.

“Cancelling of the temporary refuge was preceded by an examination of facts that fulfilled conditions for its cancellation,” the Slovak ministry said in an emailed statement to Reuters, without giving further details.

Russia has warned the US about the risks of World War Three after accusing the country of helping Ukraine launch its attack on the Kursk border region on 6 August.

Russia’s foreign minister said that the west was “asking for trouble” by allowing Ukraine to strike deep into Russia with Western missiles

Sergei Lavrov cautioned the US that a third world war “would not be confined to Euroupe”.

“We are now confirming once again that playing with fire – and they are like small children playing with matches – is a very dangerous thing for grown-up uncles and aunts who are entrusted with nuclear weapons in one or another Western country,” Lavrov told reporters in Moscow on Tuesday..

“Americans unequivocally associate conversations about Third World War as something that, God forbid, if it happens, will affect Europe exclusively,” Lavrov said.

The White House has condemned a missile attack in Ukraine that injured Reuters journalists and killed a safety adviser for the news agency.

A National Security spokesperson offered the White House’s condolences following the attack over the weekend.

“We condemn this attack in the strongest of terms and extend our deepest condolences to @Reuters on the loss of one of their own,” NSC spokesperson Sean Savett wrote.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Sunday that the Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk had been hit by a Russian Iskander, a ballistic missile that can strike at distances up to 500 km.

Reuters was not able to independently verify if the missile that hit the hotel was fired by Russia, or if the strike on that building was deliberate.

Ryan Evans, a member of the Reuters team covering the war in Ukraine, was killed and two Reuters journalists were injured in a strike on a hotel in the eastern Ukrainian city, the news agency said on Sunday.

Evans was working as a safety adviser for the agency.

A fifth person has now died in Ukraine after Russia launched an overnight attack for the second night in a row.

Ivan Fedorov the regional administration head of Zaporizhzhia, said an elderly woman has now died in hospital after suffering “severe burns”. The Ukrainian authorities earlier said four people had died and 16 were injured.

Volodymyr Zelensky has vowed Ukraine will respond after Russian launched 10 missiles and 81 drones during the assault.

The head of the international nuclear watchdog has said there was a risk of a “nuclear incident” after visiting Russia’s Kursk power plant on Tuesday.

The UN nuclear agency chief Rafael Grossi told reporters that the situation was serious after he “independently assessed” the site, which Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine tried to attack last week.

Kyiv has taken control of 100 Russian settlements as troops continued its offensive into Russia’s Kursk region, a top military commander claimed.

Gen Oleksandr Syrskyi said Ukrainian troops control 1,294 sq km (500 sq miles) of Russian territory and has taken 594 prisoners of war.

Last week, President Zelensky said Ukraine controlled more than 1,250 sq km of Russian territory.

The head of the international nuclear watchdog will visit a nuclear power plant in Kursk on Tuesday, which Vladimir Putin claimed Ukraine tried to attack last week.

Rafael Grossi, chief of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said he will “independently assess what is happening” at the Russian power plant.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday that Ukraine’s demands to the West to allow it to strike deep into Russia with Western weapons amounted to blackmail.

Lavrov also said that Russia was “adjusting” its nuclear weapons doctrine, and that it was dangerous for Western nuclear powers to be “playing with fire”.