WAR IN UKRAINE: September 10, 2022
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS: Day 199
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog has expressed concern at the increasingly precarious situation at the Zaporyzhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Shelling is continuing in the area. The plant is currently occupied by Russian forces. Rafael Grossi said shelling had knocked out power in the nearby city of Enerhodar which fed the plant, and it was unlikely to be restored. The operator was considering switching off the last reactor, Mr Grossi said. This would make the plant totally reliant on emergency diesel generators to prevent a nuclear accident. "This is an unsustainable situation and is becoming increasingly precarious..." he said in a statement. "This is completely unacceptable. It cannot stand” - BBC
Russian rockets have pounded the second-largest city in Ukraine, Kharkiv. Live fire hit residential and educational buildings and injuries have been reported. Elsewhere in the region, Ukrainian forces say they have regained ground. Thirty settlements have been retaken from Russian forces, President Volodymyr Zelensky said.
UN mission to visit Olenivka prison in coming days. Plans are underway for a group of experts led by UN political affairs chief Rosemary di Carlo to visit the Olenivka prison in Donetsk Oblast where over 50 Ukrainian prisoners of war were killed in a Russian explosion on July 29. U.S. intelligence suggests that Russia may plant U.S.-provided ammunition at the site of the explosion to falsely accuse Ukraine of the attack, Washington Post reported in August - Kyiv Independent
Meanwhile, Ukraine is dissatisfied with the composition of the UN mission, which is supposed to investigate the circumstances of the death of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Olenivska colony, Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets said. "It is obvious that only such a composition of the mission could satisfy Russia, and today we saw the statement of the deputy head of the Russian Foreign Ministry Andrii Rudenko on the discussion of the details of the trip, routes and composition" - he said.
Separately, the chief of the UN human rights mission in Ukraine has accused Russia of failing to allow access to prisoners of war (POWs) and said it has evidence of ill-treatment and torture of Ukrainian prisoners, RFE/RL reported
EU Budget Commissioner Johannes Hahn has asked EU member states to step up their financial support to Kyiv next year because Russia's war “is very likely" to continue - RFE/RL
