Ukraine ‘controls 1,300 sq km of Kursk territory’ as Russian fuel depot on fire: Live

Flighting between Russia and Ukraine has left a nuclear plant located in western Russia vulnerable as it lacks a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, the UN nuclear watchdog said.

Rafael Grossi, director general at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said the “danger or possibility of a nuclear accident has emerged near here”, during his visit to the Kursk Nuclear Power Plant outside Kurchatov town.

He said the nuclear facility, similar to the Chornobyl plant in Ukraine, lacks the containment dome and protective structure found in modern nuclear power plants.

“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,” Mr Grossi 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.”

Nato secretary general Jens Stoltenberg will convene a meeting of the Nato-Ukraine Council today at Kyiv’s request, a spokesperson for the military alliance said.

“The meeting will be held at the 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.

The “meeting comes after recent waves of heavy Russian strikes against Ukrainian civilians and infrastructure,” Ms Dakhlallah said in an emailed statement.

“Nato Allies have delivered substantial support to Ukraine’s air defence and they are committed to further bolstering Ukraine’s defences,” she added.

Ukraine has taken 594 Russian soldiers prisoner during its three-week military operation in the Kursk region and now controls 100 settlements inside Russia, according to the country’s commander-in-chief.

General Oleksandr Syrskyi yesterday said Ukrainian troops control 1,294 sq km (500 sq miles) of Russian territory.

He said Moscow has deployed 30,000 troops to fortify the border region and to encircle Ukraine’s forces to stop them from making further inroads.

Ryan Evans, a British safety adviser for the Reuters news agency, has been identified as the man killed in a missile strike on Hotel Sapphire in Kramatorsk, eastern Ukraine on Saturday.

Evans had extensive experience advising journalists on safety in conflict zones, including Ukraine and Israel. He also worked on coverage of the Paris Olympics.

He had previously worked as an operations manager for the UK Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Office in Libya for nine years. According to his LinkedIn profile, Evans was originally from Cheshire in the UK.

My colleague Maroosha Muzaffar has more in this report:

Ukraine has invested $7bn in domestic arms procurement in 2024 so far, according to defence minister Rustem Umerov.

The spending was largely focused on drones, robotic and electronic warfare systems, which have “already yielded tangible results on the battlefield”, he said at a Ukraine 2024 Independence event in Kyiv.

“One of our priorities is long-term planning; we are creating a Defence Forces model based on Nato standards, implementing digital solutions, and modernising the military,” Mr Umerov said.

“We are also deepening cooperation with allies in the Ramstein format [Ukraine Defence Contact Group]. The key task is to obtain permission to strike Russian targets with [Western] long-range weapons.”

Volodymyr Zelensky has warned that “the Olympics are over, but the ping pong continues” as he urged Western allies to allow Kyiv to let Ukraine strike deep inside Russia to hit military infrastructure responsible for strikes on Ukraine.

Russia fired dozens of missiles and drones across Ukraine for a second day on Tuesday, including some that Ukraine’s president said were shot down by Western-supplied F-16 fighter jets before they reached their targets.

The onslaught killed at least five people, destroying a hotel, homes and residential buildings as well as critical infrastructure in multiple Ukrainian regions. Kyiv and other cities had power outages in sweltering heat.

As it often does in statements after Russian bombing raids, Ukraine’s military listed the Russian regions and occupied territories where the weapons were launched.

“[The allies] try not to speak with me about it. But I keep raising this topic. Generally, that’s it. The Olympics are over, but the ping-pong continues,” Mr Zelensky said.

At least three people have died in a Russian strike on a hotel in Kryvyi Rih, a mining and industrial city in Ukraine’s south.

The airstrike injured five others yesterday and destroyed shops and four multi-storey buildings, according to governor Serhii Lysak.

Residents are evacuating their homes as Russia closes in on the strategically important city of Pokrovsk in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region.There are fears the city will fall in the coming weeks.

Pokrovsk is a road and rail hub and a city with a pre-war population of 60,000 people, tens of thousands of whom remain even as many evacuate.

Moscow says it has annexed Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region, a claim Kyiv rejects as illegal, and sees taking control of Pokrovsk as an important stepping stone to incorporating the entire region into Russia.