Russia-Ukraine war live: world ‘dangerously close to a nuclear accident’ amid Zaporizhzhia attacks

A Russian service member stands guard at a checkpoint near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in 2023

LIVE – Updated at 09:09

Head of IAEA issues warning as Ukraine and Russia trade accusations over Europe’s biggest nuclear plant.

09:09

Mike Johnson, the US House speaker, has unveiled a complicated proposal for passing wartime aid for Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan, rejecting pressure to approve a package sent over by the Senate and leaving its path to passage deeply uncertain.

The Republican speaker huddled with fellow GOP lawmakers on Monday evening to lay out his strategy to gain House approval for the funding package.

Facing an outright rebellion from conservatives who fiercely oppose aiding Ukraine, Johnson said he would push to get the package to the House floor under a single debate rule, then hold separate votes on aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan and several foreign policy proposals, according to Republican lawmakers.

However, the package would deviate from the $95bn aid package passed by the Senate in February, clouding its prospects for final passage in Congress.

You can read the full story here:

Warnings over nuclear danger after attacks on Zaporizhzhia power plant

09:05

As we reported in our opening summary, Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, has accused Russia of a “a well-planned false-flag operation” endangering the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP).

The power plant reportedly suffered at least three direct strikes on 7 April and another drone attack at the plant’s nearby training centre on 9 April, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to warn of a “major escalation” in nuclear danger.

Russia has claimed that Ukrainian drones carried out the April attacks on the nuclear power plant, allegations Kyiv rejects.

“What happened at the ZNPP on 7th and 9th of April 2024 and thereafter was a well-planned false-flag operation by the Russian Federation,” Kyslytsya said at a UN security council meeting last week.

“It was aimed at shifting the focus from the above root cause and the only way to remove all threats to nuclear safety and security, and that is de-occupation of the station.”

“The Russian Federation attempts to hide its own guilt and move our debate to fabricated issues designed to blame Ukraine in the hope of removing the issue of de-occupation from the agenda.”

The nuclear plant was captured in the early stages of the two-year-long war, and despite occasional efforts to reconnect to the Russian energy grid its reactors have gradually been put into shutdown.

The IAEA said on 13 April that all six of the plant’s reactors had been moved into a state of cold shutdown, but the IAEA head, Rafael Mariano Grossi, has said “reckless attacks” significantly increase the risk of a “major nuclear accident” and called for them to stop immediately.

08:46

Germany’s chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has said he hoped Berlin and Beijing could help achieve a “just peace” in Ukraine, as he met his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, in the Chinese capital.

Meeting with Xi at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse on Tuesday, Scholz told the China’s president that he hoped to discuss “how we can contribute more to a just peace in Ukraine”.

Scholz – who arrived in China on Sunday in his second visit to the country since taking office – told Xi that “the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine and Russia’s armament have a very significant negative impact on security in Europe”, according to a recording provided by the chancellor’s office.

“They directly affect our core interests,” he told Xi, adding they “damage the entire international order because they violate a principle of the United Nations Charter”.

China and Russia declared a “no limits” partnership in February 2022 when Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin, visited Beijing just days before he launched his full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

US officials have recently said that China was helping Russia in the production of drones, space-based capabilities and machine-tool exports vital for producing ballistic missiles.

Opening summary

08:39

Hello and welcome to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.

Ukraine’s UN ambassador, Sergiy Kyslytsya, has accused Russia of a “a well-planned false-flag operation” endangering the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, as the two countries traded accusations at the UN security council over alleged attacks on Europe’s largest nuclear power station.

The Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant reportedly suffered at least three direct strikes on 7 April and another drone attack at the plant’s nearby training centre on 9 April.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, said, without attributing blame, that the “reckless” attacks had put the world “dangerously close to a nuclear accident”.

“Let me put it plainly. Two years of war are weighing heavily on nuclear safety” at the plant, he was also quoted as saying.

Ukraine and its allies on Monday again blamed Russia for dangers at the site. “Russia does not care about these risks … If it did, it would not continue to forcibly control the plant,” US deputy ambassador Robert Wood told the security council.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused one another of targeting Zaporizhzhia since it was captured by Russian forces in the first weeks of Moscow’s full-scale invasion in Februrary 2022 (though both sides deny attacking it).

We will have more on this story shortly. In other developments:

Volodymyr Zelenskiy has called on allies to show Ukraine the same unity they displayed in helping Israel fend off Iranian attacks. The Ukrainian president issued a fresh plea for air defences to protect against Russian strikes on cities and infrastructure. Zelenskiy said: “Israel is not a member of Nato … and no one was drawn into the war,” he said. “They simply helped save lives. Shaheds [drones] in the skies of Ukraine sound just like in the skies of the Middle East. Ballistics strike the same everywhere if not shot down.” Western allies have hesitated to send additional air defences to Ukraine which needs 26 Patriot systems for full protection. Germany has pledged to deliver one additional system.

In the US, the House speaker, Mike Johnson, has unveiled a proposal to separate out Ukraine military aid from other assistance for Israel and Taiwan, instead of passing a $95bn combined bill that already has Senate approval. The US president, Joe Biden, called on the House to take up the Senate funding package immediately: “They have to do it now.” Johnson insisted the House would this instead this week consider separate bills for Ukraine, Israel and Indo-Pacific security.

Johnson said the new House bills provide roughly the same amount of foreign aid as the Senate bill but would include differences including some aid in the form of a loan. However, critics say it amounts to further unnecessary delay as the Senate bill was passed two months ago. “If House Republicans put the Senate supplemental [spending bill] on the floor, I believe it would pass today, reach the president’s desk tonight and Israel would get the aid it needs by tomorrow,” said the Senate Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer.

Air defence systems destroyed all nine drones launched in a Russian attack across eastern and southern regions, the Ukrainian air force said on Tuesday morning.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said he would discuss a “just peace” in Ukraine with the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, as the two leaders met in Beijing on Tuesday.

The US has imposed sanctions on 12 Belarus entities and 10 individuals, accusing them of supporting Russia’s war on Ukraine. The treasury department said among the entities targeted was a machine tool building firm, a company selling control systems for the Belarus armed forces, and another producing radio communication equipment.

Asylum claims from Russians, including soldiers who have deserted, have surged since the full-scale invasion but few are winning protection, the Associated Press has reported. In France, asylum requests rose more than 50% between 2022 and 2023, to a total of about 3,400 people, according to the French office that handles the requests. In 2023, Germany got 7,663 first-time asylum applications from Russian citizens, up from 2,851 in 2022. US Customs and Border Patrol officials encountered more than 57,000 Russians at US borders in fiscal year 2023, up from about 13,000 in fiscal year 2021. The Independent Russian media outlet Mediazona has documented more than 7,300 cases in Russian courts against deserting soldiers since September 2022; cases of desertion leapt sixfold in 2023, AP said.