Push for Kherson symbolizes Ukraine’s cautious confidence
Ukraine said this week it had launched a counteroffensive aimed at recapturing Kherson – the only Russian-held city west of the Dnieper River – casting a cloud of uncertainty over the progress of the effort, never mind whether it will succeed. Oleksiy Arestovych, a key adviser to the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, stressed there would be no “quick wins” as the offensive in the south began. Speaking on condition of anonymity, Western officials said Ukraine had “pushed back” Russian defenders in “several places” but insisted it was too early to name villages captured or distances gained while the fighting was ongoing. Caution may be realistic, but it’s also indicative, explains Dan Sabbagh. This is not, by any means, a blitzkrieg or a broad frontal attack, but rather a local effort to strike at the most obvious strategic vulnerability in the Russian frontline and try to prove that Ukraine can drive the Russians back to places before the winter. is installed. On Thursday, Lorenzo Tondo in Kyiv and Julian Borger reported new details of the counterattack. Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Ukraine has recaptured more than 1,000 square kilometers of territory and more than 20 villages in the south and east. This is the first time Kyiv has disclosed details of its latest counterattack since last week, so as not to jeopardize the operation. Dan Sabbagh writes that the counterattack took Russia and everyone else by surprise.
The UN is calling for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhia plant
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which includes the withdrawal of Russian occupation troops and an agreement by Ukrainian forces not to enter, Lorenzo Tondo reported this week from Lviv. Guterres was speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on Tuesday, where he backed the recommendations of Rafael Mariano Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), who led an inspection visit to the occupied Zaporizhia plant and this week submitted report to the security council. The report confirmed the presence of Russian soldiers and military equipment at the plant and noted that the integrity of the plant had been breached multiple times. “We’re playing with fire and something very, very catastrophic could happen,” Grossi said. This is why in our report we propose the creation of a nuclear safety and protection zone that will be limited to the perimeter and the plant itself.” UN Atomic Energy Agency inspectors at the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Photo: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters Guterres said that, as a first step, Russian and Ukrainian forces should cease all military operations around the plant. “As a second step, an agreement on a demilitarized perimeter should be secured,” he added. “Specifically, this will include a commitment by Russian forces to withdraw military personnel and equipment from that perimeter and a commitment by Ukrainian forces not to enter.” The plant was seized by Russian forces in early May and has recently been the target of sustained bombing, raising the risk of a nuclear disaster. Ian Sample spoke to Professor Claire Corkhill about what this could mean for Zaporizhzhia, what the risks were if the plant lost external power and how a nuclear meltdown could be avoided.
Russia’s war expands as Gazprom cuts supply to Europe
While Vladimir Putin’s bloody military offensive has stalled in Ukraine, an energy war is raging, threatening an all-out power struggle in which the West seeks to cap the price of Russian oil and the Kremlin cuts gas supplies to Europe. The unpredictable conflict, in which both sides are deploying unconventional weapons of economic warfare, shows the extent to which Russia’s hybrid war in Ukraine has expanded into new territory, writes Patrick Wintour. Gazprom, Russia’s state monopoly gas supplier, said this week a routine maintenance check revealed an oil leak in the main gas turbines in the compressors on the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline, which carries gas from Siberia to northern Germany via the Baltic Sea. Gazprom said the leak would take an indefinite amount of time to fix, following countless other unusually long maintenance outages. The Russian announcement – seen in the West as a piece of transparent blackmail – came hours after G7 finance ministers hammered out a complex plan to put a cap on Russian oil prices. Employee at an oil tank facility in the Czech Republic. Vladimir Putin said Europeans could “freeze like a wolf’s tail”. Photo: Martin Divíšek/EPA Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov later admitted that the resumption of gas supplies from Russia “undoubtedly” depends on the West lifting its sanctions. And on Wednesday, during a bellicose speech at an economic conference in Vladivostok, Vladimir Putin threatened to cut off all gas, oil and coal deliveries to Europe if he imposed a price cap on Russian energy imports. Recalling a Russian fairy tale, the president said Europeans could “freeze like a wolf’s tail”. Andrew Roth covered the address from Moscow. “We will offer absolutely nothing if it goes against our interests,” Putin said in one of his most belligerent and provocative speeches since the start of the war. “We will not supply natural gas, oil, coal, heating oil – we will not supply anything.” The Russian leader has powerful destructive levers at his disposal. It has cut supplies to just 20% of normal levels in Nord Stream 1, contributing to a huge spike in gas prices as European countries try to store as much natural gas as possible before winter. The question is whether he intends to continue playing with Europe by occasionally threatening to cut supplies, or instead go for the jugular by cutting off gas supplies altogether. Russia maintained gas supplies to Europe even at the height of the Cold War. Instead, the pipeline has now been shut down twice since the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Truss takes over
Jennifer Rankin, Isobel Koshiw and Pjort Sauer report on how Moscow and Kyiv have reacted to Britain’s new prime minister. Liz Truss’s arrival in Downing Street was greeted with disdain and thinly veiled condescension from the Kremlin, but an outpouring of praise in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin’s chief spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, raised concerns that relations could deteriorate in comments to reporters shortly before Truss was announced as the winner of the Tory leadership race. “I would not like to say that things can change for the worse, because it is difficult to imagine anything worse,” Peskov said when asked if Moscow expected any change in relations with Britain. “But, unfortunately, this cannot be ruled out.” Ukrainian politicians, however, offered an exuberant welcome. President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said UK-Ukraine relations were already at “an unprecedented high level”.
Ukrainians start school in Germany
Liudmyla Mashkova has been leading a class of Ukrainian students, aged 12 to 17, since April. They are located in Potsdam, a German city just west of Berlin, where the Helmholtz Gymnasium, or high school, has given them space and resources. Ukrainian students in the classroom in Berlin. Photo: Maja Hitij/Getty Images Mashkova, a secondary school teacher from Kyiv, has been hired to teach German in one of the thousands of willkommensklassen, or welcome classes, set up in schools across the country. Kate Connolloy says she fled the war in Ukraine in early March with her 16-year-old son and five-year-old daughter, leaving behind her husband, an officer in the Ukrainian army. Like her students, mostly from southern and eastern Ukraine, Mashkova hoped for a quicker end to the war. Now they are back together at the start of the new school year, with only a few changes to the classroom makeup.
