Russia-Ukraine war: Ukrainian military intelligence believes Russia planning ‘provocation’ at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – as it happened

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the United Nations must ensure the security of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant occupied by Russian forces after meeting the UN secretary general, Antònio Guterres and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in Lviv.

• Ukraine’s military intelligence believes that Russia is planning a “provocation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant tomorrow. “The occupiers announced an unexpected ‘day off’ at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. On 19 August, only operative personnel will be at the ZNPP. Entry to all other employees will be closed,” defence intelligence of Ukraine tweeted. Russia has warned it may shut down the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – the largest nuclear reactor in Europe – if Ukraine continues to shell the facility – a claim Kyiv has denied.

• Authorities updated the death toll in the Kharkiv attacks that took place last night and this morning, bringing the total number of people killed to 15. Russian missiles that struck a residential area Wednesday night killed 12 while a strike early this morning killed three. Dozens more were injured.

• Estonia has been hit by extensive cyber-attacks after removing a Soviet-era tank monument from a region whose population is predominantly ethnic Russian, its government has said.

• The Russian military announced today that it has deployed warplanes armed with state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to the country’s Kaliningrad region, a move that has been broadly interpreted as a response to the West arming Ukraine.

• Ukraine’s foreign ministry updated the number of Russian casualties to at least 44,300. Meanwhile, Mediazona, an independent news organisation in Russia, has delved into the background of some of these deaths. Based on social media confirmation by relatives, reports in local media, and statements by the local authorities, Mediazona was able to confirm 5,185 deaths and found that the disproportionate majority of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine came from poor and minority regions of Russia.

• A Russian attack killed one person and injured two in Mykolaiv, a city in southern Ukraine, said the Mykolaiv mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych.

18 Aug 202215.05 EDT

Emma Graham-Harrison

Ukraine’s military intelligence has warned that Russian forces are preparing to stage a “provocation” at a nuclear power plant they control, as the UN secretary general, António Guterres, called for an urgent withdrawal of military forces and equipment from the site.

Guterres, on his second visit to Ukraine since the Russian invasion, joined the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, and the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for meetings and then a press conference in the western city of Lviv.

“We are worried. We don’t want another Chernobyl,” Erdoğan said.

Zelenskiy said he agreed with Guterres on a framework for a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency watchdog to inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. It was taken over by Russian forces in March but is still being run by Ukrainians.

Russia’s foreign ministry rejected a proposal by UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, to demilitarise the area around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, saying it would make the facility “more vulnerable”, Reuters reports.

The inhabitants of two villages in southern Russia near the Ukrainian border were evacuated on Thursday after a nearby ammunition storage depot caught fire but no one was hurt, an official said.

Vyacheslav Gladkov, the governor of Belgorod region, said in a statement that emergency services were investigating the cause of the fire near the settlements of Timonovo and Soloti, 15km (9 miles) from Ukraine, Reuters reports.

A Ukrainian news website posted a video it said showed a large ball of flame erupting from the base.

Russia on Tuesday blamed saboteurs for orchestrating a series of explosions at an ammunition depot in Russian-annexed Crimea, further to the south.

Authorities have updated the death toll in the Kharkiv attacks that took place last night and this morning, bringing the total number of people killed to 15. Russian missiles that struck a residential area Wednesday night killed 12 while a strike early this morning killed three. Dozens more were injured.

“Last night was one of the most tragic of the entire war in the Kharkiv region,” local governor Oleh Synehubov wrote on Telegram.

During the meeting today in Lviv between the leaders of Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations, the families of soldiers from the Azov regiment marched across the city, calling for the return of their loved ones. A number of soldiers from this regiment are being held by Russia since they surrendered in mid-May the Mariupol steel plant they had been defending for weeks.

The families called for Russia to follow the Geneva convention on treatment of prisoners of war and provide their loved ones with what they need.

Earlier this month, Russia’s supreme court on declared the Azov regiment a terrorist organisation, a designation that could lead to terror charges against some of the captured fighters. The regiment has been a key piece of the Russian propaganda narrative about the war in Ukraine, which was originally launched with the alleged goal of “denazification”. The Azov regiment was formed in 2014 as a volunteer militia to fight Russia-backed forces in east Ukraine, and many of its original members had far-right extremist views. However, since then, its commanders say it has moved away from its far-right origins, with the unit integrating into the Ukrainian national guard.

“While continuing our efforts to find a solution, we remain on the side of our Ukraine friends,” the Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, said today.

Erdoğan met Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the UN chief, António Guterres, in Lviv today to discuss, among other things, the deal to unblock the Ukraine’s ports that was brokered by the UN and Turkey. The three leaders also spoke urgently about the rising tensions around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, with Erdoğan warning of the danger of “another Chernobyl” disaster, Agence France-Presse is reporting.

“We are worried. We do not want another Chernobyl,” said Erdoğan.

Erdoğan mentioned Vladimir Putin once in his comments to reporters. “We discussed the exchange of prisoners of war and our initiatives in this regard,” he said. “We will continue to talk about that with Mr Putin.”

The Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, has signed an agreement with Ukraine to help reconstruct infrastructure destroyed by the Russian invasion. Erdoğan is in Lviv today meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskiy and UN chief António Guterres.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy and the UN chief, António Guterres, met in Lviv today to discuss the UN-brokered deal to unblock the country’s ports and the increasing tensions around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. In the meeting, leaders agreed upon the parameters of a possible mission led by the International Atomic Energy Agency to the power plant, which is the largest reactor in Europe.

Zelenskiy told Guterres that this “deliberate and cynical terror on the part of the aggressor could have catastrophic consequences for Ukraine and the whole world”, according to a statement released by the office of the president. They agreed that an IAEA mission “must be carried out in a legal way through a territory free from occupiers”.

Kyiv accuses Moscow, whose forces captured the nuclear plant in March, of using it as a shield from which it shells Ukrainian targets. While Moscow says Ukraine is the one shelling the facility, Kyiv blames Russian forces.

During the meeting, Guterres also told Zelenskiy of a UN fact-finding mission to Olenivka, “where Russia committed a cynical terrorist attack against Ukrainian prisoners of war,” the statement reads. Zelenskiy asked Guterres also to investigate “the issue of compliance by the Russian side with the agreements reached in the context of the withdrawal of Ukrainian defenders from Azovstal”.

Ukraine’s military intelligence believes that Russia is planning a “provocation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant tomorrow.

“The occupiers announced an unexpected ‘day off’ at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station. On 19 August, only operative personnel will be at the ZNPP. Entry to all other employees will be closed,” defence intelligence of Ukraine tweeted.

Kyiv has accused Moscow, whose forces captured the nuclear plant in March, of using it as a shield from which it shells Ukrainian targets. While Moscow says Ukraine is the one shelling the plant – the largest nuclear reactor in Europe – Kyiv says it is Russian forces.

The leaders of Ukraine, Turkey and the UN met in Lviv today to review the grain export deal and discuss the growing tensions around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Here are some photos of the visit:

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