‘Staff shortages’ at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant as Ukraine ‘makes frontline gains’

Ukraine is making gains on the frontline, according to a US war think tank.

Ukrainian forces have had successes as they continue with their counteroffensive near Bakhmut, in western Zaporizhia Oblast, east of Klishchiivka, Andriivka near Bakhmut, and west of Robotyne, said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW).

In its assessment on Wednesday of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it stated: “Ukrainian forces continued counteroffensive operations near Bakhmut and in western Zaporizhia Oblast and reportedly advanced in both sectors of the front on October 11.

“The Ukrainian General Staff reported that Ukrainian forces were successful east of Klishchiivka and Andriivka near Bakhmut.

“The Ukrainian General Staff and Tavriisk Group Commander Brigadier General Oleksandr Tarnavskyi reported that Ukrainian forces improved their tactical positions west of Robotyne.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant has been hit by staff shortages, according to a US war think tank.

Russian occupation authorities are “suffering staff shortages” at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), said the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) on Wednesday.

In its assessment on Wednesday of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, it reported Ukrainian Enerhodar Mayor Dmytro Orlov said only about 2,000 of the 11,000 staff who worked at the ZNPP prior to Russia’s occupation of Enerhodar continue to work there.

Defence Secretary Grant Shapps has said there is “no chance” of losing focus on the war in Ukraine despite conflict in Israel and Gaza.

The Cabinet minister said it would be a “massive mistake” for Russian President Vladimir Putin to think the world’s attention is “in any way distracted and that should somehow give him a free hand”.

Mr Shapps is in Brussels for a meeting with his Nato counterparts, where he is also due to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and attend his first Nato-Ukraine Council.

Former Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday that he also had Beijing on his mind when he decided to help arm Ukraine given Western concern about the global expansion of authoritarianism.

Morrison, who was prime minister from 2018 to 2022, had repeated disputes with China, including in 2020 when Canberra called for an independent investigation into the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, first identified in central China in 2019.

China responded by imposing tariffs on Australian commodities, including wine and barley, and limited imports of Australian beef, coal and grapes, moves described by the United States as “economic coercion”.

Speaking at a forum in Taipei, Mr Morrison said his decision to fund lethal defensive weapons for Ukraine after Russia’s invasion had a broader message.

“When my government took the decision for Australia to swiftly provide lethal aid to support and assist Ukraine following the illegal invasion by Russia, that decision was taken with as much of having Beijing in mind as Moscow,” Mr Morrison said.

“We did it certainly to support Ukraine in their time of need and to defend democracy there, but we also did it to demonstrate our alignment with a global Western resolve to resist the aggression of authoritarianism, especially given the tacit endorsement of that invasion by Beijing,” he added.

“As I said, I was as concerned about Beijing as I was about Moscow.”

A Russian missile struck a school in the town of Nikopol in the central Ukrainian region of Dnipropetrovsk on Wednesday, killing at least four people, Ukrainian officials said.

“As a result of the Russian strike, four people died: a 72-year-old man and three women aged 69, 67 and 60,” Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko said on the Telegram messaging app, alongside video of emergency officials digging through ruins.

Two people who were injured were receiving medical assistance, he added.

Klymenko said earlier that the victims were employees of the educational institution.

Serhiy Lysak, the regional governor, said 50 private homes and two infrastructure facilities had been damaged.

Russia did not immediately comment on the incident.

Vladimir Putin will visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the presidential office of the Central Asian country said, in what would be the Russian leader’s first known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.

Putin has rarely travelled abroad since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and is not known to have left Russia since the ICC issued in March a warrant for him on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin denies those allegations.

“At the invitation of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Japarov, on October 12 of this year, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, will make an official visit to the country,” the Kyrgyz presidential administration said in a statement on its website.

Putin agreed in May during talks with Japarov to visit Kyrgyzstan, but there has been no official confirmation yet from the Kremlin that the Russian president will travel there on Thursday.

The Russian leader is also due to travel to China next week for the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Neither Kyrgyzstan nor China are members of the ICC, which was established to prosecute war crimes.

Moscow denies the ICC allegations and the Kremlin said the warrant was evidence of the West’s hostility to Russia, which opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and the judges who issued the warrant.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has arrived at NATO for Wednesday’s meetings with alliance defense ministers to further drum up support for Ukraine’s fight against Russia.

The U.S. is hosting a meeting of the Ukraine contact group to seek more weapons and ammunition for the war-ravaged country. NATO allies and partner countries will be waiting to hear precisely what kinds of military equipment Kyiv needs.

Following that meeting, the 31 allies and Ukraine will take part in the first NATO-Ukraine Council at this level. The forum was formally established in July as part of efforts to bring Kyiv closer to the alliance. It allows NATO and Kyiv to discuss issues of common interest and concern.

Ukrainian soldiers successfully repelled attacks along the war frontline at Avdiivka on Tuesday as a new offensive from Russian soldiers erupted near the eastern Ukraine town, officials said.

“I can add that our defenders on the Avdiivka front repelled all the attacks of the enemy, no losses of lines and positions were sustained,” colonel Oleksandr Shtupun, the spokesperson of the joint press centre of defence forces, said.

He confirmed an escalation of Russian military offensive actions on the same front. He said Ukrainian forces repelled attacks in Keramika, Ocheretyne, Berdychiv, Stepove, Lastochkyne, Tonenke, Avdiivka, and Pervomaiske in Donetsk oblast.

Russia’s desperate bid to rejoin the UN’s top human rights body with a charm offensive involving stolen Ukrainian grain and arms was defeated by a significant majority in a General Assembly vote on Tuesday.

Russia received 83 votes from the 193-member UN, significantly more than the 24 countries who supported Moscow when it was booted out of the Human Rights Council in another vote more than one year ago.

Russia was competing against Albania and Bulgaria for two seats on the Geneva-based UNHRC, representing the East European regional group. Bulgaria secured 160 votes, Albania received 123, while the Vladimir Putin-led nation managed only 83.

Belgium’s prime minister said his country, which has the biggest interest in the global diamond trade in the European Union, is supporting a ban on Russian diamonds as part of sanctions targeting President Vladimir Putin’s government for its war against Ukraine.

This came during Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyya’s visit to Brussels on Wednesday. He has repeatedly asked for such a move since the start of Russia’s invasion in February 2022.

For months, the Group of Seven advanced economies and the EU have been working on a way to trace and restrict the trade in Russian diamonds to prevent it from skirting the sanctions. Russia exports about $4 billion worth of rough diamonds a year, nearly a third of the world’s total, according to various estimates.