money Ukraine news – live: Russian attacks risked nuclear ‘catastrophe’, says energy chief
Russia caused a “real danger of a nuclear and radioactive catastrophe” by launching attacks in which all Ukraine’s nuclear reactors were disconnected from the power grid for the first time in 40 years, Kyiv’s nuclear energy chief said.
Petro Kotin, head of nuclear power company Energoatom, said in a statement on Thursday the vast nuclear power plant in the Zaporizhzhia region had been reconnected to the national power grid after Russian air strikes on Wednesday, and that the backup diesel generators at the site had been turned off.
It comes as repeated missile barrages against power infrastructure across Ukraine over the last few weeks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskovsaid “there have been no strikes on ‘social’ targets and there are none - special attention is paid to this”.“As for targets that are directly or indirectly related to military potential, they are accordingly subject to strikes,” he said.
Key Points
Ukraine leadership can ‘end suffering’ by meeting Russian demands
Poland concerned recent missile strike could happen again, western officials say
Russia could use chemical weapons in Ukraine, says US - Report
Putin gravely mistaken about Ukrainians, says US envoy
Russia complains about Zelensky’s virtual appearance at UNSC
Zelensky urges UN to fight Putin’s ‘terror’ as Russia accused of ‘weaponising winter’
Thursday 24 November 2022 20:57 , Emily Atkinson
Good evening.
We are pausing our live updates on the Russian war in Ukraine for now. Join us again tomorrow for all the latest.
Thank you.
Ukraine leadership can 'end suffering' by meeting Russian demands
Thursday 24 November 2022 11:24 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday that Ukraine‘s leadership could “end suffering” in Ukraine by meeting Russia‘s demands to resolve the conflict.
Peskov was asked whether Russia was worried about the effect on the civilian population of its strikes on energy infrastructure, which have caused repeated mass blackouts.
Peskov said Russia only attacked targets of military relevance, not ‘social’ ones.
Ukraine leadership can ‘end suffering’ by meeting Russian demands- update
Thursday 24 November 2022 11:44 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin on Thursday denied that its attacks on Ukraine‘s electricity network were aimed at civilians, but said Kyiv could “end the suffering” of its population by meeting Russia‘s demands to resolve the conflict.
Repeated missile barrages against power infrastructure across Ukraine over the last few weeks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “there have been no strikes on ‘social’ targets and there are none - special attention is paid to this”.
“As for targets that are directly or indirectly related to military potential, they are accordingly subject to strikes,” he said.
Peskov was asked how the suffering of Ukraine‘s civilian population could be reconciled with President Vladimir Putin’s positions. Putin has said Russia does not wish to destroy Ukraine or its people.
“The leadership of Ukraine has every opportunity to bring the situation back to normal, has every opportunity to resolve the situation in such a way as to fulfil the requirements of the Russian side and, accordingly, end all possible suffering among the population.”
Russia and Ukraine to free 50 prisoners of war each, Moscow-backed leader says
Thursday 24 November 2022 12:04 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia and Ukraine will each hand over 50 prisoners of war to the other on Thursday, the Moscow-backed administrator of Ukraine‘s Donetsk region, Denis Pushilin, said on the Telegram messaging service.
Romania to keep supplying power to Moldova, interconnections a problem
Thursday 24 November 2022 12:25 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Romania is willing to continue supplying neighbouring Moldova with electricity as Russian shelling in Ukraine hits its energy supply, but insufficient interconnections are a challenge, Romanian President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday.
“Up until now we have delivered everything we were asked for,” Iohannis told reporters after meeting Lithuania’s president in Vilnius. “But outages happen because ... Romanian-Moldovan interconnections are completely insufficient. Most of the power Romania is offering passes through Ukraine.”
Romanian power producers started selling electricity to Moldova at a capped price in October. Foreign minister Bogdan Aurescu said earlier this week the European Union state was providing between 80 per cent and 90 per cent of Moldova’s electricity needs.
Vladimir Putin ‘living in fear for his life as army retreats’, Zelensky aide says
Thursday 24 November 2022 12:48 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russian president Vladimir Putin is “living in fear for his life” as his army retreats, a senior Ukrainian military aide said.
Earlier this month, Russia announced it was withdrawing from the Kherson region, marking one of the most embarrassing defeats for Mr Putin and a potential turning point in the war which has reached its ninth month.
The loss of Kherson, the only regional capital Russia had captured in the conflict, dealt a heavy blow to plans to establish a land corridor to Crimea and secure a water supply to the Russian-controlled peninsula.
“[Putin] is very afraid because there is no forgiveness in Russia for tsars who lose wars,” Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, told The Times.
“He is fighting for his life now. If he loses the war, at least in the minds of the Russians, it means the end. The end of him as a political figure. And possibly in the physical sense.”
Thomas Kingsley has more:
Vladimir Putin ‘living in fear for his life as army retreats’, Zelensky aide says
Ukraine works to restore power after bruising Russian attack
Thursday 24 November 2022 13:05 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
About 70 per cent of the Ukrainian capital was left without power, Kyiv’s mayor said Thursday, a day after Moscow unleashed yet another devastating missile and drone barrage on Ukraine‘s energy infrastructure.Wednesday’s renewed Russian attack on Ukrainian infrastructure caused power outages across large parts of the country, further hobbling Ukraine‘s already battered power network and adding to the misery for civilians as temperatures plunge. The strikes also caused power outages in neighboring Moldova.Russia has been targeting Ukraine‘s power infrastructure following a string of battlefield setbacks its forces suffered during the full scale war it launched exactly nine months ago Thursday.Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said in a Telegram statement that “power engineers are doing their best to get (electricity) back as soon as possible” and added that the water supply has been restored in about half of Kyiv on the left bank of the Dnieper River.Ukraine‘s General Staff reported on Thursday morning that Russian forces fired 67 cruise missiles and 10 drones during Wednesday’s “massive attack on residential buildings and energy infrastructure” in Kyiv and several other regions in Ukraine.Efforts to restore power, heating and water supplies disrupted by the Wednesday attacks were underway elsewhere in Ukraine as well.
Russia passes law banning promotion of ‘LGBT propaganda’ among adults
Thursday 24 November 2022 13:23 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Russia‘s parliament has today passed a law that bans promoting “LGBT propaganda” to people of all ages.
The third and final reading of the law expands an existing ban which previously applied to children only.
Propaganda includes any attempt to promote homosexuality online, in film, books, advertising or in public. Any event or act regarded as breaking the law could incur a heavy fine.
The fine will be up to 400,000 roubles ($6,600) for individuals and up to 5 million roubles ($82,100) for legal entities. Foreigners could face 15 days of arrest and subsequent expulsion from the country.
Russia passes law banning promotion of ‘LGBT propaganda’ among adults
Kremlin denies energy infrastructure attacks were aimed at civilians
Thursday 24 November 2022 13:44 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
The Kremlin on Thursday denied that its attacks on Ukraine‘s electricity network were aimed at civilians, but said Kyiv could “end the suffering” of its population by meeting Russia’s demands to resolve the conflict.
Repeated missile barrages against power infrastructure across Ukraine over the last few weeks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.
But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters that “there have been no strikes on ‘social’ targets and there are none - special attention is paid to this”.
“As for targets that are directly or indirectly related to military potential, they are accordingly subject to strikes,” he said.
Peskov was asked how the suffering of Ukraine‘s civilian population could be reconciled with President Vladimir Putin’s positions. Putin has said Russia does not wish to destroy Ukraine or its people.
“The leadership of Ukraine has every opportunity to bring the situation back to normal, has every opportunity to resolve the situation in such a way as to fulfil the requirements of the Russian side and, accordingly, end all possible suffering among the population.”
Germany's Merkel says didn't have political strength for pre-invasion Ukraine talks
Thursday 24 November 2022 13:59 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Former German chancellor Angela Merkel said she had aimed to convene European talks with Vladimir Putin the year before his invasion of Ukraine but in the end did not see any possibility of influencing the Russian president at the end of her term.
Merkel told the Spiegel news magazine in an interview published on Thursday that she and French President Emmanuel Macron had planned to hold an independent talk format with Putin within the European Council in 2021, her last summer in office.
“But I no longer had the strength to push through because, after all, everyone knew: she’s leaving in autumn,” she said.
Merkel, who retired from politics after 16 years in power following Germany’s September 2021 election, officially handed over the reins to Olaf Scholz of the Social Democrats in December that year.
Referring to her farewell visit to Moscow in August 2021, Merkel, who speaks fluent Russian, told Spiegel: “The feeling was very clear: ‘In terms of power politics, you’re through.’ For Putin, only power counts.”
Still, the former conservative leader said of her departure from politics that it had been “time for a new approach” due to a lack of progress by her government not just on Ukraine but also on conflicts in Moldova, Georgia, Syria and Libya.
Ukrainians bid farewell to fallen ballet dancer
Thursday 24 November 2022 14:38 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Mournful Ukrainians said their final goodbyes on Thursday to a 26-year-old ballet dancer who was killed fighting Russian troops in eastern Ukraine.
Vadym Khlupianets, of the Kyiv National Academic Operetta Theater, was killed by a sniper near Bakhmut, a strategically important town in the eastern Donetsk region, the Ukrainian military said.
Fellow performers and staff members carried his coffin into the theatre, where visitors lined up to tearfully bid farewell. As Khlupianets’ coffin was carried away, they erupted into one last round of applause.
“Vadym chose the side of light and good against evil,” said Bohdan Strutynskii, the theatre’s creative director.
He added: “Today’s tribute is not what it should have been: applause at the end of a performance, with people asking for an encore.”
Khlupianets, a Donetsk native, volunteered to join the military after Moscow’s Feb. 24 invasion.
Ukrainian forces have succeeded in expelling Russian troops from large portions of eastern and southern Ukraine in recent weeks. But they are still suffering losses, said Khlupianets’ commanding officer, Denys Popov.
“The best sons of Ukraine are losing their lives,” he told mourners.
Finland to introduce new tax on excessive profits of energy companies
Thursday 24 November 2022 15:00 , Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Finland is preparing to introduce a new temporary tax on excessive profits of energy companies, the country’s finance minister has said.
It comes as Europe is facing a sweeping energy crisis triggered by Russia’s war in Ukraine and has resulted in multiple countries imposing curfews to conserve energy.
In September, EU countries agreed to back levies on energy companies’ windfall profits resulting from Europe’s energy market crunch but left it for individual member countries to decide how to implement the taxation.
Finland prepares to introduce new tax on excessive profits of energy companies
50 Russian soldiers released, says Moscow
Thursday 24 November 2022 15:20 , Emily Atkinson
Russia’s defence ministry said that Ukraine had released 50 Russian soldiers who had been captured, in the latest prisoner exchange between the two sides.
Earlier on Thursday, the Russian-installed head of Ukraine‘s Donetsk region said Russia would also release 50 captured Ukrainians.
Four dead in shooting at shopping centre in southern Russia
Thursday 24 November 2022 15:40 , Emily Atkinson
Four people have died in a fatal shooting in a shopping centre in the southern Russian city of Krymsk today.
The gunman is included in the four dead, TASS news agency said.
Russian state news agencies cited local law enforcement agencies and the prosecutor’s office.
A video has been circulating on social media which appears to show a gunman walking down the street and shoots a body lying on the floor.
More on this breaking story here:
Four dead in shooting at shopping centre in southern Russia
Putin 'speaks with Iraqi PM over western oil price capping'
Thursday 24 November 2022 16:00 , Emily Atkinson
President Vladimir Putin has discussed Western attempts to cap the price of Russian oil during a phone call with Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the new Iraqi prime minister, the Kremlin said, according to the state news agency TASS.
It cited the Kremlin as saying Putin had told Sudani that a price cap would have serious consequences for the global energy market.
Hungary ‘to ratify Finland and Sweden Nato membership next year'
Thursday 24 November 2022 16:20 , Emily Atkinson
Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orban has said Budapest would ratify Nato membership for Finland and Sweden early next year.
Mr Orban told a briefing after a meeting of the Visegrad Group in Slovakia that his government had already decided that Hungary would support Finland’s and Sweden’s Nato accession and parliament would set this item on its agenda at its first session next year.
“Hungary will surely give its backing to their accession, after the government had done, also parliament will do so,” Orban said. Parliament normally reconvenes around mid-February.
Russian oil price cap ‘in play’, says Biden
Thursday 24 November 2022 16:40 , Emily Atkinson
US president Joe Biden has said a price cap on Russian oil being proposed by the United States and its Western allies was in play, adding that he had spoken to Treasury secretary Janet Yellen on the issue.
“It’s in play,” Biden told reporters during a Thanksgiving holiday visit to a fire station on Nantucket Island.
First reactor of Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant 'reconnected to grid’
Thursday 24 November 2022 17:04 , Emily Atkinson
The first reactor of Ukraine’s Khmelnytskyi nuclear plant has been reconnected to the country’s power grid, regional governor Serhiy Hamaliy said.
The Khmelnytskyi plant disconnected from Ukraine’s grid on Wednesday after Russian strikes on the country’s power system, Ukrainian officials said.
Putin accused of ‘weaponising winter'
Thursday 24 November 2022 17:40 , Emily Atkinson
US ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield has accused Russian president Vladimir Putin of “clearly weaponising winter to inflict immense suffering on the Ukrainian people”.
With temperatures already well below freezing in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, Ms Thomas Greenfield said the Russian president “will try to freeze the country into submission.”
Thursday 24 November 2022 18:00 , Emily Atkinson
Images capture Kyiv residents queuing up to fill plastic bottles at a water pump in a park in the Ukrainian capital.
The city is continuing to struggle to repair its battered power and water services after Russia targeted the electricity grid with dozens of cruise missiles.
More than 15,000 people ‘have gone missing during Ukraine war’
Thursday 24 November 2022 18:30 , Emily Atkinson
More than 15,000 people have gone missing during Russia’s invasion ofUkraine, an official at the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP) has said.
The ICMP’s programme director for Europe, Matthew Holliday, told Reuters it was unclear how many people had been forcibly transferred, were being held in detention in Russia, were alive and separated from their family members, or had died and had been buried in makeshift graves.
Mr Holliday said the process of investigating the missing in Ukraine will last years even after fighting stops. The 15,000 figure is conservative when considering that in the port city of Mariupol alone authorities estimate as many as 25,000 people are either dead or missing.
“The numbers are huge and the challenges that Ukraine faces are vast. Besides which they’re fighting an ongoing war as well against the Russian Federation,” Holliday said.
Friend or foe: Hungary delays ratifying Sweden and Finland’s bid for Nato membership
Thursday 24 November 2022 19:00 , Emily Atkinson
Hungary has delayed ratifying Finland and Sweden’s bid for Nato membership - but Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it would be approved early next year.
Orban told a briefing after a meeting of the Visegrad Group in Slovakia that his government had already decided that Hungary would support Finland’s and Sweden’s NATO accession and parliament would set this item on its agenda at its first session next year.
“Hungary will surely give its backing to their accession, after the government had done, also parliament will do so,” Orban said. Parliament normally reconvenes around mid-February.
David Harding reports:
Hungary delays ratifying Sweden and Finland’s bid for Nato membership
Berlin dismisses Warsaw’s demand for air defences to be transferred to Ukraine
Thursday 24 November 2022 19:30 , Emily Atkinson
Berlin has made it clear that the Patriot air defence units it offered to Poland are intended for use on Nato territory, countering demands by Warsaw for the system to be sent to Ukraine.
“These Patriots are part of Nato’s integrated air defence, meaning they are intended to be deployed on Nato territory,” German Defence Minister Christine Lambrecht said in Berlin.
“Any use outside Nato territory would require prior discussions with Nato and the allies,” she added.
Berlin offered Warsaw the Patriot missile defence system to help secure its airspace after a stray missile crashed and killed two people in Poland last week.
Ukraine: Putin’s Russia declared ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ by European Parliament
Thursday 24 November 2022 20:00 , Emily Atkinson
The European Parliament has overwhelmingly backed a resolution declaring Vladimir Putin’s Russia a “state sponsor of terrorism” for its invasion of and actions in Ukraine.
Read our report in full here:
Ukraine: Putin’s Russia declared ‘state sponsor of terrorism’ by European Parliament
Feeling flush? Naked Vladimir Putin golden toilet sculpture up for auction to raise cash for Ukraine
Thursday 24 November 2022 20:30 , Emily Atkinson
A nude effigy of Russian president Vladimir Putin perched on top of an ornate golden toilet has been put up for auction by a group of Czech activists who plan to use the proceeds from the sale to buy and send a combat drone to Ukraine’s forces.
Feeling flush? Naked Vladimir Putin sculpture on golden toilet put up for auction
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Thursday 24 November 2022 21:00 , Emily Atkinson
Why did Russia invade Ukraine?
Zelensky insists Ukraine must recapture ‘all lands’ from Russian occupation
Thursday 24 November 2022 21:30 , Emily Atkinson
President Volodymyr Zelensky has said Russia’s strategy to destroy Ukraine’s critical infrastructure will not weaken his country’s resolve to claim back territory captured by Vladimir Putin’s forces.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Mr Zelensky said: “We must return all lands . . . because I believe that the battlefield is the way when there is no diplomacy.
“If you can’t get your land back entirely, the war is simply frozen. It’s a question of time before it resumes.”
‘This is a war about strength, about resilience,’ says Zelensky
Thursday 24 November 2022 22:00 , Emily Atkinson
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has characterised the war with Russia as one of “strength and resilience”.
It comes as repeated missile barrages against power infrastructure across Ukraine over the last few weeks have forced millions of people to go without light, water or heating for hours or days at a time, just as outdoor temperatures fall below freezing.
Mr Zelensky told the FT: ‘It was the kind of incident that hasn’t happened for I don’t know how many years, maybe 80, 90 years: a country on the European continent where there was totally no light.
‘The state superbly fought back. Energy workers, the state emergencies’ ministry, deminers, everyone worked to fix and restore power and provide at least a bit of water.
‘This is a war about strength, about resilience, it is about who stands stronger.’
Russia passes law banning promotion of ‘LGBT propaganda’ among adults
Thursday 24 November 2022 22:30 , Emily Atkinson
Russia’s parliament has today passed a law that bans promoting “LGBT+ propaganda” to people of all ages.
The third and final reading of the law expands an existing ban which previously applied to children only.
Maryam Zakir-Hussain reports:
Russia passes law banning promotion of ‘LGBT propaganda’ among adults
Watch: Smoke fills street in aftermath of Russian rocket attack on residential area of Kyiv
Thursday 24 November 2022 23:00 , Emily Atkinson
