Russian forces captured the general manager of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Ihor Murasov, at around 4pm local time on Friday, Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said. That was hours after Putin, in a sharp escalation of his war, signed treaties to absorb Moscow-controlled Ukrainian territory into Russia. Energoatom said Russian troops stopped Murashov’s car, blindfolded him and then took him to an undisclosed location. “The detention of [Russia] endangers the safety of Ukraine and Europe’s largest nuclear power plant,” said Energoatom President Petro Kotin. Kotin demanded that Russia release Murashov immediately. Russian authorities have informed the International Atomic Energy Agency that Murasov has been detained for questioning, the UN agency said on Saturday. “The IAEA has sought clarification from the Russian authorities and has been informed that the general manager of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been temporarily detained to answer questions,” a spokesman said without elaborating. The Zaporizhzhia plant has repeatedly been caught in the crossfire of the war in Ukraine. Ukrainian technicians continued its operation after the power station was seized by Russian troops. The plant’s last reactor was shut down in September amid continued shelling near the facility.
Another evacuation convoy was bombed, the governor says
In the northeast, Ukrainian officials accused Russian forces of attacking a civilian evacuation convoy, killing 20 people, including children. On Saturday, the governor of the Kharkiv region, Oleh Syniehubov, said 20 civilians were killed in an attack on convoys of people trying to leave the Kupiansky district, calling it “cruelty that cannot be justified.” The Security Service of Ukraine, the secret police force known by the acronym SBU, released photos of the convoy that was attacked. The SBU said the convoy was attacked with “small arms”, while the governor said it was shelled. The discrepancy could not be immediately resolved. The exact date of the attack, the second of its kind in recent days, was not announced. Ukraine is said to be making gradual gains in the northeast and on the east bank of the Oskil River, which has become a key front line since the Ukrainian counteroffensive regained control of the Kharkiv region in September.
The Russians “almost certainly” hit the Zaporizhia convoy
In a daily intelligence briefing, Britain’s Ministry of Defense highlighted Friday’s attack in the city of Zaporizhia that killed 30 people and injured 88 others. The British military said the Russians “almost certainly” hit a humanitarian convoy there with S-300 anti-aircraft missiles. Russia is increasingly using anti-aircraft missiles to launch ground attacks, possibly due to a lack of ammunition, Britain said on Saturday. “Russia’s stockpile of such missiles is likely limited and is a high-value resource designed to shoot down modern aircraft and incoming missiles, rather than for use against ground targets,” the British said. “Its use in a ground attack role is almost certainly due to general ammunition shortages, particularly longer-range precision missiles.” Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a ceremony in Moscow on Friday to announce the annexation of four regions of Ukraine, including Zaporizhia. (Grigory Sysoyev/Sputnik/Reuters) The British briefing noted that the attack occurred as Putin prepared to sign the annexation treaties. “Russia is spending strategically valuable military resources in efforts to gain tactical advantage, and in the process is killing civilians it now claims are its own citizens,” it said. On Friday, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said the war in Ukraine is at a “pivotal moment.” He called Putin’s decision to seize more territory — Russia now claims 15 percent of Ukraine — “the biggest attempt to annex European territory by force since World War II.” Elsewhere in Ukraine, however, a Ukrainian counteroffensive that last month embarrassed the Kremlin by liberating an area bordering Russia was on the verge of regaining more ground, military analysts said.
Russia withdraws from strategic city, agencies say
Russia announced on Saturday that it had withdrawn its troops from the once-held city of Liman as Ukraine’s eastern counteroffensive retakes more territory. Russian news agencies Tass and RIA, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, made the announcement. Earlier, a spokesman for Ukrainian forces said they entered the city after encircling thousands of Russian troops. “We are already in Liman, but there is fighting,” said Serhii Tserevaty, a spokesman for Ukraine’s eastern forces. Lyman is located in the eastern region of Donetsk, 160 kilometers southeast of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city. Ukrainian forces had crossed the Oskil River east of Kharkiv as part of a counter-offensive that has seen Kyiv recapture vast swaths of territory since September. Lyman, a key transportation hub, was an important site on the Russian front line for both ground communications and logistics. By changing its status, Ukraine could potentially push further into the occupied Luhansk region, one of four regions claimed by Russia after internationally criticized referendums. Lyman’s arrest will be seen as a major setback for Moscow after the Russian president declared the annexation of Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhia in a ceremony on Friday condemned by Kyiv and the West as a farce. The Ukrainian military has not yet claimed to have captured Lyman, and Russian-backed forces have claimed they are sending more troops to the area. Ukraine’s military claimed on Saturday that Russia will need to deploy cadets before they complete their training due to a manpower shortage in the war. Putin ordered a massive mobilization of Russian army reservists last week to supplement his troops in Ukraine, and thousands of men have fled the country to avoid the call-up. The Ukrainian army’s general staff said cadets at the Tyumen Military Academy and the Ryazan Airborne Academy would be sent to join Russia’s mobilization. He did not give details of how it gathered the information, although Kyiv has been wiretapping mobile phones of Russian soldiers amid the conflict.
