Russia-Ukraine war: nuclear ‘sabre-rattling’ must stop, UN chief warns; US predicts Moscow to step up strikes – live news
Key events
Porsches, Bentleys and other luxury cars with Russian licence plates are filling up the parking garage at Helsinki’s airport as Finland becomes an important transit country for Russian tourists flying to Europe, reports AFP.
The European Union shut its airspace to Russian planes after Moscow invaded Ukraine, forcing anyone who wants to travel to Europe to drive across the border or take a circuitous route using non-Western airlines.
A quick stroll through the carpark at the Helsinki airport revealed dozens if not hundreds of high-end cars with Russian licence plates, including a new Mercedes-Benz S-class sedan and Porsche 911 Turbo S.
Finnish foreign minister Pekka Haavisto told AFP that the Nordic nation has become a “transit country” for Russian tourists.
Finland said last week it would limit Russian tourist visas to 10 percent of current volumes as of September 1 due to rising discontent over Russian tourism amid the war in Ukraine.
But Russians continue to enter Finland with visas issued by other EU countries in the Schengen borderless travel area for their journeys.
Schengen rules do not allow Finland to close the border to specific nationalities, Haavisto said. Such sanctions can only be decided jointly by the EU.
The European Commission acknowledged last week that discussions were underway to see if a “coordinated approach” on Russian visas could be reached.
EU Commission president Ursula von der Leyen has paid tribute to Ukrainians for “giving their lives to protect the values” on which the European bloc is built.
To commemorate the Europe-wide Day of Remembrance for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes today, she said in a statement:
On 23 August, we honour the memory of the victims of totalitarian and authoritarian regimes, in Europe and beyond. Today, on the 83rd anniversary of the signature of the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, this date carries a special significance. This year, Putin brought the horrors of war back to Europe, along with the reminder that peace cannot be taken for granted.
The painful memory of the past is not just a distant recollection, but has found an echo in Russia’s illegal and unjustified war against Ukraine. We are inspired by the courage of those who then stood up to injustice, and we express our respect and support for the many men and women who are forced to do it again today. Ukrainian people are giving their lives to protect the values on which our Union is built.
Today more than ever, we stand united against the Russian state-controlled propaganda that distorts history, spreads conspiracy and punishes those who oppose it. We will continue with determination our work to counter disinformation. And we will ensure that those who stood against totalitarianism will not be forgotten.
Today we honour the victims of totalitarian regimes.
We are inspired by those who stood up to injustice then and we support those who do it today, as the horrors of war are back in Europe.
Ukrainians are giving their lives to protect the values on which our Union is built.
— Ursula von der Leyen (@vonderleyen) August 23, 2022
Russian forces are likely to have started to move barges to construct a floating bridge over the Dnipro River near the Antonivsky bridge, a British intelligence update said.
The bridge in Kherson has been targeted repeatedly by Ukrainian forces with missile strikes as it is a key supply route for Russia in the south of the country.
For several weeks, Russian forces and local civilians have relied on a ferry crossing of the waterway, the update said.
If Russia completes the improvised bridge, it will almost certainly increase the capacity of the crossing point compared with the ferry, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) believes.
The update added that the floating bridge would likely still be vulnerable to Ukrainian assaults.
A total of 33 cargo ships carrying around 719,549 tonnes of foodstuffs have left Ukraine under a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey to unblock Ukrainian sea ports, the Ukrainian agriculture ministry said.
The Joint Coordination Centre in Turkey, which monitors implementation of the agreement, put the total amount of grain and foodstuffs exported from three Ukrainian Black Sea ports since the deal was reached at 721,449 tonnes.
Ukraine‘s grain exports slumped after Russia invaded the country on 24 February and blockaded its Black Sea ports, driving up global food prices and prompting fears of shortages in Africa and the Middle East, reports Reuters.
Three Black Sea ports were unblocked under the deal signed on 22 July by Moscow and Kyiv.
In addition to the vessels that have already left Ukraine, the agriculture ministry said a further 18 were loading or waiting for permission to leave Ukrainian ports.
The ministry said Ukrainian grain exports could reach 4m tonnes in August, compared with 3m tonnes in July.
Isobel Koshiw
Isobel Koshiw reports:
The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is “stepping up” efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
The warning, issued on Tuesday, is the first specific security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv in recent months. It does not say what places it believes Russia plans to target, but advised US citizens to leave Ukraine if safe to do so.
The alert comes a day before Ukraine marks 31 years as an independent state. On 24 August 1991, Ukraine’s parliament voted to separate from the Soviet Union. The day will also mark six months since Russia launched its full-scale invasion. Some restaurants in Kyiv have been closing early this week because of the perceived increased threat.
Read more: Russia to step up strikes on civilians, US says, as Ukraine independence day nears
Deputy prime minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported that 825 people have been evacuated from the Kharkiv region in north-east Ukraine.
In a message on her Telegram channel, she said:
A successful humanitarian operation: 825 people were evacuated from the uncontrolled part of Kharkiv region today, 238 of them were children.
We thank the head of Kharkiv OVA Oleg Sinegubov for organizing the process, as well as volunteer organizations for their dedication and help.
⚡️Vereshchuk: 825 people evacuated from Kharkiv Oblast on Aug. 22.
Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk reported that 238 of the evacuees from the occupied parts of Kharkiv Oblast were children.
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) August 23, 2022
Polish president Duda arrives in Kyiv for talks with Zelenskiy
Poland’s president Andrzej Duda has arrived in Kyiv for talks with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
The duo will engage in talks on the current wartime situation in Ukraine, economic and humanitarian support and bilateral cooperation, according to Duda’s official Twitter channel.
Pawel Szrot told reporters:
The visit will include a meeting with President (Volodymyr) Zelenskiy and talks on military support and defence of Ukraine in the economic, humanitarian and political sense,” Pawel Szrot told reporters.
The presidents will discuss the political support Poland could offer to convince other countries to keep helping Ukraine.
Duda has met Zelenskiy five times this year, including on three visits he has made to Ukraine since the start of the invasion in February this year.
Prezydent @AndrzejDuda na zaproszenie Prezydenta @ZelenskyyUa przebywa dziś w Kijowie. W czasie wizyty odbędą się dwustronne rozmowy Prezydentów oraz delegacji poświęcone sytuacji na 🇺🇦, wsparciu w wymiarze militarnym, ekonomicznym i humanitarnym oraz współpracy dwustronnej. pic.twitter.com/isQcEK1gdj
— Kancelaria Prezydenta (@prezydentpl) August 23, 2022
Exports of key Ukrainian agricultural commodities have fallen by almost half since the start of the Russian invasion earlier this year compared with the same period in 2021, data from the agriculture ministry showed late on Monday.
Ukrainian seaports have been blocked since the Russian invasion started in late February, leaving a vast amount of crops either unharvested or destroyed, reports Reuters.
Agricultural exports between 24 February and 15 August this year fell to 10m tonnes from around 19.5m in the same period last year, the ministry data showed.
The 2022 grain harvest in Ukraine is forecast to fall to around 50m tonnes from a record 86m tonnes in 2021.
At the end of July, three Ukrainian Black Sea ports were unblocked under a deal between Moscow and Kyiv, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey.
But even with the ports opened, Ukraine‘s agricultural exports are significantly lower than before the conflict, when Ukraine exported up to 6m tonnes of grain a month.
Summary so far
It is 9am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
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The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days. A security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday reads: “The department of state has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
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Ukrainian sources are reporting Russian forces struck a boiler plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol. Adviser to the city’s mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, reported that Russian forces struck the city’s boiler facility in a Telegram post early this morning.
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Monthly payments to British sponsors of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them carry on hosting for longer than six months while the cost of living spirals, the minister responsible has said.
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The UN’s secretary general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
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Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
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Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle for Mariupol have accused Russian forces of torture during their captivity. The soldiers, who were from the Azov regiment and released as part of a prisoner exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers that were beaten until their bones were broken. “Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “They undressed us, forced to squat while we are naked. If any of the boys raised their heads, they began to beat them immediately,” added Denys Chepurko.
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The sole bridge across the strategic Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was reportedly hit by US-supplied high-precision Himars rockets injuring 15 people, a source told Russia’s Interfax news agency. The bridge is a key crossing for Russian military transport in the region.
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Three villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region were battered by Russian artillery and multiple rocket launchers on Monday. Soledar, Zaytseve and Bilohorivka near the city of Bakhmut were struck, killing at least two civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.
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Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war with Russia, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Monday. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Monday 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded between 24 February and 21 August, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
The price of achieving fire parity and destroying Russian army logistics is “less than a Russian oligarch’s yacht”, a senior advisor to the Ukrainian president has said.
Mykhailo Podolyak suggested that 50 US-supplied Himars long-range weapons systems, at the cost of about $200m, would be needed to “completely change the course of this war”.
1 HiMARS system — $4 million. 50 systems — $200 million + ammunition. The price of achieving fire parity and destroying 🇷🇺 army logistics is less than…ru-oligarch’s yacht. It is not an enormous amount of money, but something that would completely change the course of this war.
— Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) August 23, 2022
Russia requests UN meeting to discuss Zaporizhzhia plant
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held later today to discuss the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
The nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, has been taken over by Russian troops and has come under repeated shelling in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear disaster.
It is unclear whether the meeting will be going ahead.
Monthly payments to British sponsors of Ukrainian refugees should double to help them carry on hosting for longer than six months while the cost of living spirals, the minister responsible has said.
Around 25,000 offers of accommodation from hosts under the Homes for Ukraine scheme have been taken up so far, with an average of three Ukrainians living in each home, PA Media cited Lord Richard Harrington as saying.
Lord Harrington said he has been lobbying the Treasury “very hard” to double the £350-a-month “thank you” payment for sponsors who house refugees for longer than half a year – the minimum period expected of hosts.
He told PA Media:
The costs … they’re paying maybe a big chunk of rent themselves, the mortgage payments have gone up and everything, and I think it’s perfectly reasonable, in my view, to increase the amount that we’re paying them.”
More than 115,000 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK under its visa schemes, according to the latest government figures, including around 81,700 refugees under the sponsorship scheme. Around 4,000-5,000 people are arriving each week, Lord Harrington added.
Mariupol boiler plant destroyed in strike – reports
Ukrainian sources are reporting Russian forces struck a boiler plant in Ukraine’s southern city of Mariupol.
Adviser to the city’s mayor, Petro Andryushchenko, reported that Russian forces struck the city’s boiler facility in a Telegram post early this morning.
“The Russians made an explosion again. Loud that the whole city could hear.
Just blowing up the boiler room. Instead of preparing the city for winter and building boiler houses, the occupiers destroy even the remains …”
Unconfirmed video footage purportedly showing the moment the facility was struck has circulated online.
‘Nuclear sabre-rattling must stop’ UN chief warns
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”.
The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
In a statement released after ambassadors met at the UN security council on Monday, Guterres stressed:
Nuclear saber-rattling must stop … come to the negotiating table to ease tensions and end the nuclear arms race, once and for all.”
At this moment of “maximum danger for our world”, the secretary-general emphasised that “humanity’s future is in our hands”, insisting that division be replaced with dialogue and diplomacy, to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”.
He argued that negotiation, compromise, and accountability are required for the future, attesting that as it represents the nations of the world, the UN is “humanity’s best hope to build a better, more peaceful tomorrow”.
At this moment of maximum danger for our world, now is the time to recommit to the @UN Charter & the ideals it represents.
There is no greater solution to fulfil the Charter’s promise than to replace division with dialogue & diplomacy.
Humanity’s future is in our hands. pic.twitter.com/LS43yEA6Pg
— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) August 22, 2022
Russia to step up strikes: US intelligence
The US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
A security alert issued by the US embassy in Kyiv on Tuesday reads:
The department of state has information that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.”
The US intelligence community on Monday declassified a finding that determined that Russia would increasingly target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure, according to a US official familiar with the intelligence. The official was not authorised to comment publicly about the finding and spoke on the condition of anonymity, the Associated Press reported.
The alert also urged US citizens still in Ukraine to depart the country immediately.
“If you hear a loud explosion or if sirens are activated, immediately seek cover,” the state department said. “If in a home or a building, go to the lowest level of the structure with the fewest exterior walls, windows, and openings; close any doors and sit near an interior wall, away from any windows or openings.”
Summary and welcome
Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine.
I’m Samantha Lock and I will be bringing you all the latest developments for the next short while. Whether you’ve been following our coverage overnight or you’ve just dropped in, here are the latest lines.
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling”, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”.
Meanwhile, the US state department has issued a security alert warning that Russia is stepping up efforts to launch strikes against Ukraine’s civilian infrastructure and government facilities in the coming days.
It is 7am in Ukraine. Here is everything you might have missed:
-
The UN’s secretary-general, António Guterres, has demanded a halt to “nuclear sabre-rattling” on Monday, saying the world is at a “maximum moment of danger” and all countries with nuclear weapons must make a commitment to “no first-use”. The UN chief described the situation at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, as critical. Shelling and fighting in the area continues.
-
Moscow has requested a UN security council meeting be held on Tuesday to discuss the Zaporizhzhia plant, Russian state-owned news agency RIA reported, citing deputy ambassador to the UN Dmitry Polyanskiy.
-
Ukrainian soldiers who were taken prisoner after the battle for Mariupol have accused Russian forces of torture during their captivity. The soldiers, who were from the Azov regiment and released as part of a prisoner exchange, told reporters they saw soldiers that were beaten until their bones were broken. “Some had needles inserted into their wounds, some were tortured with water,” said Vladyslav Zhaivoronok, who lost a leg. “They undressed us, forced to squat while we are naked. If any of the boys raised their heads, they began to beat them immediately,” added Denys Chepurko.
-
The sole bridge across the strategic Dnieper River in the Russian-occupied city of Kherson was reportedly hit by US-supplied high-precision Himars rockets injuring 15 people, a source told Russia’s Interfax news agency. The bridge is a key crossing for Russian military transport in the region.
-
Three villages in Ukraine’s eastern Donetsk region were battered by Russian artillery and multiple rocket launchers on Monday. Soledar, Zaytseve and Bilohorivka near the city of Bakhmut were struck, killing at least two civilians, Ukrainian authorities said.
-
Nearly 9,000 Ukrainian military personnel have been killed in the war with Russia, the head of Ukraine’s armed forces, general Valeriy Zaluzhnyi, said on Monday. The office of the UN high commissioner for human rights said on Monday 5,587 civilians had been killed and 7,890 wounded between 24 February and 21 August, mainly from artillery, rocket and missile attacks.
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The German chancellor says he is working fast to find alternatives to Russian gas. Olaf Scholz said he aims to extricate Germany from its dependence on Russian gas and pursue new energy supplies. Scholz met Canada’s prime minster, Justin Trudeau, in Montreal on Monday. The two leaders are set to sign a deal for Canada to supply clean hydrogen to Germany.
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Ukraine has restored a rail link to neighbouring Moldova which could carry 10m tonnes of freight a year, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said. The 22km (12 mile) line runs from western Ukraine to Moldova. Ukraine’s infrastructure minister, Oleksander Kubrakov, said the link would provide an alternative route from the Black Sea port of Odesa.
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Ukraine’s agricultural exports are likely to rise to about 4m tonnes in August, from 3m tonnes in July, a deputy chair of the Ukrainian agrarian council said. The uptick is due to a UN-brokered deal that unblocked Ukrainian seaports.
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Europe faces fresh disruption to energy supplies due to damage to a pipeline system bringing oil from Kazakhstan through Russia that was reported by the pipeline operator on Monday. Caspian Pipeline Consortium (CPC) said exports from two of its three mooring points at a Black Sea terminal had been suspended.
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A senior Russian diplomat has ruled out a diplomatic solution to ending the war in Ukraine. Gennady Gatilov, Russia’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, told the Financial Times that there would be no direct talks between Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskiy, adding that Moscow expects a prolonged conflict.
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