September 5, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Our live coverage has ended. Read more about today’s developments in the posts below.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky claimed his country’s military has destroyed an important Russian ammunition depot where Moscow kept S-300 missiles it fired on the city of Kharkiv.

 “Good thing MLRS (Multiple Launch Rocket Systems). Thank you, our heroes,” he concluded.

The Ukrainian president went on to promise retribution for the Russian shelling of several Ukrainian cities and towns.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenksy said he looks forward to working with incoming British Prime Minister Liz Truss, while at the same time thanking the UK’s outgoing leader, her predecessor, Boris Johnson, during his nightly address.

“And I believe that together we will be able to do a lot more to protect our nations and to thwart all Russian destructive efforts,” he added.

Zelensky’s warm welcome for Truss came after bidding farewell to outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson, with whom he had spoken earlier on Monday. 

“It is usually said that there is no friendship in politics, but Boris is the case when you understand each other with half a word, when friendship exists, when it is strong and when it really strengthens both our states,” Zelensky said. “Starting with the first minutes of Russia’s full-scale war against Ukraine and Europe, Boris has been with us. His first and most important question has always been: “How else can I help?”

“I want to emphasize: even before Feb. 24, we always felt that Britain was together with Ukraine,” he added. “Today I thanked Boris on behalf of all Ukrainians, and I am sure that this is truly a multi-million Ukrainian “thank you”

A serviceman with a Russian flag on his uniform stands guard near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on August 4.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russia of intentionally deteriorating the situation around Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, amid a visit by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

A spokesperson for the IAEA told CNN earlier on Monday that the transmission line connecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to the Ukrainian energy grid had been intentionally disconnected due to a fire.

The spokesperson also said the line had not suffered any damage and would be reconnected as soon as the fire was extinguished. Ukraine blamed Russia for the shelling, which, it said, caused the fire.

“Russia is only interested in keeping the situation at its worst for the longest time,” he added, explaining this was the second time the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant had been disconnected from the Ukrainian grid, bringing it “one step away from a radiation disaster.”

“This can only be amended by enhancing sanctions, only by officially recognizing Russia as a terrorist state — at all levels,” Zelensky concluded. “This requires an international response — starting with the UN to every normal state.”

UK Defence secretary Ben Wallace on February 28.

More than six months into its war in Ukraine, Russia “has yet to achieve any of its strategic objectives” in its invasion, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace said on Monday.

Russia “continues to lose significant equipment and personnel” in the war, he added, saying that the losses will have a lasting impact on Moscow’s future combat effectiveness.

The Defense Secretary accused Putin of “weaponizing” energy and urged his fellow Members of Parliament to communicate the state of affairs to their voters.

“It is important, I think, we communicate to our constituents that some of the deeply uncomfortable times are facing us all are driven by effectively a totalitarian and a regime in Russia that is deliberately setting out to harm us and trying to test us about whether we will sacrifice our values for our energy costs,” he said, 

Wallace also urged unity across Europe over the winter. 

“If we don’t stand together, we don’t deal with it now, these threats won’t go away on their own,” he said. “We shouldn’t forget that this is – sadly – but it is an opportunity to diversify our supply, and it will be better for the long run for everyone as well.”

Ukraine says it has struck a base used by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) in Kamianka-Dniprovska of the Zaporizhzhia region, the Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence division said on Monday.

Russian forces were also using one of the buildings to store ballots for an eventual referendum, according to the Defense Intelligence.

Open-source intelligence suggests an explosion did happen in Kamianka-Dniprovska, but CNN cannot independently verify Ukrainian claims that the site was used as an FSB base or that ballots for a referendum were indeed stored on location. 

Russia has not commented on the incident.

A Ukrainian BTR being driven out of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region, on September 5.

The Ukrainian military says it repelled multiple Russian offensives throughout the day and was able to push Moscow’s armies back near Kramatorsk in eastern Ukraine, its General Staff said in a situational update on Monday evening.

“Our defenders successfully repelled enemy offensive attempts in the areas of the settlements of Bilohorivka, Hryhorivka, Pokrovske, Bakhmutske, Lozove, Spartak, Soledar, Zaitseve and Semihiria,” the General Staff said. “In the Kramatorsk direction, they had tactical success and knocked the enemy out of the positions he had previously occupied.”

According to the General Staff, the Russian military carried out 40 attacks using multiple launch rocket systems and 25 airstrikes. 

The Ukrainian military went on to claim success in specific strikes using long-range artillery in Kherson and Kharkiv.

“The successful actions of the Defense Forces led to the disabling of crossings in the Kherson area and once again nullified the aggressor’s attempts to resume the transfer of troops across the Dnipro River,” the General Staff added.

President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, speaks during a press conference at the EU headquarters in Brussels on July 10, 2021.

The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, says the European Union is preparing plans for a cap on Russian pipeline gas. In a tweet, she also stated that the EU Commission is preparing proposals to help vulnerable households and businesses to cope with high energy prices.

Energy Ministers from EU countries are holding an emergency meeting in Brussels on Friday, September 9 to discuss a response to the rising gas prices. 

Earlier on Monday, Russia blamed the disruption to gas supplies in Europe through Nord Stream 1 on Western sanctions saying they would resume if those sanctions were lifted. 

Von der Leyen accused Russian President Putin of “using energy as a weapon by cutting supply and manipulating our energy markets.”

The last operating reactor at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been disconnected from the Ukrainian grid, the country’s nuclear agency Energoatom said on Monday, saying it was the result of a fire caused by Russian shelling. 

“As a result, power unit No. 6 was unloaded and disconnected from the grid, which currently supplies the ZNPP’s own needs,” the agency said in its statement.

Energoatom is working on restoring the connection, a spokesperson told CNN on Monday. 

“There is a chance to restore the power transmission to the Ukrainian grid,” the spokesperson added, saying he could not detail timings as the situation remained tense. 

The spokesperson noted that the situation was not considered an emergency. 

“The power unit No.6 is still working and cooling all the rest of nuclear reactors. So basically it maintains the power of the plant itself,” the spokesperson explained. “When the generators turn on, usually automatically, this situation would be considered emergency. For now, it is not.”

The Russian controlled military-civilian administration of the city of Enerhodar, where the power plant is located, would not say whether the power plant had been disconnected from the Ukrainian grid, but said the situation at the plant was normal.

The Energoatom spokesperson also said disconnecting the plant from the Ukrainian grid would not make connecting the plant to the Russian grid any easier, due to the damage to transmission lines.

Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and adviser to the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos accused of state treason, stands inside a defendants' cage as he attends a court hearing in Moscow, Russia September 5.

In the most high-profile case of treason in recent years, the Moscow City Court on Monday sentenced Ivan Safronov, a former journalist and adviser to the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, to 22 years in prison, according to an RIA Novosti correspondent reporting from the courtroom.

“[The court rules out] to sentence Safronov to a term of 22 years to be served in a high security jail,” the judicial board announced the decision. In addition, he was sentenced to two years of restriction of freedom after his release and a fine of 500,000 rubles.

The defense has 10 days to appeal this decision, it has not yet entered into force, according to RIA 

More background: Safronov was detained by the Federal Security Service (FSB) in July 2020 after he was accused of collecting state confidential data about Russia’s military and technical developments, as well as defense and security, and handing it over to NATO.

As a journalist, Safronov specialized in reporting on military and space topics for the Vedomosti and Kommersant newspapers before moving on to work as an adviser to the former head of Roscosmos, Dmitry Rogozin.

Details of the case were not officially released, as the case was handled behind closed doors due to the severity of the charges. Lawyers for Safronov said last week the prosecutor offered the journalist a guilty plea in exchange for a reduced sentence of 12 years, which he declined.

A few Russia’s remaining independent media outlets, including Meduza, Novaya Gazeta, TVRain, and others, published a statement in support of Ivan Safronov Monday demanding the release of the journalist and calling for an investigation into alleged legal violations in the case.

“It is clear to us that the reason for Ivan’s persecution is not ‘treason’, which is not confirmed by anything, but his journalistic work and materials that he published without regard to the opinion of the Ministry of Defense and the Russian authorities,” the statement said.

American Actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller are among the latest 25 Americans added to Russia's “stop list.” 

Russia’s Foreign Ministry on Monday announced sanctions against 25 more Americans — ranging from members of Congress to business leaders and cultural figures, banning them from entry into Russia on a permanent basis. 

The Russian Foreign Ministry announced these sanctions in response to “ever-expanding personal sanctions” by the Biden administration against Russian citizens, it said on its website, adding that it was acting on the principle of reciprocity and banning US citizens in turn.

The sanctioned Americans include US Democratic senators Mark Kelley and Kristen Sinema, Republican senators Kevin Kramer, Michael Rounds, Richard Scott and Patrick Toomey, and American actors Sean Penn and Ben Stiller. 

“The hostile actions of the American authorities, which continue to follow a Russophobic course, destroying bilateral ties and escalating confrontation between Russia and the United States, will continue to be resolutely rebuffed,” the foreign ministry added.

Ukrainian and French presidents discussed defense support and the UN nuclear inspection during a 1.5 hours-long call, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a tweet on Monday.

French President also reiterated his full support for restoring Ukraine’s sovereignty, security and territorial integrity, the Elysee said in a readout of the call.

The two leaders also discussed the International Atomic Energy Agency’s mission to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. 

“President [Macron] reiterated the imperative need to preserve the safety and security of the nuclear facilities, which can only be achieved through the withdrawal of Russian forces,” the Elysee said. “He also reaffirmed his determination to ensure that Ukrainian sovereignty over the plant is respected.”

Novaya Gazeta newspaper's editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov (R) and deputy editor-in-chief Sergei Sokolov sit in a corridor before a court hearing of a case to revoke the newspaper's media license in Moscow, Russia on September 5.

The Basmanny Court of Moscow on Monday invalidated the certificate of registration for the print version of Novaya Gazeta, one of Russia’s last independent newspapers.

Judge Olga Lipkina ruled “to invalidate the registration of Novaya Gazeta,” state news agency RIA Novosti reported from the court.

Speaking outside court, editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov, a Nobel Peace laureate for his efforts to uphold critical news reporting in Russia, said the ruling was “a political hit job, without the slightest legal basis.”

He said the paper would appeal.

In a statement published on the website, the editorial team called this “attempted murder of Novaya Gazeta.”

Russia’s media watchdog Rozkomnadzor had accused the publication of failing to provide documents related to a change of ownership in 2006.

Novaya Gazeta, a stalwart of Russia’s media scene since its foundation in 1993 with money from the Nobel Peace prize of late Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, had carved out a niche as Russia’s leading investigative outlet, even as press freedoms were.

Kirill Stremousov, deputy head of the Russian-backed Kherson administration, is pictured in his office in the city of Kherson on July 20.

Plans to hold a referendum on the Ukrainian region of Kherson becoming a part of Russia have been put on hold, said Kirill Stremousov, the deputy head of the Russian-backed administration in the region.

“Kherson region is ready for a referendum on joining the Russian Federation, but a pause was taken due to the security situation,” he said, according to the Russian state news agency TASS.

Ukrainian and US officials have long criticized Russian efforts to hold sham referendums in Kherson and other Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.

Stremousov’s remarks come a week after Ukraine announced its long-anticipated offensive to retake Kherson had gotten underway. Since then, there have been dozens of strikes against Russian forces and infrastructure in Kherson.

Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine Iryna Vereshchuk described the referendum as “a farce and a circus,” and warned Ukrainian citizens against participating.

“For our citizens who will participate in this — this is, in fact, an article of the Criminal Code,” she said. “Do not to take part in any ‘referendums.’ Neither pressure, nor forceful incitement, etc., will be able to justify the fact that a person went to the ‘referendum,’” she said.

Ukraine’s state nuclear energy provider said Monday that four of the six members of the International Atomic Energy Agency inspection team still at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant have left after completing their work, and that it expected the remaining two would remain at the facility “on a permanent basis.”

This came hours after a senior pro-Russian official in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia said the IAEA’s current mission to the plant would end Tuesday, though he acknowledged uncertainty over the timeline.

“There is still no clear understanding of whether IAEA representatives will stay at the nuclear power plant on a permanent basis,” Vladimir Rogov said.

“The delegation is still working on September 5. After its mission ends, they leave on September 6. They have received all kinds of assistance. We are interested in an objective and balanced assessment of the situation at the nuclear power plant.”

In brief comments to CNN Monday, a spokesperson for the IAEA would only say that two IAEA experts are definitely staying at the plant. The organization’s Director General Rafael Grossi said during a visit to the plant last Thursday that the IAEA would keep a continuing presence there. 

The Ukrainian military says offensive action in the southern region of Kherson continued Sunday, with air strikes and artillery brought to bear against Russian forces.

The military’s Operational Command South said that the air force carried out 21 strikes, while “rocket and artillery units continue to carry out fire missions intensively. Crossings through the Dnipro and Inhulets (rivers) are under close fire control.”

The command said the Russians had lost six tanks and other equipment, including nine howitzers.

An ammunition depot at Tomyna Balka and a pontoon crossing near the village of Lvove were also destroyed, as well as the command post of the 35th Army in the Kakhovka district, it said.

But the Ukrainian General Staff noted that Russian forces continued to conduct defensive operations, attacking more than a dozen settlements in northern Kherson with artillery and air strikes.

The Kherson region military administration said that amid the combat, most of the region was once again without electricity.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant during a visit by members of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) on Friday.

A senior Ukrainian official says the government is still waiting for a report from the International Atomic Energy Agency on the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and has suggested the IAEA mission is “ineffective.”

Podolyak said there should be a “nuclear audit” the plant, which included “a certain number of people who know nuclear physics and engineering technologies” working next to Ukrainian staff.

While occupied by Russian forces, the plant is run largely by Ukrainian technicians.

The weekend appears to have passed relatively quietly in the area around the plant, which has seen persistent shelling for weeks, some of which has damaged the plant’s infrastructure, according to the IAEA.

On Friday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said the organization knows “much more” about the state of the plant after its visit last week. A team of inspectors will have “continued presence” at the plant, Grossi said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on Sunday that two settlements in the south of the country and a settlement in the eastern Donetsk region were liberated.

He did not say precisely where the settlements were and provided no timeline except that his military commanders and head of intelligence delivered “good reports” at a meeting on Sunday.

In his daily video message, Zelensky said Ukrainian forces had also “advanced and regained certain heights” in the Lysychansk-Siversk direction.

Russia’s Armed Forces will not be able to field a new corps until late November due to a shortage of trained professionals and military hardware, and new troops are being outfitted with Soviet-era weapons that in many cases are not combat-ready, an official in Ukraine’s Defense Intelligence said Sunday.

Skibitskyi said Russia was suffering from a lack of “all the most modern” military hardware and weapons because of the heavy losses its forces suffered in February and March. Units being formed were equipped with Soviet-era weapons, he said.

CNN has not been able to independently verify these claims.

Some context: Britain’s Ministry of Defense said in late August that Russia’s Third Army Corps was “highly likely short of personnel and these troops have had limited training” and that the “operational effectiveness of these units is not known.”

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz greets Denys Schmyhal, Prime Minister of Ukraine, for a reception with military honors at the Chancellery, Berlin, Germany, on September 4.

Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal met German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Sunday in Berlin, where the two discussed the war in Ukraine, according to a German government readout. 

Scholz expressed his respect for the “bravery” of Ukrainians against the “Russian war of aggression”, the readout said.

The two discussed the eventual reconstruction of the country, with Scholz announcing an expert conference to take place in Berlin on October 25.

They also addressed Ukraine’s bid to join the European Union, a process which can take years to complete.

Shmyhal also met with the German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday and said in a tweet that they discussed the “military situation, strengthening sanctions and the need to provide weapons” for Ukraine.