Russia intercepts drone near nuclear power plant; Defence Ministry confirms capture of Vuhledar

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Thursday confirmed reports that its forces had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, crediting what it called decisive action taken by units in its East military grouping.

Nato chief Mark Rutte told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky “Your security matters for ours” on Thursday during his first visit to Kyiv since becoming the alliance’s secretary-general.

Russia intercepts drone near Kursk power plant

Russian forces intercepted a Ukrainian drone on Thursday near the Russian town of Kurchatov but there was no damage to the nearby Kursk nuclear power plant, said the regional governor.

Governor Alexei Smirnov said debris from the drone caused explosions in a building unrelated to the plant.

Several Russian Telegram channels earlier reported the alleged Ukrainian attack, which they said had been thwarted by air defences but had resulted in a fire several kilometres from the nuclear plant.

The plant’s operator, Rosenergoatom, said the facility was operating as usual and radiation levels remained within normal limits.

In a post on X, Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Heorhiy Tykhyi denied that Ukraine had fired weapons at or near the plant.

Reuters could not independently confirm the reports.

Ukrainian forces entered the Kursk region in a surprise cross-border incursion on 6 August and remain there even as the Russian military tries to eject them.

Rafael Grossi, the head of the UN nuclear watchdog, visited the nuclear plant on 27 August and said it was especially vulnerable to a serious accident because it lacked a protective dome that could shield it from missiles, drones or artillery.

Russia's Defence Ministry confirms capture of Vuhledar

Russia’s Defence Ministry on Thursday confirmed reports that its forces had taken control of the eastern Ukrainian town of Vuhledar, crediting what it called decisive action taken by units in its East military grouping.

The town, which Russia calls Ugledar, had resisted Russian assaults for more than two years.

Ukraine’s armed forces commander General Oleksandr Syrskyi said on Thursday he had ordered defences to be strengthened in the eastern Donetsk region, a day after Kyiv forces announced they had withdrawn from Vuhledar.

Russian troops are steadily inching forward in sectors in eastern Ukraine despite Kyiv’s surprise incursion into Russia’s western Kursk region in August that it was hoped would slow the advances.

Syrskyi said on social media he was working on “one of the hottest front sectors” with the 25th Sicheslav Airborne Brigade.

He gave no details on the exact location but the brigade operates in the Pokrovsk front, an area of intensified Russian assaults.

“While working in the brigade, I made a number of decisions aimed at strengthening stability and effectiveness of our defence,” said Syrskyi said.

Moscow’s forces now control just under a fifth of Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow’s primary tactical goal is to take the whole of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Russian forces have been pushing westwards at key points along some 150km of the front in the Donetsk region, with the logistics hub of Pokrovsk a key target.

In its daily report on the battlefield situation, Ukraine’s General Staff put the number of combat clashes for the last day at 142. Most took place on the Pokrovsk front, with 29 reported, and on the Kurakhove front, with 27.

New Nato chief Rutte reaffirms support for Ukraine

Nato chief Mark Rutte told Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky “Your security matters for ours” on Thursday during his first visit to Kyiv since becoming the alliance’s secretary-general.

Rutte also reiterated Nato’s pledge that Ukraine would one day be a Nato member, but Zelensky said he wanted the Western allies urgently to provide the kind of active military support that some of them have given to Israel in its battle with Iran.

“Your security matters for ours, and your fight for freedom reflects our core principles and values,” Rutte told a joint news conference, stressing that his first foreign trip as Nato chief demonstrated the alliance’s staunch support for Kyiv.

“Ukraine is closer to Nato than ever before, and it will continue along this path until it secures Nato membership,” said Rutte, a former Dutch prime minister who took up his new job on Tuesday.

Zelensky said he wanted to see Kyiv’s allies shooting down missiles and drones used by Russia in its attacks on Ukraine, just as some of Israel’s allies did when Tehran attacked Israel with missiles this week.

“We are working with them; at present they are not ready [to do this’,” said Zelensky.

He also renewed his appeal to Western allies to allow Ukraine to conduct deep strikes inside Russia with weapons supplied by them, saying they were “delaying” their decision.

“Without long-range weapons, we cannot stop Russia, which is using those weapons against us, destroying everything,” he said.

Allowing Kyiv to hit targets deep inside Russia would boost its capabilities in disrupting Russian logistics and command chains. Wary of Russia’s response, Ukraine’s allies have held off on making such a move.

Zelensky was also asked about Ukraine’s withdrawal earlier this week from Vuhledar, the latest in a series of Russian battlefield gains in eastern Ukraine this autumn.

“Lives [of soldiers] need to be saved because they are our people, they are citizens of Ukraine. Therefore it is very right that they can retreat and save themselves,” he said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, citing among other reasons Kyiv’s ambition to join Nato, which Moscow regards as a direct threat to its security.

In Kyiv, Rutte reaffirmed Nato’s stance that Moscow did not get to decide which country could or could not join the alliance.

Russian drone attack kills three

A Russian drone targeted a truck delivering gas in a border district of Ukraine’s northern Chernihiv region on Thursday, killing two adults and a child, national police said.

“The Russians deliberately hit a truck delivering liquefied gas to people with a drone. The gas cylinders detonated. Residential buildings caught fire,” said regional governor Vyacheslav Chaus on the Telegram messaging app.

A six-year-old child was among the victims, he said.

A four-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl were among four wounded people hospitalised after the attack, said Chaus. Both were in severe condition. Images from the site he posted alongside showed a truck completely burnt out and flames raging near private houses.

Russian guided bomb hits apartment building in Kharkiv

A Russian guided bomb struck a five-storey apartment block in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, late on Wednesday, starting fires and injuring at least 10 people, local officials said.

Zelensky said the strike, the latest in a long series of attacks on the city, underscored the need for more help from Ukraine’s Western backers. He pointed to Iran’s strike on Israel as an example of allies working together.

He said that to stop Russian strikes, “Ukraine must receive the necessary, and most importantly, sufficient help from the world, from our partners.

“Every leader knows exactly what needs to be done. It’s important to be decisive,” said Zelensky in a posting on the Telegram messaging app.

In Kyiv, the head of the capital’s military administration said fragments from a downed Russian drone damaged an apartment building in one of the capital’s eastern districts. There was no indication of any casualties.

US says it disrupted Russian efforts to hack government agencies

The US has seized 41 internet domains used by Russian intelligence agents and their proxies to hack into government agencies including the Pentagon and State Department, said the Department of Justice (DoJ) on Thursday.

The department said it had acted concurrently with a Microsoft effort to take down 66 internet domains used by the same actors. The seized domains were used by hackers linked to a unit of the Russian Federal Security Service.

“The Russian government ran this scheme to steal Americans’ sensitive information, using seemingly legitimate email accounts to trick victims into revealing account credentials," said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.

The hackers had used the domains in a spear-phishing campaign aimed at getting access to information from US companies, former employees of the US intelligence community, former and current Department of Defense and State Department employees, US military defence contractors and staff at the Department of Energy, said the DoJ.

The seized domains were used by hackers belonging to the “Callisto Group” and its partners, which the DoJ described as a unit within the FSB. The group, also known as “Cold River” or “Star Blizzard”, first appeared on the radar of intelligence professionals after it targeted Britain’s foreign office in 2016.

The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In December 2023, the DoJ announced charges against two hackers affiliated with Cold River for a campaign to hack into computer networks in the US, the UK, other Nato members and Ukraine. DM