Russian losses exceed 50,000, IAEA releases Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant report, and Biden says no to Russian state terrorism designation

This is in addition to the more than 13,000 pieces of equipment the Russians are also said to have lost.

In their conclusions, the document suggests there is an acute need for temporary measures to ensure nuclear safety of the ZNPP, including establish-ing a secure zone around the power plant. The IAEA says it’s ready to dis-cuss concrete steps to secure such a perimeter. Several IAEA experts will remain at the plant, monitoring the situation. Their presence will be “vital” in stabilizing the situation.

• Meanwhile, Ukraine’s nuclear operator, Energoatom, stated that the ZNPP will be reconnected to the Ukrainian grid once a fire damaging the facility’s sole remaining backup power line is extinguished and the line repaired.

According to the White House, this is due to unintended consequences such a designation may have – possibly referring to earlier-brokered deals with the Russian Federation, such as the partial lifting of the blockade around Ukrainian ports. “It will also undercut unprecedented multilateral conditions that have been so effective in holding [Russian President Vladimir] Putin accountable and could also undermine our ability to support Ukraine at the negotiating table,” a White House spokesperson said.

The announcement followed von der Leyen meeting Ukrainian PM Denys Shmyhal. “The situation on the ground in Ukraine still requires our unabated support,” said von der Leyen. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy later said that an EU member state is delaying further financial assistance to Kyiv.

• PM Denys Shmyhal has said that Russia’s full-scale invasion of the country has caused at least $326 billion in damages so far.

According to military expert Oleksandr Musienko, it’s a sign that Russian defenses in the oblast are being pushed back. “It was from there, in particular, that artillery, including rockets, used to fire from, which struck Dnipropetrovsk Oblast, Zelenodolsk and beyond, wherever they could reach. Therefore, from the point of view that the intensity of artillery fire is decreasing, this is important because the line of the occupiers is being pushed back,” Musienko explained.

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