Russian military vehicles escort a motorcade transporting the International Atomic Energy Agency expert mission while leaving the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine on Sept. 1, 2022. Alexander Ermochenko | Reuters IAEA inspectors inspected the Russian-occupied plant last week, with two of them staying on at the facility to maintain a presence at the site, which has found itself at the center of fighting in southern Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the plant and endangering its stability. IAEA director-general Rafael Mariano Grossi will also brief the United Nations Security Council about the mission to the plant on Tuesday. Ukraine informed the IAEA, a U.N. nuclear watchdog, on Monday that a backup power line between the nuclear power plant and a nearby thermal power station was deliberately disconnected today in order to extinguish a fire, but the line itself was not damaged. The plant continues to receive the electricity it needs for safety from its sole operating reactor. — Holly Ellyatt
Russia may be running out of aerial drones in Kherson
Ukrainian servicemen with a downed Russian drone in Kyiv in March. Aris Messinis | AFP | Getty Images Russian troops fighting in the Kherson area of Ukraine appear to be struggling to maintain their supply of unmanned aerial vehicles, the British Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday. “The limited availability of reconnaissance UAVs is likely degrading commanders’ tactical situational awareness and increasingly hampering Russian operations,” the ministry said in a Twitter post. Moscow military doctrine increasingly depends on UAVs to spot targets for Russian artillery, the U.K. ministry said. CNBC is unable to confirm reports out of Kherson, where Ukraine launched a counteroffensive last week. Russia’s ministry of defense did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Ukraine reported shooting down three Russian tactical UAVs in a single day on Aug. 21. The British ministry cited a report in the Odesa Journal which claimed that Russian troops made 27 UAV sorties on Monday, down from an average of 50 a day in the month of August. A sortie is typically defined as a single mission by a single aircraft. UAVs can be shot down or jammed electronically so that their operators lose control of them. “In the face of combat losses, it is likely that Russia is struggling to maintain stocks of UAVs, exacerbated by component shortages resulting from international sanctions,” the British Defence Ministry said. — Ted Kemp
Gazprom says Siemens Energy has to repair turbine before gas supplies resume
A top Gazprom official has said that natural gas supplies to Europe via the Nord Stream 1 gas pipeline will not resume until Siemens Energy repairs faulty equipment. When asked when supplies might resume, Gazprom’s deputy CEO Vitaly Markelov told Reuters on Tuesday that “you should ask Siemens. They have to repair equipment first,” he told Reuters on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum in the far eastern Russian city of Vladivostok. Gazprom halted all flows through the pipeline on Friday after it said it had detected an oil leak in a turbine engine at the Portovaya compressor station and said it would cut off supplies until the issue was fixed. Europe is facing an unprecedented gas crisis. Picture Alliance | Picture Alliance | Getty Images Siemens Energy, which has supplied and serviced Nord Stream 1 turbines, responded by saying that the leak was not a reason to stop gas flows. “As the manufacturer of the turbines, we can only state that such a finding is not a technical reason for stopping operation,” it said in a statement, adding that such leakages do not usually affect the operation of a turbine and can be sealed on site. Such repairs were routine procedures, Siemens Energy said, adding that in the past, “the occurrence of this type of leakage has not resulted in a shutdown of operations.” “Irrespective of this, we have already pointed out several times that there are enough additional turbines available at the Portovaya compressor station for Nord Stream 1 to operate,” it added. Siemens Energy said it was “currently not contracted for maintenance work, but is standing by.” — Holly Ellyatt
Russian energy minister says price cap will lead to shipping more Russian oil to Asia
A worker walks from the Sans Vitesse accommodation towards the gas receiving compressor station of the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline in Lubmin, Germany, on Tuesday, Aug 30, 2022. Krisztian Bocsi | Bloomberg | Getty Images Russian energy minister Nikolai Shulginov said the country will ship more oil to Asia in response to price caps on its oil exports, Reuters reported. “Any actions to impose a price cap will lead to deficit on (initiating countries’) own markets and will increase price volatility,” he told reporters at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, according to Reuters. Last week, the G-7 economic powers agreed to cap the price of Russian crude to punish Moscow for its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. Before the invasion, Russia exported approximately half of its crude and petroleum product exports to Europe, according to the International Energy Agency. — Natalie Tham
Zelenskyy vows ‘response’ for attack on hometown, applauds destruction of Russian missile warehouse
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy commended Ukrainian fighters who destroyed a Russian missile warehouse and vowed action following an attack on his hometown. “I especially want to thank the fighters of one of our rocket artillery brigades who with their accurate fire destroyed the very Russian warehouse from which the occupiers got S-300 missiles to bomb Kharkiv,” Zelenskyy said in a statement posted to his official Telegram and translated by NBC. Zelenskyy added that the “occupiers will definitely get a response” for Monday’s missile attack on his hometown of Kryvyi Rih, and the continued shelling across other territories. — Samantha Subin
Macron urges French to cut energy use 10% to avoid rationing
French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday called for a 10% reduction in France’s energy use in the coming weeks to avoid rationing and cuts amid tensions with supplier Russia, according to the Associated Press. Energy rationing plans are being prepared “in case” they’re needed, and that “cuts will happen as a last resort,” he said at a news conference. “The best energy is that which we don’t consume,” Macron said, urging French businesses and households to save energy, including by turning down heating and air conditioning, the AP said. Speaking after a videoconference Monday with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Macron announced a plan to boost gas supplies to Germany from France to make up for a drop in Russian gas supplies from the east. Germany will continue supplying power to France to make up for shortages caused by maintenance on many French nuclear reactors. —AP
Boris Johnson says Ukraine will defeat Russia in outgoing call
Boris Johnson told President Volodymyr Zelenskyy that Ukraine can and will defeat Russia in his final call as U.K. prime minister. Johnson, who on Monday was replaced as leader of the Conservative Party by Liz Truss, pledged to maintain a close friendship with Zelenskyy even as he leaves office. “The Prime Minister told President Zelenskyy it had been a privilege to work with him and support him, and the leaders agreed to stay in close touch as friends,” a Downing Street spokesperson said. — Karen Gilchrist
