Live – War in Ukraine: Russia accuses it of firing missiles from Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

Ukrainian officials said in its daily update that 38,140 soldiers have been killed on the Russian side since the beginning of the Russian invasion, as well as thousands of Russian military vehicles.

These figures must be taken retrospectively, because the Russian authorities, like the Ukrainians, provide little information about their losses.

Russian gas company Gazprom announced on Saturday that it has officially asked German group Siemens to hand over a turbine repaired in Canada to ensure the operations of the Nord Stream gas pipeline supplying Europe. The fate of the turbine, supplied by Gazprom as essential to the operation of the Nord Stream gas compressor station, has cast doubt over the future supply of Russian blue gold to Europe for weeks.

The device was sent to Canada for repair by Siemens. Despite sanctions aimed at Moscow for its offensive in Ukraine, Ottawa announced it would return the turbine to Germany, requiring Siemens to hand it over to Gazprom. But the Russian team says there is no guarantee it can be recovered.

The Ukrainian Interior Ministry reported two deaths in the city of Sukhiv (Kharkiv region) between Friday and Saturday after Russian attacks. Two others were injured As per current balance sheetBut research is still ongoing.

Eight Ukrainian civilians were killed and 14 wounded in the fighting in the Donetsk region (Donbass) on Friday, according to Pavlo Kyrilenko, head of the regional military administration.

BFMTV met two French members of the International Legion who came to fight the Ukrainians. According to these former soldiers of the French army, “Putin will not stop in Ukraine, so the best thing is to stop him soon”.

They explain that helping with on-site training, “we’re not talking about very heavy weapons, we’re talking about anti-tank weapons that the majority of Ukrainians don’t train on them, and that’s what they’re looking for a lot”, they detail. They plan to stay in Ukraine until the end of the war and martial law.

In the evening, the city of Kramatorsk in the Donbass, still under Ukrainian control, suffered several bombings. A strike in its central square, Place de la Boix, left a two-meter crater and shattered windows in surrounding buildings, but caused no casualties because it happened after curfew, a police official said. Ukrainian 81st Brigade, in anonymity.

Earlier, at least three strikes hit south of Kramatorsk, towards the airport, where AFP reporters saw a large plume of smoke.

The boss of Ukrainian operator Energoatom said on Friday that the Russian military has stationed missile launchers at the (southern) site of the Russian-controlled Zaporijjia nuclear power plant since early March.

“The Russian aggressors have installed missile launchers on the territory of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and are attacking the Nikipol district from there,” Petro Kotin said in Telegram after a TV interview with Ukraine’s United Channel.

According to him, 500 Russian soldiers are still at the plant and they “control the site”.