Live blog: Russia raises alarm on Ukraine's nuclear waste storage reaching unsafe levels

Friday, November 10, 2023

1310 GMT — Russia has raised the alarm about nuclear waste storage in Ukraine reaching unsafe levels, warning of a high chance of approximately 12 million tons of radioactive waste entering the Dnieper River and groundwater.

In a statement published on the ministry's website, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the volume of nuclear waste at the Prydniprovsky Chemical Plant, located in the city of Kamianske, has reached 42 million tons.

"The plant was constructed during the Soviet era, and it is processing wastes that are presently stored in nine open-air dumping grounds containing sand-like low-radioactive residue.

"These wastes are a significant and dangerous source of environmental pollution. There is a high probability of about 12 million tons of radioactive waste entering the Dnieper (river) and groundwater as a result of possible erosion of the dam at one of the storage facilities located 800 meters from the river and its tributary Konoplyanka," Zakharova warned.

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1805 GMT — Russian shelling kills three, damages gas, power lines in Ukraine's south

Russian artillery and drone attacks killed three people and damaged an unspecified infrastructure facility, power lines, and a gas pipeline in the Dnipropetrovsk and Kherson regions of Ukraine, local officials said.

An infrastructure facility, a gas pipeline, and power lines, as well as 11 private houses, had been damaged. Images from the site shared by Lysak showed buildings with shattered windows, huge holes in the walls, and a burnt car.

Three people have been killed in separate shellings and six were injured, according to officials.

1628 GMT — Ukraine says Russian army still trying to encircle Avdiivka

Russian forces are fighting to surround the war-battered frontline town of Avdiivka and capture a strategically located factory nearby, a Ukrainian military spokesman said.

"(Russian forces) are not only fighting for the plant, they have not given up trying to surround Avdiivka," Oleksandr Shtupun, a Ukrainian military spokesman told state media.

He said Ukrainian forces were repelling Russian assaults on the large chemical plant and that the facility was under their control.

He added that Russian forces were routinely striking Avdiivka with artillery and military jets, saying a bombardment late Thursday had killed two civilians.

1532 GMT — Russia to return Ukraine orphan teen taken from Mariupol

A Ukrainian orphan from Mariupol, who was taken to Russia after it captured the port city last year, will be returned to Ukraine in a rare deal between Kiev and Moscow, they announced.

The Kremlin has been accused of illegally transferring thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) is seeking President Vladimir Putin's arrest over alleged deportations.

Bogdan Yermokhin, 17, was taken by Russian forces from Mariupol to Russia last spring and - like an unknown number of other Ukrainian children - placed in a Russian foster family.

1513 GMT — Russia says it thwarted Ukrainian attempt to forge bridgehead on River Dnipro's east bank

Russia's military said that its forces had thwarted a Ukrainian attempt to forge a bridgehead on the eastern bank of the River Dnipro and on nearby islands, killing around 500 Ukrainian soldiers in the past week.

"On 9 November, personnel from a motorised rifle company in the Russian military grouping 'Dnipro' under the command of Senior Lieutenant Zolto Arsalanov destroyed servicemen from a unit of Ukraine's 36th Marine Infantry brigade as they were trying to gain a foothold on the left bank of the Dnipro River," the statement said.

"As a result of active pre-emptive actions of Russian troops and artillery fire, the enemy's losses during the week totalled up to 505 servicemen, 18 field artillery guns, 15 boats, and 25 vehicles," it said.

1449 GMT — Putin visits southern military headquarters to assess Ukraine war

Russian President Vladimir Putin has visited the Southern Military District headquarters in Rostov-on-Don as he assessed the state of his country's forces in Ukraine as the war drags on toward winter.

It was his second public visit to the headquarters in less than a month. Video shared by a Russian state news agency showed Putin being greeted late on Thursday by Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff.

Almost 21 months of war have significantly eroded both Russia's and Ukraine's military resources.

0906 GMT — Ukraine damages two small Russian landing boats in Crimea: Kiev

Ukrainian forces have damaged two small Russian landing boats in Crimea during an overnight attack using sea drones, Ukraine's military intelligence agency said.

"As a result of a night operation on the territory of temporarily occupied Crimea, small amphibious ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet were hit by soldiers," the intelligence agency said on the Telegram messaging app.

There was no immediate comment by Russia, which seized and annexed the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine in 2014 and whose Black Sea Fleet is headquartered in the Crimean city of Sevastopol.

0603 GMT — Ukraine raises grain deliveries to Black Sea ports: railway official

The number of rail wagons heading to the ports of Ukraine's Odessa region has continued to rise over the past week thanks to the successful operation of the alternative Black Sea exports corridor, a senior railways official said.

Valeriy Tkachov, deputy director of the commercial department at Ukrainian Railways, said on Facebook that over the last week the number of grain wagons heading to Odessa ports increased by more than 26 percent to 5,341 from 4,227.

He said up to 970 wagons were unloaded at the ports' silos every day.

For our live updates from Thursday (November 9), click here.