Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency raised grave concern about shelling at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine, as its military said Russian forces had attacked dozens of front-line towns.

Ukraine and Russia: What you need to know right now

More on zaporizhzhia plant

• Ukraine’s Prosecutor General’s office said it had started criminal proceedings against what it said was rocket and artillery shelling by the Russian military of the Zaporizhzhia power plant on Friday.

• Shells hit a high-voltage power line at the plant, prompting operators to disconnect a reactor despite no radioactive leak being detected. The plant was captured by Russian forces in early March, but it is still run by its Ukrainian technicians.

• Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom blamed Russia for the damage at the power plant.

• Russia’s defence ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant, saying a leak of radiation had been avoided only by luck.

Fighting

• The Ukrainian military said in an update on Facebook that Russian shelling was recorded in dozens of towns along the eastern and southern front lines.

• The Ukrainian military said Russian forces tried to conduct assaults in six different areas in eastern Donetsk region, all of which failed to gain any territory and were held back by Ukrainian forces.

• Russia’s war in Ukraine is about to enter a new phase, with most fighting shifting to a nearly 350-km (217-mile) front stretching southwest from near Zaporizhzhia to Kherson, British military intelligence said.

• North Macedonia has agreed to supply tanks and planes to Ukraine to help fend off Moscow’s ongoing invasion, senior Ukrainian presidential aide Mykhailo Podolyak said.

• The next weapons package to Ukraine from the United States was expected to be $1 billion and include munitions for long-range weapons and armoured medical transport vehicles, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters.

Human rights

• The head of Amnesty International’s Ukraine office has quit the human rights body in a disagreement with it after the group accused Ukraine’s armed forces of endangering civilians by basing troops in residential areas during the Russian invasion.

Grains

• A foreign-flagged ship arrived in Ukraine on Saturday for the first time since the war started and will be loaded with grain, Ukraine’s infrastructure minister said. Ukraine is starting to resume grain exports in an effort overseen by a Joint Coordination Centre in Istanbul where Russian, Ukrainian, Turkish and UN personnel are working.