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KHARKIV, Sept 11 (Reuters) - Power blackouts and cuts in water supply hit several areas of Ukraine's northeastern region of Kharkiv on Sunday as Russian attacks hit infrastructure sites, the region's governor said. "The (Russian) occupiers have struck critical infrastructure in the city and region of Kharkiv," Olegh Synehubov wrote on Telegram. "In several population centres, there are no electrical or water supplies. Fires have broken out where these strikes occurred and emergency crews ... are containing the blazes."

Ramzan Kadyrov, the Kremlin-appointed leader of Chechnya, has criticised the Russian army’s leadership after it appeared to be caught off guard by Ukraine’s fightback against the Russian invasion in the north-east. In a sign that the Kremlin may face serious fallout over the loss of territory that the Russian occupation administrations had repeatedly stated they planned to keep “for ever”, Kadyrov also suggested that Vladimir Putin might not be aware of the real state of affairs. “They have made mistakes and I think they will draw the necessary conclusions,” Kadyrov said in an audio message posted to his Telegram channel...

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss is the bookmakers' favorite to become the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, but the Kremlin is unlikely to be betting on a different British approach to relations with Moscow, or the war in Ukraine, should she take over from incumbent Boris Johnson. Although enjoying less support among fellow Conservative Party MPs, Truss's greater popularity among grassroots Tories than Chancellor Rishi Sunak in the final run-off has seen Betfair put her odds-on 4/6 to win. If successful, she will be the face of the British response to the war in Ukraine during which she...

Russian and Ukrainian officials tentatively agreed on a potential peace deal during negotiations back in April 2022, according to a Foreign Affairs article by Fiona Hill and Angela Stent that cited former US officials. The article reads: “According to multiple former senior US officials we spoke with, in April 2022, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators appeared to have tentatively agreed on the outlines of a negotiated interim settlement.” The terms of that settlement would have been for Russia to withdraw to the positions it held before launching the invasion on February 24. In exchange, Ukraine would “promise not to seek NATO...

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has hit out over the UN visit to Europe's largest nuclear power plant. He's upset the nuclear watchdog inspecting the Zaporizhzhia facility, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), has not yet called for the demilitarisation of the site, which has been occupied by Russian troops since early on in the six-month war. Zelenskyy also scolded Russia for allegedly obstructing journalists from accompanying the IAEA on its visit to the plant. "The key thing that should happen is the demilitarisation of the territory of the plant," said Zelenskyy. "This is exactly the goal of Ukrainian and international...

Russian forces are reportedly delaying international nuclear safety officials from entering the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine. Shelling on multiple days last week had hit an area of the plant located just 100 meters or so from the reactor buildings. Rafael Mariano Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), repeatedly called for an IAEA mission to the plant so experts can assess the damage and evaluate working conditions of the Ukrainian staff continuing to keep the facility operational. Earlier on Wednesday, an IAEA team set off from the Ukrainian capital Kyiv, Reuters reporting the team were...

A must-watch lecture! Energy Markets and war briefing: With Dr. Dan Fine, T. Greg Merrion and John Byrom with special emphasis on the Resource war between Russia, Ukraine, and Europe.