Russia-Ukraine war: Boris Johnson visits Kyiv as Zelenskiy warns Russia over ‘nuclear blackmail’ – live

Russia should stop ‘nuclear blackmail’ says Zelenskiy in UNSC address

Speaking remotely at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia has put the world “on the brink of a radiation catastrophe”.

It is a fact that the Russian military has turned the territory of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, into a warzone.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, built in the Soviet era, is the largest nuclear reactor in Europe. Russia has controlled the plant in south-east Ukraine since March, although it is still run by Ukrainian scientists.

The Ukrainian nuclear firm Energoatom said last week it feared that Russia plans to switch off the functioning power units at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which in normal times provides about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.

There have been growing calls from Nato, the United Nations and French president Emmanuel Macron to demilitarise the site.

In his address, Zelenskiy called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to take “permanent control” and said “Russia should unconditionally stop nuclear blackmail and completely withdraw from the station.”

A western official previously told the Guardian fighting around the plant was considered a lesser risk than a cooling failure, because the nuclear reactors are designed to withstand relatively heavy impact, including that from a passenger jet.

Updated at 11.35 EDT

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Ukraine’s independence day was always important. Now it is a matter of life and death

A year ago on 24 August – the 30th anniversary of Ukraine’s independence – a new generation of pilots were leading the Ukrainian air forces flying over Independence Square in Kyiv. The fighter jet column was headed by Anton Lystopad, who was recognised as one of the country’s best pilots. He was 30 years old, born in the year of independence. Almost a year later, in August 2022, Lystopad received the Order for Courage from the president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy. A few days after the ceremony, he was killed in combat.

Lystopad’s story may sound almost too symbolic, but Ukrainians have become used to such tragic symbolism. Six months on from the start of the Russian invasion, with its indiscriminate bombardment of peaceful towns, the atrocities and horrors of Bucha and Mariupol, but also the solidarity, resilience and sacrifices we have experienced, everything feels sharper and deeper. The bitterness of losses and the joy of survival.

Even before the full-scale war, for Ukrainians, Independence Day was the most important holiday of the year, the brightest day, when we thought not about the death of tyranny and the Soviet empire, but the rebirth of the state and of freedom. Amid the war, a military parade in the capital is not an option – soldiers and equipment must be on the frontline. A civilian gathering may put people in danger. There are concerns that Vladimir Putin’s airstrikes will punish those celebrating something he wants to destroy. But doing nothing would feel like a defeat. Not letting Russia destroy our usual way of life is a form of protest. The installation of destroyed Russian military equipment along Kyiv’s main street, Khreshchatyk, has been applauded by many. It offers an ironic commentary: on 24 February, Moscow wanted its armoured vehicles trundling into central Kyiv.

Read more here:

Boris Johnson and Volodymyr Zelenskiy arrive at a press conference after visiting Independence Square in Kyiv on Ukraine independence day. Photograph: Genya Savilov/AFP/Getty Images A military band play to a crowd in Lviv, Ukraine. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Updated at 12.48 EDT

A Ukrainian mother and daughter who escaped from their home close to a frontline of the conflict with Russia have been forced to return there due to delays in processing their UK visa applications.

Olha Kachurenko, 43, a nurse and laboratory worker, and her 13-year-old daughter Marharyta fled their home in the southern city of Mykolaiv, not far from Russian-occupied Kherson, on 18 March, a few weeks after the war started.

After reaching Poland they applied for the UK Homes for Ukraine scheme on 23 March.

“We started to hear rumours that the Russians wanted to also attack neighbouring countries so we decided to try to move as far away as possible,” said Olha Kachurenko. “I opened the internet and saw information about the UK’s Homes for Ukraine scheme.”

Read more here:

Isobel Koshiw

Isobel Koshiw has reported from Ukraine on how the country is marking its 31st year of independence.

As Ukraine marks 31 years of statehood, Kyiv’s streets are a far cry from the way they looked six months ago when thousands were fleeing in panic and military checkpoints operated on most corners.

The very real feeling of imminent death – which jolted the population into mounting a large-scale, voluntary resistance – has subsided outside the frontline areas in the south and east. Most restaurants and businesses in the capital have gradually reopened. But like Kyiv’s tree-lined streets and summer clothes, the physical aspects of life returning to normal have not outweighed the inner pain many Ukrainians are experiencing – brought home even more by the muted public holiday.

“As I’m speaking to you now, I have goosebumps. People I know, my godson even, is fighting at the front. There is no celebration today. I can’t even believe that this is happening,” said Yana Pasychnyk, a choral singer in one of Ukraine’s national choirs.

You can read the full report here:

Updated at 12.16 EDT

People facing acute food insecurity reaches 340 million worldwide

The number of people facing acute food insecurity worldwide has more than doubled to 345 million since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, conflict and climate change, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).

Listing the coronavirus pandemic and the impact of environmental challenges as leading destabilising factors, the organisation also said the impact of the Ukraine crisis had “massive repercussions” in the Middle East and Africa.

“Yemen imports 90% of its food needs. And they took about 30% from the Black Sea,” Corinne Fleischer, the WFP’s regional director, told Reuters.

In the case of Iraq, an oil-exporting country, food security is at risk, said Fleischer.

The country needs approximately 5.2m tons of wheat, but only produced 2.3m tons of wheat, she said. The rest had to be imported, which cost more. Despite state support, severe drought and recurring water crises are endangering the livelihood of smallholders all over Iraq, she said.

Updated at 11.47 EDT

As Ukraine marks 31 years of independence, European leaders brace for a bleak winter caused, in part, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Wednesday, Germany’s government approved a bylaw restricting the heating of public buildings and banning illuminated advertising hoardings, in an effort to save energy and tackle soaring energy costs.

The moves are part of a national effort to save on energy to reduce the dependency of Europe’s largest economy on Russian gas, and more immediately to deal with concerns that Moscow may choose to cut off access to its Baltic Sea pipeline during the winter.

Robert Habeck, the minister for the economy, said the measures were central to German energy security. “We want to free ourselves as quickly as possible from the vice of Russian energy imports,” he said.

And speaking at his government’s first cabinet meeting after the summer holidays, Emmanuel Macron warned the French they were facing sacrifices and what he called the “end of abundance”.

The president, speaking before ministers at the Élysée, said the country was at a “tipping point” and faced a difficult winter and a new era of instability caused by climate change and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Updated at 11.49 EDT

Here are the latest photos to come out of Ukraine and elsewhere:

The British prime minister, Boris Johnson, and the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, at Independence Square in Kyiv. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters Volodymyr Zelenskiy appears on screen as he addresses the UN security council. Photograph: Timothy A Clary/AFP/Getty Images A woman walks past graves during a ceremony for the fallen soldiers of Ukraine at the Lychakiv cemetery in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv. Photograph: Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP/Getty Images President Zelenskiy and Boris Johnson unveil a plate carrying Boris Johnson’s name on the Alley of Bravery, Kyiv. Photograph: Gleb Garanich/Reuters Ukrainians take part in a demonstration in Istanbul, Turkey, to mark Ukraine independence day. Photograph: Murad Sezer/Reuters Conor Burns, the minister of state for Northern Ireland, joins Ukrainians outside Belfast city hall celebrating Ukraine independence day. Photograph: Niall Carson/PA

Updated at 11.41 EDT

Russia should stop ‘nuclear blackmail’ says Zelenskiy in UNSC address

Speaking remotely at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on Wednesday, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russia has put the world “on the brink of a radiation catastrophe”.

It is a fact that the Russian military has turned the territory of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, into a warzone.

The Zaporizhzhia plant, built in the Soviet era, is the largest nuclear reactor in Europe. Russia has controlled the plant in south-east Ukraine since March, although it is still run by Ukrainian scientists.

The Ukrainian nuclear firm Energoatom said last week it feared that Russia plans to switch off the functioning power units at the Zaporizhzhia plant, which in normal times provides about one-fifth of Ukraine’s electricity.

There have been growing calls from Nato, the United Nations and French president Emmanuel Macron to demilitarise the site.

In his address, Zelenskiy called on the International Atomic Energy Agency to take “permanent control” and said “Russia should unconditionally stop nuclear blackmail and completely withdraw from the station.”

A western official previously told the Guardian fighting around the plant was considered a lesser risk than a cooling failure, because the nuclear reactors are designed to withstand relatively heavy impact, including that from a passenger jet.

Updated at 11.35 EDT

Summary so far

It is nearly 6pm in Ukraine. Here is what you might have missed:

Latest developments

Updated at 10.58 EDT

Britain is importing no energy from Russia for the first time on record after trade between the two countries collapsed after the Kremlin ordered invasion of Ukraine in February.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) released six months after the start of the war found that in June the UK’s imports from Russia were down by 97% and stood at only £33m as sanctions took effect.

The ONS data shows that by June the UK government had already achieved its objective of phasing out Russian oil imports by the end of 2022 and ending imports of liquefied natural gas as soon as possible after that.

Read more here:

Five predictions for the next six months in the war in Ukraine

1. The war will probably run on for a year at least, but is essentially deadlocked and its intensity lessening

Six months of war may have gone by, but neither Ukraine nor Russia are ready to stop fighting, despite the losses they have sustained. Ukraine wants its occupied territories back, and Russia wants to keep inflicting pain not just on its opponent but, by proxy, the west also. The Kremlin believes winter will play to its advantage too.

There have been no negotiations between the two sides since evidence emerged of the massacres at Bucha, Irpin and elsewhere in territories occupied by the Russians north of Kyiv. But movement in the frontlines has been minimal since the fall of Lysychansk at the end of June. Both sides are struggling for momentum and increasingly appear combat exhausted.

2. Ukraine has no means of effective conventional counterattack, while guerrilla raids are an optimistic way to precipitate a Russian collapse

Ukraine would like to retake Kherson on the west of the Dnieper River, but a senior administration figure admitted in private that “we do not have enough capacity to push them back”. Kyiv has shifted its strategy to mounting long-range missile attacks and daring special forces raids on Russian bases deep behind the frontlines.

The key presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the aim was to “create chaos within the Russian forces” but, while it will blunt the invader’s effectiveness it is not likely it will lead to invaders collapsing in on themselves and voluntarily conceding Kherson, as some Ukrainian officials have hoped.

3. Russia still wants to pound its way forward but its attention is likely to be shifting to holding on to its gains and annexing Ukraine territory

Russia has no new offensive plan other than to mass artillery, destroy towns and cities and grind its way forward. It does this in part because it is effective, and in part to minimise casualties, having lost – on some western estimates – 15,000 dead so far. It continues to adopt this strategy around Bakhmut in the Donbas but progress is slow, partly because it has had to redeploy some forces to reinforce Kherson.

The Kremlin may not have achieved what it hoped at the beginning of the war, but Russia holds large swathes of Ukrainian territory in the east and south, and is actively talking about holding annexation referendums. With cooler weather fast approaching, it is likely to focus on consolidating what it has.

Read more here:

Updated at 11.00 EDT

Boris Johnson visits Kyiv, announcing £54m in support

The UK prime minister has made an unexpected visit to Ukraine to announce further military support. In a post on Twitter, with a photograph of Johnson next to Volodymyr Zelenskiy, he wrote:

What happens in Ukraine matters to us all. That is why I am in Kyiv today.

The latest £54m support package includes unmanned surveillance and missile systems for the Ukrainian military. Johnson said:

Today’s package of support will give the brave and resilient Ukrainian armed forces another boost in capability, allowing them to continue to push back Russian forces and fight for their freedom.

Speaking in Kyiv, Johnson said:

Out of the ashes of your towns and cities, out of the monstrous scars that are being left by Putin’s missiles, something beautiful is blooming and it’s a flower that the whole world can see and admire, and that is the unconquerable will of Ukrainians to resist.

In his final visit as prime minister, Johnson received Ukraine’s highest award bestowed on foreign nationals, the order of liberty, for the UK’s staunch support of Ukraine’s freedom.

While Johnson visits Ukraine for the fourth time this year, in three weeks’ time, he will no longer be UK prime minister. Despite the country being beset by a series of crises, from the mounting cost of living crisis to war in Ukraine, he has been accused of leading a “zombie” government.

Earlier today, Johnson reiterated his support for Ukraine on the country’s independence day. He wrote: “For however long it takes, the United Kingdom will stand with you.”

Updated at 10.58 EDT

Here are the latest photos to come out of Ukraine and elsewhere, as the nation’s independence day coincides with six months since Russia’s invasion.

People attend a small protest holding placards and candles near the Russian embassy in Tokyo, Japan. Photograph: Richard A Brooks/AFP/Getty Images A woman holding a Ukrainian flag poses for photos next to Russian armoured military vehicles that were captured by the Ukrainian army, displayed in Khreshchatyk Street, Kyiv, on independence day. Photograph: Roman Pilipey/EPA Aa member of the local Ukrainian diaspora protests in the main square in Krakow, Poland. Photograph: Artur Widak/NurPhoto/REX/Shutterstock A police officer walks past a statue of a hand with fingernails painted in colours of Ukraine’s national flag in Prague, Czech Republic. Photograph: David W Černý/Reuters People paint a white canvas the blue and yellow colours of the Ukrainian flag during a ceremony in the Na Valakh park in Lviv, Ukraine. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images A Ukrainian national flag waves in front of the independence monument in the centre of Kyiv. Photograph: Valentyn Ogirenko/Reuters

Updated at 09.28 EDT