Ukraine updates: IAEA tells Russia to leave Zaporizhzhia

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said during a visit to Copenhagen that he was confident Poland would find ways to address disagreements with Ukraine without impacting military support for its neighbor's war against Russia. 

Poland said last week that it would only carry out previously agreed arms deliveries to Ukraine and would instead focus on rebuilding its own weapons stocks. 

The government in Warsaw had been seen — and indeed presented itself as — one of Ukraine's staunchest allies since Russia's invasion.

But Poland is also restricting Ukrainian grain imports by land, saying that their sale had been unfairly disadvantaging domestic farmers.

"I'm expecting and I'm confident that Ukraine and Poland will find a way to address those issues without that impacting
in a negative way the military support to Ukraine," Stoltenberg told Reuters in an interview in Copenhagen.

The ruling right-wing PiS government faces elections on October 15 — and arguably the biggest threat to its voter base hails from a minor party well to its right politically, called Confederation. It has tried to accuse PiS of supporting Ukraine too enthusiastically and at Poland's expense.

Although Confederation appears unlikely to be able to win power, it could conceivably cost PiS its parliamentary majority with a strong showing — or even become a kingmaker whose support PiS would need to remain in government and legislate.

Several analysts, including former NATO general Ben Hodges discussing the issue recently with DW, have predicted that the atmosphere is likely to cool down again once the campaign and the vote are over.

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) decided Russian athletes will be allowed to compete under a neutral flag at next year's Paralympics in Paris.

It comes after the IPC, in its General Assembly in Manama, Bahrain, voted against a total ban on Russian participation but to partially suspend the Russian National Paralympic Committee for two years.

"Due to the partial suspension, NPC Russia loses all IPC membership rights, however, its athletes are eligible to participate in an individual and neutral capacity at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games," the IPC said on X, formerly Twitter.

The International Olympic Committee will discuss Russia and Belarus' participation at the Paris Olympics during their upcoming session in Mumbai, which is only two weeks away.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, criticized the decision later on Friday, saying such compromise arrangements would only embolden Russia. 

"Permitting participation of Russians in the Paralympic Games and youth football competitions, not expelling Russia from international institutions and organizations, not issuing arrest warrants in any jurisdiction for high-ranking officials for involvement in mass crimes, permitting international companies to trade with Russia," Podolyak said. 

"All of this, firstly, prolongs the war, and secondly, provokes Russia to increase the levels of mass violence in Ukraine in order to exert pressure on global elites and force them to agree to the right of Russia to disregard international laws."

Norway will ban the entry of passenger cars registered in Russia beginning next week, the foreign ministry said.

It is the latest in a series of sanctions on Russia in punishment for its war against Ukraine.

The Scandinavian country, which belongs to NATO but not the European Union, has a 198-kilometer-long (123-mile-long) border with Russia.

In mid-September, Finland, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia implemented similar measures against cars registered in Russia. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered a former leading member of the Wagner mercenary group to set up new volunteer units to fight in Ukraine.

It is seen as a sign that the Kremlin wants Wagner mercenaries to keep fighting in the war but under the Defense Ministry's command. Andrei Troshev now officially works for the Defense Ministry. 

Troshev did not support a short-lived uprising by he late Wagner boss Yevgeny Prigozhin and Wagner troops in June. 

Wagner fighters withdrew from Ukraine after capturing the Ukrainian city of Bakhmut.

Troshev, is a retired military officer who has played a leading role in Wagner since its creation in 2014 and faced European Union sanctions over his role in Syria as the group's executive director.

At least three people were killed in the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson in the latest wave of Russian attacks, according to local officials.

Five residents were injured by the heavy shelling on Thursday, Governor Oleksandr Prokudin said on Telegram early Friday.

Russian forces shelled the region 96 times in a 24 hours, Prokudin said. The regional capital was shelled 45 times, he added.

Kherson has seen repeated shelling and several civilian casualities as it becomes the scene of intense fighting as Ukrainian forces counterattack.

The UK enacted new sanctions on officials over Russia's illegal annexation of four Ukrainian regions last year on Friday. 

The UK government imposed an asset freeze and travel bans on officials, among others, in the occupied regions of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Donetsk, Luhansk andCrimea.

The government said the sanctioned officials had been involved in "sham elections" or the so-called "referendums" that preceded Russian President Vladimir Putin's power grab.

The claim behind the referendums had been to show people's support to join Russia. But they were deemed a propaganda exercise aimed at legitimizing illegal Russian actions.

"The UK will never recognize Russia's claims to Ukrainian territory — Crimea, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson are Ukraine," UK Foreign Minister James Cleverly said.

The UK added the head of the Ministry of Emergency Situations Alexander Kurenkov and the secretary of the Russian Central Election Commission Natalya Alekseevna Budarina to the sanctions list.

German football officials defended the decision by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) to re-admit Russia's under-17 team to international competition.

This comes amid boycott threats from several countries over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In an interview with German newspaper Bild, Hans-Joachim Watzke said that the decision "is definitely
no softening of our negative stance towards Russia."

"This is about children who are not responsible for the heinous war and in whose lives no political will has been formed," the German Football Federation (DFB) vice-president added.

Karl-Heinz Rummenigge said, "Children are victims of the war. They are innocent and in need of help, bear no responsibility for this war and shouldn't be additionally punished. That's why I voted 'yes' to allow them to participate in the game again."

Both Rummenigge and Watzke are members of the UEFA executive committee.

Earlier this week, the executive committee of the association decided to allow these junior teams back without any national symbols. The ban on senior Russian teams will remain as long as Russia's invasion of Ukraine continues.

England, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Norway and Finland have said they will not play against Russian teams. The DFB  is yet to officially comment on UEFA's decision.

Ukraine's football association has said it will not participate in competition with Russian teams. It condemned UEFA's decision and urged it to reconsider.

Men's and women's Under-17 Euros are scheduled for next year in Cyprus and Sweden, respectively.

Hundreds of fighters formerly associated with the mercenary Wagner Group have likely started to redeploy to Ukraine as individuals and small fighting groups, the UK Defense Ministry's daily intelligence report said. 

They are fighting for a variety of pro-Russian units, the post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, said. 

"The exact status of the redeploying personnel is unclear, but it is likely individuals have transferred to parts of the official Russian Ministry of Defence forces and other [private military companies]," it said. 

"Several reports suggest a concentration of Wagner veterans around Bakhmut: their experience is likely to be particularly in demand in this sector. Many will be familiar with current front line and local Ukrainian tactics, having fought over the same terrain last winter." 

Russian President Vladimir Putin met a former top commander of the Wagner Group Andrei Troshev, who is reportedly now working for Russia's Defense Ministry.

The Kremlin said that Putin met Troshev and Deputy Defense Minister Yunus-Bek Yevkurov on Thursday night.

Putin and Troshev reportedly discussed how to use volunteer fight groups in the war in Ukraine. The Kremlin has tasked him with oversight of the volunteer groups. 

"At the last meeting we talked about you overseeing the formation of volunteer units that can carry out various tasks, first and foremost of course in the zone of the special military operation," Putin was quoted as saying to Troshev.

"You yourself have been fighting in such a unit for more than a year," Putin said. "You know what it is, how it is done, you know about the issues that need to be resolved in advance so that the combat work goes in the best and most successful way."

A highly decorated veteran, Troshev is from St. Petersburg, Putin's hometown. A Kremlin spokesperson told the Russian state news agency RIA that Troshev now worked at the defense ministry.

The meeting underscores Moscow's attempt to show that it has regained control over the mercenary group after a failed mutiny by Wagner Chief Yevgeny Prigozhin, who was killed in a plane crash in August.

Days after the mutiny, Putin had suggested that commander Andrei Troshev take over from Prigozhin, Russia's Kommersant newspaper reported.

Russian forces said they destroyed 11 Ukrainian drones overnight on Thursday, according to a regional governor. One drone dropped explosives on a substation, cutting the local power supply. 

"Eleven Ukrainian unmanned aerial vehicles were destroyed by air defense systems on duty, one of them over the territory of Kaluga region and 10 over Kursk region," Russia's Defense Ministry said on the messaging app Telegram.

Less than 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the border, in Belaya village, "a Ukrainian drone dropped two explosive devices on a substation", he said on Telegram.

"One of the transformers caught fire. Five settlements and a hospital were cut off from power supply. Fire crews rushed to the scene," he added. "Power will be restored as soon as it is safe to do so."

The governor warned citizens against touching the debris of downed drones since there is a danger that they could still explode.

Russia will mark the first anniversary of its illegal annexations of four Ukrainian provinces — Kherson, Zaporizhzhya, Donetsk and Luhansk — with a concert on Moscow's Red Square on Friday.

Russian forces do not control any of the four provinces completely and have had to surrender parts of the territory to Ukraine's counteroffensive.

The concert's theme is "One Land, One Family, One Russia." It is set to showcase Russian stars and themes of ultranationalism.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decreed that September 30 will be an official public holiday marking the "Day of Unification" with Russia.

Member countries of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) adopted a resolution that calls for "the urgent withdrawal of all unauthorized military and other unauthorized personnel from Ukraine's ZNPP and for the plant to be immediately returned to the full control of the competent Ukrainian authorities."

The resolution also called for IAEA observers to be stationed permanently at the facility, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.

The resolution was supported by 69 countries. Six countries, including China, Iran and Russia itself, voted against it. A further 32 countries abstained, including South Africa and Pakistan.

Russia captured the plant in March 2022, not long after it launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The plant is located near the current front line.

IAEA chief Rafael Grossi has repeatedly warned that the fighting could lead to a serious nuclear accident.

Meanwhile, visiting IAEA inspectors said they had been denied access to several reactor roofs.

zc/sms (AP, Reuters, AFP, DPA)