Ukraine updates: Russian assaults kill 3, together with baby

A Ukraine drone strike has killed one person in the occupied city of Energador, according to a Russian-installed official. 

The city is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and is situated in southern Ukraine on the occupied bank of the Dnipro River.

“As a result of a drone attack by the enemy on Energodar, a cylinder tanker caught fire,” Yevgeny Balitsky — the Moscow-installed head of the occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region —said on Telegram.

It fell into Russian hands shortly after the invasion began in February 2022 and has regularly been at the center of safety violation allegations from both sides.

At least three people have been killed in an overnight Russian attack in Ukraine‘s eastern Sumy region.

“Three people, including one child, died as a result of a nighttime attack by enemy drones on residential buildings,” regional authorities said.

Authorities went on to say that more than two dozen Iranian-designed attack drones were downed over the region.

The air force meanwhile said 60 drones had been detected in Ukrainian airspace and 42 were destroyed.

Sumy is situated directly across the border from Kursk in Russia and has been under continuous Russian bombardment since the start of Moscow’s invasion.

Ukrainian forces launched a major offensive in Kursk in August and managed to capture large swathes of territory.

Chinese President Xi Jinping was on his way on Tuesday to the BRICS summit in Russia’s Kazan, state news agency Xinhua reported. 

The Chinese leader is expected to individually meet with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, at the summit. 

China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lin Jian said at a regular press briefing on Monday that this year’s summit would focus on the expanded BRICS.  

Xi and Putin are close allies. China and Russia described their ties as having “no limits,” shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Western leaders have urged Xi to use his influence on the Russian president to end the war in Ukraine.

On Monday, Lin reiterated China’s stance on Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

“China’s position on the Ukraine crisis is consistent and clear. We hope that all parties will work for de-escalation and be committed to political settlement,” he said.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said early on Tuesday that he had departed for the BRICS summit in Russia’s southwestern city of Kazan. 

“India attaches immense importance to BRICS, and I look forward to extensive discussions on a wide range of subjects. I also look forward to meeting various leaders there,” he said. 

In a slightly longer press release, Modi also made reference to his visit to Moscow in July this year and said he hoped to further deepen bilateral ties. 

“Building upon the Annual Summit held in July 2024 in Moscow, my visit to Kazan will further reinforce the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia,” the statement from Modi’s office said. 

Modi also visited Kyiv in late August. In both countries, he expressed a willingness to help broker any potential negotiations or efforts to stop the conflict.  

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India has maintained economic ties with Moscow, and began purchasing more Russian oil at a discount after Western sanctions closed off other markets. 

Despite accusations of funding Putin’s war machine, New Delhi justified the increase in oil purchases by citing India’s traditional “stable and friendly” ties with Moscow.

India has maintained a neutral position on the Ukraine war, and has not condemned Russia’s invasion outright, while trying to balance strong ties with Ukraine’s allies in the West. 

During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August, Modi stressed that his government championed respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his reported plan to attend the talks in Kazan, after he skipped Kyiv’s summit seeking a way to end the war with Russia.

“The UN Secretary-General declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first global peace summit in Switzerland,” Kyiv’s Foreign Ministry wrote online.

“He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only damages the UN’s reputation.” 

However, it’s not entirely clear whether Guterres will attend in Kazan this week.

Russian officials said earlier this month that the UN chief had told Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he would be in Kazan. 

But deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Monday that Guterres’ future travel plans were not yet set. 

Ukraine’s “peace summit” in Switzerland in June involved representatives of dozens of countries, but perhaps crucially, none from Russia. Moscow denounced it as meaningless.

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s government has invited two dozen world leaders to Kazan for a summit of the recently expanded BRICS grouping that starts on Tuesday and is set to last for three days.

Russia’s major international partners like Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to join the summit.

The acronym BRICS stands for the five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a grouping of emerging economies that is fashioned as an alternative to the Western-led economic order epitomized by the Group of 7 (G7) wealthy western countries. 

The group decided at its 2023 summit to try to expand its ranks. 

Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were all invited to join, although Argentine President Javier Milei declined after winning the election, saying he wanted to take more of a pro-Western course.

The Kremlin likely hopes the meeting in Kazan will show that any political isolation of Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine does not extend far past NATO’s borders. 

jsi,dvv/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)