The EU has transferred €4bn to Ukraine using revenue generated from frozen Russian assets, the country’s finance ministry revealed on Wednesday.
It comes as European leaders discuss the possibility of transferring up to €140bn in the same manner this week.
Moscow has warned it considers the procedure “theft” of its sovereign assets and will seek the prosecution of countries and individuals involved.
Leaders including Macron have expressed support for the initiative, but have stressed it must take place in accordance with international law.
“We need a more structural solution for military support,” the European Commission’s president, Ursula von der Leyen, said on Tuesday. “This is why I have put forward the idea of a reparations loan that is based on the immobilized Russian assets.”
European leaders are meeting in Copenhagen this week to discuss the formation of a “drone wall” along their borders with Russia and Ukraine to stop drones violating European airspace.
Russian attack causes blackout at Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
A Russian attack on energy infrastructure in the Kyiv Oblast has led to a blackout at the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant, Ukraine’s energy ministry said, warning of an “emergency situation” at several facilities within the power plant.
“Due to power surges, the New Safe Confinement — the key structure that isolates the destroyed 4th reactor of the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant and prevents the release of radioactive materials into the environment — was left without electricity,” the ministry said.
“The Russians could not have been unaware that a strike on the facilities in Slavutych would have such consequences for Chornobyl. And it was a deliberate strike, in which they used more than 20 drones – according to preliminary estimates,” Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky said.
Oil tanker off French coast linked to Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’
French President Emmanuel Macron has accused an oil tanker off the nation’s coast of ‘very serious wrongdoings’, linking it to Russia’s ‘shadow fleet’, which is reportedly circumventing Western sanctions imposed over the war in Ukraine
Family-of-five among nine killed in Ukraine flash flooding as torrential downpours hit Odesa
Nine people including a family-of-five have died after severe flash flooding struck the Ukrainian city of Odesa.
Over two months of rain fell on the coastal area in seven hours, leading to storms, downpours and power outages across the region. The family was killed when they were swept away by flood waters from their ground floor flat according to emergency services.
EU transfers €4bn to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets
Ukraine has received €4bn in funding from the EU with the help of frozen Russian assets, the country’s finance ministry revealed on Wednesday.
It comes as European leaders are set to discuss the possibility of transferring up to €140bn in the same manner.
Moscow has warned it considers the procedure “theft” of its sovereign assets and will seek the prosecution of countries and individuals involved.
Leaders including Macron have expressed support for the initiative, but have stressed it must take place in accordance with international law.
Watch: Locals rescued from cars and homes as flash floods turn deadly in Odesa
Is Britain already at war with Russia?
The forthright and eloquent former head of MI5, Eliza Manningham-Buller – one of the outstanding intelligence intelligences of our time – has said that Britain is now in a condition of war, meaning war in its new contemporary terms.
Robert Fox reports:
Is Britain already at war with Russia?
Zelensky warns of ’emergency’ at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Ukrainian leader Zelensky has warned of an “emergency” threat at Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which he called a ”threat to everyone”.
“It is now the seventh day – something that has never happened before – of an emergency situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant,” he wrote on X/Twitter.
“Because of Russian shelling, the plant has been cut off from power, disconnected from the electrical grid, and is being supplied with electricity by diesel generators.”
He added: “This is extraordinary. The generators and the plant were not designed for this, have never operated in this mode for long, and we already have information that one generator has failed. It is Russian shelling that prevents repair of the power lines to the plant and the restoration of basic safety.
“This is a threat to everyone – no terrorist in the world has ever dared to do to a nuclear plant what Russia is doing. And it is right that the world does not stay silent.”
Russia denies blaze at oil refinery was caused by Ukraine drone attack
A fire at a major oil refinery in the Yaroslavl region northeast of Moscow, has been contained, according to emergency services.
The blaze broke out on Wednesday and was suspected to be a drone attack by Ukraine.
However, regional governor, Mikhail Yevrayev, said the incident was under control.
“Residents were concerned it might have been the result of an enemy drone attack,” Yevrayev said on Telegram.
“But what happened has nothing to do with that…The fire is of a technological nature.”
Ukraine has reportedly been attacking refineries in an attempt to disrupt fuel supplies and revenue.
Family-of-five among nine killed in Ukraine flash flooding as torrential downpours hit Odesa
Nine people including a family-of-five have died after severe flash flooding struck the Ukrainian city of Odesa.
Over two months of rain fell on the coastal area in seven hours, leading to storms, downpours and power outages across the region. The family was killed when they were swept away by flood waters from their ground floor flat according to emergency services.
Can Ukraine regain all the land lost to Russia? Maps show huge scale of task despite Trump’s call to ‘fight and win’
Donald Trump has claimed that Ukraine could win back all of the land captured by Russia since the beginning of its invasion in February 2022, in a major shift in his position on the war.
The US president said in a Truth Social post that Kyiv’s military could win “all of Ukraine back in its original form”, adding that Putin and Russia are in “BIG economic trouble”.
Military experts say Ukraine could push Russia back towards the border as it stood in 2022, and force Vladimir Putin to seek a peace deal – but only in the presence of a strict, and unlikely, set of conditions.
Alex Croft reports:
