Russian President Vladimir Putin said today that the explosion on the key bridge connecting Crimea and the Russian mainland was a terrorist act planned by Ukrainian special services, reports Reuters.
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External electricity supply to the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya, which was occupied by Russia, was restored on Sunday, the Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom and the United Nations (UN) nuclear watchdog announced, Radio Free Europe reports.
The plant, which is in a cold state, lost its last remaining transmission line early Saturday to shelling and had to use backup diesel generators for its own needs, such as cooling the reactor blocks.
"After almost two days of operation of the pumps for emergency cooling of the active zones of the reactor with power from the diesel generator, the operational staff restores the normal mode of powering the power plant for its own needs from the energy system of Ukraine," Energoatom announced on Telegram.
Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has two monitors at the plant, confirmed that power had been restored.
"Our team in Zaporozhye confirms that the destroyed transmission line has been restored today and that the nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the grid. This is a temporary relief in a still unsustainable situation," Grossi wrote on Twitter.
He repeated his call to introduce a protective zone around the power plant.
Russian forces seized the plant shortly after invading Ukraine in February, but Ukrainian operators remained on site.
Moscow and Kiev accuse each other of shelling the site of Europe's largest nuclear power plant, raising concerns of a potential nuclear disaster.
The power line supplying the Zaporozhye Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which was out of service due to shelling on Saturday, has been reconnected, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Raphael Grossi said.
"It is a temporary relief in a still unsustainable situation," Grossi wrote on Twitter, according to Reuters.
A Russian drone killed civilians next to a grocery store in Miropilja in the Sumy region, Deputy Chief of Staff of the President of Ukraine Kirill Tymoshenko said, as reported by the Kyiv Independent.
"Terrorists, monsters and murderers - that's what the world should think of Russians," Tymoshenko said.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has scheduled a session of the Security Council for tomorrow, which brings together key ministers, politicians and representatives of the military and security services, the Kremlin announced today.
Putin's meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council is scheduled for tomorrow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
The session will be held two days after an explosion damaged a bridge in Crimea, a key infrastructure connecting Russia to the annexed Black Sea peninsula.
Russian authorities attributed the explosion, which killed three people on Saturday morning, to the explosion of a truck bomb owned by residents of Russia's Krasnodar region.
Russia did not blame Ukraine for the attack, and Ukrainian officials did not claim responsibility. However, Kiev has repeatedly threatened to attack the bridge, a symbol of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which is also used to supply Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
At least 17 people were killed in Russian rocket attacks on the city of Zaporozhye in the southeast of the country, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense announced, reports BBC.
Dozens were wounded, and several residential buildings were destroyed.
The city is controlled by Ukraine, but is part of a region Russia says it annexed last month.
Zaporozhye has been hit repeatedly in recent weeks as Russia retaliates against urban areas after suffering defeats in the south and northeast of Ukraine.
Parts of the Zaporozhye region, including its nuclear power plant - which is about 30 miles (52 km) from the city - have been under Russian control since the invasion began.
Ukraine's Zaporozhye regional governor, Oleksandr Starukh, said 12 Russian missiles partially destroyed the nine-story building and flattened five other residential buildings.
The White House declined to comment on the explosion that damaged Russia's road and rail bridge to Crimea, but said it would continue to supply Ukraine with weapons.
"We don't really have anything to add to the reports of the explosion on the bridge," White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, as reported by Reuters.
He also stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin started the war, so he could end it today if he wanted to - simply by moving his troops out of Ukraine.
In the Russian missile attack that hit an apartment block and other residential buildings in Zaporozhye early this morning, Ukrainian officials reported that 12 people were among the dead, and as Reuters reports, 13 died.
87 people, including 10 children, were injured in the attack, Ukrainian officials said.
The pre-dawn shooting was the second of its kind against the city in three days. It came a day after an explosion hit a Russian road and rail bridge to Crimea, a key supply line for Russian forces fighting to hold territory around the southern Ukrainian city of Kherson.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky condemned the attack as "absolute evil" by people he called "savages and terrorists", promising that those responsible would be brought to justice.
Russian divers today examine the bridge in Crimea from the sea, a key infrastructure connecting Russia to the annexed Black Sea peninsula, which was damaged in a large explosion on Saturday.
Local official Marat Husnulin said that the first results of the underwater test are expected today.
Road and rail traffic resumed on Saturday a few hours after the explosion that damaged part of the bridge. The bridge was opened in 2018 by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian Ministry of Transport announced today that passenger trains from Crimea to Russia are operating according to the usual schedule.
Ferries are also set up between mainland Russia and the peninsula.
Russian authorities attributed the explosion, which killed three people on Saturday morning, to the explosion of a truck bomb owned by residents of Russia's Krasnodar region.
Russia did not blame Ukraine for the attack, and Ukrainian officials did not claim responsibility for the attack. However, Kiev has repeatedly threatened to attack the bridge, a symbol of Russia's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which is also used to supply Russian soldiers in Ukraine.
Two hundred twenty-eighth is the day of the war in Ukraine.
At least 12 people were killed and 49 hospitalized, including six children, as a result of shelling in the Ukrainian city of Zaporozhye, in southeastern Ukraine, the regional governor said, according to Reuters.
The nine-story building was partially destroyed overnight, five other apartment buildings were razed to the ground and many more were damaged by 12 Russian rocket attacks, said Oleksandr Starukh, the governor of Zaporozhye Oblast.
"Maybe there are still people under the ruins," Starukh said on Telegram.
He said that a rescue operation is underway and that eight people have already been rescued.
The city is about 125 km (80 miles) from Russia's nuclear power plant, which is Europe's largest. Kiev and Moscow blame each other for shelling of the Ukrainian-run facility, which has damaged buildings and threatens a catastrophic nuclear accident.
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