Biden: Putin in an extremely difficult position

The German president, Frank Walter Steinmeier, canceled his trip to Kiev for security reasons.

Walter Steinmeier canceled his planned visit to Kyiv for security reasons, his office announced.

An official from his office said that Germany's security authorities and the foreign ministry had advised Steinmeier not to go, but that the visit would soon be postponed, Reuters reports. 

He planned to visit the Ukrainian capital in April, but Kiev initially refused to welcome him because of his previous support for rapprochement with Russia.

Since then, the diplomatic gap has been repaired.

The United States of America introduced new sanctions against Russia because of the war in Ukraine, reports Reuters. 

The US Treasury announced that it had imposed sanctions on Russian citizen Yuri Yuryevich Orekhov, whom it accused of being a procurement agent, and two of his companies, Nord-Deutsche Industrieanlagenbau GmbH and Opus Energy Trading LLC.

The Ministry of Finance said that sanctions and export controls introduced by a broad coalition of allies have led to Russia increasingly struggling to secure "inputs and technologies" for war.

Ukraine will introduce electricity restrictions across the country tomorrow, after the Russians damaged more power plants, reports Reuters.

The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, said this Sunday that 30 percent of Ukrainian power plants were hit by Russian missile strikes, reports Reuters.

"Tomorrow, restrictions will be introduced in the supply of electricity throughout Ukraine. The enemy has again attacked the electricity production facilities," said Kyrilo Tymoshenko, deputy chief of staff of the president.

The President of the United States of America, Joseph Biden, announced that Vladimir Putin is now "in an extremely difficult position", according to Reuters.

Biden points out that the only option left for the Russian president is to torture individual Ukrainian citizens in order to intimidate them and force them to capitulate. 

New European Union sanctions against Iranian individuals and entities will be approved this week, Reuters reports. New measures will be adopted due to the use of Iranian-made drones in Russian attacks on Ukraine. 

Reuters reports that the bloc has been planning this move for some time.

The entry of civilians into the Kherson region is prohibited for seven days, due to the escalating pressure of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, said the head of the Russian administration in that region, Vladimir Saldo, reports Reuters.

This measure, he adds, is necessary to keep civilians safe.

Small amounts of gas suddenly appeared in the ruptured North Stream 1 gas pipeline after it was damaged by a suspected explosion, according to data from the official website, Reuters reports.

The gas flow jumped from zero to 102 kilowatt-hours in the period from seven to nine o'clock this morning, and after an hour it went to 119 kilowatt-hours.

The agency states that the operator of the North Stream did not respond to the request for an explanation.

Belarus has announced that it has started inviting citizens to check whether they meet the requirements for military service, but that it does not plan to mobilize, reports Reuters.

"Military registration and enrollment activities are strictly routine and are expected to be completed by the end of this year," the Ministry of Defense said.

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko said last Sunday that Belarus and Russia have begun deploying joint armed forces along the country's borders. The decision, as he stated, was prompted by the "escalation of hostile activities on the western border of Belarus."

A plan to cap the price of gas, used in Spain and Portugal to produce electricity, known as the "Iberian model", is worth considering for implementation across the European Union, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.

"It really deserves to be considered at the EU level. There are still questions that need to be answered, but I don't want to leave any stone unturned," she said at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Reuters reports.

Today, the Russian army continues its strategy of targeting the Ukrainian energy infrastructure, and the strikes left several cities without electricity.

During the shelling last night and early this morning in Energodar, the town closest to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, electricity and water supply was interrupted in some city districts.

According to the first reports, one of the power substations was damaged in the shelling, said the mayor of Energodar, Dmitro Orlov.

Important infrastructure was attacked with Russian S-300 missiles in the Zaporozhye region, regional governor Oleksandr Starukh said.

Russian forces also heavily targeted two areas in the eastern Dnipropetrovsk region, cutting off power to several towns and villages.

In his address tonight, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called on citizens to use electricity sparingly.

"Everyone who follows this simple rule for peak hours helps the whole country," Zelensky said.

An official of the Russian administration in Kherson, Kiril Stremusov, called on civilians to evacuate as soon as possible, because, as he says, Ukrainian forces could go on the offensive at any moment, reports Reuters.

The agency states that Russian forces in Kherson have been pushed back 20 to 30 kilometers and could be forced to retreat to the west or left bank of the Dnieper, reports Reuters.

Stremusov told the civilians to "evacuate to Russia and to the left side of the Dnieper". The evacuation, he says, will last about six days, and between 50.000 and 60.000 people will be relocated.

Russia claims that Ukrainian forces tried to retake the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, which is controlled by Russia, but that their attempt was repulsed after several hours of fighting, state news agency RIA reported on Wednesday.

"After the shelling of the city, a landing attempt was launched, including an attempt to capture the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant. The battle lasted for several hours, at least three, up to three and a half hours," RIA quoted official Vladimir Rogov, a member of the regional military-civilian administration of the Zaporozhye region, who added that the attack was "repulsed," Reuters reports.

That agency says they were unable to independently verify the report.

Two hundred and thirty-eight is the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Iranian drones, which Moscow has used en masse in recent days to attack Ukraine's energy infrastructure, are a symbol of the "military and political bankruptcy" of Russian soldiers.

"The very fact that Russia is calling Iran for help is an acknowledgment of the Kremlin's military and political bankruptcy," Zelensky said in his daily address on social media.

Ukrainian officials announced that on Monday Kiev was targeted by Iranian drones.