‘There is a risk’ European support for Ukraine could fall amid energy crisis, German ambassador says
The German ambassador to the UK has acknowledged that there is a risk that public support for Ukraine could wane this winter as the energy crisis intensifies.
Asked if Germany was worried that political support for Ukraine would decline amid tough conditions in winter, Miguel Berger said:
I think this is the same challenge here in the UK, for France, for all of Europe. The way Putin is using gas as a weapon and putting pressure on our societies – he wants to test our resolve. Obviously it will depend a lot on the relief packages of our governments.
He said the German government has started early, giving grants to companies, direct payments to households, and discussions with trade unions and employers. But he acknowledged that “there is a risk” that support would wane.
Key events
Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant reconnected to Ukraine’s grid, says operator
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the grid, according to the country’s state nuclear company.
Energoatom said one reactor at the plant has been reconnected to the grid and that it was building up capacity, Reuters reports.
In a statement, the company said:
Today… at 14:04, one of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant’s power units that shut down yesterday was connected to the power grid.
Representatives from Turkey, Finland and Sweden are expected to meet in Finland today to discuss Turkish concerns about the Nordic pair’s Nato accession, Reuters reports.
Finland’s foreign ministry remained tight-lipped about the meeting, refusing to provide details about its location or timing.
Speaking to the public broadcaster YLE, Finland’s foreign ministry state secretary, Jukka Salovaara, said:
This is a matter of security. If we would tell where Turkey’s high officials are at which time, it would give quite a careless picture of us.
Finland’s foreign minister, Pekka Haavisto, had earlier said that the first meeting between officials would aim to establish contacts and set goals for cooperation that the three countries had agreed to at Nato’s Madrid summit earlier this year.
In June, on the eve of the alliance’s summit in Madrid, Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, agreed to lift deal-breaking objections to Sweden and Finland’s Nato accession.
A trilateral deal was reached between Erdoğan, President Sauli Niinistö of Finland and the Swedish prime minister, Magdalena Andersson, who signed a memorandum that addressed Turkey’s concerns, including around arms exports and the fight against terrorism.
Belarusian planes ready to carry nuclear weapons, says President Lukashenko
The Belarusian president, Alexander Lukashenko, has said his country’s SU-24 warplanes have been re-fitted to carry nuclear armaments.
According to the Belarusian state-owned news agency Belta, Lukashenko said he had previously agreed the move with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin.
Belarus is ready to respond to “serious provocation” from the west instantly, Lukashenko warned.
He said:
If god forbid some serious provocation against Belarus happens, our targets have been locked in. Decision-making centers. We know them.
Relations with Belarus “must not be aggravated because it also means aggravating relations with the Union State of Belarus and Russia that has nuclear weapons”, he said.
He added:
If they start making problems, Belarus may be worse off but the answer will be instantaneous.
Belarus does not have its own nuclear weapons but is an ally of Russia and has allowed its territory to be used for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Hello everyone. It’s Léonie Chao-Fong here again to bring you all the latest developments on the Russia-Ukraine war. Feel free to drop me a message if you have anything to flag, you can reach me on Twitter or via email.
Summary
Whether you’re just joining us or need a quick refresher on today’s developments, here’s a quick round-up:
Shelling temporarily disconnected the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant from Ukraine’s grid. Fires caused by shelling cut the last remaining power line to the Russian-held plant on Thursday, temporarily disconnecting it from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation, the country’s nuclear power firm, Energoatom, said.
Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the world narrowly avoided a “radiation disaster” as the last regular line supplying electricity to the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine was restored hours after being cut by shelling.
Ukraine has begun trying to restart operations at two reactors at Zaporizhzhia, Reuters reports, citing comments by regional governor Oleksandr Starukh.
Ukraine’s energy minister, German Galushchenko, said the UN nuclear watchdog could travel to the Zaporizhzhia plant in the “coming days”. The UN nuclear watchdog’s chief, Rafael Grossi, earlier said his team were “very, very close” to being able to go to the plant.
The White House called on Russia to agree to a demilitarised zone around the plant, after the US president, Joe Biden, spoke to his Ukrainian counterpart, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas that it would previously have exported to Germany while energy costs soar in Europe, the BBC has reported. According to the broadcaster, which cites an analysis by Rystad Energy, a plant near Russia’s border with Finland is burning an estimated £8.4m-worth of gas every day.
The head of the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, has blamed Russia for driving up energy prices, resulting in the UK price cap rising by 80%. Ofgem on Friday approved the £1,578 increase on the current price cap of £1,971 for the average dual-fuel tariff.
Ukraine has begun trying to restart operations at two reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, Reuters reports, citing comments by regional governor Oleksandr Starukh.
The plant’s sixth reactor is operating at 10% capacity, while the fifth reactor is in the process of resuming operations, he said in televised comments.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear agency, said the plant’s own needs were being supplied through a power line from Ukraine’s electricity system after it was disconnected from the grid when fires broke out around the plant on Thursday.
Turkey’s finance minister has told businesses they should not be worried by threats of sanctions that the US has said will follow if they trade with sanctioned Russians.
US deputy secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo told Turkish banks and companies in a letter that they would face secondary sanctions if they worked with sanctioned Russians.
In comments representing Turkey’s first official response, Nureddin Nebati tweeted that the letter should not “cause concern in our business circles. Turkey is one of the most important political and economic power centres in the world”.
The Nato member has tried to stay neutral in the war and refused to join the international sanctions.
Nebati said Turkey was “determined to develop our commercial relations with our neighbours in various sectors – especially tourism – within a framework that is not subject to sanctions”.
Türk iş dünyası örgütlerine iletilen mektubun iş çevrelerimizde bir endişe yaratması anlamsızdır. Türkiye dünyanın en önemli siyasi ve ekonomik güç merkezlerinden biridir. İş dünyamız devletinin gücünü her zaman yanında hissetmelidir.
— Dr.Nureddin NEBATİ🇹🇷 (@NureddinNebati) August 26, 2022
‘There is a risk’ European support for Ukraine could fall amid energy crisis, German ambassador says
The German ambassador to the UK has acknowledged that there is a risk that public support for Ukraine could wane this winter as the energy crisis intensifies.
Asked if Germany was worried that political support for Ukraine would decline amid tough conditions in winter, Miguel Berger said:
I think this is the same challenge here in the UK, for France, for all of Europe. The way Putin is using gas as a weapon and putting pressure on our societies – he wants to test our resolve. Obviously it will depend a lot on the relief packages of our governments.
He said the German government has started early, giving grants to companies, direct payments to households, and discussions with trade unions and employers. But he acknowledged that “there is a risk” that support would wane.
Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant still disconnected amid increasing concern over safety
My colleagues Isobel Koshiw and Emma Graham-Harrison in Kyiv have more on the ongoing concern about the nuclear power station in Zaporizhzhia:
Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is still disconnected from the grid after fires broke out around the plant on Thursday. Ukrainian authorities and international experts are increasingly warning that there may be a nuclear catastrophe unless fighting around the plant desists.
Problems with the electricity supply to the plant appear to be unresolved as of this morning. The plant was disconnected twice on Thursday when the blaze affected the fourth and last connection into the plant’s reactors. Three other lines had already been taken out because of the war.
Energoatom, Ukraine’s state nuclear agency, said that work was under way to restore the plant’s connection to the grid and the plant’s own needs were being supplied through a power line from Ukraine’s electricity system.
Energoatom said it could not comment on Friday on the security systems or the operations of the equipment. On Thursday, it said they had information that they were working normally.
The nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, relies on electricity to keep its reactors cool. During an outage, the plant still received supplies of electricity from one remaining backup line connected to the nearby conventional power plant, Energoatom said. There were three of these lines before the war, but two have been cut.
If all external connections go down, it must rely on diesel-fuelled generators for power. If they break down, engineers only have 90 minutes to stave off dangerous overheating.
Satellite images published by Ukraine’s Radio Liberty show plumes of smoke rising up near the plant.
Germans must start saving energy now in order to prepare for gas shortages this winter, the UK ambassador to the country has said.
Asked about whether it is wise to look for new energy deals with “autocratic leaders”, Miguel Berger said: “There is no other option but to look elsewhere, but at the same time we try to speed up as much as possible the energy transition – currently half of our electricity comes from renewable energy but obviously this is not a short-term solution. That’s why we have a discussion on nuclear and we have a discussion on reconnecting – only as a very temporary measure – some coal plants.”
He said government measures such as lowering temperatures in office buildings and banning heated pools “should give an example to people that they have to take the measures to save energy”. “There is no way around, half of our heating in Germany is from gas. The best way to have gas for the winter is to start saving it as early as possible.”
Germany is facing similar challenges to the UK as Vladimir Putin “tests the resolve” of western nations, Germany’s ambassador to the UK has said.
Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas that it would previously have exported to Germany amid soaring energy costs, the BBC has reported.
Speaking to the Today programme, Miguel Berger said: “We have been observing these flares for quite a while it shows the measures we have taken so far which means we have reduced gas consumption from Russia from over 50% to about 10% is having a strong economy, because they don’t have other places where they can sell their gas so they have to burn it.”
Asked about the environmental implications of a temporary shift to coal, Berger said: “We are speaking here about absolute emergency measures – let me say that the challenges you have been describing, with the increase of the price cap [in the UK] is very similar to what we have in Germany, we are all facing the same challenges. We should not forget that Putin is really testing the resolve of western countries.”
The head of the UK’s energy regulator, Ofgem, has blamed Russia for driving up energy prices, resulting in the UK price cap rising by 80%.
Ofgem on Friday approved the £1,578 increase on the current price cap of £1,971 for the average dual-fuel tariff. The new cap will be introduced in October, and comes after the price cap was increased in April from £1,277 to £1,971.
Ofgem chief executive Jonathan Brearley told Sky News: “This year … we have seen the slow and deliberate cut-off of gas by Russia to the European market, and that has made prices spike, much, much further.”
He said this came after economies grew post-Covid, particularly in Asia, putting pressure on the gas market.
The Ofgem boss said winter gas prices were 15 times higher than usual, and were equivalent to paying £400 to £500 to fill up a car with petrol.
Russia is burning vast quantities of gas as energy costs skyrocket
Russia is burning off large amounts of natural gas that it would previously have exported to Germany while energy costs soar in Europe, the BBC has reported.
According to BBC News, which cites an analysis by Rystad Energy, a plant near Russia’s border with Finland is burning an estimated £8.4m-worth of gas every day.
Scientists are concerned about the quantities of carbon dioxide and soot the new liquified natural gas (LNG) plant at Portovaya, north-west of St Petersburg, is creating. The plant is near a compressor station at the start of the Nordstream 1 pipeline, which transports gas to Germany.
Finnish citizens reported seeing a large flame earlier this summer, and researchers have reported a significant increase in heat coming from the facility. While gas flaring is a normal process used in industry, the scale at which gas is being burned at the plant was unprecedented, researchers said.
“I’ve never seen an LNG plant flare so much,” Dr Jessica McCarty, an expert on satellite data from Miami University in Ohio, told the broadcaster. “Starting around June, we saw this huge peak, and it just didn’t go away. It’s stayed very anomalously high.”
All reactors of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant still disconnected, say officials
All six reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine are still disconnected from Ukraine’s electricity grid, Reuters reports, citing state nuclear company Energoatom.
However, the company said there were currently no issues with the plant’s machinery or its safety systems.
Energoatom said electricity for the plant’s own needs was being supplied through a power line from Ukraine’s electricity system.
It comes after fires, caused by shelling, cut the last remaining power line to the plant on Thursday, temporarily disconnecting it from Ukraine’s national grid for the first time in nearly 40 years of operation.
Blackmail is the “hallmark of modern Russia”, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence ministry has said, describing Moscow’s leveraging of energy and nuclear power.
Speaking about the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which normally supplies Ukraine with a fifth of its energy, Yuriy Sak said: “Russia is using the tactics of blackmailing Ukraine as well as other international partners of Ukraine into trying to negotiate some favourable deals in the future. The tactics of blackmail – nuclear blackmail, energy blackmail – these are the hallmarks of the Russian of the modern Russia.
“We understand it very well and we hope that the international community will stand firm in not budging to the Russian tactic of blackmailing.”
Russian soldiers must leave nuclear plant to guarantee its safety, says Ukraine military adviser
Russian soldiers must leave the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in order to guarantee safety, an adviser to Ukraine’s defence minister has said.
Appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Yuriy Sak said that since the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant was captured by Russian soldiers in March, it has been controlled by them but run by Ukrainian personnel. “Our personnel is trying everything they can in the circumstances to ensure it functions uninterruptedly … The power plant poses a risk to the whole of Europe.”
Asked about updates on whether Russia will allow international inspectors on to the plant site, he said: “We have claims by the Russian side that they will allow this inspection – we hope that they honour that commitment but the ultimate solution is not just admitting the inspection … the ultimate solution is the complete demilitarisation of the nuclear plant, [and] making sure that the Russian soldiers leave Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. This will be the only guarantee that nothing major happens.”
Russia blames the Ukrainian military for strikes in the area.
Switzerland is bracing for power shortages this winter due to its reliance on Russian gas and French nuclear power, AFP reports.
The country relies on hydropower in the summer months but turns to imports at other times. With Russia slashing gas deliveries, Switzerland is particularly vulnerable as it lacks its own gas storage installations.
Exacerbating the issue, France has been forced to halt production at half of its reactors, mainly due to corrosion problems.
The Swiss government but has said it is readying the country for power shortages, with the head of the federal electricity commission, Werner Luginbuhl, warning of repeated, hours-long power cuts.
Hello, I’m Clea Skopeliti and I’ll be bringing you the latest developments from the war in Ukraine for the next few hours.
You can reach me via email, or send me a DM on Twitter, when I’m @cleaskopeliti.
It’s 9.15am in Kyiv.