Ukraine war latest: Kyiv refutes 'insane Russian propaganda' warning of Ukrainian plan to attack nuclear plant or use dirty bomb (2024)

The leader of Russia's Chechnya region has appeared in a video threatening to send a Telsa into Ukraine – while praising Elon Musk.

Ramzan Kadyrov, who is known for extravagant publicity stunts, posted the video of himself on Telegram.

It shows him driving a Tesla Cybertruck, seemingly with a machine gun strapped to the roof.

He says he will send the vehicle into the Ukrainian conflict zone, before praising the company's chief executive Elon Musk.

Mr Kadyrov describes Musk as the "strongest genius of modern times", inviting him to Chechnya.

"We... await your future products that will help us finish the special military operation," referring to the Kremlin’s term for the Ukraine war.

Two Italian journalists whoangered Moscow with a TV report from Ukrainian-controlled parts of Kursk will return to Italy for their own safety, according to Italian state broadcasterRAI.

Russia's foreign ministry summoned Italy's ambassador yesterday over what it called an "illegal border crossing" by the RAI crew.

The interior ministry was planning to open criminal cases against the two journalists, posted Baza, a Telegram channel close to Russian law enforcement.

"The company decided to make journalist Stefania Battistiniand cameraman Simone Traini return temporarily to Italy, solelyto ensure personal safety and security," RAI said.

"Journalism is not a crime. The Moscow authorities' possibility of putting Stefania Battistini and Simone Traini on trial is unacceptable. Reporting is not done with prior authorisations," RAI union Usigrai and Italy's national press union FNSI said in a joint statement.

A four-person RAI crew, working under Ukrainian militaryescort, produced the first foreign media report from thewar-damaged Russian town of Sudzha last week.

Italy's foreign ministry said its ambassador Cecilia Piccioni had explained to the Russian authorities that RAI and its news teams acted independently and autonomously.

The two reporters are scheduled to fly back to the northernItalian city of Milan tomorrow.

Security and defence correspondent Deborah Haynes was at the site of a missile strike in Sumy city this morning.

Residents described being awoken by a huge explosion.

One said the blinds across her window saved her from glass shattering as a result of the blast.

Watch more below...

Washington appears to be effectively blocking the UK from permitting Kyiv to fire Storm Shadow missiles inside Russia, The Times reports.

The UK has been waiting for US approval for over a month, a government source said.

The British government wants Ukraine to use the weapons as they wish, but consensus is required between the US, France and another unnamed NATO country.

A government source stressed to The Times that the UK was not blaming the US for any delay.

Britain was the first country to publicly supply Kyiv with long-range cruise missiles.

While it has permitted the use of British tanks and other weapons on Russian soil, restrictions remain on the missiles.

A British source previously said Ukrainian troops are thought to have used British Challenger 2 tanks inside Kursk.

Ukraine's success in Kursk has shown the West it does not need to take an incremental approach to Russia, says Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Goncharenko.

Kyiv's allies need to approve the use of Western weapons to strike deep inside its territory, he said.

He added the incremental style of Western support has only drawn out the war.

"Watch the Russian reaction. For more than one week, for the first time since the Second World War, Russian territory is occupied. And what is the reaction? Just some mumbling from Putin," said Mr Goncharenko.

"I hope that this will help us to convince our allies that Ukraine is capable of big successes and to win this war, so finally our hands will be untied," he said, adding Ukraine needs permission to use the UK's Storm Shadow missiles deep into Russian territory.

"I think this incremental style is very, very bad."

He continued: "Russia only understands one language, the language of force, and Ukraine has shown it now."

Kyiv has dismissed "insane Russian propaganda" alleging that Ukraine plans to carry out nuclear attacks.

Moscow has accused Ukraine - without providing any evidence - of gearing up to attack Kursk nuclear power plant and developing a "dirty bomb"; an explosive used to scatter radioactive waste.

The Russian defence ministry said Ukraine would blame Moscow and that it would respond harshly in the event of such an attack.

The allegations were "dangerous lies" and Ukraine officially denies them, said Ukrainian foreign office spokespersonHeorhii Tykhyi.

"We are witnessing another surge of insane Russian propaganda."

He continued: "Ukraine has neither the intention nor the ability to carry out any such actions. Russia must stop spreading dangerous lies.

"Ukraine has always been and remains a loyal member of the NPT (Non-proliferation treaty).

"We do not have any 'dirty bombs' and do not plan to acquire them."

Vladimir Putin made similar allegations shortly before launching the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Then, in March the same year, Moscow alleged Ukraine was going to use a dirty bomb. Neither claims were borne out.

Russia also alleged a Ukrainiandrone dropped an explosive charge on a road outside the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine this morning.

Its Russian management posted an image to Telegram showing several men in IAEA jackets surrounding a dent in the road the width and depth of a pothole.

Both Russia and Ukraine have accused eachother of close calls with drones and rockets at the power plant since Russia occupied it.

Volodymyr Zelenskyy says Ukrainian forces have been "strengthened" in Kursk and the size of "stabilised" territory expanded.

He said there has been a "replenishment of the exchange fund for our state" - a phrase often used by Kyiv officials to refer to the number of captured prisoners of war to be swapped.

The president thanked his forces for taking Russian prisoners and "thereby bringing the release of our soldiers and civilians held by Russia closer".

Ukraine's offensive in Kursk will show the West that escalating attacks against Russia is "nothing to be afraid of", says a former foreign policy adviser to Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Igor Novikov says Kyiv is calling Russia's bluff and giving Ukraine a chance to avoid defeat by switching from "meat grinder" warfare to an asymmetrical one.

And putting Ukrainian troops on Russian soil has major psychological upsides, he added.

"The main goal of this is to destabilise the Russian elites. Russia is not a monolith. Obviously there's Putin on top, but there are many different power players there and hopefully this will awaken some of them to the fact that Putin has gone too far."

Turning to the Russian population, he says: "Now the war has come to them.

"It's a wake up call to them to think and seriously consider what they stand for and what their government stands for."

Back in Ukraine, the move has been "magical" for morale.

"People got really fatigued of this meat grinder-style war that had no bright light at the end of the tunnel.

"Now Russia's on the back foot and people are happy about it."

Mr Novikov says there can be "no victory against Russia" through conventional warfare.

"Russia is way bigger, has way more resources, and without full support from the West, like all-in kind of support, Ukraine would have lost eventually."

But asymmetrical warfare gives Ukraine a chance of avoiding defeat, he said.

"This offensive was going to put pressure on Putin. It's going to show the West that escalating against Russia is actually a winning strategy and nothing to be afraid of. That Russia is bluffing most of the time."

We've more information on the Russian attack on Sumy city that we reported earlier this morning.

Pictures show approximately 10 cars ablaze after strikes outside several apartment buildings.

Some 41 explosions were recorded across the Sumy region, according to its regional military administration, caused by missiles, airstrikes, drones, tank shells and artillery.

"Russians continue to commit crimes against the civilian population of Sumy Oblast, directing rockets at residential buildings in populated areas," the Sumy administration posted on Telegram.

Vladimir Putin will be feeling "angry and potentially humiliated" by Ukraine's surprise invasion of Kursk, says military analyst Sean Bell.

He will not accept any negotiations involving the occupied territory, despite Ukrainian ambitions, and will instead deal with it "ruthlessly", Bell said.

But for now, Putin has two choices: play to Ukraine's agenda and bolster Kursk's defences with some of his elite units from the frontline in the Donbas, or move fresh troops down from the Lithuanian border and up from Crimea.

"But none of those troops will be battle-hardened and you only have to look back to the Second World War, that Blitzkrieg worked because they had battle-hardened troops," said Bell.

"They will be no match for Ukrainian forces on the front foot."

He continued:"Ukraine probably didn't expect to get this far. They put a thousand soldiers in, probably 20 tanks, and then found they were rolling in almost unopposed and they've capitalised on that."

Ukraine also has two options: try to hold on to parts of Kursk and risk being defeated there, or eventually withdraw, leaving Putin guessing which part of Russia's longer border will be hit next and forcing him to reinforce it, thereby easing pressure on the frontline, Bell explained.

"It seems to be an absolute masterstroke," said the analyst.

"Momentum, initiative, is everything on the frontline and they've seized that.They've shown that Russia isn't in control of everything on their front foot. And just imagine the effect on morale of the troops on the frontline."

However it's important to note that Kyiv has seized just 0.003% of Russian territory, compared to the 20% of Ukraine controlled by Moscow, he added.

"Although people are talking about it being a bargaining chip in some sort of negotiation, I think that's really unlikely. Putin will not want to accept any form of negotiation around something like this. He is going to deal with it. He will deal with it ruthlessly. The question is when, and when does he ease pressure on the frontline?"