International alarm over weekend artillery attacks on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex has grown, with Kyiv warning of the risk of a Chornobyl-style catastrophe and appealing for the area to be made a demilitarised zone.
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ZAPORIZHZHIA NUCLEAR COMPLEX
* The head of Ukraine's state nuclear power company Energoatom called on Monday for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to be made a military-free zone, warning of the risk of a Chernobyl-style nuclear disaster after the site was hit by shelling.
* United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the risk of nuclear confrontation had returned after decades, calling on nuclear states to commit to no first use of the weapons. Any attack on a nuclear plant is a "suicidal thing", he said.
* Russia's defence ministry on Monday said Ukraine had shelled the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, the biggest in Europe, on August 7, damaging high-voltage power lines and forcing the plant to reduce its output.
* The power station is operating "in normal mode," the Interfax news agency quoted the Russian-installed head of the local administration as saying on Monday.
FIGHTING/DIPLOMACY
* The Kremlin said on Monday there was no basis for a meeting between the Russian and Ukrainian presidents at the moment.
* One of President Vladimir Putin's closest allies said on Monday that Russia would achieve its aims in the conflict in Ukraine on its own terms, warning that the West had a long-term plan to destroy Russia.
* More than 450 foreign-made components have been found in Russian weapons recovered in Ukraine, evidence that Moscow acquired critical technology from companies in the United States, Europe and Asia in the years before the invasion, according to a new report by Royal United Services Institute defence think tank.
* Ukrainian forces again shelled the Antonivskyi bridge in the Russian-controlled city of Kherson, damaging construction equipment and delaying its reopening, Interfax news agency quoted a local Russian-appointed official as saying on Monday.
* Russia's defence ministry said its forces had shot down 19 US-made HIMARS missiles across eastern and southern Ukraine, and destroyed HIMARS vehicles near the Ukrainian town of Kramatorsk. Reuters was unable to verify the reports.
GRAINS
* Two more ships, carrying corn and soybeans, left Ukrainian Black Sea ports on Monday, Turkey and Ukraine said, taking the total to ten since the first ship sailed last week under a deal with Russia to unblock Ukrainian grain exports.
* Pope Francis welcomed the departure from Ukrainian ports of the first ships carrying grain previously blockaded by Russia, saying the breakthrough could be a model for dialogue to bring an end to the war in Ukraine.
Australian Associated Press