October 8, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

Ukraine's Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko reiterated warnings that a disaster at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant could be on the horizon after it was once again disconnected from Ukraine's main grid on Saturday.

Some background: The Zaporizhzhia plant has been subject to intense scrutiny since its occupation shortly after Russia’s invasion in late February. Intense shelling near the facility this summer sparked concerns of a nuclear accident, prompting the International Atomic Energy Agency to send a team there. The plant has been disconnected from Ukraine’s power grid on several occasions in recent months due to shelling, according to Ukrainian authorities.

The plant sits in the Russian-occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region and is the largest in Europe. It has been held by Russian forces for more than seven months but is operated by its Ukrainian staff.

The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog, Rafael Grossi, was in Kyiv on Thursday to discuss his calls to establish a nuclear safety zone around the plant “as soon as possible,” the IAEA said in a statement. Grossi will also visit Russia in the coming days.

Grossi said at a news conference that it’s still unclear what the “practical consequences” were of Russia’s decision to seize the plant, but he would be discussing those matters in high-level meetings in Moscow. He also said that the IAEA considers the facility Ukrainian.

Power line damaged: The last power line connecting the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant to Ukraine’s power grid was damaged and disconnected due to shelling from Russian forces, Ukraine's nuclear operator Energoatom reported earlier Saturday.

The powerplant is now relying on diesel generators, which have capacity to provide the plant with electricity for 10 days, according to Energoatom.

“The civilized world has already given a clear assessment of Russia's actions, but the nuclear terrorist continues its blackmail. And they may only be stopped by tough sanctions, primarily against the nuclear industry,” Halushchenko said.

CNN cannot independently verify Halushchenko's claims.

Major transport links between mainland Russia and the annexed peninsula of Crimea have been suspended, following an explosion on Kerch bridge on Saturday morning.

State-owned rail company Russian Railways announced the suspension of all train ticket sales from Russia to Crimea, according to Russian state news agency TASS.

All bus services from Crimea to mainland Russia were canceled on Saturday, TASS said.

As authorities get to grips with the incident, at least four or five ferries will be used to organize communication between Crimea and the Russian mainland territory, Krasnodar Territory, TASS reported citing the maritime services of the Kuban.

In a brief posting on its official Twitter account, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense reacted to the explosion on the Kerch bridge, saying: "The guided missile cruiser Moskva and the Kerch Bridge – two notorious symbols of Russian power in Ukrainian Crimea – have gone down. What’s next in line, Russkies?"

The Moskva, a guided-missile cruiser and the flagship of Russia’s Black Sea fleet sunk on April 14, though the cause remains disputed.

Ukraine says it hit the Moskva with anti-ship cruise missiles, which sparked a fire that detonated stored ammunition. The Moskva was armed with a range of anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles as well as torpedoes, naval guns and missile defense systems, meaning it would have had massive amounts of explosives aboard.

Russia’s Defense Ministry, however, says a fire of unknown origin detonated the ammunition and the resulting explosions left the Moskva with structural damage. It says the warship then sank amid rough seas as it was being towed to a nearby port.

Ukrainian officials have started responding to a fire involving a tanker on Kerch bridge in the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula on Saturday, without directly acknowledging that Ukraine was responsible for the explosion.

Vadym Denysenko, an adviser to the Interior Minister, said that "the Kerch bridge is a key logistical link that connects Russia with Crimea, and then with the Kherson region. As of now, the Russians have officially announced that the Kerch bridge is closed."

"Are you sleeping?": Meanwhile, the Navy of the Armed Forces of Ukraine responded to the blast on Facebook, posting, “Air defense of the Russian Federation, are you sleeping?” alongside a video showing a section of the bridge’s road that had been completely destroyed.

David Arakhamia, the head of Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky’s party in parliament and a member of Kyiv’s negotiating team with Russia released a Telegram statement about the incident, saying: “Russian illegal construction is starting to collapse and catch fire. The reason is simple: if you build something explosive, sooner or later, it will explode. And this is just the beginning.”

Mykhailo Podoliak, who serves as an adviser to Zelensky echoed the sentiment. “Crimea, the bridge, the beginning. Everything illegal must be destroyed, everything stolen must be returned to Ukraine, everything occupied by Russia must be expelled,” Podoliak said.

The official Twitter page of the Ukrainian government responded to images, memes and video of the Krech bridge explosion with a two-word comment:

"Sick burn."

Authorities in Russian-annexed Crimea have moved to reassure people that there will be no fuel shortages in the peninsula following the explosion on the Kerch bridge Saturday.

The Governor of the city of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhaev said on his Telegram channel: "Gasoline supply in Sevastopol for 40 days, there will be no shortage, so there is no need to stock up on fuel. The situation is the same with products."

Social media videos -- purportedly shot Saturday -- show long queues at some fuel stations in Crimea.

At the same time, the Ministry of Industry in Crimes said that the sale of goods would be limited.

"In order to avoid artificial excitement, the sale of groceries in Crimea is limited: in one hand up to 3 kilograms," it said.

Many of the products imported into Crimea come across the Kerch bridge.

A fuel tank exploded early Saturday on Europe’s longest bridge, which links Russia to the annexed territory of Crimea, according to Russian state media RIA and social media footage.

Images of the Kerch bridge posted on social media appear to show a portion of the roadway of the vehicle and rail bridge had fallen into the waters below it. Flames are seen burning from rail cars above.

The source of the explosion remains unclear.

The tanker was located on the 19-kilometer (11 mile) long bridge – strategically important because it links Russia’s Krasnodar region with the Russian-annexed Crimean Peninsula.

Why is it important? The bridge spans the Kerch Strait, which connects the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov, on which sit key Ukrainian ports, including Mariupol.

The Kerch bridge is able to handle 40,000 cars a day and to move 14 million passengers and 13 million tons of cargo per year, state news agency RIA Novosti reported when the bridge opened in 2018. Its opening – according to Russia’s official narrative – claimed to mark the physical “reunification” of Crimea with the Russian mainland.

After the bridge opened, the United States condemned its construction as illegal.

What has Russia's response been to the explosion? Work is “underway to extinguish the fire,” the adviser to the Russian administration head of occupied Crimea, Oleg Kryunchkov, said in a Telegram post, adding that the bridge’s “shipping arches were not damaged.”

An official in Russian-annexed Crimea blamed “Ukrainian vandals” for the explosion on Kerch bridge in a post on Telegram.

CNN cannot independently verify Konstantinov’s claim.

The bodies of more than 500 civilians have been discovered in the territory in northeast Ukraine that has recently been retaken from Russian forces, according to Ukrainian police.

Most of the remains — 447, according to Ukrainian forces — were found at what was described as a mass burial site in the town of Izium, which Ukrainian forces liberated from Russian occupation in early September. Russian troops had been using Izium as a launchpad for attacks southward into the Donetsk region. 

As Ukrainian forces liberated more land in the northeast, new burial sites are being discovered.

They included 226 women and 19 children, Bolvinov added.

The Ukrainian military has liberated 2,400 square kilometers (more than 926 square miles) of territory in the south "since the beginning of the full-scale war," a senior Ukrainian official said Friday.

Almost all of that land has been recovered in the past two weeks as Ukraine has stepped up its counteroffensive in Kherson.

Kyrylo Tymoshenko, deputy head of the president's office, said the progress in Kherson includes:

Meanwhile, the evacuation of civilians continued amid massive destruction to critical infrastructure in towns like Arkhanhelske, Vysokopillia and Osokorivka, all of which saw weeks of heavy fighting and indirect fire, Tymoshenko said, adding that de-mining was in progress.

Ukrainian forces have been making steady progress in Kherson since beginning an offensive at the end of last month. In his Thursday night evening address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Kyiv has retaken more than 500 square kilometers (about 193 square miles) of territory in the southern Kherson region since Oct. 1.