Russia’s state-controlled energy giant Gazprom ( GAZP.MM ) blamed a technical fault on the Nord Stream 1 pipeline for the delay on Friday. But the high-level maneuvers in energy policy were seen as an extension of the war, and the consequences will be felt far beyond Ukraine. The announcements came as Moscow and Kyiv exchanged blame for their actions at the Russian-held Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, where UN inspectors arrived on Thursday on a mission to help avert a disaster. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Russian official in the Zaporizhzhia region, said Ukrainian forces shelled Europe’s largest nuclear power plant several times overnight and the main power line to the plant had gone down, forcing it to use backup power sources. as happened last week. Reuters could not immediately substantiate its account. Gazprom’s indefinite delay in resuming natural gas deliveries will deepen Europe’s problems securing fuel for the winter with the cost of living already on the rise due to energy prices. Nord Stream 1, which runs under the Baltic Sea to supply Germany and others, was due to restart after a three-day shutdown for maintenance at 01:00 GMT on Saturday, but the pipeline’s operator reported zero flows hours later. Moscow has blamed sanctions, imposed by the West after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, for hampering normal operations and maintenance of Nord Stream 1. Brussels and Washington accuse Russia of using natural gas as an economic weapon. The United States said it was working with Europe to ensure there were sufficient supplies for the winter. read more The finance ministers of the Group of Seven wealthy nations – Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States – said on Friday that a cap on the price of Russian oil was intended to “reduce Russia’s ability to finance its aggressive war while limiting the impact of Russia’s war on world energy prices.” read more The Kremlin – which calls the conflict “a special military operation” – said it would stop selling oil to any countries that implemented the cap.
NUCLEAR FEARS
In the first six months of the war, thousands of people were killed and Ukrainian cities were reduced to rubble, and now there is a threat of a nuclear disaster. A United Nations inspection team, led by its chief Rafael Grossi, braved intense shelling to reach the Zaporizhia factory on Thursday. read more Grossi, after returning to the Ukrainian-held territory, said the physical integrity of the factory had been violated several times. On Friday he said he expected to produce a report early next week and two experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection team would remain at the plant for a longer period. A reactor at the site was reconnected to Ukraine’s grid on Friday, a day after it was shut down by shelling near the site, Ukraine’s state nuclear company Energoatom said. read more The site is on the south bank of a huge reservoir on the Dnipro River, 10 km (6 mi) across from the Ukrainian positions. Each side has accused the other of shelling near the facility, which is still operated by Ukrainian personnel and supplies more than a fifth of Ukraine’s peacetime electricity. Kyiv also accuses Russia of using it to shield its weapons, which Moscow denies. Russia has so far resisted international calls to withdraw troops from the plant and demilitarize the area. Ukraine’s state nuclear company said Russia had barred the IAEA team from the plant’s crisis center, where Kyiv says Russian troops are stationed, and that would make an impartial assessment difficult. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy urged the IAEA team to move forward despite difficulties. “Unfortunately, we did not hear the main thing from the IAEA, which is the call to Russia to demilitarize the station,” Zelensky said in a video broadcast on a forum in Italy. Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said Ukraine continues to use weapons from its Western allies to bomb the plant. He rejected claims by Kiev and the West that Russia had developed heavy weapons at the plant. Several towns near the plant came under Russian shelling on Thursday, Zaporizhia regional council mayor Mykola Lukasuk said. Rogov, the pro-Russian official, said Ukrainian forces shelled Enerhodar, the Russian-held town near the power station. And he repeated accusations that Ukraine had carried out a commando-style raid on the station by speedboats on the river. Ukrainian officials have dismissed it as a fabrication. Reuters was unable to verify either side’s reports.
COUNTERATTACK
Elsewhere on the front line, Ukraine launched an offensive this week to recapture territory in southern Ukraine, mainly further down the Dnipro in neighboring Kherson province. Both sides have claimed battlefield successes in the early days of what Ukrainians see as a potential turning point in the war. Details were scarce, with Ukrainian officials giving little information. Ukraine’s general staff said on Friday that Russian forces shelled dozens of cities and towns, including Kharkiv – Ukraine’s second-largest city – in the north and the Donetsk region in the east. Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comSign up Reporting by Tom Balmforth in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, and Reuters offices. Written by Simon Cameron-Moore. Edited by William Mallard Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
