War in Ukraine: what we know on day nine of the Russian invasion

Russian troops have seized Europe’s largest nuclear plant at Zaporizhzhiaafter a fire sparked by heavy shelling, Ukrainian authorities said. No changes in radiation had been recorded but any loss of ability to cool nuclear fuel would lead to “significant radioactive emissions” that could “outgrow all previous nuclear power plant accidents”, they said.

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Rafael Mariano Grossi, offered to travel to Ukraine to facilitate talks with Russia aimed at guaranteeing the safety of nuclear plants during the conflict. The situation “continues to be extremely tense and challenging,” he said.

The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, appealed directly to Russians to stage protests over the seizure of nuclear power infrastructure by Russian troops. “Russian people, I want to appeal to you: how is this possible?” he said. “After all, we fought together in 1986 against the Chernobyl catastrophe.”

Zelenskiy earlier accused Russia of “nuclear terror”, as British PM Boris Johnson said Putin’s forces were “reckless”. The blaze has sparked deep concern over the fate of Ukraine’s nuclear plants amid the worsening fighting.

US president Joe Biden and Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau also condemned Russia for shelling the plant and starting the blaze, which took hold in a training building on the site’s perimeter.

Russia’s defence ministry blamed the attack on the nuclear plant on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a “monstrous provocation”.

Ukraine’s culture minister called for the skies to be closed over Ukraine because Russian forces are “destroying cultural sites”. Oleksandr Tkachenko said most of Putin’s “war crimes” had been “committed from the air” and were “deliberately destroying” the historic centres of big cities.

The UN Human Rights Council overwhelmingly voted to create a top-level investigation into violations committed following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, with 32 members of the 47-seat council in favour and only Russia and Eritrea voting against.

The death toll from Russian airstrikes in a residential district of the city of Chernihiv rose to 47, regional authorities said. Rescue work had to be suspended due to heavy shelling, according to the local emergency services.

Russia’s parliament passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” information about the armed forces.

Russia admitted to “limiting” access to news websites including the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, the independent Russian site Meduza and Germany’s Deutsche Welle, with Facebook also blocked.

Ukraine and Russia agreed to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians in a second round of talks on Thursday, but the Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said the outcome of the talks had fallen short of Ukraine’s hopes. A third round of talks is set to take place next week.

Russian forces were in control of local and regional government buildings in the strategically important Black Sea port of Kherson, local authorities said. Russian forces appeared to be moving to cut Ukraine off from the sea via its key southern ports, claiming the capture of Kherson and tightening the siege of Mariupol.

Concern is mounting over the movements of a huge column of Russian military vehicles outside Kyiv. While a US defence official suggested it appeared to have “stalled”, there was also speculation that an estimated 15,000 troops attached to it may be regrouping and waiting for logistical supplies before an assault on the Ukrainian capital.

Vladimir Putin told Emmanuel Macron that Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means he will continue to pursue his war in Ukraine, France’s presidential Élysée Palace said, adding: “We expect the worst is yet to come.”

In a televised speech shortly after his 90-minute call with Macron on Thursday, Putin claimed Russian military operations in Ukraine were going according to plan. The president went on to accuse Ukrainian forces of using civilians as “human shields” but provided no evidence.