Battle for Kherson begins as Russia sends in military convoys; nuclear plant shelling

The battle for the Russian-occupied city of Kherson in southern Ukraine is heating up Tuesday with several reports of missile strikes around the city and shooting on the streets of some neighborhoods.

One Ukrainian official said earlier today that the country’s forces had struck a Russian ammo depot while a deputy of the Kherson Regional Council, Serhii Khlan, said on Facebook that Russian forces were sending military equipment from Crimea to the city, in order to defend it from Ukraine’s counteroffensive to retake the city.

He said Ukraine was carrying around strikes on the Antonivka Bridge — a key element of a transport route into Kherson — to try to prevent the column reaching it.

“The Russians are forming large columns of equipment in Crimea and sending them towards the temporarily occupied Kherson region. It is important to make sure that this equipment is not moved to the front line. And here we are watching – strikes on the Antonivka Bridge again,” he said on Facebook.

Most, a local news outlet in Kherson, has also reported intense shooting in several Kherson neighborhoods. CNBC was unable to immediately verify the reports.

— Holly Ellyatt

A top Ukrainian official claimed that Russia is deliberately shelling routes to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is occupied by Russian forces and meant to be inspected by international experts this week.

The corridors to the plant are intended for use by agents from the International Atomic Energy Agency as it prepares to conduct a mission to the plant, also known as the Zaporizhzhia NPP or ZNPP, in southern Ukraine.

Mykhailo Podolyak, a presidential advisor, wrote on Twitter Tuesday that Russia instead wanted to divert the mission through the Russian-held territory of Crimea. Ukraine has insisted the inspectors access the plant via Ukrainian-controlled land.

“Russia is deliberately shelling corridors for IAEA mission to reach ZNPP. All to offer passage through Crimea/ORDLO. Ukraine’s position is the same. Access only through controlled territory of Ukraine. Nuclear power plant demilitarization. Ru-troops withdrawal. Only ua-personnel at the station,” Podolyak said.

The anticipated inspection of the ZNPP comes after increasing concerns for its safety given the surrounding warfare in the region. Both Ukraine and Russia have accused each other of shelling around the plant and both have said the other is planning a “provocation” at the plant ahead or during the IAEA’s visit.

Russia’s Ministry of Defense repeated those accusations today, accusing Ukraine of “provocations … in order to create a threat of a man-made disaster at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.”

It claimed, in a Telegram update, that Ukraine used “four attack drones on the territory of the nuclear power plant” and that one of the drones “fell on the roof of the building of Special Building No. 1, which stores American-made nuclear fuel and solid radioactive waste.” The ministry also claimed Ukrainian artillery fired two shells at the territory of the nuclear power plant.

Ukraine has not commented on the claims, which have also not been independently verified.

“The firepower of the enemy was suppressed by return fire from the Russian Armed Forces. The radiation situation at the Zaporozhye NPP remains normal,” the ministry added.

— Holly Ellyatt

A team of experts from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) — the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog — has reportedly arrived in Kyiv ahead of a visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine.

The nuclear power plant has been occupied by Russian troops since the start of the invasion and there have been increasing fears over the safety of the plant, with Ukraine and Russia repeatedly accusing each other of shelling it.

Members of the delegation were seen by CNN reporters at their hotel in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv early Tuesday, the network reported.

The mission, led by IAEA chief Rafael Grossi, set off for the mission on Monday, the IAEA tweeted.

CNBC has contacted the agency for confirmation of the mission’s arrival in Kyiv and is awaiting a response.

— Holly Ellyatt

European Union defense ministers, at a meeting in Prague, are set to pave the way for the establishment of an EU training mission for Ukrainian forces, the bloc’s top diplomat Josep Borrell said on Tuesday.

“The situation on the ground continues to be very bad. Ukraine needs our support, and we will continue providing support,” Borrell told reporters as he arrived for the talks in Prague.

“A general, overall political agreement (on the training mission) is what I think we have to get today … I hope we will have a political green light for this mission,” he added, without giving details of the mission. “That’s the moment to act, that’s the moment to take decisions.”

— Reuters

Ukraine’s second-largest city Kharkiv came under heavy shelling on Tuesday morning, according to local officials.

Kharkiv’s Mayor Ihor Terekhov said the city center had been shelled, leaving at least five people dead and seven wounded.

“Artillery shelling of the central part of the city” the mayor said on Telegram, adding that a large square and surrounding houses had been hit. Kharkiv is located in northeastern Ukraine, near the border with Russia.

Terekhov said more information was being gathered about the victims and wounded. In a subsequent post, he said a five-story residential building had been hit and that there was a fire in a residential building. It’s uncertain if he was referring to the same building.

Kharkiv’s regional governor Oleh Synehubov also posted on Telegram about the strikes. He urged civilians to seek shelter, saying more strikes are possible. CNBC was unable to verify the information in the reports.

— Holly Ellyatt

Russian units in and around Kherson — a southern Ukrainian city currently occupied by Russian forces and one which Ukraine has launched a counteroffensive to reclaim — are likely to be undermanned and could lack cohesion, according to the latest intelligence from the U.K.

“The Southern Military District’s (SMD) 49th Combined Arms Army has highly likely been augmented with components of the Eastern Military District’s (EMD) 35th Combined Arms Army. Most of the [Russian] units around Kherson are likely under-manned and are reliant upon fragile supply lines by ferry and pontoon bridges across the Dnipro,” Britain’s Ministry of Defense said on Twitter Tuesday.

The ministry said that the integration of SMD and EMD units “suggests a significant reorganization of Russia’s force in Ukraine.”

The ministry added that “there is a realistic possibility that Russia has moved to rationalise the several, semi-independent, operational commands which contributed to its poor performance early in the invasion” and that if Ukraine succeeds in undertaking sustained offensive operations in the Kherson direction, “the cohesion of this untested structure will likely be a key factor in the sustainability of Russian defences in the south.”

— Holly Ellyatt

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has expressed confidence that Ukraine’s forces will push the occupying Russian forces back to pre-2014 borders after a counteroffensive in southern Ukraine began earlier this week.

“The occupiers must know: we will chase them to the border. To our border, which line has not been changed,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address Monday.

“If they want to survive – it’s time for the Russian military to run away … If they do not hear me – they will have to deal with our defenders, who will not stop until they free everything that belongs to Ukraine,” he added.

Ukraine has appeared to grow in confidence in recent weeks with the targeting of Russian-occupied territory in southern Ukraine including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. Kyiv’s officials have said they will now fight to reclaim the peninsula, which is home to Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, as well as the city of Kherson, which fell to Russian forces at the start of the war.

“Does someone want to know what our plans are? You will not hear specifics from any really responsible person. Because this is the war. And so it goes at war,” Zelenskyy said.

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command told NBC News on Monday that Russian troops were retreating from some areas in the south of the country already as the counteroffensive begins, although some experts have expressed caution, saying it’s too early to start drawing conclusions from Ukraine’s counterattack.

— Holly Ellyatt

A spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command told NBC News that Russian troops were retreating from some areas in the south of the country, where Kyiv claims it started a counteroffensive against Russian troops.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the southern military command, said in a telephone interview that “under the pressure of our actions, the enemy began to retreat. It is currently recorded that the enemy has withdrawn from some of its positions,” NBC News reported.

NBC News was unable to verify the spokesperson’s claims, and both Humeniuk and outside observers expressed caution about drawing early conclusions.

The British Ministry of Defence said on Tuesday morning local time that Ukraine increased artillery fire along the front in southern Ukraine starting on August 29, but “it is not yet possible to confirm the extent of Ukrainian advances.”

Neil Melvin, director of international security studies at the Royal United Services Institute in London, told NBC News that early reports indicated “that Ukrainian forces have broken through the first set of Russian defenses in places around Kherson.”

— Ted Kemp

The Biden administration welcomed news that the International Atomic Energy Agency would soon inspect the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The White House also contended that Russia is using its control of the facility to compromise Ukraine’s energy supply.

“This would require knowing exactly what he has in mind and that’s difficult for us to ascertain on any day, particularly on any issue with respect to Ukraine,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters on a conference call when asked about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s intentions.

“What we can piece together, based on their activities and their actions, is that at the very least we ascertain that by holding that plant, he can hold Ukraine hostage with respect to their own electrical power capability,” Kirby said.

“The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant basically controls all the electrical power for much of southern Ukraine and even beyond, so he can hold that power hostage. He … could actually potentially use some of that power inside Russia if he wanted to,” Kirby added.

— Amanda Macias

Nearly 7 million Ukrainians have become refugees and moved to neighboring countries since Russia invaded Ukraine in late February, the U.N. Refugee Agency estimates.

More than 3.9 million of those people have applied for temporary resident status in neighboring Western countries, according to data collected by the U.N. Refugee Agency.

“The escalation of conflict in Ukraine has caused civilian casualties and destruction of civilian infrastructure, forcing people to flee their homes seeking safety, protection and assistance,” the agency wrote.

— Amanda Macias

 Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors are expected to arrive in Kyiv today and will begin their work at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant “in the coming days.”

IAEA Director-General Rafael Grossi will lead the team of 14 international experts, the ministry said.

“Ukraine’s position is clear: the occupation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by Russian troops and the importation of a large amount of military equipment and ammunition into its territory in violation of all international rules exposes the nuclear plant to extreme danger, including provoking a nuclear incident,” the ministry wrote in a statement, according to an NBC News translation.

— Amanda Macias