And the dead and injured / Zaporozhye power plant can become the property of the Russian state. Putin signs new decrees justifying territorial claims

Update 12:50 Ukraine’s president urges NATO to “prove it is not afraid of Russia”.

During a video-link interview with Australia’s Lowy Institute on Thursday, Zelensky was asked if he had received any response from NATO and how quickly he expected the alliance to act on the request.

Zelensky says his main message is: “You should not be afraid of anyone,” and that “it is important to create security guarantees for the whole world, so that no one has even the thought of becoming an autocrat. If you are a dictator, don’t even have the idea of ​​being able to conquer other territories or other countries.” .

“You have to be united for this. I think that without Ukraine, NATO would not be such a strong alliance, especially on the European continent. I think this is a very important move for the forces in Eastern Europe. NATO can offer this opportunity. We are grateful to NATO. We are giving this opportunity at a very important moment,” he said.

“Not only Ukraine has to prove its strength in front of Russia, but the alliance has to prove that it is not afraid of Russia. This is a question posed to NATO. But I know that everyone realizes that security guarantees for Ukraine are necessary. I think we are on this path. Let’s definitely go this way. How fast it will be, unfortunately, does not depend only on Ukraine,” says the President of Ukraine.

Zelensky announced last week that Ukraine had formally applied for NATO membership after Vladimir Putin said he would annex four Ukrainian provinces.

Update 12:00 International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Raffaele Grossi rushes to Kyiv

Update 11:20 Russia has hit the city of Zaporizhzhya in southern Ukraine with seven missiles

The Russians destroyed an apartment building early Thursday morning. City officials told Ukrainian public radio and television station Zaspiln that at least two people were killed and at least five others were trapped under the rubble. The rescue team at the scene said that they saved a three-year-old girl.

Suspline’s Zaporizhzhia branch reported several explosions in the city around midday Kyiv time.

Update 9:00 Ukraine has reclaimed more territory in territory Russia claims it annexed

As Russian forces retreated from the front lines in the south and east, Zelensky said in a video message late Wednesday that Novovoskresenske, Novohrihorivka and Petropavlivka, northeast of the city of Kherson, had been “liberated.”

Update 05:00

The head of the International Energy Agency believes that Europe can survive a cold winter with the help of reservoirs of natural gas imported from third parties, despite a drop in supplies from Russia, entering a deep energy crisis next year.

Update 03:00

Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Russia could cut oil production to offset the negative effects of price caps imposed by the West as part of expanded economic sanctions against Moscow.

Summary of the day

Vladimir Putin signed laws allowing the Donetsk People’s Republic, the Luhansk People’s Republic, the Kherson region and the Zaporizhia region into Russia, in the largest expansion of Russian territory in the past half century.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his army had recaptured dozens of towns in the past week from the southern and eastern regions it declared annexed to Russia.

Several kamikaze drones set fire to a town near Kiev. Firefighters intervened with difficulty.