Ukraine updates: More strikes reported near Zaporizhzhia

The European Union has tentatively agreed to tighter restrictions on some Ukrainian food imports, according to Belgium, which holds the bloc's presidency.

The deal extends the duty-free access the EU has given to Ukrainian agricultural products since Russia's invasion in 2022 for another year, but sets caps on poultry, eggs, sugar, corn, goats and honey at average volumes between mid-2021 and the end of 2023. 

No cap was placed on wheat, which countries such as France and Poland had initially argued for.

The preliminary agreement still needs to be formalized at a meeting of EU ambassadors late Monday and by a European Parliament committee on Tuesday. 

The extension of duty-free imports of Ukrainian agricultural products is expected to take effect before the current exemption expires on June 5. 

EU policymakers have struggled for weeks to limit duty-free access for Ukrainian produce as farmers protested against cheap imports, with some in Poland blocking the border with Ukraine and spilling Ukrainian grain across railway tracks.

Russia has hit up to 80% of Ukraine's conventional power plants and half its hydroelectric plants in recent weeks in the heaviest attacks since war began, Ukrainian energy minister German Galushchenko said.

Moscow has launched almost daily strikes on Ukraine's power grid since late March, causing major blackouts in the northeastern city of Kharkiv. "This is the largest attack on Ukraine's energy sector" since war began, the minister said.  

Galushchenko said that "the scale and impact of these attacks is much greater" than earlier attacks over the winter from 2022 to 2023 when millions suffered in freezing temperatures without electricity and heating.

"We see that Russians modified the weapons," the minister said, adding that they now use Iranian-style explosive drones and missiles that cause more damage.

Before Russia's invasion, Ukraine's power generation was fairly evenly balanced between coal, natural gas and nuclear, with a smaller percentage of hydroelectric.

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has warned companies in China against exporting products to Russia that could be used in Moscow's war against Ukraine.

"I stressed that companies, including those in [China], must not provide material support for Russia's war and that they will face significant consequences if they do," she said in Beijing.

Yellen said all banks that transfer money to Russia in order to supply the Russian defense industry with military or other goods are at risk of US sanctions, too. Washington has already imposed a series of sanctions on Chinese companies for reasons related to Russia.

China has become Moscow's most important economic ally since Russia launched its military offensive on Ukraine in February 2022, with trade surging between the two countries. 

Bilateral trade reached $240.1 billion (€221.5 billion) in 2023, an annual increase of 26%, according to Chinese customs data.

Ukraine accused Moscow of spreading "fake" information after Russian officials said a Ukrainian drone hit the Moscow-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The head of Ukraine's center for countering disinformation, Lieutenant Andriy Kovalenko, said Russia was intensifying a "campaign of provocation and fakes" after it claimed that Ukrainian forces attacked the plant on Sunday.

Russia is attacking the station "with drones, pretending that the threat to the plant and nuclear safety is coming from Ukraine," Kovalenko said.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, the largest such facility in Europe, has been occupied by Russian forces since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in February 2022. 

Russia's nuclear agency Rosatom said there was a "series of attacks" Sunday and Monday.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has experts at the plant, said the attacks caused a "physical impact" on one reactor and resulted in one casualty, but nuclear safety was not compromised.

At least three people were killed in a fresh wave of Russian strikes in Zaporizhzhia, Governor Ivan Federov said, adding that Russia has struck the region "357 times" over the last 24 hours. 

"Three people were killed and three people were wounded in the Pologivskyi district," he said on Telegram, referring to a district in the Zaporizhzhia region, located around halfway between the cities of Zaporizhzhia and Mariupol.

Ukraine's air force also reported that Russia launched a fresh wave of drone attacks that targeted critical infrastructure.

The air force said it destroyed 17 Iranian-made drones over the regions of Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kirovohrad, Khmelnytskyi and Zhytomyr. It also reported a Kh-59 guided air missile was destroyed over Dnipropetrovsk.

Odesa Governor Oleh Kiper said a logistics and transport facility was damaged by the strikes, while a gas station was damaged by falling debris.

The strikes come a day after the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was damaged by a drone attack.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov arrived in China for high-level talks on Monday morning, the Russian Foreign Ministry said.

He will discuss a series of "hot topics" with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi that includes the war in Ukraine.

The Russian Foreign Ministry added that the two men would also "discuss a wide range of questions linked to bilateral cooperation, as well as cooperation on the international scene."

Ukraine's allies must step up support and provide proper air defenses, as Kyiv fends off Russian forces in several flashpoints, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said.

In his nightly address on Sunday, Zelenskyy said the world must "finally hear" the pain inflicted on Kharkiv, Ukraine's second-largest city, which has been subject to a recent wave of attacks and bombings.

"It is quite obvious that our existing air defense capabilities in Ukraine are not sufficient and it is obvious to our partners," Zelenskyy said.

Earlier on Sunday, the president warned during a video meeting that Kyiv would lose the war if the US Congress doesn't approve a major military aid package, which has been pending for months amid Republican opposition.

"It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war," Zelenskyy said during a video meeting.

It would be "difficult" for Ukraine to "stay," or survive, without the aid, Zelenskyy added. "If Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked."

zc/ab (AFP, Reuters, dpa, AP)