Live: Explosions hit Russian military base in Crimea in suspected Ukrainian attack

Issued on: 17/08/2022 – 06:04

9:02pm: Macron says he discussed Ukraine crisis with India’s Modi

French President Emmanuel Macron discussed via telephone on Tuesday the crisis in Ukraine with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and the two agreed to work together to try to end the conflict, said the French presidency.

Macron also held a call earlier on Tuesday with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, during which the French leader underlined his concerns about risks to Ukraine’s nuclear facilities as result of the fighting with Russia.

8:42pm: Ukraine nuclear power company says Russian hackers attacked website

Ukraine’s state nuclear power company Energoatom said a Russian hacker group  launched a major three-hour attack on its website on Tuesday but had not caused significant problems.

“The Russian group ‘People’s Cyber Army’ carried out a cyber attack using 7.25 million bot users, who simulated hundreds of millions of views of the company’s main page,” Energoatom said in a statement. “(This) did not significantly affect operations of the Energoatom website.”

7:46pm: Estonia removes Soviet-era memorial from city of Narva

Estonia on Tuesday removed a Soviet-era World War II memorial from Narva – a city with a large Russian-speaking minority – accusing Russia of using such monuments to stir up tensions.

Prime Minister Kaja Kallas said in a statement that the move was a response to “increasing tensions and confusion around memorials in Narva”.

“We must act quickly to ensure public order and internal security,” she said.

Local opposition to removing the monument had sparked fears of a repetition of the rioting that broke out in Tallinn in 2007 due to the removal of a Soviet monument.

A World War II era T-34 tank that formed part of the memorial in Narva will be taken to the Estonian War Museum and a mass grave of wartime victims will instead be given a “neutral grave marker”.

6:49pm: Zelensky, Erdogan and Guterres to meet in Ukraine on Thursday

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres will meet in Ukraine on Thursday, the United Nations announced.

“At the invitation of President Volodymyr Zelensky, the secretary-general will be in Lviv on Thursday to attend a trilateral meeting with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey and the Ukrainian leader,” Guterres’ spokesman said Tuesday.

Guterres will then visit the Ukrainian port city of Odesa on the Black Sea on Friday before heading to Turkey.

5:55pm: European gas prices surge to six-month peak

European gas prices surged Tuesday to a six-month peak, exacerbating recession fears as the region faces the prospect of rationing following cuts to Russian supplies.

In Europe, the natural gas reference price Dutch TTF rallied around 10 percent at 1 point to over €250 per megawatt hour – the highest level since the start of March, or not long after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Energy prices are soaring in Europe,” market analyst Fawad Razaqzada at City Index and FOREX.com told AFP.

“Reduced Russian energy shipments of around only 20 percent of capacity through the Nord Stream 1 pipeline have increased the risk of rationing in the coming months,” he added.

5:40pm: Ship carrying first Ukraine grain cargo docks in Syria’s Tartous

The first ship to depart Ukraine under a deal to resume grain exports from the country two weeks ago was docked in Syria’s Tartous on Tuesday, according to a shipping source and satellite data.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni set sail from Ukraine’s Odesa port on August 1 under the grain deal but did not unload in Lebanon as planned. Its location had not been clear in recent days as it had kept its transponder off.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)