• 5:20 a.m.: IAEA delegation leaves Kyiv for Zaporizhia NPP

A convoy of vehicles from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) left the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Wednesday morning for the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in the south-east of the country, a Reuters journalist noted.

"We are finally moving after several months (...) of effort. The IAEA goes inside the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant", the largest in Europe and in the hands of the army Russian since the beginning of March, then declared Wednesday morning Rafael Grossi, director general of this UN body, to journalists in kyiv, just before leaving.

It is currently unclear when the IAEA delegation is scheduled to arrive in Zaporizhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, which fell under Russian control as part of its offensive in Ukraine and became the one of the major stakes of the war.

kyiv and Moscow accuse each other of bombing the area, amid fears that the situation could lead to a nuclear disaster.

  • 2 a.m.: France had prepared for the reduction of Russian gas flows

"Russia is using gas as a weapon of war and is using Engie's enforcement of contracts as a pretext to further reduce French supplies, which had already drastically dropped," said French Energy Transition Minister Agnès Pannier-Runacher. , in a press release.

"France has been preparing for this scenario since the spring: the filling of gas stocks will reach its maximum in about two weeks," she assured.

"We have diversified our imports so that we are only 9% dependent on Russian gas (against 17% before the war)".

  • 12:30 a.m .: Senior Russian official prepares “mock” referendum in occupied Ukraine, according to Washington

A senior Russian official has been tasked with organizing a “mock” referendum to annex Ukrainian territories to Russia, a US State Department spokesman said on Tuesday, saying the vote could take place quickly.

Sergei Kirienko, deputy head of the Russian presidential administration and close to Vladimir Putin, is overseeing efforts to “attempt to annex Ukrainian territories to Russia,” which, if carried out, would be illegal “, Vedant Patel said during a press briefing. 

With AFP and Reuters

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