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Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Shelling Around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
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Russia, Ukraine Accuse Each Other of Shelling Around Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko
A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine August 22, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

Moscow and Kyiv traded fresh accusations on Saturday of shelling around the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which has been a focus of international concern that fighting in the area could trigger a disaster.

Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest nuclear power plant, has been controlled by Russian forces since early March. Ukrainian staff continue to operate it and in recent weeks the two sides have traded blame for shelling near the plant.

Ukraine's state nuclear company Energoatom energy agency said Russian troops again shelled the grounds of the plant complex in the last 24 hours, Reuters reported

"The damage is currently being ascertained," Energoatom wrote in a statement on Telegram.

Moscow's defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the plant complex three times in the last 24 hours. Reuters could not verify the battlefield report.

"A total of 17 shells were fired, four of which hit the roof of Special Building No. 1, where 168 assemblies of US WestingHouse nuclear fuel are stored," the Russian defense ministry said in a statement.

It said 10 shells exploded near a dry storage facility for spent nuclear fuel and three more near a building that houses fresh nuclear fuel storage. It said the radiation situation at the plant remained normal.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said on Friday the situation at Zaporizhzhia remained "very risky" after two of its six reactors were reconnected to the grid following shelling that caused the nuclear plant to be disconnected for the first time in its history.

Energoatom said on Friday evening that both of the plant's two functioning reactors had been reconnected to the grid and were again supplying electricity after they were fully disconnected on Thursday.

The Russian ministry, in its daily briefing, also said it had destroyed a large ammunition depot in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk region that had contained US-made HIMARS rocket systems and shells for M777 Howitzers.

The Russian Air Force shot down a MiG-29 aircraft in the eastern Donetsk region, the ministry said, and destroyed another six missile and artillery weapons depots in the Donetsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions.

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World

China Urges US to Handle Taiwan Issue ‘with Utmost Caution’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, on February 12, 2026. (AFP/Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, on February 12, 2026. (AFP/Getty Images)
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China Urges US to Handle Taiwan Issue ‘with Utmost Caution’

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, on February 12, 2026. (AFP/Getty Images)
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio (L) shakes hands with China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi in Munich, on February 12, 2026. (AFP/Getty Images)

Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi urged the US to handle matters related to Taiwan with "the utmost caution", during a phone call with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday, Wang's ministry said on Wednesday.

"A slight move on the Taiwan issue could affect the whole situation," Wang said, adding that ‌China and ‌the US should work to manage ‌all ⁠kinds of risks, ⁠according to an official Chinese summary of the phone conversation.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The call followed a mid-May summit between Chinese President Xi ⁠Jinping and US President Donald ‌Trump in Beijing, ‌where Xi told Trump that mishandling the countries' ‌disagreements over Taiwan could push China-US relations ‌into an "extremely dangerous place".

Beijing claims the democratically governed island as its own territory and refuses to rule out military force to gain ‌control of it. Taipei rejects Beijing's claims, and the United States ⁠is bound ⁠by law to provide Taipei with the means to defend itself.

Wang said the US and China should work to build a "constructive, strategically stable relationship".

"Both sides should eliminate disruptions, overcome obstacles, and continue firmly along this correct direction," Wang said.

The Chinese foreign ministry said Wang and Rubio agreed to "continue maintaining communication in a flexible manner".

World

‘Thought They’d Never Be Caught’: The Strike That Killed Iran’s Ali Khamenei

An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a large-scale poster of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei displayed along a highway, in Tehran, Iran, 01 July 2026. (Reuters)
An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a large-scale poster of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei displayed along a highway, in Tehran, Iran, 01 July 2026. (Reuters)
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‘Thought They’d Never Be Caught’: The Strike That Killed Iran’s Ali Khamenei

An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a large-scale poster of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei displayed along a highway, in Tehran, Iran, 01 July 2026. (Reuters)
An Iranian man rides a motorbike past a large-scale poster of late Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei displayed along a highway, in Tehran, Iran, 01 July 2026. (Reuters)

On Saturday, February 28, Tehran residents were embarking on the working week during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, nervously anticipating celebrations for the Iranian New Year against the background of diplomatic efforts to stave off war with the US and Israel.

That morning, there was also activity around and inside the main government complex in Tehran just off Pasteur Street in the heart of the capital, which housed the residence and offices of then supreme leader Ali Khamenei.

The morning rush was rocked as several explosions shook the area, with smoke seen rising from around the government complex, known locally as the beit-e rahbari (house of the leader).

"The State of Israel has launched a preemptive strike against Iran," the Israeli defense ministry announced.

For hours, uncertainty surrounded the fate of the man aged 86 who had ruled Iran for more than three and a half decades and had maintained a position of zero compromise with the United States as well as crushing dissent.

"Khamenei, one of the most evil people in History, is dead," US President Donald Trump wrote that night on Truth Social, saying he "was unable to avoid our Intelligence and Highly Sophisticated Tracking Systems".

Iranian officials initially insisted that Khamenei had survived. But on the morning of March 1 a state television announcer, his voice breaking with emotion, declared that the leader had been martyred during the holy month of Ramadan.

- 'Path of sacrifice' -

The New York Times subsequently reported that the CIA had been tracking Khamenei for months and had learned that a meeting of top Iranian officials would take place that Saturday morning at the leadership compound, with the leader present.

The intelligence was passed to Israel and, two hours and five minutes after the Israeli jets took off, at around 9:40 am Tehran time, the long-range missiles struck the compound, it said.

The attack took place in broad daylight, which is highly unusual for such a strike.

"They thought they would never be caught, because we never bomb during breakfast. But we bombed," Trump said during the G7 summit in France last month.

Khamenei was not the only top official killed, with a whole echelon of senior figures wiped out including Revolutionary Guards chief Mohammad Pakpour, Khamenei's military advisor Ali Shamkhani and defense minister Aziz Nasirzadeh.

His family was also not spared with a daughter, daughter-in-law, son-in-law and infant granddaughter also killed.

While his son Mojtaba Khamenei, a key figure for years in his father's office, lost his wife Zahra Haddad-Adel, he survived albeit with wounds according to Iranian officials. One week later he was named the new supreme leader but has yet to be seen in public.

Ali Khamenei had always taken major security precautions. He never left Iran as supreme leader and his speeches were rarely carried live on television or announced in advance. During Israel's 12-day war against Iran in June 2025, he had reportedly retreated to a bunker.

But in an apparent act of defiance, he had never disappeared totally from public view and on February 17 gave his final public speech in the northern city of Tabriz, saying the US wanted to "devour" Iran.

He urged people to stay calm and go about their business "without any worries".

Observers were startled that, given the risks, Ali Khamenei was present in the very center of Tehran on February 28 rather than in hiding elsewhere in the vast country.

- 'You wouldn't believe' -

But the attack also further revealed the startling US and Israeli intelligence penetration of Iran, a strategic weakness exposed in the 2025 war when Israel killed a succession of key figures in targeted strikes.

According to the Financial Times, road-surveillance cameras in Tehran including around the leadership compound had been hacked years ago by Israel, enabling the identification of guards, their routines and movements.

Trump said at the G7 that satellite surveillance meant that "if somebody walks in and he has got a badge with his name on it... they can tell the name, they can give you the serial number".

"We can see things, you wouldn't believe the quality of the stuff that we have. That's why we have been so successful."

World

France Sets Presidential Election Dates

File photo: A person casts their vote at a polling station in the Magenta district during the first round of France's crunch legislative elections in Noumea in the first constituency of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on June 30, 2024. (AFP)
File photo: A person casts their vote at a polling station in the Magenta district during the first round of France's crunch legislative elections in Noumea in the first constituency of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on June 30, 2024. (AFP)
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France Sets Presidential Election Dates

File photo: A person casts their vote at a polling station in the Magenta district during the first round of France's crunch legislative elections in Noumea in the first constituency of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on June 30, 2024. (AFP)
File photo: A person casts their vote at a polling station in the Magenta district during the first round of France's crunch legislative elections in Noumea in the first constituency of the French Pacific territory of New Caledonia, on June 30, 2024. (AFP)

France will hold the first round of its next presidential election on April 18, 2027, with a run-off set ‌for May ‌2, the ‌government ⁠spokeswoman, Maud Bregeon, said ⁠on Wednesday following a cabinet meeting to officially approve the dates.

The race to ‌succeed ‌President Emmanuel Macron — ‌who cannot run ‌again after two terms — is shaping up as a ‌fragmented contest, with polls placing the ⁠far-right ⁠National Rally in a leading position, and a crowded field raising the prospect of a run-off dominated by political extremes, Reuters said.