A Russian energy giant is building two new nuclear power plants in Hungary. Russian President Putin issued a decree increasing the number of Russian armed forces. New details emerge in the Dugina murder case. All voices and developments on the Ukraine war here in the ticker.
Saturday, August 27, 8:46 a.m.: According to the Hungarian government, the Russian energy company Rosatom will start building two new nuclear reactors in the country in the coming weeks. “This is a big step, an important milestone,” said Hungary’s Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto on Friday on the online network Facebook. The project is largely financed by a loan from Russia.
On Thursday, the responsible Hungarian regulatory authority gave its approval to the new building, which would cost the equivalent of 12.5 billion euros. A start of operation of the new kiln in 2023 is “realistic”, said Szijarto. “We can now move from the planning phase to construction.”
The construction activity will be visible in the coming weeks at the site of the new reactors – the nuclear power plant in Paks, 100 kilometers south of Budapest, which has been in operation since the 1980s. The Akw Paks currently supplies about 40 percent of Hungary’s electricity needs.
The contract to build the two new reactors between Hungary and Rosatom was signed in 2014.
10:04 p.m .: The second power plant unit from Zaporizhia was reconnected to the Ukrainian power grid. The operator of the nuclear power plant reported this on Telegram. Capacity is currently being ramped up. Before that, the first of the units that had been switched off yesterday had gone back on line at noon. According to the operator, the nuclear power plant was completely disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid on Thursday due to fires in ash pits.
7:27 p.m .: The French energy company TotalEnergies has announced the sale of shares in a gas field in Russia, which, according to a media report, is used to produce fuel for Russian fighter jets. The company said it signed a deal with its Russian partner Nowatek on Friday to sell its stake on terms that would allow TotalEnergies to “recoup its investment in the field.”
Nowatek confirmed that it now holds 100 percent of the gas field operating company. TotalEnergies (formerly Total) previously owned 49 percent of Terneftegaz, which produces natural gas from the Termokarstovoye field in Siberia. Totalenergies also has a stake in Nowatek itself: it still holds 19.4 percent of the shares.
The newspaper “Le Monde” reported on Wednesday, citing data from the non-governmental organization (NGO) Global Witness, that gas condensate had been delivered from Termokarstvoye to a refinery near the Siberian city of Omsk. For the first time since 2017, “hundreds of fuel deliveries” were made from there to air bases near the Ukrainian border in the past few months and up until at least July. Citing figures from the financial data service provider Refinitiv, “Le Monde” wrote that there were a total of 42,700 tons of aviation kerosene for the bases in Morosovsk and Voronezh, enough for 3,400 tank fillings for Sukhoi Su-34 fighter jets.
TotalEnergies had denied the research and threatened legal action because of the article, which contained “mistakes, abbreviations and untruths”. “No, TotalEnergies does not produce kerosene for the Russian army,” TotalEnergies said on Twitter on Wednesday after the report was published.
4:27 p.m .: There are fears on the market that the gas flow from Russia, which has already been severely restricted, could stop completely if delivery does not resume after the break. Russia says it wants to meet its delivery commitments. Russian energy giant Gazprom does not confirm that unsold gas is flared. The state-owned company announced on Friday that storage facilities in Russia would be actively replenished for autumn and winter. They are 91.4 percent full.
3:53 p.m .: After an unprecedented emergency shutdown, the Russian-occupied southern Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia is back on the grid, according to information from Kyiv. “Today at 2:04 p.m. (1:04 p.m. CEST) one of the blocks of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant that was stopped yesterday was connected to the power grid,” state power plant operator Enerhoatom said on Friday in the Telegram news service. The reactor will now be brought to full power.
The day before, the head of the Russian occupation authorities in the Zaporizhia region, Yevgeny Balizki, appointed by Moscow, had announced the reconnection. The power supply to the occupied part of southern Ukraine has also been restored, it said.
Two reactors that were still in operation at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant were affected by the emergency shutdown. According to both sides, the reason was a damaged high-voltage line to the power plant. Ukraine cited Russian artillery shelling as the cause. The local occupation authorities, on the other hand, spoke of a fire as the cause of a short circuit. They did not say what caused the fire.
The nuclear power plant was captured by Moscow’s troops in early March, shortly after the start of the Russian invasion. For several weeks, incidents around the power plant, some of which can be attributed to shelling, have increased fears of a nuclear catastrophe. Enerhoatom had repeatedly accused the Russian occupiers of preparing to connect the occupied areas to the Russian power grid. The shelling of high-voltage lines was a diversionary tactic to first cut off the electricity in the occupied areas and then gradually synchronize them with the Russian grid, it said.
2:00 p.m .: Is the sanctions front against Russia threatening to crumble? According to a report by Reuters, The Hague announced that it would ask for a temporary lifting of EU sanctions. It is difficult to find a replacement for the contract with the Russian gas supplier Gazprom in time.
Sanctions imposed by the European Union on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine are urging governments and other public bodies to end existing contracts with Russian companies by October 10.
The Hague carried out an EU-wide tender in June and July, but was unable to obtain any offers from potential suppliers. “We will ask for an exception to our current agreement by January 1, 2023 to ensure security of supply and to facilitate negotiations,” said Alderman Saskia Bruines.
She also added that any new contract due to come into effect on January 1 would be significantly more expensive than the city’s current agreement with Gazprom. A spokesman for the European Commission was initially unable to comment on the report. The Hague is one of many Dutch municipalities to have an energy deal with Gazprom, but is the first to say it will seek an exemption from the sanctions.
Friday, August 26, 4:06 a.m.: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for increased international pressure on Russia to clear the occupied Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. He referred to the emergency shutdown of two reactors on Thursday due to two power failures.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and other international organizations would have to act much faster than before, said Zelenskyj in his video address in Kyiv in the evening. “Every minute that the Russian military stays in the nuclear power plant means the risk of a global radiation catastrophe.”
The IAEA in Vienna, citing information from Kiev, announced that the safety system had shut down two running reactors. The nuclear power plant was further supplied via the power line of a nearby thermal power plant. It is now reconnected to the Ukrainian power grid. According to Ukrainian information, all six reactors are currently idle, it said. The Russian occupation administration, on the other hand, had announced that a reactor block had been started up again.
IAEA Director Rafael Grossi confirmed his willingness to go to Zaporizhia with experts within a few days. The situation in and at the largest nuclear power plant in Europe has been opaque for weeks. Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of shelling the nuclear power plant. The UK Ministry of Defense released satellite photos purportedly showing Russian military trucks next to a reactor. Last week, unverified video also showed military vehicles in one of the large machine shops.
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