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The Independent
28 minutes ago
- The Independent
Ukraine-Russia latest: Fire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant contained after explosions
A fire near Ukraine 's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant has been extinguished after Ukrainian shelling hit one of its auxiliary facilities, the Russian-installed administration of the site said on Saturday. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said its team at the plant heard explosions and saw smoke coming from a location about 1,200 metres from the perimeter. The plant's administration said on Telegram that one civilian was killed, but no plant staff or emergency workers were injured. The Zaporizhzhia facility, Europe's largest nuclear power station, is currently shut down but still needs power to keep its fuel cool. The Russia -installed management said radiation levels remained normal and that the situation was under control. Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv early on Sunday, the military administration of the Ukrainian capital said as witnesses heard a loud blast shaking the city soon after midnight. A Ukrainian drone attack also caused fire at an oil depot in the Russian city of Sochi, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said. Several homes also caught fire and a woman sustained a leg injury in Voronezh, the governor said. Ukraine's drone attack sparks fire at oil depot in Russia's Sochi, governor says More than 120 firefighters were trying to extinguish a fire at an oil depot in the Russian city of Sochi that was sparked by an Ukrainian drone attack, regional Governor Veniamin Kondratyev said early on Sunday on the Telegram messaging app. Rosaviatsia, Russia's civil aviation authority, said on Telegram that flights were halted at the city's airport to ensure air safety. Stuti Mishra3 August 2025 07:05 Zelensky praised for restoring independence of Ukraine's anti-graft investigators amid first major protests since Russian invasion Ukraine's European allies praised Volodymyr Zelensky's move to restore independence of Ukraine's anti-graft investigators and prosecutors, after having voiced concerns about the original stripping of the agencies' status. Top European officials had told Mr Zelensky that Ukraine was jeopardising its bid for European Union membership by curbing the powers of its anti-graft authorities. "It is important that anti-corruption institutions operate independently, and the law adopted on Thursday guarantees them every opportunity for a real fight against corruption," Mr Zelensky wrote on Saturday after meeting the heads of the agencies, who briefed him on the latest investigation. Stuti Mishra3 August 2025 06:30 Ukraine uncovers major corruption scheme in military drone procurement Ukraine's anti-corruption bodies said on Saturday they had uncovered a major graft scheme that procured military drones and signal jamming systems at inflated prices, two days after the agencies' independence was restored following major protests. The independence of Ukraine's anti-graft investigators and prosecutors, NABU and SAPO, was reinstated by parliament on Thursday after a move to take it away resulted in the country's biggest demonstrations since Russia's invasion in 2022. In a statement published by both agencies on social media, NABU and SAPO said they had caught a sitting lawmaker, two local officials and an unspecified number of national guard personnel taking bribes. None of them were identified in the statement. "The essence of the scheme was to conclude state contracts with supplier companies at deliberately inflated prices," it said, adding that the offenders had received kickbacks of up to 30 per cent of a contract's cost. Four people had been arrested. "There can only be zero tolerance for corruption, clear teamwork to expose corruption and, as a result, a just sentence," president Volodymyr Zelensky wrote on Telegram. Mr Zelensky, who has far-reaching wartime presidential powers and still enjoys broad approval among Ukrainians, was forced into a rare political about-face when his attempt to bring NABU and SAPO under the control of his prosecutor-general sparked the first nationwide protests of the war. He subsequently said that he had heard the people's anger, and submitted a bill restoring the agencies' former independence, which was voted through by parliament on Thursday. Stuti Mishra3 August 2025 05:55 Russia says it destroyed about 15 Ukrainian drones Russian air defence units destroyed about 15 Ukrainian drones over Voronezh, the governor, Alexander Gusev, wrote on the Telegram messaging app. The overnight attack resulted in several homes and utility buildings catching fire from falling drone debris and a woman was injured, the governor of the southern Russian region said on Sunday. "The threat of further drone attacks remains," Mr Gusev said in the post early on Sunday. Both sides deny targeting civilians in their strike in the war that Russia launched with a full-scale invasion on Ukraine in February 2022. Kyiv says that its attacks inside Russia are aimed at destroying infrastructure key to Moscow's war efforts and are in response to Russia's relentless strikes on Ukraine. The Russian defence ministry said that its units destroyed 41 drones just before midnight on Saturday over Russian regions bordering Ukraine and over the waters of the Black Sea. Stuti Mishra3 August 2025 05:22 Woman injured in Russia in Ukrainian attack A Ukrainian drone strike reportedly injured a woman and sparked multiple fires in Russia's southern Voronezh region, the local governor said today. Meanwhile, Russia launched a missile attack on Kyiv, according to the Ukrainian capital's military administration. Stuti Mishra3 August 2025 04:30 Russia launches new missile strike on Kyiv Russia fired a missile at Kyiv early today, the city's military administration said on Telegram. Reuters witnesses described a loud explosion that shook the capital shortly after midnight. The strike comes just days after Russia carried out its deadliest aerial assault on Kyiv this year, which left at least 31 people dead, including five children, and wounded more than 150. Maroosha Muzaffar3 August 2025 04:00 Putin not ready to seriously negotiate, says Lammy Vladimir Putin is not ready for serious negotiations on peace in Ukraine, UK foreign secretary David Lammy has said in an interview with The Guardian. "My sober assessment is that Putin is not ready to seriously negotiate,' Mr Lammy told the outlet. 'He still has maximalist and imperialist ambitions. The battle Ukraine has fought, with UK, European and American support, is immense.' The foreign secretary also spoke of his admiration of the Ukrainian people. "Even if the world left them behind, they'd still be waging a guerrilla war, such is their belief in their country. It's deeply inspiring,' he said. Alex Croft3 August 2025 03:00 Fire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant brought under control, Russian authorities say A fire that broke out near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant after Ukrainian shelling has been brought under control, the Russian-installed administration of the Russia-held plant in Ukraine said on Saturday. Russian forces seized the Zaporizhzhia plant in the first weeks of Russia's February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Both sides have accused each other of firing or taking other actions that could trigger a nuclear accident. The plant's administration said on Telegram that a civilian had been killed in the shelling, but that no plant employees or members of the emergency services had been injured. The station, Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, is not operating but still requires power to keep its nuclear fuel cool. The plant's Russia-installed management said radiation levels remained within normal levels and the situation was under control. 3 August 2025 02:01 Russia says its forces captured Oleksandro-Kalynove in eastern Ukraine Russia's defence ministry said Russian forces had captured the village of Oleksandro-Kalynove in Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region on Saturday The battlefield report was not immediately verified. Alex Croft3 August 2025 01:00 Atomic agency reports hearing explosions near Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Saturday that its team at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) heard explosions and saw smoke coming from a nearby location. The nuclear plant said one of its auxiliary facilities was attacked today, IAEA said in a statement. "The auxiliary facility is located 1,200 metres from the ZNPP's site perimeter and the IAEA team could still see smoke from that direction in the afternoon," the nuclear watchdog said. Alex Croft2 August 2025 23:59
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Five years in jail for giving people smugglers social media boost
Anyone caught promoting people smugglers' services in social media posts will face up to five years in jail under new offences announced by the Government. Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is to change the law to criminalise the creation of online content which promotes or offers services facilitating a breach of UK immigration law. The new offence, to be introduced through an amendment to Labour's borders bill, will cover small boat crossings, the creation of fake travel documents such as passports or visas, or promising the chance to work illegally in the UK. It will also become a crime to post online content that encourages someone to break UK immigration law in exchange for money. This would cover someone being paid by a people smuggler to post material on social media which promotes illegal journeys to the UK. It will also be punishable by up to five years in jail. The new offences come as the Home Office revealed around 80 per cent of small boat migrants told officials they used social media during their illegal journey to the UK, including to locate or communicate with an agent or facilitator associated with a people-smuggling gang. More than 25,400 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year in 432 small boats, up 50 per cent on last year's figure and the highest number since the first arrivals in 2018. Some 5,454 have made it in July alone in 80 boats. Ms Cooper said: 'Selling the false promise of a safe journey to the UK and a life in this country – whether on or offline – simply to make money, is nothing short of immoral. 'These criminals have no issue with leading migrants to life-threatening situations using brazen tactics on social media. We are determined to do everything we can to stop them – wherever they operate. 'We have to stay one step ahead of the ever-evolving tactics of people-smuggling gangs and this move, part of our plan for change to boost border security, will empower law enforcement to disable these tactics faster and more effectively, ensuring people face proper penalties.' The National Crime Agency (NCA) has smashed crime gangs using social media accounts to promote crossing, including a pair of men from Wales who ran an operation through Europe labelled ' Tripadvisor for people smugglers '. Dilshad Shamo, 41, and Ali Khdir, 40, brought about 100 migrants illegally to Europe each week over a period of two years and offered them bronze, silver, gold and platinum packages, depending on risk. They were convicted after pleading guilty to people-smuggling midway through their trial. A platinum package could get you a flight, whereas silver might land you a 'comfortable ride' in the back of a lorry. Migrants from the Middle East heading to Europe rated their journeys in videos filmed inside lorries, boats and even on planes. Investigators found the video reviews on the phones of the smugglers themselves, seemingly made as promotional material. Another network operated by Amanj Hasan Zada, a Preston-based smuggler later jailed for 17 years, also posted videos of migrants thanking him for helping them. Albanian gangs have used social media to promote £12,000 'package deals' to Britain, including accommodation and employment upon arrival. Since December 2021, the NCA has worked with social media companies to remove 22,000 posts promoting organised immigration crime. More than 8,000 were removed in 2024, a 40 per cent increase on the previous year. It follows measures introduced as part of the Online Safety Act under which social media companies have been required to prevent and remove adverts by people smugglers for small boat crossings of the Channel or face jail and multi-million pound fines under new laws. Under the Act, two current offences involving modern slavery or exploitation and aiding and abetting crossings have become 'priority' offences in the bill. This means social media firms have to proactively prevent the adverts from being posted and remove any that are put up. If they fail to do so, Ofcom, the watchdog, has powers to fine them up to 10 per cent of their global turnover, equivalent to £9.7 billion for Mark Zuckerberg's Meta, the owner of Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The watchdog Ofcom will also be able to block their services in the UK.
Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
What does it mean to be an ‘authentic conservative'? Three writers give their view
Kemi Badenoch has urged Conservative MPs to'take an authentically conservative position'. What does that mean? Paul Goodman recently wrote in our pages on how he interprets the phrase. We have now asked three more Conservative politicians (who also happen to be conservative thinkers) to write on how they interpret it. Bill Cash was Chair of the European Scrutiny Committee between 2010 and 2024 and Shadow Attorney General between 2001 and 2003; Jesse Norman is shadow Leader of the House and a biographer of Edmund Burke and Adam Smith; Neil O'Brien is shadow minister for policy renewal and development. Bill Cash: it is about affirming our democratic sovereignty The Conservative Party's authenticity comes from values and principles that serve the national interest. This has been the case since Edmund Burke. Reform, with their misleading claims and no solutions, has gained some traction on us. But all is not lost. Our beliefs have sustained us for 250 years: when Robert Peel resigned in the national interest because his party in Parliament would not repeal the Corn Laws, his nemesis Benjamin Disraeli ultimately agreed and stated: 'The Tory Party is a national party or it is nothing.' Disraeli then came to accept John Bright's campaign and a successful extension of the franchise for modern democracy in 1867. Winston Churchill preferred 'country first, constituency second, party third.' Margaret Thatcher in 1975 replaced Heath and, later, at the Bruges speech in 1988, paved the way for our restoration of democratic self-government on the European issue. This was despite opposition from within her Cabinet. Boris Johnson ensured Brexit and removed the whip from 27 Remainers in the Party in 2019 who sided with Labour. Authentic Conservatism thus includes rejecting subjugation to European Union laws and jurisdiction, and promotes the Brexit freedoms by self-government and prosperity through small businesses and deregulation, lower taxation, property ownership and inheritance, family values, free speech, proportional fairness not wokery, defence with Nato and the full restoration of the Union itself, including Northern Ireland and border control. It includes overcoming the catastrophes of net and illegal migration. This means leaving the ECHR, with clear and unambiguous Acts of Parliament to override international law on the Supreme Court's own principle of legality. The Conservative Party must now decisively insist on being united in getting this principle right and repudiating Keir Starmer's EU/UK reset with its dynamic alignment which undermines the authentic Conservative insistence on democratic sovereignty. Jesse Norman: it is about practical solutions that serve Britain Conservatism in Britain has never been a slogan or a cult of personality. It is a tradition arising from our history, our Parliament and our constitution. At its best, conservatism distrusts ideology and its easy certainties, let alone the rootless and corrosive flattery of populism. Real conservatism is practical. It knows that our liberties and prosperity come from hard work, and the long grind of political reform. It respects the grain of this country: our armed forces, schools and, yes, universities; the Church, the charities and local councils that knit communities together. It insists that the Government should help people to take responsibility for their lives, not grab powers to itself. As a political party, the Conservatives have been repeatedly attacked for their record after 2010. But in many places the story is a notable one and worthy of robust defence: the long, slow recovery from the global financial crisis to which Labour had left this country so exposed; massively effective schools reform; the gradual introduction of universal credit, which performed brilliantly during the pandemic; our immediate and resolute support for Ukraine after it was invaded by Russia in 2022. Why did these initiatives succeed? Because they were inspired by core conservative principles of fiscal prudence, the desire to reform public services and the defence of Europe. But Conservatives should also accept that some decisions after 2010 were not conservative. Interventions in Libya and Syria were marked more by speed than prudence. Major projects such as HS2 were launched without the care and scrutiny they demanded. Net zero was agreed after one short Commons debate. Inadequate steps were taken to curb legal and illegal migration. A succession of referendums unsettled our constitutional balance and exposed deep national divisions. The lesson is clear. Conservatism works when it is steady, serious, and focused on practical solutions that reflect its core belief in preserving what is best in British society. Neil O'Brien: it is about accountability Conservatives believe in accountability. Since the Blair era we have seen far too much power handed to law courts, quangos and international bodies that aren't accountable to the British public. Power without accountability means bad decisions. This has created a topsy-turvy, two-tier Britain: the rights of prolific criminals, illegal immigrants and benefit claimants are prioritised over the rights of the law-abiding and hard-working. Rule by lawyers also explains why we can't cut welfare spending or build the infrastructure we need to grow. We also believe in order. The first duty of the Government is to keep citizens safe. That means a return to no-nonsense policing. We should be focused on catching criminals, not policing what people say or think. And it means ending endless community sentences and slaps on the wrist for serious crimes. Conservatives know that a disorderly environment breeds anti-social behaviour and crime. Yet under Labour our capital stinks of weed, tube trains are covered in graffiti and petty crimes like fare dodging are becoming normalised. Conservatives believe in the nation. We took back control from the EU. We must now drastically cut immigration. As Kemi Badenoch says: the country must be 'a home, not a hotel'. We can't have a strong, united nation with a transient and constantly churning population. We also believe in the family and individual responsibility. Fairness means people getting what they deserve based on their individual actions and merits. People should be able to build something up – a family home, a farm, a business, some savings – without it being plundered by the Government. It means welfare for those who really need it, not a system that costs taxpayers ever more and traps people in a cycle of dependency. And conservatives believe in free markets. Under Labour we are in an economic doom loop. Higher taxation and more regulation lead to stagnation. Higher borrowing sends the Chancellor scrambling for yet higher taxes. Massive changes are needed to break out of this spiral, and make Britain a good place to grow a business. We believe in sound money: unlike others, we will not make fantasy promises that can never be delivered.
