TOP HEADLINES

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia of nuclear "blackmail" and using the plant to "intimidate people in an extremely cynical way." He said, "They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world even more." 

• Meanwhile, pro-Moscow officials in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia blamed the shelling on Ukrainian forces. "Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are again under fire by (Ukrainian President Volodymyr) Zelenskyy's militants," said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed administration.

• Ukraine is targeting Russian soldiers who shoot at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest nuclear power station, or use it as a base to shoot from. "Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our army," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address. READ MORE BELOW

• Russia's priority over the past week has likely been to reorient units to strengthen its campaign in southern Ukraine, British military intelligence said.

• Hungary said Russia has started delivering additional gas to the EU member following a July visit to Moscow by its foreign minister. Hungary's Foreign Ministry said trade negotiations with Moscow "led to an agreement," resulting in Russia's Gazprom starting to deliver "above the already contracted quantities."

• The first ship to depart Ukraine under a U.N.-brokered deal was approaching the Syrian port of Tartous on Sunday, two shipping sources told Reuters news agency. The Razoni set sail from Ukraine's Odesa port on August 1, under the deal between Russia and Ukraine, brokered by the United Nations and Turkey. The cargo had been headed for Lebanon, but the Ukrainian embassy said the original buyer refused delivery of the 26,000 tonnes of corn and the ship then sailed to Turkey.

• Two more ships left from Ukraine's Black Sea ports on Saturday, Turkey's defense ministry said, bringing the total number of ships to depart the country under a U.N.-brokered deal to 16.

• Any possible seizure of Russian assets by the United States will completely destroy Moscow's bilateral relations with Washington, TASS quoted the head of the North American Department at the Russian foreign ministry as saying. Russia has also told the U.S. that diplomatic ties would be badly damaged and even could be broken off if Russia is declared a "state sponsor of terrorism" by the U.S., TASS cited a top foreign ministry official as saying.

IN DETAIL

'Every Russian soldier who shoots at the plant becomes a special target'

Ukraine is targeting Russian soldiers who shoot at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe's largest nuclear power station, or use it as a base to shoot from.

Ukraine and Russia have traded accusations over multiple incidents of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia facility in southern Ukraine. Russian troops captured the station early in the conflict.

"Every Russian soldier who either shoots at the plant, or shoots using the plant as cover, must understand that he becomes a special target for our intelligence agents, for our special services, for our army," President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in an evening address.

Zelenskyy, who did not give any details, repeated claims that Russia was using the plant as 'nuclear blackmail.'

The plant dominates the south bank of a vast reservoir on the Dnipro river. Ukrainian forces controlling the towns and cities on the opposite bank have come under intense bombardment from the Russian-held side. 

Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak accused Russia of "hitting the part of the nuclear power plant where the energy that powers the south of Ukraine is generated".

"The goal is to disconnect us from the (plant) and blame the Ukrainian army for this," Podolyak wrote on Twitter.

The International Atomic Energy Agency, which is seeking to inspect the plant, has warned of a nuclear disaster unless fighting stops. Nuclear experts fear fighting might damage the plant's spent fuel pools or the reactors.

UN Chief Antonio Guterres has called for the establishment of a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia facility, which is still being run by Ukrainian technicians.