TOP HEADLINES

• Russia's Investigative Committee said four missiles had been fired by Ukrainian forces at the Chonhar road bridge connecting Crimea with Russian-held parts of Ukraine's Kherson region overnight. READ MORE BELOW

• Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says intelligence received information Russia is considering the scenario of "terrorist" attack in Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. "Intelligence has received information Russia is considering a terrorist act with the release of radiation," he said. "They have prepared everything for this."

• Ukraine's allegation that Russia is preparing to carry out a "terrorist" attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant is "another lie," the Kremlin said. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency had just visited the plant and rated everything highly.

• President  Zelenskyy says progress in Ukraine's counteroffensive against Russian forces was "slower than desired," but Kyiv would not be pressured into speeding it up. Russian President Vladimir Putin, said Moscow had observed a "lull" in Ukraine's counteroffensive, which began early this month.  

• Ukraine's Western allies promised to make Russia pay for its offensive, as governments and private investors met to fund the country's reconstruction from the ravages of war. The World Bank has put an estimate of $14 billion on Ukraine's immediate needs to repair the damage caused by the bitter fighting. 

• The EU agreed to add $3.8 billion to a fund used to pay for weapons for Ukraine, as the bloc looks to keep up support for Kyiv. 

• The chief of mercenary group Wagner accused Moscow's top brass of deceiving Russians about the course of Ukraine's offensive and pointed to Kyiv's progress on the battlefield. "Huge chunks have been handed over to the enemy," he said, adding that Ukrainian troops have already sought to cross the Dnipro River, a natural border on the frontline.

• Kyiv said the destruction of the Russian-held Kakhovka dam in southern Ukraine earlier this month caused an estimated $1.5 billion in damages to the environment. Kyiv has accused Moscow of "eco-cide" by blowing up the Soviet-era dam on the Dnipro River, while Russia has blamed Ukraine.

• Kyiv is "not optimistic" about the renewal of an agreement allowing grain from war-torn Ukraine to reach the global market, a senior Ukrainian government official said.

• Clearing the landmines in Ukraine will require an operation comparable to clearing Europe of explosive hazards after World War II, the United Nations said. The task will need up to $300 million per year over the next five years to clear those landmines causing the biggest drag on Ukraine's economy, said Paul Heslop, the head of UN mine action for the UN Development Programme in Ukraine.

• Russia sees no need to recruit more volunteers for what it calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.

IN DETAIL

Missiles hit bridge connecting Crimea with Ukraine's Kherson

Russia's Investigative Committee said four missiles had been fired by Ukrainian forces at the Chonhar road bridge connecting Crimea with Russian-held parts of Ukraine's Kherson region overnight, the RIA news agency reported on Thursday.

"During the night a strike hit the Chonhar bridge. There are no victims," Sergei Aksyonov, the Russia-installed governor of Crimea, said on Telegram. 

The so-called "gate to Crimea" is one of a handful of links between Crimea – which Moscow seized and absorbed from Ukraine in 2014 – and mainland Ukraine.

The Russia-installed governor of Kherson, Vladimir Saldo, said that Ukrainian strikes had hit "bridges" near Chonhar, next to photos of what appeared to be gaping holes on a bridge. 

The strike came as Ukraine wages a counteroffensive to recapture territory occupied by Russian forces. Crimea has been regularly targeted by strikes, mostly using drones, over recent months.

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