Russia-Ukraine War Live Updates: Kyiv region starts shutting down power supplies after consumption spike

The railways have played a major role since Russia invaded its neighbour on Feb. 24. Millions of Ukrainians fled west by train into Poland and beyond. Trains are also supplying the frontlines. The railway in September set a new record for the transportation of goods since the start of the war, said Valeriy Tkachev, deputy director of the commercial department at Ukrainian Railways.

Authorities in the Kyiv region on Wednesday started emergency shutdowns of the power generating system after a spike in consumption, the Kyiv regional administration said.The administration said in a statement that the move was necessary to "avoid major accidents with power equipment". Russian drone and missile attacks have badly damaged the electricity grid in and around the capital.

High-level Russian military leaders recently discussed when and how they might use tactical nuclear weapons on the battlefield in Ukraine, the New York Times reported Wednesday citing unnamed US officials.Russian President Vladimir Putin did not take part in the discussions, and there was no indication that the Russian military had decided to deploy the weapons, which would sharply escalate the war, the Times said.

The cost of Russia's military mobilisation and the impact of Western sanctions are set to blow a hole in the government's budget forecasts and drain Moscow's reserves to their lowest level in years, according to analysts' latest calculations. While Russia's economy initially held up relatively well to the waves of Western sanctions imposed on it, the impact is beginning to show - in analysts' assessments, if not in those of the government."The macroeconomic forecast, upon which the budget is based, was calculated before mobilisation," said Alexandra Suslina, an independent analyst. "It does not take into account new sanctions, and therefore is not reflecting reality."

We demanded Ukraine gives guarantees it would not repeat attacks in Black Sea, Putin said

Russia said on Wednesday that it is fully committed to preventing nuclear war and that avoiding a nuclear clash between the world's nuclear powers is its first priority."We fully reaffirm our commitment to the joint statement of the five nuclear-weapon states leaders on the prevention of nuclear war and the avoidance of an arms race from Jan. 3, 2022," the foreign ministry said in a statement.Russia, the United States, China, Britain and France issued a joint statement in January affirming their responsibility in avoiding a nuclear war.

Switzerland has decided to adopt the European Union's sanctions on delivering Iranian drones to Russia, the government said in a statement on Wednesday.However, the economic affairs and foreign affairs departments decided not to adopt EU sanctions imposed on Iran in connection with the current protests, it added.

Moscow will "in the near future" summon the British ambassador to hand over "evidence" of its claim that the UK helped orchestrate an attack on the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Crimea, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.Russia has claimed UK "specialists" helped Kyiv launch a drone attack on the fleet in Moscow-annexed Crimea at the weekend.Russia has also accused London of being behind September explosions on the Nord Stream gas pipelines.Russian authorities have so far provided no proof to back up their claims.

"He has been weakened by this really catastrophic error," said the Western official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. We are seeing the Russian military humbled on the battlefield by Ukraine. People can see that he has made a big error. That has to mean that people are talking more about succession, they are talking more about what comes next, they are imagining a life beyond. But what I am not doing is suggesting that that's anytime soon," he said.

Russia’s defense minister has told his Turkish counterpart that Moscow has agreed to return to a Turkish and UN brokered deal that allowed the shipment of millions of tons Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, Turkey’s president says. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Russian defense minister Sergei Shoigu called Turkey’s Hulusi Akar and informed him that the grain corridor agreement would “continue in the same way as before” as of Wednesday.

The world must respond firmly to any Russian attempts to disrupt Ukraine's grain export corridor, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, as more ships were loading despite Moscow suspending its participation in a UN-brokered deal. One of the global consequences of Russia's war on its neighbour has been food shortages and a cost of living crisis in many countries, and a deal brokered by the United Nations and Turkey on July 22 had provided safe passage for vessels carrying grain and other fertiliser exports.

Authorities in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv are preparing more than 1,000 heating points throughout the city in case its district heating system is disabled by continued Russian attacks, mayor Vitali Klitschko said on Wednesday. Missile and drone attacks have damaged 40% of Ukraine's energy infrastructure and have already briefly left large parts of Kyiv without power and water, prompting power rationing. On Wednesday, Klitschko wrote on messaging app Telegram that city authorities were considering different scenarios due to missile attacks.

With Russian artillery exploding around him, a Ukrainian soldier takes shelter in a tunnel and recounts the scene at the front line in Bakhmut, just a kilometre away. "It's horror over there. The ground is black like asphalt. Everything is destroyed," 38-year-old serviceman Yevgen told AFP. "There are bodies everywhere". The eastern Ukraine town, known for its salt mines and vineyards, has been under attack for months by Russian forces, who are mostly on the defensive in other regions across Ukraine. A driving force behind the offensive is the Wagner mercenary group, say war observers and Ukraine troops.