Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov has noted that Russia’s military presence at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is a guarantee against what he called a “Chernobyl scenario”, referring to the 1986 nuclear catastrophe.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Ivan Nechaev stated on Thursday that a UN proposal to demilitarise the area around the nuclear plant was “unacceptable”.

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, Europe’s largest, was occupied by Russia in March. It remains near the front line and has repeatedly come under fire in recent weeks, raising fears of a nuclear disaster. Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of shelling the facility.

A total of 17 people have been killed and 42 were injured in two separate Russian attacks on the major northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv, according to the regional governor.

Three civilians were killed and 17 wounded in a pre-dawn rocket strike, the local emergency service said. That followed a Russian attack on Kharkiv, in which the emergency service initially said 12 people were killed.

Governor Oleh Synehubov stated more bodies had been discovered as rescuers picked their way through destroyed houses.

“As of now, 17 people have died in Kharkiv … and 42 people have been injured,” he wrote on Telegram, describing the attacks as “an act of terrorism”.

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on Thursday for the demilitarisation of the vast nuclear power plant held by Russia in southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, and said he was gravely concerned by the situation in and around it.

Guterres, speaking to reporters after talks in the western Ukrainian city of Lviv, said that military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant and called for efforts to ensure it is not the target of military operations.

“The facility must not be used as part of any military operation. Instead, agreement is urgently needed to reestablish Zaporizhzhia’s purely civilian infrastructure and to ensure the safety of the area,” he added.

US says it is “aware of reports” Russians have “abused and coerced” Zaporizhzhia plant staff

The US State Department announced they are “aware of reports that Russian personnel have abused and coerced” staff at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, calling Russia’s actions “reckless.”

“We applaud the Ukrainian authorities and operators for their commitment to nuclear safety and security under the most trying of circumstances. The United States condemns in the strongest terms Russia’s reckless disregard for nuclear safety and security,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price.

Price added the International Atomic Energy Agency must be allowed access to the plant “to help ensure the safety and security of the plant and monitoring of its nuclear material.”

Food markets starting to stabilize after agreement to unblock Black Sea ports: UN head

After meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said there were signs that global food markets were beginning to stabilize in the wake of the agreement to provide safe passage for merchant ships from Ukrainian Black Sea ports.

“As we speak, more than 560,000 metric tons of grain and other food produced by Ukrainian farmers is making its way to markets around the world,” he noted, according to remarks from his office.

Ministers from Ukraine and Russia signed an agreement to unblock Ukrainian Black Sea ports, which was brokered by the UN and Turkey in Istanbul on July 22.

Guterres stated that wheat prices dropped by as much as 8% following the signing of the agreement, and “the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) Food Price Index fell by 9% in July – the biggest decline since 2008.”

But he warned that supply chains are still disrupted and energy and transportation costs high.

He added it was “vital to help reverse the turmoil in the global fertilizer market that is now threatening next season’s crops – including rice, the most widely consumed staple in the world.”

After meeting with Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Zelensky told the news conference that he was surprised by suggestions from Erdogan that the grain deal might open a window to broader negotiations on ending the conflict.

“I told President Erdogan that I have no faith in the Russian Federation,” Zelensky said.

“The people who are killing, raping, dropping rockets on our civilian infrastructures every day cannot want peace, so they have to free our territories first,” he added.

UN chief calls for “safe, secure and unfettered access” to detention center where 150 POWs died

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres discussed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the UN’s efforts to establish a fact-finding mission into the attack that killed more than 150 Ukrainian prisoners of war at Olenivka late in July.

He said the terms of reference for such a mission had been shared with Ukraine and Russia, and he had appointed a Brazilian general with long experience of peacekeeping operations, Carlos dos Santos Cruz, to lead the mission.

The Russian defense ministry announced immediately after the attack that it was inviting the UN and International Committee of the Red Cross to visit the site, but the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) later said its requests had gone unanswered.

Each side has accused the other of being behind the attack.

In remarks distributed by his office, Guterres stated the UN “will now continue to work to obtain the necessary assurances to guarantee secure access to the site and any other relevant locations.”

“The team must be able to gather and analyze necessary information. Above all, that means safe, secure and unfettered access to people, places and evidence without any interference from any party,” he added.