Ukrainian deputy energy minister arrested on corruption charges : fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plan

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russia started a fire at the nuclear power plant. Moscow said the site had been hit by a Ukrainian drone. DW has the latest.

After a fire broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, under Russian occupation, both sides have pointed the finger at each other.

Russia’s nuclear energy company Rosatom said the fire had been extinguished.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has demanded immediate access to assess the damage, while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called for Russia to be held accountable.

Here are the latest headlines from Russia’s war in Ukraine on Monday, August 12:

Berlin was not informed of Kursk operation, spokesperson says

The German government appeared to be unaware of the details of Ukraine’s recent incursion into the Russian region of Kursk, according to comments from a government spokesperson.

“There is contradictory and sometimes intentionally falsified information about the operation that was prepared apparently in great secrecy,” Wolfgang Büchner said from Berlin.

“So far it looks like a spatially limited deployment.”

The government spokesperson said that the military situation was still in flux “so it would be unclever now to comment publicly on this basis.”

He also refused to comment on the reports that German weapons had been used in the recent operation inside of Russia.

Ukrainian deputy energy minister arrested on corruption charges

The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said law enforcement officers had detained one of the four deputy energy ministers following an investigation into corruption.

The minister, along with several others, was suspected of having organized a plan to smuggle out mining equipment from a state-owned company located in a combat zone in Donetsk.

The group had demanded a bribe of $500,000 (€458,000) to allow the removal of the equipment to go ahead, according to the prosecutors.

They were detained while allegedly receiving a tranche of $100,000.