Russia-Ukraine war live news: Russia likely threatening to shoot retreating soldiers, says UK defence ministry

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the Ukrainian president, hailed the UN nuclear watchdog’s conclusion, calling it “quite obvious” in his latest national address.

We have invited the IAEA to check, we have given them full freedom of action at the relevant facilities, and we have clear and irrefutable evidence that no one in Ukraine has created or is creating any dirty bombs,” he said.

The only thing that is dirty in our region now is the heads of those in Moscow who, unfortunately, seized control of the Russian state and are terrorising Ukraine and the whole world.”

The UN nuclear watchdog has confirmed it found no sign of undeclared nuclear activity after inspecting three sites at Ukraine’s request in response to Russian allegations that work was being done on a “dirty bomb”.

Moscow has accused Ukraine of planning to use such a bomb – a conventional explosive device laced with radioactive material – and said institutes linked to the nuclear industry were involved in preparations, without presenting evidence. Ukraine’s government denies the accusation.

In a statement released late on Thursday, the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency said:

Over the past few days, the inspectors were able to carry out all activities that the IAEA had planned to conduct and were given unfettered access to the locations.

Based on the evaluation of the results available to date and the information provided by Ukraine, the agency did not find any indications of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at the locations.”

The IAEA said in October it would inspect two locations in Ukraine after a request by Kyiv. On Monday, it said those inspections had begun and on Thursday it said they had been completed at three locations rather than two, all of which had been mentioned by Russia.

The IAEA named the locations as the Institute for Nuclear Research in Kyiv, Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in Zhovti Kody, and Production Association Pivdennyi Machine-Building Plant in Dnipro.

Due to low morale and reluctance to fight, Russian forces have probably started deploying units threatening to shoot their own retreating soldiers, according to the UK Ministry of Defence.

An intelligence report released early this morning described these Russian units as “barrier troops” or “blocking units” used to compel offensives. The report reads:

Recently, Russian generals likely wanted their commanders to use weapons against deserters, including possibly authorising shooting to kill such defaulters after a warning had been given. Generals also likely wanted to maintain defensive positions to the death.

The tactic of shooting deserters likely attests to the low quality, low morale and indiscipline of Russian forces.”

Russian attacks in the past few weeks on Ukrainian energy and water supplies have hit civilians hard as winter approaches.

As of Thursday night, 4.5 million Ukrainians in the capital, Kyiv, and 10 other regions were temporarily without power, the latest outages caused by Russian attacks, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address.

Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy sector and energy facilities “do not stop for a single day”, Zelenskiy said.

There is damage to energy facilities in different areas across the country – this is the volume of electricity generation and transportation for millions of people.

Only as of this evening, about 4.5 million consumers have been temporarily disconnected from consumption under emergency and stabilisation schedules.”

Zelenskiy said that to “endure Russian energy terror” is Ukraine’s “national task”.

The very fact that Russia resorted to terror against the energy industry shows the weakness of the enemy. They cannot defeat Ukraine on the battlefield, and that is why they are trying to break our people in this way – to humiliate Ukrainians, to strike at the morale of our people, at the resistance of our people. I believe that Russia will not succeed.”

Temperatures can fall far below freezing in winter, now just weeks away.

In Ukraine’s southern Kherson region, a Russian-installed occupation official said Moscow was likely to pull its troops from the west bank of the Dnieper River, signalling a huge retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war.

“Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left [eastern] bank,” said Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, in an interview with Solovyov Live, a pro-Kremlin online media outlet.

Previously, Russia had denied its forces were planning to withdraw from the area.

Ukraine said it was wary that Moscow could be setting a trap by feigning a pullout from the Kherson region and maintained its forces were still fighting in the area.

Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, said it could be a Russian trap.

This could be a manifestation of a particular provocation, in order to create the impression that the settlements are abandoned, that it is safe to enter them, while they are preparing for street battles,” she said in televised comments.

We continue fighting, also in the Kherson direction, despite the fact that the enemy is trying to convince us that they are leaving the settlements and creating the effect of a total evacuation.”

US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, said he believes that Ukrainian forces are able to retake Kherson, calling their work “methodical” and “effective”.

In remarks made during a conference on Thursday with South Korea’s defence minister Lee Jong-sup, Austin said:

On the issue of whether or not the Ukrainians can take the remaining territory on the west side of the Dnieper River in Kherson, I certainly believe that they have the capability to do that. Most importantly, the Ukrainians believe that they have the capability to do that.

We’ve seen them engage in a very methodical but effective effort to take back their sovereign territory. I think you’ll see them continue to press until they secure the territory on the west side of the river. So to answer your question, I do think they have the capability.”

A western official, speaking to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said some Russian military commanders had rebased across the river to the east.

We would assess that in Kherson, it’s likely that most echelons of command have withdrawn now across the river to the east, leaving pretty demoralised and often in some cases leaderless troops to face off Ukrainians on the other side,” the official said.

Russia has fought for months to hang on to the pocket of land it holds on the west bank at the mouth of the Dnipro River that bisects Ukraine.

Ukraine has attacked the main river crossings for months, making it difficult for Russia to supply its force on the west bank. Ukrainian troops have been advancing along the river since the start of October, although their advance slowed in recent days.

However, battlefield reports are conflicting.

Ukrainian troops on the front line last week, visited by Reuters, said they saw no evidence Russian forces were withdrawing and believed they were in fact reinforcing.

Michael Kofman, a US expert on the Russian military who has just returned from the Ukrainian side of the Kherson front, said Moscow’s intentions were unclear.

“The situation in Kherson is clear as mud,” tweeted Kofman, director of Russia studies at the Centre for Naval Analyses.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s live coverage of the war in Ukraine. I’m Samantha Lock and I’ll be bringing you all the latest developments as they unfold over the next few hours.

US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, said he believes that Ukrainian forces are able to retake Kherson, calling their work “methodical” and “effective”.

As of Thursday night, 4.5 million Ukrainians in the capital Kyiv and ten other regions were temporarily without power, the latest outages caused by Russian attacks, president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address.

If you have an update or any feedback to share, please feel free to get in touch via email or Twitter.

If you have just joined us, here are all the latest developments:

• The UN nuclear watchdog said it had found no sign of undeclared nuclear activity at three sites in Ukraine that it inspected at Kyiv’s request, in response to Russian allegations that work was being done on a “dirty bomb”. “Our technical and scientific evaluation of the results we have so far did not show any sign of undeclared nuclear activities and materials at these three locations,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement, adding that environmental samples taken would be analysed.

• In southern Ukraine, a Russian-installed occupation official said Moscow was likely to pull its troops from the west bank of the Dnieper River, signalling a huge retreat that, if confirmed, would be a major turning point in the war. “Most likely our units, our soldiers, will leave for the left [eastern] bank,” said Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy civilian administrator of the Kherson region, in an interview with Solovyov Live, a pro-Kremlin online media outlet.

• Ukraine said it was wary that Moscow could be setting a trap by feigning a pull-out from the Kherson region and maintained its forces were still fighting in the area. Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern military command, said it could be a Russian trap. “This could be a manifestation of a particular provocation, in order to create the impression that the settlements are abandoned, that it is safe to enter them, while they are preparing for street battles,” she said in televised comments. “We continue fighting, also in the Kherson direction, despite the fact that the enemy is trying to convince us that they are leaving the settlements and creating the effect of a total evacuation.”

• US secretary of defence, Lloyd Austin, said he believes that Ukrainian forces are able to retake Kherson, calling their work “methodical” and “effective”.

• Ukraine has described the forced relocation of its citizens in the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions as “deportations” and “war crimes”. Russian authorities in Kherson have been relocating civilians, claiming it is for their safety as Ukrainian forces move closer. One week after Russian authorities relocated 70,000 civilians from the right bank of the Dnieper River to the left bank, Russian authorities said they were moving 70,000 civilians from the left bank to be “temporarily resettled deep into the Kherson region, as well as to other regions of the Russian Federation,” citing “possible damage to the dam of the Kakhovskaya hydroelectric power station”.

• The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine has again been disconnected from the power grid after Russian shelling damaged the remaining high voltage lines, leaving it with just diesel generators, Ukraine nuclear firm Energoatom said. The plant, in Russian hands but operated by Ukrainian workers, has 15 days’ worth of fuel to run the generators, Energoatom said.

• The Russian ambassador to the UK has claimed UK special forces were involved in a Ukrainian drone attack on Moscow’s Black Sea fleet. Andrei Kelin told Sky News: “We perfectly know about [the] participation of British specialists in [the] training, preparation and execution of violence against the Russian infrastructure and the Russian fleet in the Black Sea. We know that it has been done.” Kelin added: “This is a warning actually that Britain is too deep in this conflict. It means the situation is becoming more and more dangerous.”

• Another 107 Ukrainian service personnel were freed from Russian captivity in a prisoner of war swap, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskiy confirmed. “Many of them were wounded, and very seriously,” he said in his latest national address.

• Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered a one-time payment of 195,000 roubles (£2,800) for contract soldiers and those who have been mobilised to fight in Ukraine, the Kremlin said on Thursday. Last week Moscow said the “partial mobilisation” of 300,000 reservists was over but conceded there had been problems

• Volodymyr Zelenskiy has confirmed that he will not attend the G20 summit taking place in two weeks in Bali if Vladimir Putin and the Russian Federation will be participating in the conference.

• US embassy officials in Russia visited jailed basketball star Brittney Griner on Thursday. The White House said officials were continuing to work toward a prisoner swap offer with Russia for the release of Griner – but elaborated no further on what that meant, or how soon that could take place.