The Ukrainian government is set to build new fortifications and military infrastructure in northeast regions that border Russia and Belarus at a cost of nearly $35m, prime minister Denys Shmyhal has said.
“At the request of Kharkiv and Chernihiv...we are allocating 911.5m hryvnias ($24.7m) for Kharkiv and 363m ($9.8m) for Chernihiv to build military engineering and fortification structures,” Mr Shmyhal said on Telegram.
Earlier on Tuesday, Vladimir Putin’s defence minister reportedly claimed that Ukraine is subjecting its own Zaporizhzhia power plant to regular shelling.
The Mail Online reported that Sergei Shoigu said: “The actions by the Ukrainian armed forces could trigger a nuclear catastrophe.”
Mr Shoigu spoke after the West claimed that Russia is planning a “false flag operation” - in blaming Ukraine for a potentially deadly nuclear leak. Kyiv has denied the reports, the Mail said.
Meanwhile, three people have been killed and dozens more wounded in large-scale Russian air strikes that have hit two western regions of Ukraine that border Nato member Poland overnight.