May 10 (Reuters) – Russian forces are planning to evacuate more than 3,000 workers from the town that serves the occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, resulting in a “catastrophic lack” of personnel, Ukraine’s state-owned Energoatom company said on Wednesday.
SANCTIONS DEBATE
* European Union states hold a first discussion on Wednesday on proposed new sanctions over Russia’s war in Ukraine that would target Chinese and Iranian firms and allow export curbs on third countries for busting existing trade restrictions.
GRAIN EXPORTS
* The United Nations said inspections resumed on Tuesday of outbound vessels under a deal allowing the safe Black Sea export of Ukraine grain, which Moscow has threatened to quit on May 18 over obstacles to its own grain and fertilizer exports.
INSIDE RUSSIA
* A filling point on the Druzhba pipeline in a Russian region bordering Ukraine has been attacked, the TASS news agency reported, citing Russia’s oil pipeline operator Transneft.
* Two drones tried to attack a military facility in Russia’s Voronezh region but failed, region’s governor said.
* Russia’s air defence forces shot down an “enemy” drone in the Kursk region bordering Ukraine, its governor said, adding that falling debris damaged a gas pipeline and a house.
* Two Russian soldiers from Kamchatka in the far east have been sentenced to two and a half years each in prison for refusing to fight in Ukraine, human rights group OVD-Info said.
POLAND-RUSSIA TENSION
* The Kremlin said Poland’s decision to rename the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad in its official documents was a “hostile act”.
* The military object found in a Polish forest in April was a Russian CH-55 missile, Polish private media outlets RMF FM and Interia reported, citing unnamed sources.
* Poland summoned Russia’s ambassador over an incident on Friday involving a Russian fighter jet and a Polish border guard aircraft over the Black Sea, a spokesman for the Polish foreign ministry said.
JOURNALIST KILLED
* Arman Soldin, a 32-year-old video journalist for Agence France Presse (AFP) in Ukraine, was killed on Tuesday by Grad rocket fire near Chasiv Yar, in eastern Ukraine, AFP said on Twitter, citing AFP colleagues who witnessed the incident.
ARMED FORCES IN EUROPE
* Russia may formally “denounce” the Treaty on Conventional Armed Forces in Europe, according to a decree signed by President Vladimir Putin. Russia said in 2015 it was completely halting its participation in the treaty, which aimed to regulate the number of forces deployed by Warsaw Pact and NATO countries.
ECONOMY
* A Russian court on the Pacific island of Sakhalin has ordered the seizure of four tugboats belonging to Denmark’s Svitzer operator at the request of a Russian energy company.
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Compiled by Reuters editors
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