Updated at 08.10 BST Important events Show only key events Please enable JavaScript to use this feature It is not clear whether Russia will try to cover the rise in armed forces by recruiting more volunteer “contract” soldiers or by lifting annual recruitment targets, British intelligence says. President Vladimir Putin signed a decree during the week to increase the size of the armed forces from 1.9 million to 2.04 million amid the country’s invasion of Ukraine, now in its sixth month. The UK MoD’s latest update says that under Russian law as it now stands, the order is unlikely to make “substantial progress” towards increasing Russia’s combat power. This is because Russia has lost tens of thousands of troops. very few new contract soldiers are recruited. and conscripts are not technically required to serve outside Russian territory. Two people were killed by Russian fire on Bakhmut, the governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, said on Saturday. The eastern city is a major target for Russian and separatist forces seeking to take control of parts of Donetsk they do not hold. The Associated Press also reported that local government officials said that in the Black Sea region of Mykolaiv, one person was killed and another wounded by Russian fire. Millions of tonnes of food from previous harvests in Ukraine still need to be cleared to make room in silos for the next one, the UN coordinator for the grains deal says. More than 1 million tonnes of grain and other food have been exported under the grain deal brokered by Turkey and the UN, Reuters reports. Amir Abdulla, the UN coordinator for the Black Sea Grain Initiative, said on Saturday that the agreement “has started to create space, but much more grain needs to be moved to make room for the new harvest”. Grain silo in Odessa, Ukraine. Photo: Manuel de Almeida/EPA Ukrainian and Russian forces continue to accuse each other of shelling near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, with Ukraine saying Russian forces shelled areas just across the river from the complex and Russia saying Ukrainian shells hit a building where nuclear fuel is stored. Saturday’s claims came amid ongoing concerns about the possibility of a radioactive leak at Europe’s largest nuclear facility, the Associated Press reports. The governor of Ukraine’s Dnipropetrovsk region, Valentyn Reznichenko, said Russian Grad rockets and artillery shells hit the towns of Nikopol and Marhanets, each 10 kilometers (six miles) across the Dnieper River from the plant in southeastern Ukraine. A Russian Defense Ministry spokesman, Igor Konashenkov, said Ukrainian forces had fired at the plant from Marchanets. Seventeen Ukrainian shells hit the plant in the past day, he said, with four hitting the roof of a building that stores nuclear fuel. An apartment in Marhanets, Ukraine, following strikes by Russian forces earlier this month. Photo: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images Updated at 07.34 BST

Summary

There is still concern about a possible radioactivity leak at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s state energy agency has warned that there are “risks of hydrogen leakage and release of radioactive substances” at the Russian-owned plant. Authorities distributed iodine tablets to residents living near the plant in case of radiation exposure. Russia and Ukraine traded fresh accusations against each other that they are shelling the area around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, on Saturday. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly bombarded” the plant site in the last day, Ukraine’s state nuclear company, Energoatom, said. The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukrainian troops “bombed the territory of the station three times” in the past day. The UN’s nuclear inspectorate, the International Atomic Energy Agency, is trying to negotiate access to the plant for an urgent inspection mission “to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security situation there.” Energoatom chief Petro Kotin told the Guardian a visit could take place before the end of the month, but Ukrainian Energy Minister Lana Zerkal told a local radio station she was not convinced Russia was negotiating in good faith . Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a statement on Ukraine’s Aviation Day, pledging that Kiev’s troops would “destroy the capabilities of the occupiers step by step”. The Ukrainian president promised that Russian “invaders will die like dew in the sun.” Russia has likely stepped up its attacks on the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence. Pro-Russian separatists have likely made progress towards the center of the village of Pisky, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces overall have made little territorial gains, the latest UK Ministry of Defense report says. Russia has blocked a deal at the UN aimed at strengthening the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The failure to agree on a joint statement, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause on control of the Zaporizhia plant, is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and keeping a lid on a rekindled arms race. Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, Ukraine’s cabinet announced. The prime minister, Denys Shmyhal, said that men of draft age employed as crew members would be allowed to leave the country as long as they have permission from their local conscription offices to cross the border. Britain’s Ministry of Defense said it is giving six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coast of mines and make grain shipments safer. In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be trained to use the drones in the coming months, the ministry said. Russia’s neighbor and ally Kazakhstan has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Moscow. Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to protect the airspace of their NATO ally, Slovakia, as it upgrades its air force from traditional Soviet MiG-29 fighters to a new batch of F-16 jets from the US.

Hello and welcome back to the Guardian’s continuing live coverage of the war in Ukraine. This is Adam Fulton and these are the latest developments as it approaches 9.20am. in Kyiv this Sunday, August 28, 2022. Updated at 08.10 BST