LIVE UPDATES: Over 2,000 Ukrainian Troops Taken to Hospitals After Failed Offensive

He said that Ukrainian troops have attempted an attack near Snihurivka as well. However, he said, this attack was a diversion with the main attack occurring "a little to the north."

The UN Security Council will hold a ministerial meeting on Ukraine on in the morning on September 22, the French Ambassador to the United Nations Nicolas de Riviere said on Thursday.

"I will conclude with the crisis on Ukraine on Thursday the 22nd of September in the morning, the French Minister of Europe and foreign affairs will preside over a ministerial meeting of the Security Council on Ukraine with a particular focus that will be placed on impunity and justice," Riviere said during a press briefing.

The ambassador explained that the meeting will touch upon all of the parameters of the Ukraine crisis.

France is presiding with the UN Security Council during the month of September and has signaled being interested in discussing the situation in Ukraine. Upon Russia’s request, the UN Security Council will also hold a meeting on September 6, focusing on the situation in and around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The press conference was called to announce that Germany had chartered a fifth LNG ship to shore up gas supplies during the cold season as energy prices continue to soar.

Finnish Defense Minister Antti Kaikkonen noted that Ukraine is still in a great need for assistance.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arrived at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) on Thursday, a Sputnik correspondent reported.

On Monday, IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi said that the mission will arrive at the ZNPP this week.

Earlier in the day, 60 Ukrainian paratroopers attempted to seize the ZNPP, according to local authorities. The majority of Ukrainian soldiers were neutralized, while 12 remain blocked.

Five vessels with grain left the ports of Ukraine on Thursday morning in compliance with the Istanbul grain export deal, the Turkish Defense Ministry said.

"In the early hours of today, five more ships loaded with grain left Ukraine. Shipments are being carried out in accordance with the plan, under control of the Joint Coordination Center (JCC)," the ministry wrote on Twitter.

On July 22, Russia, Ukraine, and Turkey signed an UN-brokered initiative to provide a humanitarian maritime corridor for ships with food and fertilizers from Black Sea ports. Three key Ukrainian ports — Odessa, Chernomorsk, and Yuzhnoe — were unblocked to resume the exports. A joint coordination center was set up to monitor the implementation of the initiative, including ensuring that cargo ships do not carry unauthorized goods or personnel.

On August 31, the JCC said that more than 1,5 million tonnes of grain and other food products had already left Ukraine.

Moscow is afraid of provocations from the Ukrainian side during the visit of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) delegation to the the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday.

"We certainly fear provocations from the Ukrainian side, given that completely barbaric provocative shelling does not stop. We see this. Other attempts are being made to destabilize the situation. But, as before, we are waiting for this mission and are ready to cooperate, and we are interested in this mission's arrival at the plant," Peskov told reporters.

The EU Directorate-General for Energy is looking for a possibility to impose price caps on the imports of energy from Russia, the department's deputy director-general, Mechthild Worsdorfer, said on Thursday.

"As requested by the EU parliament, already we are looking at price caps and what is possible and we have some technical seminars and exchanges … for example for import of gas from Russia, there are price caps within the EU, the wholesale prices caps or the retail market price caps which member states are already applying so we are looking at all possibilities," the official said.

International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Director General Rafael Grossi expressed confidence that the watchdog's mission will reach the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) on Thursday, Reuters reported, citing an IAEA spokesperson.

The mission’s arrival at the nuclear plant is delayed by three hours, the news agency added.

Russia expects to see an objective assessment of the situation at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant from experts sent by the the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

"We expect objectivity. Although all the others who are involved in this visit in one way or another, with its preparation and attempts to make it difficult, they clearly do not want the IAEA mission to draw objective conclusions," Lavrov said during a meeting with students, adding that Russia takes all measures to ensure safety at the ZNPP and let IAEA experts do their work.

Russia should not close its borders in response to the European Union’s decision to restrict issuance of Schengen visas to Russians, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

On Wednesday, the EU member states reached a political agreement to suspend the EU-Russia visa facilitation deal and agreed to prepare recommendations on what to do with the existing visas to Russians.

"I believe that in response to these Schengen walls that are now being built, we do not need to close, we do not need to take reciprocal measures, collectively punish citizens of European countries," Lavrov said during a meeting with students.

The mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is expected to arrive in the city of Energodar within an hour, the city administration's said on Thursday.

"According to the latest information, they [IAEA experst] passed the Vasilivka checkpoint, and we are expecting them in the city of Energodar in an hour," the official told reporters.

Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the regional administration, in turn, said that the mission is currently at the checkpoint in Novoaleksandrovka, adding that the convoy has been stopped 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) to the front line.

The leaderships of the Energodar city, the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP), as well as representatives of Russian state nuclear corporation Rosatom want to discuss with IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi the safety and the operation of the nuclear power plant, the city administration said on Thursday.

"We have something to tell. We, the public, the city authorities, as well as the management of the nuclear power plant, representatives of Rosatom, want to meet with Grossi and discuss with him issues related to safety, the functioning of the nuclear power plant," the administration's head told reporters.

The official also expressed the hope that the international watchdog will deliver an objective and impartial assessment of the situation at and around the NPP.

Thirteen EU member states are currently completely or partially cut off from Russian gas supplies, a senior EU official said on Thursday.

The risk of supply disruption is very strong and even getting stronger, the official added during a meeting of a subcommittee of the EU parliament on energy.

The Russian armed forces also thwarted an attempt of the Ukrainian military to carry out a tactical landing on two self-propelled barges in the village of Vodyane, a few miles from the Zaporozhye NPP.

"As a result of the fire damage caused by the Russian armed forces, the two self-propelled barges with tactical landing forces of the Ukrainian armed forces were sunk," the department said.

If ongoing shelling damages the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (NPP) and causes a disaster, the radioactive trail may reach Turkey's northern coast, Russian Ambassador to Ankara Alexei Yerkhov said on Thursday.

"The situation is quite clear: the Zaporozhye NPP has been controlled by the Russian forces since March. It is the largest nuclear facility consisting of six reactors with a total capacity of 6,000 megawatt … According to the scientists, if the storage is destroyed by bombing, the damage will be possibly worse than after the Chernobyl disaster, and the radioactive track may reach the northern coast of Turkey," Yerkhov told Turkish newspaper Yeni Safak.

Unconfirmed information suggests that the fifth power unit of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant (ZNPP) could have been switched off after the shelling of Ukrainian troops, Vladimir Rogov, a member of the main council of the regional administration, said on Thursday.

"According to preliminary and so far unconfirmed information, due to the shelling of ... [Ukraine] the 5th power unit was switched off at the Zaporozhye NPP — emergency protection was triggered," Rogov wrote on Telegram, adding that backup power supply line was damaged.