The head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog said Saturday that the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine was disconnected to its last external power line but was still able to run electricity through a reserve line amid sustained shelling in the area. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Grossi said in a statement that the agency's experts, who arrived at Zaporizhzhia on Thursday, were told by senior Ukrainian staff that the fourth and last operational line was down. The three others were lost earlier during the conflict. But the IAEA experts learned that the reserve line linking the facility to a nearby thermal power plant was delivering the electricity the plant generates to the external grid, the statement said. The same reserve line can also provide backup power to the plant if needed, it added. “We already have a better understanding of the functionality of the reserve power line in connecting the facility to the grid,” Grossi said. “This is crucial information in assessing the overall situation there.” In addition, the plant's management informed the IAEA that one reactor was disconnected Saturday afternoon because of grid restrictions. Another reactor is still operating and producing electricity both for cooling and other essential safety functions at the site and for households, factories and others through the grid, the statement said. Read:Fighting goes on near Ukraine nuclear plant; IAEA on site The Zaporizhzhia facility, which is Europe's largest nuclear plant, has been held by Russian forces since early March, but its Ukrainian staff are continuing to operate it. The Russian-appointed city administration in Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia plant is located, blamed an alleged Ukrainian shelling attack on Saturday morning for destroying a key power line. “The provision of electricity to the territories controlled by Ukraine has been suspended due to technical difficulties,” the municipal administration said in a post on its official Telegram channel. It wasn't clear whether electricity from the plant was still reaching Russian-held areas. Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Kremlin-appointed regional administration said on Telegram that a shell had struck an area between two reactors. His claims couldn't be immediately verified. Over the past several weeks, Ukraine and Russia have traded blame over shelling at and near the plant, while also accusing each other of attempts to derail the visit by IAEA experts, whose mission is meant to help secure the site. Grossi said their presence at the site is “a game changer.” Russia’s Defense Ministry said that Ukrainian troops launched another attempt to seize the plant late Friday, despite the presence of the IAEA monitors, sending 42 boats with 250 special forces personnel and foreign “mercenaries” to attempt a landing on the bank of the nearby Kakhovka reservoir. The ministry said that four Russian fighter jets and two helicopter gunships destroyed about 20 boats and the others turned back. It added that the Russian artillery struck the Ukrainian-controlled right bank of the Dnieper River to target the retreating landing party. The ministry claimed that the Russian military killed 47 troops, including 10 “mercenaries” and wounded 23. The Russian claims couldn’t be independently verified. The plant has repeatedly suffered complete disconnection from Ukraine’s power grid since last week, with the country’s nuclear energy operator Enerhoatom blaming mortar shelling and fires near the site. Local Ukrainian authorities accused Moscow of pounding two cities that overlook the plant across the Dnieper river with rockets, also an accusation they have made repeatedly over the past weeks. Read:UN inspectors arrive at Ukraine nuclear plant amid fighting In Zorya, a small village about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Zaporizhzhia plant, residents on Friday could hear the sound of explosions in the area. It’s not the shelling that scared them the most, but the risk of a radioactive leak in the plant. “The power plant, yes, this is the scariest,” said Natalia Stokoz, a mother of three. "Because the kids and adults will be affected, and it’s scary if the nuclear power plant is blown up.” Oleksandr Pasko, a 31-year-old farmer, said “there is anxiety because we are quite close.” Pasko said that the Russian shelling has intensified in recent weeks. During the first weeks of the war, authorities gave iodine tablets and masks to people living near the plant in case of radiation exposure. Recently, they’ve also distributed iodine pills in Zaporizhzhia city, about 50 kilometers (31 miles) from the plant. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered to take the role of “facilitator” on the issue of the Zaporizhzhia plant, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday, according to a statement from the Turkish presidency. The Ukrainian military on Saturday morning reported that Russian forces overnight pressed their stalled advance in the country’s industrial east, while also trying to hold on to areas captured in Ukraine’s northeast and south, including in the Kherson region cited as the target of Kyiv’s recent counteroffensive. It added that Ukrainian forces repelled around a half-dozen Russian attacks across the Donetsk region, including near two cities singled out as key targets of Moscow’s grinding effort to capture the rest of the province. The Donetsk region is one of two that make up Ukraine’s industrial heartland of the Donbas, alongside Luhansk, which was overrun by Russian troops in early July. Separately, the British military confirmed in its regular update Saturday morning that Ukrainian forces were conducting “renewed offensive operations” in the south of Ukraine, advancing along a broad front west of the Dnieper and focusing on three axes within the Russian-occupied Kherson region. “The operation has limited immediate objectives, but Ukraine’s forces have likely achieved a degree of tactical surprise; exploiting poor logistics, administration and leadership in the Russian armed forces,” the U.K. defense ministry tweeted. Russian shelling killed an 8-year-old child and wounded at least four others in a southern Ukrainian town close to the Kherson region, Ukrainian officials said.

Four people participating in demonstrations against the United Nations peacekeeping mission in eastern Congo were killed Wednesday when a high-voltage power line fell on them, officials said. Their deaths came on the third day of anti-U.N. protests. At least 15 people, including three U.N. personnel, died and more than 60 people were injured during the earlier demonstrations, Congolese government spokesman Patrick Muyaya said. Andre Byadunia, a civil society coordinator in the city of Uvira in South Kivu province, said the four demonstrators were electrocuted when a power cable gave way in the Kilomoni district. Uvira Deputy Mayor Kyky Kifara confirmed the incident and said he was at the demonstration site when the cable fell. He said he thinks the death toll could have been higher if police and security forces had not already dispersed the crowd. “I was there, I’ve been there since morning. There was a bullet that cut a high-voltage wire. I almost died myself. Luckily, I barely escaped,” Kifara said. Khassim Diagne, acting head of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, said later in the day that in the protests Monday and Tuesday, seven Congolese civilians were killed in Butembo in North Kivu province along with one U.N. peacekeeper from Morocco and two U.N. policemen from India. Five people were killed in eastern Congo’s main city, Goma, including an army officer hit by a stray bullet, he said. Diagne said in a virtual news conference from the Congolese capital, Kinshasa, called the situation “fragile,” and said reinforcements from the United Nations and Congolese forces were securing U.N. bases and installations. He welcomed a strong statement by the governor of North Kivu on Tuesday night banning protests and calling on demonstrators to move out of the streets. While some demonstrators were peaceful, there were also criminals and looters who were photographed walking out of a U.N. warehouse with bags of rice and dry goods, Diagne said. Protesters accuse the peacekeepers of failing to protect civilians amid rising violence and are calling for the U.N. forces that have been in Congo for years to leave. The mission has more than 16,000 uniformed personnel in Congo, according to the U.N. U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned the violence, calling on the government to enforce justice on the perpetrators. He also underscored that any attack directed at U.N. peacekeepers might constitute a war crime. The U.N. Security Council on Wednesday strongly condemned the attacks and peacekeeper deaths and called for “calm and dialogue to resolve current tensions and to ensure protection of civilians." It also underscored the Congolese government's primary responsibility for the safety and security of U.N. peacekeepers and U.N. assets. Diagne said the United Nations will investigate the killings of the three members of the U.N. peacekeeping mission and seek to bring the perpetrators to justice. Read:15 killed, 50 injured in anti-UN protests in Congo’s east He said the U.N. has seen reports that U.N. troops were firing at civilians, but has no evidence of it. This is why the U.N. wants a joint investigation of the civilian deaths with the government, including an examination of the bullets, “to determine exactly where the shooting came from,” Diagne said. Congo’s mineral-rich east is home to myriad rebel groups. Security has worsened there despite a year of emergency operations by a joint force of the armies of Congo and Uganda. Civilians in the east have faced violence from jihadi rebels linked to the Islamic State group. In June 2021 and June 2022, the peacekeeping mission closed its office in Congo’s Kasai Central and Tanganyika regions. U.N. deputy spokesman Farhan Haq said the U.N. made plans to draw down its peacekeeping force and even withdraw from Congo but the force remained because the situation on the ground was too dangerous to contemplate its departure. The U.N. has reduced the number of provinces it operates in from 10 in the early 2000s to three today, Daigne said. Fighting has escalated between Congolese troops and the M23 rebels, forcing nearly 200,000 people to flee their homes. The M23 forces have demonstrated increased firepower and defense capabilities, according to a report by Human Rights Watch. The protests are taking place after Senate President Modeste Bahati told his supporters that the U.N. mission should “pack its bags,” saying the peacekeepers have brought no solutions to deter the thousands of deaths at the hands of rebels in eastern Congo. Augustin Kalume, a political analyst in Congo, said that while the demonstrations have a political element, there is also genuine anger as “every passing population continues to count deaths, and the looting of natural resources.” “The population is fed up that despite the millions of dollars that the U.N. mission has cost, these peacekeepers are unable to restore peace and security in the eastern part of Congo,” Kalume said. Diagne was asked whether he thought the Congolese people wanted the U.N. mission to remain and replied “absolutely.” He cited messages saying it would be a disaster if the U.N. left, but he said the peacekeeping mission needs to better communicate what it does. The U.N. children’s agency said Wednesday that many children were manipulated into joining the demonstrations, where they were exposed to violence. “UNICEF condemns the instrumentalization of children for political purposes and calls on authorities, members of civil society and parents to keep children safe from protests in order to protect them,” Grant Leaity, the UNICEF representative in Congo, said.

Santa Rosa, Oct 29 (AP/UNB) — Pacific Gas & Electric Co. power lines may have started two wildfires over the weekend in the San Francisco Bay Area, the utility said Monday, even though widespread blackouts were in place to prevent downed lines from starting fires during dangerously windy weather.