Ukrainian energy minister, German Galushchenko, told the Telegraph: “ Russia has been attacking the substations supplying independent cooling power to the nuclear station. So when there is destruction of these power supplies, the nuclear units go into an emergency shutdown regime.

Russia said it arrested a man suspected in the murder of a senior military official near Moscow and claimed that a car bomb had been activated remotely from Ukraine.

The Russian general died in a car bombing in the Russian city of Balashikha on Friday, according to authorities, with news of the blast breaking just before US President Donald Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff met with Russian leader Vladimir Putin in Moscow.

The leaked American ceasefire proposal would end sanctions on Russia, freeze the front line and see America formally recognise Russia’s annexation of Crimea. The intelligence officer, based in Kyiv, does not hide his disdain.

President Donald Trump on Friday called for Ukraine and Russia to meet for “very high level talks,” saying they are “very close to a deal” on ending the bloody three-year war.

US President Donald Trump said Russia and Ukraine are “very close to a deal” that would end their three-year war, after his envoy met with President Vladimir Putin on Friday in talks Moscow said were “constructive and very useful.