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The latest developments in Russia’s war on Ukraine. All times EDT.

9:20 a.m. Ukraine’s armed forces have started an offensive action on several fronts in the south of the country, a military spokesperson said, launching a much-anticipated counteroffensive to regain the Kherson region from invading Russian forces, RFE/RL reported.

“Today we started offensive actions in various directions, including in the Kherson region,” Ukrainian public broadcaster Suspilne cited Southern Command spokesperson Natalya Humenyuk as saying. She confirmed the news minutes later at a briefing.

Russia captured swathes of southern Ukraine in the first phase of its February 24 invasion. Ukraine has been pledging for weeks now to conduct a major counteroffensive to retake land and has used Western-made, long-range weapons to hit Russian supply lines.

Humenyuk said that Ukraine’s recent strikes on Russia’s southern logistical routes had “unquestionably weakened the enemy,” adding that more than 10 Russian ammunition dumps had been hit over the last week.

However, she declined to disclose more details about the new offensive.

9:00 a.m.: Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy accused Russia on Monday of economic terrorism by trying to prevent European nations from stocking up on gas ahead of a winter when the impact of soaring energy bills is set to hit households and businesses hard, according to Reuters.

How to respond to the rise in gas prices, which has been made worse by a squeeze on supplies from Russia, is top of the political agenda across the continent as autumn approaches.

Zelenskyy spoke in a video address to an energy conference in Norway. His comments come as Russia’s Gazprom plans maintenance this week that will halt gas flows along the Nord Stream 1 pipeline that links Russia and Germany via the Baltic Sea.

The outage has fueled fears that Russia is curbing supply to put pressure on Western nations opposed to its invasion of Ukraine, a charge Moscow denies.

8:30 a.m.: Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson has promised to provide a further $46.75 million in military assistance to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia’s ongoing invasion, RFE/RL reported.

Speaking to journalists after meeting in Stockholm with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Monday, Andersson said that a total additional aid package to Ukraine will reach about $94 million, when funds for the armed forces and the reconstruction of the country are combined.

“Borders must never be changed by force or war,” Andersson said.

Kuleba thanked Sweden for its support since Russia launched its unprovoked invasion of Ukraine in late February, adding that the best way to save Ukrainian lives is to supply it with weapons such as howitzers and shells.

“As long as the war continues, we will be asking for more weapons”,” Kuleba said at the press conference.

6:05 a.m.: Speaking at an oil and gas conference in Norway via video link, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy said Monday that Russia is trying to prevent European nations from filling their gas storages enough to cope with the coming winter, Reuters reported.

5:45 a.m.: The director-general of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Robert Mardini, is in Ukraine this week to take stock of the ICRC’s humanitarian activities, the ICRC said in a statement on Monday.

While in Ukraine, Mardini will “meet Ukrainian communities supported by the ICRC, including family members of prisoners of war,” the statement said, adding that he “will reiterate our [the ICRC’s] long-standing commitment to helping all victims of the international armed conflict in Ukraine.”

The ICRC said Mardini has plans to travel to Russia, tn an effort to continue the humanitarian organization’s work on “bilateral discussions on humanitarian issues.”

Mardini is scheduled to hold a news conference for the media on August 31.

5:15 a.m.: Germany will keep up its support for Ukraine’s defense for as long as it takes, and it will send state-of-the-art weapons to Kyiv in the coming weeks, Reuters reported Monday, citing Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s text of a speech prepared for delivery.

Apart from sending advanced air defense, radar systems or drones, Germany could assume special responsibility in terms of building up Ukraine’s artillery and air defense capacities, Scholz said during his visit to the Czech capital.

5 a.m.: Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told reporters Monday in Stockholm that the international community should be united in demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, saying that is the only way to ensure security at the site. The plan is situated near the front line of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We expect from the mission a clear statement of facts of violation of nuclear safety protocols. We know that Russia is putting not only Ukraine but also entire world at threat, at risk of nuclear accident,” Kuleba said.

4:30 a.m.: Russia’s top security agency has identified a second Ukrainian who it alleges was involved in the killing of the daughter of a Russian nationalist ideologue, The Associated Press reported.

The FSB said that Bogdan Tsyganenko helped prepare the killing of Darya Dugina, the daughter of Alexander Dugin, who was described by some in the West as “Putin’s brain.”

The FSB charged that Tsyganenko provided the main suspect with a fake ID and fake license plates and helped her assemble an explosive device that was planted in Dugina’s car.

Dugina died when a remotely controlled explosive device planted in her SUV blew up on the night of August 20 as she was driving on the outskirts of Moscow.

4:15 a.m.: Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said on Monday Sweden would provide a further $46.75 million (500 million crowns) in military assistance to Ukraine to help it defend itself against Russia’s invasion, Reuters reported.

Andersson told reporters after hosting Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba for talks that her government would provide a total additional aid package of 1 billion crowns, both military and civilian assistance, to Ukraine.

Kuleba called on Sweden to provide the country with weapons such as howitzers and shells. “As long as the war continues, we will be asking for more weapons,” Kuleba told reporters.

4 a.m.: The Group of Seven’s Non-Proliferation Directors’ Group on Monday welcomed a trip by the U.N. nuclear watchdog to Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant and reiterated concerns about the safety of the plant under the control of Russian armed forces, according to Reuters.

“We reaffirm that the Zaporizhzhya Nuclear Power Plant and the electricity that it produces rightly belong to Ukraine and stress that attempts by Russia to disconnect the plant from the Ukrainian power grid would be unacceptable,” it said in a statement.

A team from the U.N. nuclear watchdog headed on Monday to the plant, captured by Russian troops in March but run by Ukrainian staff, and will reach it later this week.

3 a.m.: Ericsson said on Monday it will gradually wind down business activities in Russia over the coming months as the Swedish telecom equipment maker completes its customer obligations, Reuters reported.

The company, which suspended its business in Russia indefinitely in April, said it has about 400 employees in Russia and it would provide financial support to affected employees.

2 a.m.:

1 a.m.: European Union defense and foreign ministers, meeting in Prague this week, will discuss options for setting up an EU military training mission for Ukrainian forces and also look into calls by some members to ban Russian tourists from entering the bloc.

Several EU countries have been training Ukrainian troops for a while, mainly enabling them to operate weapons Western nations are delivering to Ukraine to help its fight against Russia’s invasion.

It is not clear yet where an EU training program could be based and what mandate it might have, EU diplomats told Reuters ahead of the defense ministers’ meeting on Monday and Tuesday.

The bloc’s foreign policy and security chief, Josep Borrell, has given few details of his plans so far, merely stating such a program would not be based in Ukraine but in neighboring countries. Reuters has the story.

12:05 a.m.: The head of the U.N.’s atomic energy agency said it has a team on the way to visit Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant where there has been weeks of international concern that the facility could be hit and cause a radiation leak.

International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi tweeted that he is leading the team that will be at the power plant “later this week.”

“We must protect the safety and security of #Ukraine’s and Europe’s biggest nuclear facility,” Grossi said.

The IAEA said the mission will focus on assessing physical damage at the plant, determining the functionality of safety and security systems, evaluating staff conditions and performing “urgent safeguards activities.”

Russia has controlled the plant site since early in its six-month invasion, but the plant has been operated by Ukrainian engineers.

Despite numerous attacks in the area that Russia and Ukraine have blamed on each other, Grossi said Ukraine had told it that “all safety systems remained operational and there had been no increase in radiation levels.”

Some information in this report came from Reuters.