The Zaporizhia nuclear plant is the largest in Europe.
After an attack that caused a worrying fire, Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe.
This was confirmed on Friday morning by Ukraine’s nuclear regulator.
Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Dimitro Kuleba charged that Russian forces were “firing from all sides” at the plant.
“The Russians they must stop the attack IMMEDIATELYallow firefighters to pass, establish a security zone!” the minister wrote on Twitter.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky called for urgent help and warned of a possible nuclear disaster.
“Europeans, please wake up!”he exclaimed from Kiev.
Following initial concern, officials at the nuclear plant said nuclear safety remained guaranteed.
Ukraine’s emergency services managed to extinguish the fire, which caused no casualties and only affected a training building and a laboratory.
The International Atomic Energy Agency noted that essential equipment at the nuclear plant is operational and radiation remains at normal levels.
But it said it was in “24/7 full response mode” due to the “serious situation” at the plant.
reactions
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the “irresponsible” attack might “directly threaten the security of the whole of EuropeHe added that he would request an emergency UN Security Council meeting on Friday to “increase pressure on Putin’s war machine.”
The Ukrainian president spoke from an unidentified place on March 4.
US President Joe Biden urged Moscow to stop its military activities in the area, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Russia’s “horrible attacks” “must cease immediately.”
The three leaders spoke by phone with the Ukrainian president, who accused Russia of resorting to “terror nuclear” and of wanting to repeat the Chernobyl disaster of 1986.
“If there is an explosion, it is the end of everything. The end of Europe,” he said.
diplomatic moves
Meanwhile, Russian and Ukrainian negotiators agreed on Thursday to organize humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians.
Zelensky also requested a face-to-face meeting with his Russian counterpart because he says it is the only way to end the war.
Putin insists that the invasion is proceeding “according to plan”.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine entered its eighth day on Thursday.
For his part, French President Emmanuel Macron warned that “The worst is yet to come”following speaking with the Russian president, whom he said he sees as willing to take control of “all of Ukraine.”
casualties on both sides
The cities of Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol remain under Ukrainian control, according to Ukraine’s Defense Ministry, despite undergoing intense sieges in recent days.
En Chernihiv, at least 33 people died and 18 were injured on Thursday during the shelling, according to the Ukrainian emergency service.
The Russian Defense Ministry admitted the deaths of 498 of its soldiers as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Presidency of Ukraine reported 9,000 victims on the Russian side, without specifying how many are injured and how many are dead.
The shelling has affected residential buildings like this one in the town of Irpin, in the Kiev region.
Several estimates announced from the Ukrainian side quantify thousands of military dead and wounded, with at least 2,000 civilians killed, although the numbers have not been independently verified.
a million refugees
According to the United Nations, more of one million people have fled Ukraine in the first week of conflict.
“In just seven days we have witnessed the exodus of a million refugees from Ukraine to neighboring countries,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Filippo Grandi said on Twitter on Thursday.
In just one week, a million people have fled Ukraine.
More than half of the refugees have gone to Poland and some thousands have already arrived in third countries, such as the Czech Republic, where there is a significant Ukrainian community.
“Until the conflict stops, the Ukrainians will continue to flee,” said Grandi, who reiterated the prospects that this crisis might cause up to 4 million of refugees.
The EU and the United States announced this Thursday special protection measures for Ukrainians fleeing the war or, in the case of the US, for those who are already in that country.
The Taking of Kherson
Until this Friday, the only important Ukrainian city in the hands of the Russian forces is Kherson, with 300,000 inhabitants and located in the south of the country.
With a port with access to the Black Sea, experts say that Russian rule in this city affects logistics, food supply and resources.
Control over Kherson may allow Moscow to “start strangling the logistics of the Ukrainians”warned Jack Watling, an expert at the Royal United Services Institute for Defense and Security Studies in London.
Liberty Square was littered with rubble following the attack.
The mayor said that the city is “partially surrounded” by the Russian armywhich the Ukrainian military repel “heroically”.
An opera house, a concert hall and government offices were hit in the liberty square de Járkiv.
“Almost a humanitarian catastrophe” in Mariupol
Located in southeastern Ukraine, the port city of Mariupol was subjected to heavy shelling by Russian forces on Wednesday and Thursday.
Deputy Mayor Serhiy Orlov told the BBC that the city was “close to suffering a humanitarian catastrophe”.
“The Russian army is working with all its weapons here: artillery, multiple rocket launch systems, planes, tactical rockets. They are trying to destroy the city,” Orlov said.
Thousands of Ukrainians are sleeping in subway stations to be safe from the bombing.
He said Russian forces are miles from the city on all sides and have launched attacks on key infrastructure, cutting off water and power supplies to parts of the city.
He claimed that a densely populated residential district on the left bank of the city was “almost totally destroyed”.
“We cannot count the number of victims there, but we believe that at least hundreds of people are dead. We cannot go in to recover the bodies. My father lives there, I cannot locate him, I do not know if he is alive or dead,” he said.
This Thursday, the city spent its second day under bombardment and without electricity, heating or water supply.
Local officials said that the situation was catastrophic and that they might not evacuate the injured people.
Mariupol is a key strategic objective for Russia because seizing this city would allow Russian-backed separatist forces in eastern Ukraine to join forces with Russian troops in Crimea, the southern peninsula annexed by Russia in 2014.
Ukraine’s military has so far held off Russian forces in key parts of the country, but increased aerial bombardment of cities has raised fears that Russia is changing tactics.
“The Ukrainian army is very brave and will continue to defend the city, but the style of the Russian army is like that of pirates: they don’t fight with their troops, they just destroy entire districts,” Orlov said.
Although Kiev, the capital of Ukraine, is seen as the main objective of the Russian forces, the large deployment of troops sent by Moscow has not yet managed to besiege the city.
A huge convoy made up of hundreds of armored vehicles is advancingba towards KIev “remains detained”according to US Department of Defense spokesman John Kirby.
image source, Getty Images
Caption,
The town of Irpin, in the Kiev province, has seen heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian troops.
That has not stopped the attacks on the capital from continuing, where loud explosions were heard throughout Thursday.
Images released on social networks showed the destruction in various neighborhoods of the city.
BBC correspondents in Kiev say that one of the detonations might be heard even inside his underground shelter, two floors below ground.
Similarly, the town of Irpin – in the Kiev province – has been subjected to heavy shelling and has witnessed heavy fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces.
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