Status: 03/04/2022 03:57 am
According to Ukrainian sources, Russia is attacking the country’s largest nuclear power plant. A fire is said to have broken out on the site as a result of the fighting. However, according to initial information, radioactive radiation should not have escaped.
On Thursday, the Russian army once again expanded its attacks on numerous major Ukrainian cities – fierce fighting was reported from Kharkiv, Mariupol and Kyiv, among others. During the night, the Russian army also targeted the country’s power supply. Local authorities reported skirmishes with Russian soldiers near Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Zaporizhia – Ukraine gets most of its energy from there.
Local officials reported bombing raids on the nuclear facility, and the nuclear power plant was being fired upon with heavy artillery. A block of the power plant was hit and a fire broke out there, said the plant’s spokesman Andriy Tuz in a video published on Telegram. Although the reactor that was hit is being renovated and is not in operation, it does contain nuclear fuel. Firefighters could not approach the fire because they would be shot at. “We demand that they (the troops) stop firing heavy weapons,” Tuz said. “There is a real threat to the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.”
Probably no leakage of radiation
Apparently, no radioactive radiation has escaped from the plant so far. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported early in the morning on the short message service Twitter that the nuclear supervisory authority of Ukraine had announced that “no change in radiation levels” had been reported at the site of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. As recently as Thursday, the IAEA expressed grave concern that the fighting could inadvertently damage Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for the attacks to stop immediately. “If it explodes, it will be 10 times bigger than Chernobyl! Russians must stop firing immediately,” he wrote on Twitter.
conflicting parties as a source
Information on the course of the war, shelling and casualties provided by official bodies of the Russian and Ukrainian conflict parties cannot be directly checked by an independent body in the current situation.
Biden calls on Russia for moderation
US President Joe Biden also called on Russia to end its military activities in the area around the nuclear power plant. In a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Biden asked “about the current status of the fire” at the nuclear facility, the White House said. The Russian army must allow firefighters and rescue workers access to the site, Biden said. The US President also spoke to the head of the US National Administration for Nuclear Safety, Jill Hruby.
Attacks on major Ukrainian cities
Just hours earlier, the Russian army had once again expanded its offensive against major Ukrainian cities. During Russian attacks on the eastern Ukrainian city of over a million inhabitants Kharkiv At least 34 civilians were killed in and around the area on Wednesday and Thursday, according to local authorities. 285 people were also injured, including 10 children, according to regional civil protection. The information cannot be independently verified. Kharkiv, the country’s second largest city, lies near the border with Russia. It has been the target of Russian attacks since the beginning of the war.
In Kyiv there were several heavy explosions on Thursday night. Air alarm was triggered, as reported by the Unian agency. Kiev Mayor Vitali Klitschko wrote on Telegram: “The enemy is trying to break through into the capital.” According to the Ukrainian General Staff, Russian troops were stationed north and northwest of Kyiv, 20 to 30 kilometers from the city limits, and set up camps. According to international observers, the Russian military convoy is progressing much more slowly than Moscow had planned.
The southern Ukrainian port city Mariupol With around 440,000 inhabitants, according to local authorities, is without water, heating and electricity after air raids. The strategically important city is now apparently surrounded.
Meanwhile, detailed situation is in southern area capital Cherson not clear. The Ukrainian army has apparently abandoned the city. “We have no Ukrainian armed forces in the city, only peaceful residents who want to live here!” Mayor Ihor Kolychayev wrote on the night. Russian occupiers are in all parts of the southern port city of Cherson, the local authorities said. Kherson would be the first major Ukrainian city under new Russian control.
33 dead in Russian airstrike on Chernihiv
In a Russian attack on residential areas in the city Chernihiv According to Ukrainian sources, 33 people were killed in northern Ukraine. The city’s emergency services said 18 other people were injured. There had previously been talk of 22 fatalities. According to the information, two schools and a high-rise apartment building were hit in the attack.
The deputy mayor of Chernihiv, Regina Gusak, told the AFP news agency that Chernihiv, 120 kilometers from Kyiv, had become the target of a Russian “bombing raid”. Governor Vyacheslav Tschaus had previously spoken of a Russian airstrike in which two schools in the Staraya Podusivka district and residential buildings were hit. Chernihiv and the region of the same name are located northeast of the capital Kyiv
OSCE wants to investigate possible war crimes
The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) announced on Thursday that a group of international experts would be commissioned to “investigate facts and circumstances surrounding possible war crimes and crimes against humanity” in Ukraine. According to the United Nations, 249 civilians were killed and 553 injured in the first week of the conflict. Ukraine had on Wednesday from more than 2000 civilians killed spoken.