Russia occupies Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant

The russian troops occupied this Friday the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine and Europe, after an attack that caused a fire without consequences in radioactivity levels, but that paralyzed the world in fear of a new atomic catastrophe.

Russian projectiles hit the facilities of the Zaporizhia nuclear plant located about 150 kilometers north of the Crimean peninsula in the early hours of Friday, sparking a fire in a building and a laboratory.

After a few hours of alarm, in which the Ukrainian president Volodimir Zelenski warned of a possible disaster “ten times bigger than Chernobyl”, referring to the catastrophic nuclear accident of 1986 in that country, the relief services were able to extinguish the flames, according to the Kiev authorities.

“There have been no changes in the radiation situation,” said the inspection agency of atomic plants of Ukraine, which confirmed that Russian forces occupied the territory of the plant

Of the six blocks, the first was put out of service, numbers 2, 3, 5 and 6 are in the cooling process and 4 is operational, he said.

Zelensky claimed that it was Russian tanks that opened fire. “These tanks are equipped with thermal sights, so they know what they’re doing, they were prepared,” he said.

“We must prevent Europe from dying of a nuclear disaster”said the president, calling for tougher sanctions against Moscow.

The Russian attack shocked the world.

US President Joe Biden immediately contacted his Ukrainian counterpart, and NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg condemned Russia’s “irresponsibility” on Friday.

The director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Argentine Rafael Grossi, offered on Friday to travel to the Chernobyl plant and negotiate with Ukraine and Russia guarantees for the safety of Ukrainian nuclear facilities.

“As planned”

At the beginning of the second week of the invasion, Russia intensified its bombardments, which caused numerous civilian casualties and material damage.

The prospect of a ceasefire seems distant. In a second round of negotiations, both sides only agreed to create humanitarian corridors.

Apparently slowed down in Kiev and in Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second largest city in the northeast, the Russian invasion is progressing in the south.

To stop it, Zelensky called on Western countries to “close the sky” over Ukraine to Russian warships or hand over planes to them, and warned that Moscow could then attack the Baltic states and the rest of Europe.

Until now, Western countries have delivered weapons to Ukraine, but have focused their response on a battery of sanctions to isolate Russia diplomatically, economically, culturally and in sports.

However, these measures do not seem to faze Putin.

“The special military operation is proceeding on schedule, as planned,” the Russian president told a meeting of his Security Council on Thursday.

In a previous conversation with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, Putin promised to continue his offensive “without concessions”. After speaking with the Russian president, Macron concluded that “the worst is yet to come” in the conflict in Ukraine.

gag to the press

At the domestic level, Moscow on Friday tightened its control over the press and increased repression against NGOs defending human rights and helping migrants.

Access to the Russian-language edition portals of the BBC and the German international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, the independent portal Meduza and Radio Svoboda, the Russian antenna of RFE/RL, a medium financed by the US Congress, was “limited”, according to the media regulatory body (Roskomnadzor), in response to an order from the prosecutor’s office.

Russian deputies adopted this Friday a text that provides harsh prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish “false information” about the army.

Two well-known NGOs, the emblematic Memorial for the defense of human rights and another dedicated to helping migrants, were the object of police raids in Moscow, according to the two organizations.

Moscow justifies its invasion as an operation to protect the rebellious population of Donbas. Among their demands are a change of government in Kiev, that Ukraine never join NATO and that this alliance withdraw from its borders.

exodus and siege

The situation in Ukraine is extreme.

“Many cities are currently surrounded” by Russian forces and there is a “dramatic situation of food, medicine and evacuation possibilities,” Ukrainian presidential adviser Mikhailo Podolyak said on Twitter.

The head of the Russian delegation, Vladimir Medinsky, indicated that the talks on Friday focused on humanitarian and military issues and the “future political solution of the conflict.”

More than a million refugees have fled Ukraine for neighboring countries since the start of the invasion and millions of others have become internally displaced, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said.

On Thursday, the Russians consolidated their takeover of Kherson (population 290,000, south), their first major victory to date, and intensified their bombardment of other urban centers.

At least 33 people were killed in an attack on residential areas, including schools, in Chernigov (north), emergency services reported.

The emergency services also released images filmed in the area, in which smoke is seen in destroyed apartments, with rubble scattered in a wide area and rescuers transporting bodies on stretchers.

The Ukrainian military authorities claimed that residential areas in Kharkov had been “bombed all night”.

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