The plant on fire
The advance of the Russians in Ukraine proceeds mainly from the south, while it remains stationary north of Kiev. In their advance from the coast, going up the Dnieper River, the Russian soldiers met Zaporizhzhia, where the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is located, source of a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity. During the fighting of the night a building of the power plant was hit by heavy artillery fire: not a reactor, but a building dedicated to training which is half a kilometer away.
The flames that lit up the night sky made us think of the worst. On Friday morning, however, both the Ukrainian authorities and the IAEA, International Atomic Energy Agency, have ruled out radioactive leaks and direct damage to the plant. The fire was extinguished within hours and radioactivity levels remain normal, according to measurements made by several countries, from Sweden to China. The nuclear plant, however, as well as the city, fell into the hands of the Russians.
The director of the IAEA Rafael Grossi he asked to be able to go to Chernobyl. The plant that was decommissioned for the 1986 incident had also fallen into the hands of the Russians at the beginning of the war, causing a first generalized alarm. Grossi wants to make an agreement with the occupiers to prevent a repeat of attacks on Ukrainian nuclear facilities.
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by Enrico Franceschini
The Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky accused the Russians: “They knew what they were hitting, they targeted the site directly.” The US embassy in Kiev tweeted: “Attacking a nuclear power plant is a war crime.”
The squeeze on the Russian media and the choice of the BBC
The Bbc has decided to recall its journalists who work in Russia, after a law just approved by the Duma, the Russian parliament, which limits the freedom of the press. The measures decided by Moscow, writes the English broadcaster in a statement, “affect the independence of the journalist and this leaves us no choice but to temporarily suspend the work of our journalists. Bbc News Service in Russia will continue to operate outside Russia. The safety of our staff is our top priority and we are not prepared to expose them to criminal risks while doing their job. “
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by Lara Crinò
The BBC is not the only victim of the Russian squeeze on the media. Novaya Gazetathe newspaper of the Nobel Peace Prize Dmitry Muratov, had to remove all content about the war in Ukraine to avoid censorship. The contents of Deutsche Welle, Voice of America and the Russian site Meduza have also been blocked. All have been accused by the Kremlin of spreading “false news” about the conflict. For example, it is forbidden to speak of Ukraine using the word “war”.
“One hundred children killed in one day”
Mariupol to the south and Kharkiv to the east remain heavily under attack. In Kharkiv, according to Save The Children, the bombings killed one hundred children in one day: “One hundred children killed in 24 hours are a disgrace to consciences around the world“, the organization said. In Kiev, on the other hand, a relative stalemate continues (the day was studded with explosions anyway). The 60-kilometer-long Russian armored convoy stands still 25 kilometers north of the capital. Lack of food, fuel and “traffic” caused by damaged vehicles are the symbol of the failed Russian goal of conquering Ukraine in a blitzkrieg.
The occupied cities of the South
It is on the southern front at the moment that the war is hitting the hardest. Kherson, on the Black Sea, at the mouth of the Dnieper, was the first city occupied by the Russians. Mayor Igor Kolykhaiev posted the rules imposed by the invaders on Facebook. Residents cannot leave their homes in groups larger than two people. Cars can only advance at walking pace. “We have enormous difficulties in collecting and burying corpses, removing garbage, distributing food and medicines”. Further east in Mariupol, on the shore of the Azov Sea, Mariupol is still under siege. The mayor spoke of a bombed and exhausted city, without food, water, electricity and therefore heating.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg accused Russia: “We have observed the use of cluster bombs and have heard of other types of weapons in violation of international agreements.”
Refugees continue to leave Ukraine
The UN Refugee Agency said 1.3 million people have fled Ukraine and at least 249 civilians have been killed in the clashes. They are only the official victims, the real toll is certainly much higher, the UN warns. As for the refugees, about half went to Poland. Almost 150,000 people, mainly from the eastern provinces of Donetsk and Luhansk, already semi-occupied by the Russians, fled to Russia.
Attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. The IAEA: “No radioactive leak but technical problems in Chernobyl”
by our correspondent Tonia Mastrobuoni
Negotiations between the Russians and Ukrainians on Thursday resulted in an agreement to establish humanitarian corridors. At the moment, besieged cities in the south especially need it. It is still early to see a concrete application, but the first doubts emerge. The European Institute for Peace points out, for example, through the mouth of the responsible Emma Beals, that in Syria Russia has used the humanitarian corridors to refuel and reorganize itself.
Impossible to set up a no fly zone
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that an Alliance-controlled no fly zone would be too risky. The request for the no fly zone was made by Ukrainian President Zelensky. But an accident with a Russian aircraft would trigger NATO’s defense mechanism, effectively causing a conflict with Moscow. During Stoltenberg’s press conference in Brussels, dozens of protesters shouted outside the Alliance headquarters: “NATO, act now.”
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“This is the worst military aggression in decades, with cities, schools, hospitals, residential buildings bombed and attacks on nuclear power plants,” Stoltenberg added. “The days to come are likely to be worse, with more deaths and more destruction. There is broad agreement that we need to do more to support “Georgia, Bosnia and Moldova” because they could be at risk, exposed to further intervention, subversion and potentially even attacks by the Russian military. “
New negotiations over the weekend
The German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke with Vladimir Putin today. The two have agreed on a new round of negotiations between Russians and Ukrainians, which will take place over the weekend. The Russian president, however, continued with his bellicose tone. In a TV speech, he asked those who oppose Russia’s actions in Ukraine “not to exacerbate the situation” by imposing further sanctions on his country.