Zelensky: “The Russians were targeting the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant”
Volodymyr Zelensky, in a video published yesterday evening, claimed that the attack which damaged buildings near the Khmelnytskyi nuclear power plant in the west of the country on the night of Tuesday to Wednesday was aimed at the plant itself : “It is very likely that the target of these drones was the nuclear power plant.”
“This strike on the nuclear power plant once again reminds all our partners how important it is to strengthen Ukraine’s air defense and how dangerous it can be when Russia manages to circumvent international sanctions,” the president said Ukrainian.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was concerned about the shooting near the nuclear plant. “This incident once again highlights the extremely precarious nuclear security situation in Ukraine, which will persist as long as this tragic war continues,” said IAEA Director General Rafael Mariano Grossi.
Slovakia announces cessation of military aid to Ukraine
The new Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico announced today the end of arms deliveries to Ukraine, limiting support for his neighbor to “humanitarian and civil aid”. “We consider aid to Ukraine only as humanitarian and civil aid, we will no longer provide weapons to Ukraine,” declared Robert Fico, the day after his appointment as head of a coalition government associated with a pro-Russian far-right party.
2 dead in the Kherson region
Bombing by the Russian army left two dead and four injured in the Kherson region, according to the governor. A child is one of two people who died. He indicates on Telegram that the Russian army carried out 365 artillery attacks and airstrikes in 24 hours.
Still intense fighting around Avdiivka
The Russian army has gained ground around Avdiivka, northwest of Krasnohorivka, says the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). Russian military personnel have reached the railway line north of the city, says Russian military blogger WarGonzo, quoted by The world . For its part, the Ukrainian general staff affirms that the Russian army has experienced unsuccessful offensives in four localities near Avdiivka.
Vladimir Putin oversees ballistic missile test firings
After a unanimous vote in the lower house last week, the upper house of the Russian Parliament on Wednesday adopted the bill on withdrawal from the international treaty banning nuclear tests. This decision, against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine, raises fears of a new race for weapons of mass destruction.
Moscow no longer wants to hear about nuclear arms control
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov assured yesterday that his country would only talk about nuclear arms control when Washington, Ukraine’s main military and financial backer, ceased to be “hostile” to Moscow. Vladimir Putin, who in recent years has praised the new Russian weapons developed, capable according to him of piercing existing anti-missile shields, assured that Russia was in the process of completing tests of two of them: the Bourevestnik and Sarmat.
F-16 training begins for Ukrainian pilots
A “small number” of Ukrainian pilots began F-16 training in the United States this week, according to an Air Force spokesperson cited by CNN . The pilots will train with the Arizona Air National Guard’s 162nd Wing, a unit that specializes in training international partners on the fighter jet. The training should last “several months,” said the spokesperson.
For months, Ukrainian President Volodomyr Zelensky has urgently requested F-16 fighter jets to better combat barrages of Russian drone and missile attacks, CNN recalls.