overview
Attack on Ukraine: This happened at night
Satellite photo of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant in Enerhodar. Photo: Planet Labs Pbc/Planet Labs PBC via AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, the situation around a nuclear power plant is coming to a head. The concern is great internationally. Below is an overview of recent events.
A fire on the site of the Ukrainian nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia caused alarm on Friday night. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson speaks of a direct threat to the security of all of Europe and wants to hold a special session of the UN Security Council.
Zelenskyy accuses Russia of targeted fire
After the advance of Russian troops to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant near the city of Zaporizhia, a fire broke out in a building at the plant. In the morning, according to the Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs, it was cleared. Burned a training complex. Increased radioactivity was not reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke of targeted shelling of reactor blocks by Russian tanks. Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko called for NATO to intervene. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “reckless actions” “could now directly endanger the security of all of Europe”. He wants to reach a special session of the UN Security Council “in the coming hours”. US President Joe Biden called on Russia to end military activities in the area around the nuclear power plant.
Ukrainerequests German tanks and submarines
The Ukrainian embassy in Berlin is asking the German government to supply additional weapon systems to fight the Russian attackers, including main battle tanks, submarines and combat aircraft. This emerges from a so-called verbal note from the embassy to the Chancellery, the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defense, which is available to the German Press Agency. The reason for the request is that Putin has started a “war of annihilation” against Ukraine and the Ukrainians, in which highly modern weapon systems are being used – including banned weapons such as cassette bombs with cluster munitions.
Hotline between Moscow and Washington
The Pentagon has set up a new hotline with Russia over the war in Ukraine. The US Department of Defense said the aim was to avoid misjudgments, military incidents and escalations. The US government does not want to send troops to Ukraine. However, she is concerned that the conflict with Russia could spread to NATO countries.
Schröder asked to give up post in Russia
After the SPD leadership, Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) also called on former Prime Minister Gerhard Schröder to vacate his posts at Russian state-owned companies. “My advice to Gerhard Schröder is to withdraw from these offices,” Scholz said on the ZDF program “maybrit illner”. This is not a private matter. In addition, Scholz advocated reviewing the financing of the former chancellor’s office from taxpayers’ money.
Russia’s credit rating continues to fall
The US rating agency Standard & Poor’s (S&P) has further downgraded Russia’s creditworthiness due to the new Western sanctions. The credit rating was lowered from “BB+” to “CCC-” in view of the increased risk of default on the bonds. Last week, the agency downgraded the rating to the so-called junk area for speculative investments. Now it went down another eight levels – the rating is only just above the category for insolvency. The Russian stock market remains closed for the fifth straight day on Friday.
Airline ticket giants are scrapping Aeroflot
The Russian airline Aeroflot loses further important business partners because of the war. With the US company Saber and the Spanish Amadeus IT Group, two of the largest booking system providers for flight tickets severed their business relationships with the airline on Thursday. Saber and Amadeus enable travel agents to compare flight deals and book tickets for customers both online and in-store.
Google stops advertising business in Russia
Google suspends its ad business in Russia. The group announced that advertising was affected both in the context of Internet searches and on the YouTube video platform. Previously, Google only blocked certain war-related ads. As another tech company, the apartment broker Airbnb stopped its activities in Russia and Ukraine.
That will be important on Friday
The foreign ministers of the EU countries will meet again in the afternoon for a special meeting in Brussels. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken are also expected to attend. It remains to be seen whether Boris Johnson can reach a session of the UN Security Council.