Status: 03/04/2022 03:00 a.m
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. Local officials called for the fighting to stop immediately.
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 apparently 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.”
Uncertainty about the emission of radiation
It is unclear whether radioactive radiation escapes from the nuclear power plant. The RIA agency quotes a person in charge of the power plant as saying that increased radiation levels have not yet been measured. The AP news agency, on the other hand, also quotes an official who reports increased radiation levels.
Ukrainian 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.
As recently as Thursday, the International Nuclear Safety Agency (IAEA) expressed concern that the fighting could inadvertently damage Ukraine’s 15 nuclear reactors. In the early morning, the IAEA said it was monitoring the situation and was in contact with the Ukrainian authorities.
conflicting parties as a source
In the current situation, 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.
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 Kherson 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.