'How could you ever forget Chernobyl?' Zelensky slams invaders for attack on nuclear plant and reminds them of 'catastrophic consequences' following 1986 disaster - as delusional Putin says his forces are NOT bombing Ukrainian cities
- Volodymyr Zelenskyy told Russian people not to 'stay silent' and said 'radiation does not know where Russia is'
- It comes after the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was attacked by Russian troops in early hours on Friday
- Moscow's ambassador to the UN has denied accusations that forces had shelled the atomic power plant
- Vladimir Putin has again insisted that Russia is not shelling Ukrainian cities in a call with Germany's Scholz
- That is despite medics warning up to 100 people could be buried in apartment rubble in Boradyanka, near Kyiv, and that 49 people died in a cluster bomb attack on Chernihiv yesterday
- Mariupol's mayor has warned this evening that the city is being 'simply destroyed' by withering artillery fire
- Missile fragment even landed in the ground of Zelensky's second residence, though it didn't cause damage
By KATE DENNETT and CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 08:57 AEDT, 5 March 2022 | UPDATED: 09:00 AEDT, 5 March 2022
Ukraine war: The latest
- Fire at Europe's biggest nuclear power station at Zaporizhzhia is put out after Ukraine accuses Russia of 'nuclear terror' in shelling the plant. Russian troops later take the reactors
- Diplomats from NATO, the EU and G7 will all meet in Europe today to discuss next moves to contain crisis
- Russia admits 'limiting' access to news websites including the BBC, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, independent Russian site Meduza and Germany's Deutsche Welle, with Facebook blocked
- Russian lawmakers approve legislation providing up to 15 years in jail for any publication of fake news about the Russian armed forces
- Thirty-three people are killed as Russian forces hit residential areas, including schools, in the northern city of Chernihiv
- Russia and Ukraine agree to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians from cities
- Russian President Vladimir Putin says Moscow's advance is going 'according to plan'
- Senior US Republican senator Lindsey Graham calls for 'somebody in Russia' to assassinate Putin
- Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky calls for direct talks with Putin as the 'only way to stop the war'
- Russian forces take the Black Sea port of Kherson as it appears Moscow is trying to cut Ukraine's access to the sea
- US and EU offer temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees so far numbering more than 1million
- Russians pack trains out of the country to Finland, fearful that it is their last chance to escape the impact of swingeing Western sanctions
- Sanctioned Russian oil giant Lukoil calls for a halt to fighting in Ukraine, one of the first major domestic firms to speak out
- Russian tech giant Yandex warns it may default on its debt after it was suspended from trading on New York's digital stock exchange
- The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank suspends business with Russia and Belarus in a sign of their deepening pariah status
- Ex-Soviet states Georgia and Moldova - which borders Ukraine's threatened south - apply to join the EU
- The Beijing Winter Paralympics opens with Russian athletes banned
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has slammed Putin's troops for seizing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant as he urged Russian citizens to remember the 'catastrophic' Chernobyl disaster.
Zelenskyy appeared on video as he urged Russian residents to tell authorities that they want to live on land 'without radioactive contamination', amid fears of a meltdown following the attack on Europe's largest power station.
The Ukrainian leader, 44, appealed to people to remember the 'catastrophic consequences' of the 1986 Chernobyl disaster as he said 'radiation does not know where Russia is'.
In the early hours of Friday, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which creates around 20 per cent of Ukraine's electricity, was attacked.
CCTV captured a fierce gun battle between Putin's men and Ukrainian defenders that sparked a fire in a six-storey training building just outside the main complex. Moscow's men then stopped firefighters getting to the building for several hours.
Moscow has, predictably, attempted to deny responsibility for the attack, saying its forces had come under attack by Ukrainian 'saboteurs' while patrolling the plant, who then set fire to the building themselves.
In another denial, a delusional Vladimir Putin has again insisted that Russia is not bombing Ukrainian cities, despite fears that 100 people are buried under rubble after an apartment block near Kyiv was struck and after a cluster bomb attack on the city of Chernihiv which killed 49.
The Zaporizhzhia attack has been internationally condemned, with French President Emmanuel Macron expressing alarm about 'the risks to nuclear safety' while the US ambassador to the UN slammed the advance as a dangerous escalation that 'represents a dire threat to all of Europe and the world'.
Nuclear experts warned the attacks were 'frightening' but that any disaster caused by fighting would be similar to Fukushima in 2011 rather than Chernobyl in 1986. Fukushima, in Japan, melted down after a tsunami cut electricity to the plant, disabling its cooling system. Chernobyl exploded after a training exercise gone-wrong caused an uncontrolled nuclear reaction.
Addressing Russian citizens, Zelenskyy said: 'Russian people, I want to appeal to you: How is this possible?
'After all we fought together in 1986 against the Chernobyl catastrophic consequences. You must remember smouldering graphite which was scattered across by an explosion.
'The victims. You must remember irradiation over the destroyed power plant unit. You must remember evacuation from Pripyat and the 30km zone around it. How could you ever forget about it?
'If you did not forget, then you must not keep silent. You must tell your authorities, go out on the streets and say that you want to live, that you want to live on the land without radioactive contamination.
'Radiation does not know where Russia is.'
Zelenskyy also appealed to European nations to support his country's fight against the invading Russian military, asking people not to be silent about what is happening in the Ukraine.
In a video, he addressed thousands of people protesting the war in several European cities, naming among them Paris, Prague, Lyon, Frankfurt and others.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy (pictured) urged Russian residents to tell authorities that they want to live on land 'without radioactive contamination', after Russian troops seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
In the early hours of Friday, the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was attacked. A damaged Russian attack vehicle is seen outside the power plant (left) while firefighters work to extinguish a fire that broke out inside a training complex (right)
Fire-damaged buildings at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex are pictured on Friday morning after coming under attack by Russian forces overnight, leading to international condemnation
Russian armoured vehicles and troops attacked the nuclear power plant in the early hours of Friday, shooting and shelling guards holed up in administrative buildings near the nuclear reactors - setting one of them on fire
'Don't turn a blind eye on this,' he said. 'Come out and support Ukraine as much as you can,' he said though a translator. 'If we fall, you will fall.'
'And if we win, and I'm sure we'll win, this will be the victory of the whole democratic world, this will be the victory of our freedom, this will be the victory of light over darkness, of freedom over slavery.
'And if we win we will become as blossoming as Europe. And Europe will be flourishing more than ever. All of you are Ukrainians today, thank you for this.'
Following the early morning attack on the Zaporizhzhia plant, emergency crews were allowed to go in and douse the flames before Russian troops moved in an occupied the site, which provides a fifth of Ukraine's electricity.
The UN's nuclear monitoring agency said that, fortunately, none of the site's six reactors had been directly damaged and radiation levels remained normal. Three Ukrainian troops were killed defending the complex, Kyiv said.
Claire Corkhill, professor of nuclear materials at Sheffield University, told the BBC the reactors at Zaporizhzhia appear to be shutting down to remove the danger of a Fukushima-style meltdown - which may have been Russia's intention in attacking the plant.
Moscow has, predictably, attempted to deny responsibility for the attack, saying its forces had come under attack by Ukrainian 'saboteurs' while patrolling the plant, who then set fire to the building themselves.
'These statements are simply untrue,' Moscow's ambassador to the UN Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council. 'This is all part of an unprecedented campaign of lies and disinformation against Russia.'
Sparks erupt from an administration building (bottom right) as a live steam video shot from a larger office block behind it films Russian tanks opening fire on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the early hours of Friday morning
Rafael Mariano Grossi, head of the UN's nuclear energy watchdog, outlines where the building that caught fire was in relation to the six reactors at Zaporizhzhia
A projectile (the bright light, bottom left) lands in a car park at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, damaging cars in the area
BORIS JOHNSON: THE WORLD IS TURNING ITS BACK ON PUTIN
Boris Johnson believes Vladimir Putin intends to 'double down' on his invasion of Ukraine, as the Russian president envisages 'no way out' but to 'continue with the destruction'.
In an interview with La Repubblica, Die Welt and El Pais, the Prime Minister described the moment he was woken in the middle of the night to the news of Russian shelling of Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station in Ukraine, saying European security is 'equally jeopardised' by such an attack.
'I was woken because poor Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky was extremely concerned about what was happening at the nuclear power plant Zaporizhzhia,' he said.
'He rang me to say something that I agreed with profoundly, which is: an attack on a nuclear power plant or an explosion at a nuclear power plant are clearly a matter of our common European health and safety.
'Our security is equally involved, equally jeopardised by such an attack. We remember what happened with Chernobyl, the radioactive clouds spread over the whole continent, and indeed, also to North America, as far as I can remember.
'There is clearly a risk. Although the incident has been contained and the IAEA says there's no excessive radioactivity, I am concerned about how we stop a disaster: there are other Ukrainian plants and there are certainly other Ukrainian radioactive nuclear waste sites.
'One of the things we need to consider is how we're going to work together to prevent such a disaster. I don't think the answers are easy, but we need to work on it.'
He added: 'We need to work on it urgently. One of the reasons why Putin has, I think, miscalculated so badly in this appalling war is because he underestimated badly the willingness of the Ukrainians to fight and to defend their territory, their belief in their country, their love of their country.
'He misunderstood the character of the Ukrainians and of their resolve, and he underestimated President Zelensky as well, he's been extraordinary.
'Putin also underestimated Western unity, and the governments of all the countries represented around this table have really worked together, very effectively, to produce a package of economic sanctions that has had a very considerable effect on Russia.'
Asked how nuclear plants can be protected, he said: 'We have to make clear to the Kremlin that a civilian nuclear disaster in Ukraine, another Chernobyl, is a disaster for Russia as well as for everybody.
'Therefore, I think that some system of protecting those plants, some system of ensuring that radioactivity levels are monitored by international authorities, such as the UN and the IAEA on the ground, is going to be extremely important.'
Mr Johnson said it appears Russian President Vladimir Putin is set on continuing with the 'destruction' in Ukraine.
'It feels to me as though Vladimir Putin has decided to - and it's clear from what's happening - that he's decided to double down,' he said.
'He sees no way out of the cul-de-sac that he's in, except to continue with the destruction, the pulverising of innocent populations, in innocent European cities.
'So we will have to respond together with an intensified package. I also want to thank and to congratulate other European governments, all of whom have now really stepped up to the plate in delivering support for the Ukrainians and support for the Ukrainian right to self-defence.
'We must not accept the narrative of Vladimir Putin that this is about him versus Nato, or him versus the West.'
The Prime Minister also suggested the crisis in Ukraine may have improved relations between the UK and EU.
Asked if the situation had 'in some sense... mended a lot of wounds and a lot of broken relations between the UK and the European Union', Mr Johnson said 'all crises reveal the true relationships'.
'Sometimes, if a family goes through some big trauma, then the real strength of the affection between the members of the family and the way they work together can sometimes suddenly be revealed again,' he said.
'I think that's probably what's happening now.'
He added: 'The last few weeks have shown that Nato is stronger than ever, more relevant than ever. When we went to Estonia or Poland, just this week, you feel it there. They want Nato.'
Mr Johnson said Mr Putin was wrong if he thought he was going to 'get less Nato' by invading Ukraine.
'He's actually getting more Nato. Nato is going to be closer, they're going to be bigger,' he said.
'Defence spending is going up. So he's ending up with the exact opposite of what he wanted.'
He said Russian troops had exchanged small arms fire with Ukrainian forces at Zaporizhzhia but had not shelled the facility in southern Ukraine.
He claimed the fighting occurred at a training complex 'located just outside the territory of the nuclear power plant' and accused 'Ukrainian saboteurs' of setting fire to the training facility.
'The operation of the nuclear power plant continues normally,' Nebenzia said. 'Nothing threatens the safety of the six power units. There is no threat of a release of radioactive material.'
But Sergiy Kyslytsya, the Ukrainian envoy to the UN, lashed out at his Russian counterpart, and accused him of spreading 'lies' as he claimed Russian troops in control of the nuclear facility were refusing access to Ukrainian inspectors.
Kyslytsya also formally called for the United Nations to establish a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
'Establishing a ban on all flights in the airspace of Ukraine should be a top priority for the Security Council,' he said.
NATO has already ruled out setting up a no-fly zone over Ukraine and Russia would veto any such proposal in the Security Council.
Addressing the Ukraine's call at the UN council, President Zelenskyy took to Twitter to accuse Russia of 'nuclear terrorism'.
He wrote: 'Nuclear terrorism requires decisive action in response. At the Security Council meeting #ООН we called for closing the skies over and launching an operation to maintain peace and security. The goal is to save dangerous objects. The world should not watch, but help!'
Elsewhere, Zelenskyy said the attack on Zaporizhzhia could have caused a crisis equivalent to 'six Chernobyls' - referencing the fact that the modern-day plant has six reactors while the Soviet-era disaster affected only one - and called on Russians to end the fighting.
In 2011, a 33ft-high tsunami that killed nearly 19,000 people crashed into Japan's Fukushima nuclear power plant.
This led to several meltdowns, allowing harmful radioactive fuel rods and debris to escape from contained areas.
Approaching a decade after the disaster, researchers are still struggling to clean up fuel in the waters of the wasting reactors.
Following the attack on Zaporizhzhia, the US ambassador to the United Nations slammed the advance as 'reckless' and deemed it to be a dangerous escalation that 'represents a dire threat to all of Europe and the world'.
'By the grace of God, the world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night,' Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council.
'Russia's attack last night put Europe's largest nuclear power plant at grave risk,' Thomas-Greenfield said.
She told the council that the attack threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and the rest of Europe as she warned that nuclear facilities 'cannot become part of this conflict'.
'It was incredibly reckless and dangerous. And it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe,' she added.
Thomas-Greenfield also urged Russian leader Vladimir Putin to end the invasion of Ukraine following the 'dangerous' attack.
'Not only has he not listened, we've just witnessed a dangerous new escalation that represents a dire threat to all of Europe and the world,' Thomas-Greenfield said.
'President Putin must stop this humanitarian catastrophe by ending this war and ceasing these unconscionable attacks against the people of Ukraine,' she said. 'Mr. Putin must stop this madness, and stop it now.'
Meanwhile, Zhang Jun, the Chinese envoy to the UN, called on the international community meanwhile to 'stay cool-headed and rational'.
'Any action must contribute to de-escalation and diplomatic settlement, rather than adding fuel to the fire, leading to further escalation and deterioration of the situation,' the Chinese ambassador said.
And Rosemary DiCarlo, UN undersecretary general for political affairs, told the council that attacks on nuclear power facilities 'are contrary to international humanitarian law'.
Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), speaking to the council from an airplane on a flight to Iran, said he was prepared to travel to Ukraine to ensure the security of the country's nuclear facilities.
'This mission will be strictly restricted and circumscribed to the safety and security of the nuclear installations in Ukraine,' Grossi said.
French President Emmanuel Macron also joined other leaders in expressing his alarm about the seizure of the Zaporizhzhia plant.
Macron is 'extremely worried about the risks to nuclear safety, security and the implementation of international safeguards resulting from the Russian invasion of Ukraine,' the French presidency said in a statement.
It added that France would in the next hours propose 'concrete measures' to ensure the safety and security of the five main nuclear sites in Ukraine.
Elsewhere, a delusional Vladimir Putin has again insisted that Russia is not bombing Ukrainian cities, despite fears that 100 people are buried under rubble after an apartment block near Kyiv was struck and after a cluster bomb attack on the city of Chernihiv which killed 49.
A column of Russian tanks, armoured vehicles and support trucks is seen at the Zaporizhzhia plant after it was seized
An apartment building damaged following a shelling on the town of Irpin, 26 kilometres west of Kyiv
A school building damaged in yesterday's shelling in the city of Chernihiv in northern Ukraine, which saw 47 people die, according to local authorities
A man stands in front of a residential building damaged in yesterday's shelling in the city of Chernihiv on March 4 after 47 people died in the city on March 3, according to officials
Ukrainian troops take cover from Russian shelling in the city of Bucha, located to the west of Kyiv
People take cover from shelling in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, during a Russian assault to try and capture it
Forty-seven people died on March 3 when Russian forces hit residential areas, including schools and a high-rise apartment building, in the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv (pictured on March 4), officials said
A Russian armoured vehicle sits on a street of wrecked troop transports after several attacks trying to seize the town of Bucha
Rescuers and locals search through rubble of residential buildings destroyed by Russian shelling in the village of Markhalivka, to the south west of capital city Kyiv
Russia has been increasingly waging a war of terror against Ukrainian civilians after attempts to rapidly capture the country failed. Shelling has targeted small villages and towns, such as Markhalivka (pictured)
A house is on fire following shelling on the town of Irpin, 26 kilometres west of Kyiv, on Friday
A man walks in front of a residential building damaged in yesterday's shelling in the city of Chernihiv on March 4
Putin, speaking on a call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz this evening, dismissed all reports of Russian attacks on apartment buildings, schools and hospitals as 'fake' - a day after going on TV to accuse Ukrainians of using civilians as 'human shields' while vowing not to back down from his attack.
As he spoke, emergency services in Ukraine warned that around 100 people could be buried in rubble after a rocket strike cleaved an apartment in the city of Boradyanka - 30 miles from Kyiv - in two, with rescue workers unable to get to them. Officials in Chernihiv also raised the number killed in a cluster bomb attack to 49.
Increasingly desperate warnings are also coming from the surrounded city of Mariupol, in the south, where the mayor has warned the city is being 'simply destroyed' by Russian artillery - with water, electricity, and heating cut off while food is also running low. He has begged for a ceasefire to allow civilians to evacuate.
A shell fragment also landed in the grounds of President Zelensky's country house, though he is not thought to be there and no damage was caused.
Meanwhile Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine's foreign minister, claimed that Russian troops have raped women in cities they have already captured. He did not give evidence to back his claim, but Ukrainian media reported that eleven cases of rape had been reported in Kherson - the only major city captured by Russia after more than a week of fighting.
Russia has been increasingly waging a war of terror against Ukrainian civilians after attempts to rapidly capture the country failed. Indiscriminate shelling of major Ukrainian cities has been taking place, leaving hundreds of innocents dead.
And the attack showed no sign of letting up today, as Mykolaiv, in the south of Ukraine, came under attack with Russian forces moved within striking distance of the city centre. The city is located just a few miles from Kherson, which fell to Putin's men earlier in the week, along the road to Odessa - Ukraine's third-largest city and main port.
However, reports emerged on Friday evening that an attack on an airport on the outskirts of the city had been repulsed, with Ukrainian forces digging in for fresh fighting overnight.
But Ukraine's military did managed to pull off some successes. Two Russian jets were downed near Volnovakha, in the east near Donetsk, while Ukrainian special forces also ambushed two of the Kremlin's tank columns at Hostomel and Brovary, leaving large numbers of troops dead and destroying vehicles.
Kyiv says Russia has now lost around 9,200 men in the fighting, along with hundreds of tanks, almost a thousand armoured vehicles, and dozens of helicopters and jets.
It came after Russia launched an attack on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant overnight, killing three guards and sparking a fire that raged in the facility for four hours before emergency crews were eventually allowed to extinguish it once Putin's men had taken control.
The attack sparked international condemnation, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson branding it 'reckless' and saying it had 'threatened the security of the whole of Europe'.
The fighting raged on as NATO diplomats met in Brussels today, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken saying that NATO is 'ready' for war and will defend 'every inch' of member states' territory - though resisted calls for a no-fly zone over Ukraine, saying that would violate the defensive alliances' principles.
Jens Stoltenberg, head of the alliance who spoke alongside Blinken, said after a meeting of foreign ministers that NATO's responsibility is to protect its 30 member states - two of which, Poland and Romania, directly border Ukraine - and to stop the conflict from spilling over into a Europe-wide war.
The duo spoke amid concerns in Washington that a 'cornered' Vladimir Putin - who faces near-total condemnation of his invasion abroad, growing dissent at home, and stiffer Ukrainian resistance than he bargained for - may 'lash out' by invading another country or threatening the West with nukes, according to the New York Times.
A dog wanders through the wreckages of Russian armoured vehicles left littering the streets of Bucha, near Kyiv
A Russian tank in the city of Irpin, west of Kyiv, sits abandoned after being attacked by Ukrainian forces
Destroyed Russian armored vehicles in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, which has been under heavy attack in recent days
A fragment of a Russian shell sits in the garden of President Zelensky's country home, despite Putin's insistence that he is not targeting civilian properties
A local resident walks past the remains of a house of culture following a night air raid in the village of Byshiv, 40 kilometres west of Kyiv
A woman picks her way through the rubble of a destroyed school in the city of Zhytomyr, 80 miles to the west of Kyiv, as Russia renews its assault on the country for a ninth day
Kharkiv, the country's second-largest city, has come under renewed bombardment having already suffered heavy damage in increasingly indiscriminate Russian attacks (pictured)
'NATO will defend all its allies and territory against a Russian attack,' U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on arriving in Brussels, which hosts the alliance's headquarters.
'Ours is a defensive alliance. We seek no conflict. But if conflict comes to us, we are ready for it and we will defend every inch of NATO territory.'
NATO's head echoed Blinken's condemnation of Russian attacks on civilians in Ukraine, a former Soviet republic and Moscow satellite that wants to join the European Union as well as the Western military alliance.
Ukrainian authorities said on Friday Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after a building at the Zaporizhzhia complex was set ablaze during intense fighting.
'This just demonstrates the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops,' Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said.
While some countries indicated a willingness to discuss a no-fly zone, they made clear they did not consider it a viable option.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that NATO's red line was to avoid triggering a wider conflict. France's presidential office described a no-fly zone as 'a very legitimate request and very difficult to satisfy.'
Russia is continuing to advance in southern Ukraine, with Mariupol under bombardment and Odessa and Mykolaiv under threat. Chernihiv, in the north, and Kharkiv, in the east, continue to come under heavy bombardment. The capital Kyiv is also under threat, though Ukrainian counter-attacks took out some Russian forces early on Friday
'The Citing Articles' 카테고리의 다른 글
| 북, 대선 사전투표 이틀째 발사체 쏘아 '우리 갈길 간다' (0) | 2022.03.05 |
|---|---|
| 러軍 총격에 아빠 쓰러지자 “죽지말아요, 제발” (0) | 2022.03.05 |
| 文 판결까지 불복하며 정보공개 거부, 그 자료들 곧 다 묻힌다니 (0) | 2022.03.05 |
| 세계가 '천하의 역적' 푸틴 때릴때…美석학이 찍은 '진짜 악당' (0) | 2022.03.05 |
| 푸틴이 '체르노빌 공포' 건들자…유럽, 1년치 요오드 동난 이유 (0) | 2022.03.05 |