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If you’re just joining us, here’s a roundup of the events so far
A fire broke out in a training building outside a nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia in the early hours of Friday after shelling by Russian forces, Ukrainian authorities said.
After burning for at least four hours amid reports Russian troops had prevented emergency teams from attending to the blaze, Ukrainian emergency services confirmed the fire was extinguished at 6.20am local time.
The power plant has reportedly now been seized by Russian military forces, according to regional authorities.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) earlier said it had put its Incident and Emergency Centre in “full 24/7 response mode” due to the “serious situation” unfolding at Zaporizhzhia.
However, US energy secretary Jennifer Granholm provided reassurance surrounding the Zaporizhzhia power plant reactors, saying there was no elevated radiation readings near the facility and the plant’s reactors are “protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down”.
Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, made another appeal to Europe for help following the attack on the nuclear plant. He said: We warn everyone that not a single nation ever shelled nuclear power stations. For the first time in the history of humankind, the terrorist state commits nuclear terrorism.”
Nato’s secretary general Jens Stontenberg has said the attacks by Russia on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant – the largest in Europe – highlight the “recklessness” of Vladimir Putin’s war.
Forty-seven people were killed in Russian airstrikes on a residential district of the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Thursday, regional authorities said.
Russia’s communications watchdog has restricted access to several foreign news organisations’ websites including the BBC and Deutsche Welle for spreading what it described as ‘false information’, amid friction about reporting on Ukraine.
Russian forces continue to control both local and regional government buildings in the strategically important Black Sea port of Kherson, local authorities said. Russian forces appeared to be moving to cut Ukraine off from the sea via its key southern ports, claiming the capture of Kherson and tightening the siege of Mariupol.
Concern is mounting over the movements of a huge column of Russian military vehicles outside Kyiv. While a US defence official suggested it appeared to have “stalled”, there was also speculation that an estimated 15,000 troops attached to it may be regrouping and waiting for logistical supplies before an assault on Kyiv.
Vladimir Putin is “at risk” of ending up in prison for war crimes carried out by his Russian forces in Ukraine, the British justice secretary said on Friday.
The Russian parliament has passed a law which makes it a criminal offence to spread “fake” information about its armed forces.
(With inputs from BBC)
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