Europe’s largest nuclear power plant caught fire after being attacked by Russian troops
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant caught fire after being attacked by Russian troops. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second week. In the early hours of Friday local time in Ukraine, one of Europe’s largest nuclear power plants caught fire after being attacked by Russian forces. U.S. President Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky for an update on the fire at the nuclear power plant. He joined President Zelensky in urging Russia to halt military activity in the region and allow firefighters and emergency responders to enter the scene.
Europe’s largest nuclear power plant caught fire after being attacked by Russian troops
The China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said it would stop doing business with Russia and Belarus. The two countries have faced extensive international sanctions over the war in Ukraine. “In the best interests of the bank, management has decided to suspend all activities related to Russia and Belarus and conduct a review,” the AIIB said in a statement Thursday.
The AIIB said it was “actively monitoring the situation in Ukraine” and that management would “make every effort to maintain the financial integrity of the AIIB.” The multilateral financial institution, the brainchild of Chinese President Xi Jinping, was created in 2016 to counter Western dominance of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund. The Shanghai-based New Development Bank also said it had “suspended new transactions in Russia”. The New Development Bank was established around the same time, for similar reasons to the AIIB.
The White House said President Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday night to receive an update on the fire at the Zaporozhynia nuclear power plant. President Biden joined President Zelensky in urging Russia to halt military activity in the region and allow firefighters and emergency responders to enter the scene.
President Biden also spoke with the U.S. Department of Energy’s undersecretary for nuclear security and the director of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to receive an update on the plant. President Biden will continue to be regularly briefed on the plant, the White House statement said.
Russian troops attacked the Zaporozhynia nuclear power plant near the city of Ener-Godar on the Dnieper River on Friday morning local time.
Andriy Tuz, a spokesman for the plant, said Russian shells hit the plant, causing one of the six reactors to catch fire. The reactor was not operating, but there was nuclear fuel there, he said.
“A fire broke out as a result of the shelling of the Zaporozhnia nuclear power plant by Russian troops,” Tuz said in a video posted on the plant’s Telegram account.
He added that the power generation equipment of the nuclear power plant was hit. A Ukrainian government official, who asked not to be named, told The Associated Press that radiation levels at the plant had risen.
Earlier, Chary Rangacharyulu, a professor of physics and engineering at the University of Saskatchewan in Canada, said Russia might try to use the plant as a political bargaining chip, but he doubted They would be “stupid enough to destroy these facilities and release radioactive material into the atmosphere”.
“However, if they get it wrong and blow up a facility or two, the damage will not be limited to Ukraine. It will go beyond here. Russia and Belarus will be affected a lot. Let’s hope and pray that the Russian government won’t be so Crazy enough to cause harm to his own people,” he said in a written response to VOA’s questions.
CNN says nights are darkening in Ukraine.
Mainly for strategic reasons, the bright lights of Ukrainian cities have all but disappeared. Satellite imagery shows before and after the invasion began on February 25.
