Concerns remain over the potential for a radiation leak at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Ukraine’s state energy operator has warned that there are “risks of hydrogen leaks and radioactive dust” at the Russian-occupied plant. Authorities distributed iodine tablets to residents living near the plant in case of radiation exposure.
Russia and Ukraine traded fresh accusations of bombing the area around the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, on Saturday. Moscow’s troops have “repeatedly shelled” the plant site over the past day, Ukrainian state nuclear company Energoatom said. Russia’s Defense Ministry has said that Ukrainian troops “fired the territory of the station three times” in the past day.
The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is trying to negotiate access to the plant for an urgent inspection mission “to help stabilize nuclear safety and security situation there.” Energoatom chief Petro Kotin told the Guardian a visit could come before the end of the month, but Ukraine’s Energy Minister Lana Zerkal told a local radio station she was not convinced that Russia was negotiating in good faith.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy issued a statement on the occasion of the Aviation Day of Ukraine, in which he promised that Kyiv’s troops would “step by step destroy the potential of the occupiers”. The Ukrainian president promised that the “Russian invaders will die like dew in the sun.”
Russia has likely stepped up its attacks in the Donetsk area of eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region over the past five days, according to British intelligence. Pro-Russian separatists are likely to have advanced towards the center of the village of Pisky, near Donetsk airport, but Russian forces have generally made little territorial gains, according to the latest report from the UK Ministry of Defence.
Russia has blocked a deal at the UN to strengthen the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. The failure to agree to a joint statement, due to Moscow’s objection to a clause on control of the Zaporizhzhia plant, is the latest blow to hopes of maintaining an arms control regime and curbing a arms race reactivated.
Ukrainian sailors will be allowed to leave the country for work, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has said. Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said conscription-age men recruited as crew members could leave the country as long as they had permission from their local conscription offices to cross the border.
Britain’s Ministry of Defense has said it will deliver six underwater drones to Ukraine to help clear its coast of mines and make grain shipments safer. In addition, dozens of Ukrainian navy personnel will be trained to use the drones in the coming months, the ministry said.
Russia’s neighbor and ally Kazakhstan has suspended all arms exports for a year, its government said, amid the conflict in Ukraine and Western sanctions against Moscow.
Poland and the Czech Republic have agreed to protect the airspace of their NATO ally, Slovakia, as it upgrades its air force from old Soviet-made MiG-29 fighters to a new batch of F-16 jets from USA