After a fire broke out at an Ukrainian nuclear plant, Russia has reported no radiation leaks. The National Public Radio reports that Russian officials are saying the incident is not linked to any cyberattack and there was no radioactive material in the air or water nearby.
The “nuclear plant near me” is a story about the Russian government taking control of the Ukrainian nuclear plant. There are no radiation leaks reported after this event.
Ukraine, Kyiv— According to local authorities and international observers, Russian shelling in southern Ukraine sparked a fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant before Russian troops took control of the area, raising fears that Moscow’s increasingly indiscriminate war could cause a global environmental disaster.
The fire started in the training facility of the Zaporizhzhia power plant and was put out early Friday morning, according to Ukraine’s emergency services. Officials claim that none of the plant’s six reactors were impacted and that no radiation was released. Both parties claimed that Russian forces stationed at the site were not interfering with the Ukrainian workers.
Nonetheless, the incident drew widespread outrage and stoked worries of a replay of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident, which shot a massive cloud of toxic steam over Europe and made the territory around the facility uninhabitable.
On Wednesday, Russian soldiers marching from the south arrived in Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia facility is situated. On Thursday, a Russian column invaded the city after capitulation talks failed. A fireball rose behind a church in the city, a short distance from the nuclear facility, and two bombs, likely illumination rounds, fell on the site itself, according to webcam video.
On Friday, Director General Rafael Grossi of the International Atomic Energy Agency told media, “What we understand is that this projectile is…coming from Russian troops.” Mr. Grossi said that he had volunteered to visit to Ukraine for discussions on nuclear site security.
A fire broke out at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility on Friday as a result of Russian bombardment, raising fears of an environmental calamity. Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko has requested a direct meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has said that the operation is proceeding as planned. Photo courtesy of Energoatom/Reuters
The incident, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was a terrorist act that placed all of Europe at jeopardy.
“We survived the night that might have ended history,” he declared, repeating his plea for a no-fly zone over Ukraine to be established by the West.
The Russian government blamed the incident on the Ukrainian military, calling it a “sabotage effort.”
The Defense Ministry’s television station Zvezda quoted the ministry as stating, “The objective of this was to blame Russia for what transpired.”
The assault on the nuclear plant, according to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, was a terrorist act that placed all of Europe in danger.
Getty Images/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP/AFP
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s effort to destabilize Ukraine’s democratically elected government and break its ties with the West, which began more than a week ago, has met with intense opposition. The Russian attack has halted around Kyiv, but troops have advanced in the country’s northeast and south, and Moscow has resorted to bombarding civilian districts in towns like as Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Mariupol, and Sumy.
On Friday, Secretary-General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Jens Stoltenberg said members of the alliance had decided not to impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine or deploy soldiers into the country to stop the violence. However, he said that the alliance will continue to help Kyiv in other ways, and cautioned that the situation would likely deteriorate in the coming days as Russia escalated its assaults.
“NATO isn’t involved in the war.” Mr. Stoltenberg emphasized Friday that NATO is a defensive alliance, ahead of an emergency meeting of the organization’s foreign ministers in Brussels. “We have no desire for war or confrontation with Russia.”
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who was in Brussels for talks with leaders from NATO, the European Union, and the Group of Seven, repeated the fears of a direct military war with Russia.
Mr. Blinken told reporters, “President Biden has made it plain that we are not going to go to war with Russia.” “However, we are going to great lengths with friends and partners to provide the Ukrainians with the tools they need to defend themselves properly.”
Mr. Zelensky slammed NATO’s decision not to act, saying it demonstrated the Western alliance’s weakness and divisiveness.
“Today, the alliance’s leadership has given the go-ahead for further shelling of Ukrainian towns and villages,” he claimed.
According to a senior US defense source, the US has given to Ukraine $240 million in armaments stolen from US military stores since February 26. The supplies include Javelin antitank weapons, Stinger antiaircraft missiles, small guns, and ammo, according to US authorities.
The administration is requesting greater military assistance for Ukraine from Congress. According to the Defense source, the US has been working closely with the UK, Canada, Lithuania, and Poland to coordinate security support to Ukraine. In all, 14 nations are assisting Ukraine with security issues.
Residents assisted in the construction of fortifications at a metro station in Kyiv.
The Wall Street Journal’s Christopher Occhicone took this photo.
The streets of Bucha, west of Kyiv, were littered with wrecked Russian armored vehicles.
Getty Images/ARIS MESSINIS/Agence France-Presse
According to Enerhodar Mayor Dmitry Orlov, a column of Russian armored vehicles stormed into Enerhodar about 4:30 p.m. local time on Thursday and started shooting on the nuclear site from a short range without notice, inflicting civilian casualties.
At the time of the Russian assault on the power station, two reactors were operational. During the bombardment, the plant’s management turned down reactor No. 3, leaving just reactor No. 4 operational, according to Ukraine’s national emergency agency. Ukraine has nine more nuclear reactors scattered around the nation.
The strike was the third by Russian military in the last few days, according to a factory employee. The Russian soldiers, backed by tanks and armored personnel carriers, started by demolishing a checkpoint outside the nuclear facility that had been guarded by members of the local Territorial Defense Force, he claimed. A structure near the facility caught fire during gunfire at a second checkpoint, he said. One Russian tank was destroyed, and three Ukrainian defenders were killed. The Russians then seized control of the plant’s entrance but did not enter, according to the employee.
Mr. Orlov claimed on social media that Russian bombardment in the power plant region ceased about 3 a.m. local time on Friday. According to Ukraine’s official emergency service, Russian soldiers blocked firemen from being sent to the scene for many hours. The fire was put out about 6:20 a.m., according to the report.
According to Energoatom, the operator of all Ukrainian nuclear power plants, the administration building of the Zaporizhzhia facility was captured by Russian military as of Friday morning. The plant’s Ukrainian personnel, according to both the Russian government and the IAEA, is still in operation.
Marina, a resident of Enerhodar, claimed she and her family had taken refuge in their house throughout the night and into the day.
“We don’t even have any bomb shelters in our city,” she remarked. “They don’t tell us anything, and we have no way of finding out.”
Dmitry Orlov, the mayor of Enerhodar, uploaded video of an explosion behind a church a few kilometers from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility. Dmitry Orlov/Storyful/Dmitry Orlov/Storyful/Dmitry Orlov/S
Meanwhile, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian soldiers in southern Ukraine were approaching another nuclear facility in the Mykolaiv area. Mr. Zelensky’s advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, who took part in Thursday’s cease-fire talks with Russia, said Kyiv had given Russia a mutual agreement not to undertake military operations within 30 kilometers of nuclear reactors. That plan was rejected by Russia, he claimed.
Ukraine’s reactors, according to the IAEA, are designed to resist serious accidents. However, David Albright, a former nuclear inspector who is now the head of the Institute for Science and International Security, believes that a significant nuclear disaster might still occur as a result of conflict.
A direct attack on a reactor’s emergency power sources in the event of a power loss might cause its core to meltdown and explode, breaching the containment structure and causing a significant radioactive release.
A missile strike on a spent fuel pond might cause the structure to collapse and the water to flood out, exposing highly hazardous material like as plutonium. Some of Ukraine’s other reactors, according to Mr. Albright, are older and may be less well designed to resist a missile attack or other significant disaster.
Moscow has increased the intensity of its military attack in southern Ukraine, infiltrating Kherson. Negotiators from Russia and Ukraine agreed to set up humanitarian corridors to enable people to flee besieged towns, but they were unable to strike an overall cease-fire deal on Thursday.
In Zhytomyr, Ukraine, a Ukrainian military man patrols.
VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI/REUTERS/VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI/REUTERS/VIACHESLAV RATYNS
Rescue workers stand among the ruins of a school in Zhytomyr, Ukraine, that was damaged by shelling.
VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI/REUTERS/VIACHESLAV RATYNSKYI/REUTERS/VIACHESLAV RATYNS
Mr. Putin, who has made it clear that he intends to keep the battle going, informed German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in a Friday phone conversation that a fresh round of talks will take place over the weekend, according to the German government. Mr. Scholz asked President Obama to halt all airstrikes and enable people to flee conflict zones.
Mariupol, a port town on the Azov Sea, has been besieged and bombarded by Russian soldiers, according to Mayor Vadym Boychenko. He claimed the city of 430,000 people is running out of food and is “on the edge of a humanitarian disaster,” and that a cease-fire is needed to restore power and water.
After Russian soldiers attacked cell towers, graphic artist Diana Berg, who fled Mariupol on Thursday, claimed phone coverage in most of the city had stopped functioning.
The scenario in the city was characterized as “total misery” by her. People were fleeing the conflict by relocating from one region to the next, she claimed. The majority of inhabitants only left their homes to get water and food, standing for hours at a time despite the threat of Russian fire and bombings.
According to Ms. Berg, leaving Mariupol is nearly as risky as remaining in it. She said, “The sky is becoming a source of death and devastation.” “So we had to choose between one method of death and another.” We were fortunate and made it.”
On Wednesday, a fire broke out in Mariupol, which has been bombarded mercilessly by Russian soldiers.
@AYBURLACHENKO/REUTERS photo
According to locals, occupying soldiers have taken over the local administration buildings in the southern city of Kherson, the first regional capital captured in the Russian offensive, but have not removed Ukraine’s flag from the regional government offices.
Hennadiy Lahuta, the governor of Kherson, stated on Friday that Russia had bused in a big number of people from Crimea, the peninsula that Moscow seized in 2014, and that a propaganda event will be held in the city’s Freedom Square. These individuals would pose as locals and demand that Kherson, which has a population of 270,000 people, be split from Ukraine, he claimed.
“Stay away from this absurdist play; don’t aid the enemy,” he said.
Russian military arranged the delivery of humanitarian assistance in Kherson later that day. Locals flocked to the scene, waving Ukrainian flags.
Local citizens have also taken to the streets in numerous other seized towns, waving Ukrainian flags, calling at Russian troops to return home, and attempting to impede the progress of Russian columns. The Ukrainian army has pushed people in the back to assault lightly armed supply convoys, claiming that without gasoline or ammo, Russian tanks on the front would be worthless.
“With humiliation, we shall drive them away,” Mr. Zelensky stated. “Every occupant must understand that they will not be able to gain anything here.” They are not going to allow anybody to surrender to them. They will be annihilated everywhere they go.”
After being bombarded, a home in Irpin, Ukraine, caught fire.
Getty Images/ARIS MESSINIS/Agence France-Presse
Russia’s major objective, according to Ukraine’s military, is to encircle Kyiv and reduce opposition in ringed areas. The Russian military has depleted most of its operational reserves in the region due to severe combat, and it is prepared to deploy more soldiers, according to the Russian military. According to Ukraine’s military, Russia is continuing its preparations for an amphibious attack on the port city of Odessa.
Ukraine published film of what it claimed was pushback on Kyiv’s outskirts on Thursday night and Friday morning, showing wrecked Russian equipment and dead Russian troops in the northern towns of Bucha, Irpen, and Hostomel, as well as the hamlet of Peremoha.
“In the last eight years, the Ukrainian armed services have received more tanks and armored personnel carriers as trophies than they have received from Ukrainian military enterprises,” Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov remarked. He went on to say that the Ukrainian military had to make “tough choices,” such as moving away from some locations, in order to retain its combat troops. According to him, Ukraine also destroyed its navy’s flagship, the Hetman Sahaydachny, which was undergoing repairs, in order to prevent it from falling into enemy hands.
Human Rights Watch stated on Friday that Russian troops fired cluster bombs into at least three residential areas in Kharkiv on Monday, killing at least three people, based on witness interviews and video and photographic analyses. Cluster bombs open up before they hit the ground and disseminate smaller munitions, many of which do not detonate and pose a long-term threat to people. An international treaty prohibits the use of such bombs, but neither Ukraine nor Russia are signatories.
In Lviv, western Ukraine, Red Cross employees were assisting refugees.
For The Wall Street Journal, Justyna Mielnikiewicz/MAPS
Outside the railway station in Lviv, a significant transit point for Ukrainians wanting to escape the country and enter Poland, Red Cross tents were placed up.
For The Wall Street Journal, Justyna Mielnikiewicz/MAPS
Despite an abundance of evidence showing Russian soldiers hitting civilian neighborhoods, the Russian government proceeded to tighten its grip on information about the conflict, which it has presented as a defensive operation focused primarily on military objectives.
Russia’s lower house of parliament enacted legislation on Friday that imposes jail penalties of up to 15 years for spreading “false news” about Russian troops’ activities.
“There’s a potential that its direct implementation would compel those who lied and made remarks denigrating our Armed Forces to face punishment, and that punishment will be severe,” House speaker Vyacheslav Volodin was cited as saying in a statement on the Duma’s website.
Russia has worked quickly to silence critics of the incursion. Thousands of protestors have been imprisoned around the nation, and media sites that refused to embrace Mr. Putin’s euphemism of “special military operation” have been banned.
Several news outlets, including Meduza, TV station Dozhd, and radio station Ekho Moskvy, which began broadcasting in the final days of the Soviet Union and has long been seen as a safe haven for voices critical of the authorities, have announced they are ceasing operations under state pressure as of Friday.
—This paper was co-written by Matthew Luxmoore, Brett Forrest, Michael R. Gordon, Ann M. Simmons, and Courtney McBride.
Yaroslav Trofimov and Laurence Norman may be reached at [email protected] and [email protected], respectively.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What nuclear plant did Russia take over?
A: Russia took over the Novo-Oksi nuclear plant in December of 2018. This is a facility that was previously owned by Azerbaijan before it was sold to Russia and then again after Russian President Putin revoked his decision on May 9th, 2019.
Is the Ukraine nuclear plant on fire?
A: I dont know.
How many nuclear power plants are leaking radiation?
A: My algorithm is unable to determine the amount of radiation emitted from open sources. Please contact your local authority for more information on this matter.
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