The shooting just won’t stop around the Ukraine Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant…
UN inspectors will be visiting the plant in the near future….
Ukraine women step in to help…..
Grain shipements from the Ukraine are now steady…..
The Ukraine still has millions of tons ready to go for export….
The US and Europe continue to ship the Ukraine weapons for the fight now and to bulk up for the future….
Reports are the Russians are worried about a Ukraine militayr offense in the Donbas region….
The Ukraine may have backed away from a deal with Russia to stay nuclear weapon free (they gave their past nukes to Russian back in the day)
Here’s the latest on the war and its ripple effects across the globe.
Key developments
- Shelling at the plant may result in hydrogen leakage, sputtering of radioactive substances and fires, Ukraine’s nuclear power agency warned in a statement, as it accused Russian troops of repeatedly targeting the facility over the past day. Russia’s attack and control of the plant was a threat to “the security of the whole world,” the agency added. Russia’s ministry of defense, meanwhile, said Ukraine had fired shells at the facility in the past 24 hours.
- Negotiations for a visit to the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant by U.N. inspectors are nearing completion, but the Kremlin is insisting on a Russian media presence for the visit, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba told The Washington Post. “The Russians want to send Russian media to the power plant to welcome the delegation and to stage a propaganda show,” Kuleba said.
- At the United Nations, Russia blocked the final draft of a declaration on a joint treaty on nuclear security after weeks of negotiations. The Russian delegation objected to a clause in the text regarding the situation at Zaporizhzhia power plant.
- Another U.S. citizen has died in Ukraine, a U.S. State Department spokesperson confirmed Saturday. The agency has confirmed three deaths of U.S. citizens, but other fatalities have been reported. Oleg Kozhemyako, governor of Russia’s Primorsky Krai region, had said Friday that troops had killed an American in battle.
- Ukraine has canceled an agreement with Russia, according to a parliamentary official. It was not clear which agreement he was referring to, though in a dealsigned by Russian, Ukrainian and American leaders in 1994, Ukraine agreed to give up its nuclear weapons for security guarantees.
Battlefield updates
- Almost three-quarters of Donetsk’s population has been evacuated since the war began, regional head Pavlo Kyrylenko said, adding that Ukraine retained control of about 45 percent of the region, but all cities were being shelled constantly. The area, along with neighboring Luhansk, has long been a flash point for conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
- Ukraine’s southern command used rockets to take out a key bridge used by Russian troops in the southern Kherson region, Reuters reports.
- Britain plans to donate six undersea mine-hunter drones to Ukraine — equipment that will help detect Russian mines in the water and help keep ports safe, Britain’s Defense Ministry said Saturday, adding that it would train Ukrainian navy personnel on how to use the drones in the months ahead.
- Russia probably has increased the intensity of its assaults in the Donbas region in response to speculation that Ukraine is planning a major counteroffensive, Britain’s Defense Ministry said in an intelligence update Saturday. However, Russian forces have secured few territorial gains overall, it added….