Police said the strike hit the village of Markhalivka, around 6 miles from Kyiv. (Twitter/@rustem_umerov)Russia Ukraine Crisis Highlights: A Russian air strike on a rural residential area in Kyiv region killed at least seven people on Friday, including two children, Ukraine state police said in a statement. Police said the strike hit the village of Markhalivka, around 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the southwestern outskirts of the capital.
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the neighbouring countries on Friday to not escalate tensions over the Ukrainian crisis. “There are no bad intentions towards our neighbours. And I would also advise them not to escalate the situation, not to introduce any restrictions. We fulfil all our obligations and will continue to fulfil them,” Putin said in televised remarks. The Russian President also said, “We do not see any need here to aggravate or worsen our relations. And all our actions, if they arise, they always arise exclusively in response to some unfriendly actions, actions against the Russian Federation.”
Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after a building at the complex was set ablaze during intense fighting with Ukrainian defenders, Ukrainian authorities said Friday. Fears of a potential nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant had spread alarm across world capitals, before authorities said the fire in a building identified as a training centre, had been extinguished. The head of the United Nations’ atomic watchdog said there has been no release of radiation at the Ukrainian nuclear plant that was targeted.
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Meanwhile, fighting intensified in southern Ukraine as Kherson became the first city to fall into Russian hands as shelling continued in Mariupol, Chernihiv and Kharkiv. Heavy fighting is continuing on the outskirts of a strategic port city on the Azov Sea, Mariupol. The Russian military says it controls Kherson, and local Ukrainian officials have confirmed Russian forces have taken over local government headquarters in the Black Sea port of 2.8 lakh people.
Flames and smoke rise from a damaged gym following shelling in Kyiv, Ukraine, March 2, 2022. (AP/PTI)
This live blog has been closed. Find the latest updates on Russia-Ukraine war here.
The United States and its allies have accused Russia of attacking Ukraine's largest nuclear power plant and putting the lives of millions of Europeans at risk of radiation fallout, but Russia claimed a "Ukrainian sabotage group" was responsible for setting fire to a nearby training facility.
At an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after photos of a burning building sent shock waves around the world of a possible nuclear disaster on Friday, the head of the UN nuclear agency reaffirmed that no reactors were hit and the Zaporizhzhia plant in the southeastern city of Enerhodar was operating normally. (AP)
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine said that attacking a nuclear power plant is a war crime on Friday after Russia seized a Ukrainian nuclear facility that is the biggest in Europe.
The statement on the embassy's Twitter account went further than any U.S. characterization of Russia's actions in Ukraine since it launched its invasion on Feb. 24. (Reuters)
The Biden administration is weighing cutting US imports of Russian oil and ways to minimize the impact on global supplies and consumers, the White House said on Friday, as lawmakers fast-track a bill that would ban Russian energy imports entirely.
"We are looking at ways to reduce the import of Russian oil while also making sure that we are maintaining the global supply needs out there," White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters at a briefing. (Reuters)
NATO on Friday rejected Ukrainian calls to help it protect its skies from Russian missiles and warplanes, wary of being dragged into Moscow's war on its neighbour, but Europe promised more sanctions to punish Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy strongly criticised the decision, saying the alliance had given Russia the green light to continue its bombing campaign.
He had earlier appealed to NATO to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine, which Russia invaded by land, sea and air on Feb. 24. (Reuters)
Data showing a vibrant US jobs market sent Treasury yields lower and strengthened the dollar on Friday, but the war in Ukraine overshadowed the blowout report as the euro plunged on the worsening outlook for slower European economic growth.
The unemployment rate fell to a two-year low of 3.8% as U.S. job growth surged in February, a bright spot for an economy that faces mounting headwinds from rising inflation, tighter monetary policy by the Federal Reserve and geopolitical tensions. (Reuters)
A top Ukrainian cybersecurity official said Friday a volunteer army of hundreds of hackers enlisted to fight Russia in cyberspace is attacking only what it deems military targets, prioritizing government services including the financial sector, Kremlin-controlled media and railways.
Victor Zhora, deputy chair of the state special communications service, also said that there had been about 10 hostile hijackings of local government websites in Ukraine to spread false text propaganda saying his government had capitulated. He said most of Ukraine's telecommunications and internet were fully operational. (AP)
Russia on Friday accused "Ukrainian nationalists" of "forcibly" holding over 3,700 Indian citizens in various cities, while saying the Russian military is doing everything to ensure the peaceful evacuation of foreign nationals.
Russia's Permanent Representative Vassily Nebenzia told an emergency UN Security Council meeting following the attack on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant in Ukraine, that radicals and extremists in Ukraine were and are under the "close guardianship and protection" of Western nations.
"We urge you to calm down your mentees who in the worst traditions of ISIL terrorists and their Idlib associates are hiding behind civilians, placing heavy weaponry and multiple rocket launchers in residential areas." (PTI)
The United States and its allies heavily criticized Russia on Friday at the United Nations over its shelling and seizure overnight in Ukraine of Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, and some demanded that Moscow not let such an attack happen again.
"The world narrowly averted a nuclear catastrophe last night," Linda Thomas-Greenfield, US Ambassador to the United Nations, told an emergency meeting of the 15-member Security Council, convened following the seizure of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine by Russian troops. (Reuters)
Russia blocked Facebook inside the country amid the ongoing conflict with Ukraine, AFP reported.
Microsoft Corp said on Friday it was suspending new sales of its products and services in Russia, becoming the latest Western company to distance itself from Moscow after the Ukraine invasion.
Several major companies, including Apple Inc, Nike and Dell Technologies, have severed connections with Russia as Western nations impose bold sanctions against Moscow following the attack. (Reuters)
A Russian air strike on a rural residential area in Kyiv region killed at least seven people on Friday, including two children, Ukraine state police said in a statement. Police said the strike hit the village of Markhalivka, around 10 kilometres (6 miles) from the southwestern outskirts of the capital.
Ukraine still has a 'significant majority' of its military aircraft available nine days after Russian forces started their invasion of the country, a U.S. defense official said on Friday. 'The Ukrainians still have a significant majority of their air combat power available to them, both fixed wing and rotary wing as well as unmanned systems and surface to air systems,' the official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said. (Reuters)
A Ukrainian Air Force fighter jet takes off in southern Ukraine. (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday he hoped Ukraine would take a "reasonable and constructive" position during the next round of talks, the Kremlin said in a statement.
Putin also told Scholz by phone that Russia was open for dialogue with Ukraine on condition that all its demands are met. Russia and Ukraine have held two rounds of talks since Russia invaded eight days ago in what it terms a special military operation, and have so far reached an understanding on the need to open up humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians. (Reuters)
After the Russian parliament passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military, Novaya Gazeta newspaper will remove material on Russia’s military actions in Ukraine from its website because of censorship.
After the Russia’s parliament passed a law for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military, the BBC is temporarily suspending the work of all its journalists and staff in the country, news agency The Guardian reported.
Amid the Russian inavsion of Ukraine, the huge Russian convoy outside of Kyiv was spotted through satellite. The Ukrainian military used Bayraktar drones supplied by Turkey before the conflict, to tackle the Russian military convoy.
Ukraine and Russia will face off Monday at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a hearing on emergency measures sought by Kyiv to order Moscow to suspend military operations, with Russia's legal team weakened by the resignation of a key lawyer.
The case lodged by Ukraine at the U.N. court centres on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both Russia and Ukraine.The court is named in the treaty itself as the forum for resolving disputes related to it, and Ukraine's suit argues that Russia has misinterpreted the treaty in several ways. (Reuters)
Washington is committed to doing every needed to stop the war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday as he went into a meeting with his EU counterparts praising the bloc for the "historic" steps it has taken against Russia.
"We are faced together with what is President Putin's war of choice: unprovoked, unjustified, and a war that is having horrific, horrific consequences for real people. For mothers, fathers. For children. We see the images on TV, and it has to stop," he told reporters in Brussels.
"We're committed to doing everything we can to to make it stop. So the coordination between us is vital," he added, standing alongside the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell. (Reuters)
NATO countries refused on Friday to police a no-fly zone over Ukraine, warning that such a move could provoke widespread war in Europe with nuclear power Russia, the organisation's top civilian official said.
Speaking after chairing a meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his counterparts, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg acknowledged the suffering of the Ukrainian people, as Russia ramps up its use of heavy firepower, shelling cities and other sites, forcing more than a million people out of the country.
“What is taking place now in Ukraine is horrific. It's painful and we see human suffering, we see destruction at a scale we haven't seen in Europe since the Second World War,” he said.
But, he added: “We are not going to move into Ukraine, neither on the ground, nor in the Ukrainian airspace.” Under a collective security guarantee binding NATO's 30 member countries — Article 5 of its founding treaty — all allies must come to the defense of an ally if it finds itself under attack. Any shooting down of a NATO warplane by Russia could trigger that clause. (AP)
The United States embassy in Ukraine. after the attack on Europe's largest power plant by Russia, said, "It is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant. Putin's shelling of Europe's largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further."
Russian forces on Friday seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, setting off worries of a potential nuclear incident. Ukrainian authorities said that the plant was taken after intense fighting, triggering a fire in a building at the complex. The fire was eventually brought under control.
UNHRC office on Friday said it had confirmed 331 civilians have been killed and 675 injured in Ukraine since Russia's invasion began on February 24, adding that the real toll was likely much higher. (Reuters)
The toll, through to midnight on Thursday, rose from 249 in its previous report from a day earlier. Among the 331 killed were 19 children, the U.N. rights office said.
Most of the victims were killed by explosive weapons such as shelling from heavy artillery, multi-launch rocket systems and missile and air strikes, according to the rights office, which has monitors in Ukraine.
As the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two enters its ninth day, thousands are thought to have died or been wounded, 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine and Russia's economy has been rocked by international sanctions. (Reuters)
Russia is using cluster bombs in Ukraine, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Friday.
'We have seen the use of cluster bombs and we have seen reports of use of other types of weapons which would be in violation of international law,' he told reporters in Brussels. (Reuters)
Ministry of External Affairs on Friday said that there are 16 flights scheduled for the next 24 hours, including an Indian Air Force's C-17 aircraft. The MEA also said that the government's highest attention is on the eastern Ukraine particularly Kharkiv and Pisochin.
'We have managed to get some buses there. 5 buses already operational, more buses later in the evening; 900-1000 Indians stranded in Pisochin & 700 in Sumy. We are concerned about Sumy,' spokesperson Arindam Bagchi said in a statement.
The euro fell on Friday below $1.10 for the first time in almost two years and hit a fresh seven-year low versus the Swiss franc as the war in Ukraine lowered expectations of European economic growth.
The European single currency was down 0.8% to $1.0967, its weakest level since May 2020, after Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after a building at the complex was set ablaze. Versus the Swiss franc, another safe haven, the euro fell 0.8% to 1.0066, its lowest since January 2015. The euro sank 0.4% against sterling to 82.56 pence, hitting its lowest level since July 2016.
Analyst said the war and the effects of surging energy and gas prices will likely undermine European consumption and economic growth prospects. "Euro remains somewhat at the epicentre of risk aversion," said Neil Jones, head of FX sales at Mizuho. Given surging energy prices and the European Central Bank reluctance to change its rate policy "euro trend should continue lower," he said. (Reuters)
The Kremlin told Russians on Friday to rally around President Vladimir Putin and said that what happened next in the negotiations over Ukraine would depend on Kyiv's reaction to this week's talks between the two sides.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that no documents had been agreed yet with Ukraine at the talks, but that Moscow had told the Ukrainian side how it saw the solution to the war. Russia invaded Ukraine last week in a move it describes as a "special military operation". (Reuters)
Russian President Vladimir Putin urged the neighbouring countries on Friday to not escalate tensions over the Ukrainian crisis. “There are no bad intentions towards our neighbours. And I would also advise them not to escalate the situation, not to introduce any restrictions. We fulfil all our obligations and will continue to fulfil them,” Putin said in televised remarks.
The Russian President also said, “We do not see any need here to aggravate or worsen our relations. And all our actions, if they arise, they always arise exclusively in response to some unfriendly actions, actions against the Russian Federation.” (Reuters)
India on Friday abstained in a vote in the UN Human Rights Council that has decided to urgently establish an independent international commission of inquiry as a result of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.
The 47-member Council voted on a draft resolution on the situation of human rights in Ukraine. The resolution was adopted with 32 votes in favour, two against (Russia and Eritrea) and 13 abstentions, including India, China, Pakistan, Sudan and Venezuela. The countries voting in favour included France, Germany, Japan, Nepal, UAE, UK and the US.
"The Human Rights Council has decided to urgently establish an independent international commission of inquiry as a result of Russia's aggression against Ukraine,” the Council tweeted. India has abstained on two resolutions on Ukraine in the 15-nation Security Council and one in the 193-member General Assembly in the last one week. (PTI)
The Ukrainian state nuclear company on Friday said that three Ukrainian troops were killed and two wounded in the Russian attack at the Zaporizhzhia plant. International Atomic Energy Agency Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said two people were injured in the blaze that broke out.
Ukrainian firefighters on Friday extinguished a blaze at Europe's biggest nuclear plant that was ignited by a Russian attack and no radiation was released, U.N. and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces pressed their campaign to cripple the country despite global condemnation.
The head of the United Nations' atomic agency said that a Russian “projectile” hit a training center at the Zaporizhzhia plant. Ukrainian officials have said Russian troops took control of the overall site, but the plant's staff are continuing to ensure its operations. (AP)
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he was briefed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during the night, and that immediate fears of severe consequences had not materialized.
'I was in touch with President Zelenskiy overnight who called me,' Scholz told reporters on Friday at a visit to the German forces' joint operations command in Schwielowsee near Berlin.
'For the moment, we know that all these dangers (that there had been concern about) haven't materialized but that the fire was contained to an administration building.' (Reuters)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of 'nuclear terror' after plant attack on Friday. President also accused Moscow of wanting to "repeat" the Chernobyl disaster after he says invading Russian forces shot at a nuclear power plant.
The head of the United Nations' atomic watchdog says there has been no release of radiation at the Ukrainian nuclear plant that was targeted. International Atomic Energy Agency director-general said that the agency has been in contact with the Ukrainian nuclear regulator and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant after a building on the site was hit.
That caused a fire that was extinguished. Rafael Mariano Grossi said two people on the site were injured in the fire. He said that the operator and the regulator say the situation "continues to be extremely tense and challenging." He said that only one reactor is operating at about 60%. (AP)
Hundreds of Indian medical students stuck at a university in east Ukraine’s Sumy city may have found a potential evacuation route — via buses across the Russian border — but need the government’s help in getting to them, said one of these students Thursday, citing information provided by a university coordinator.
A top Russian army officer, too, said his country was ready with 130 buses to help Indian students exit the battle zone through its borders. The remarks by Russian National Defence Control Centre head Colonel-General Mikhail Mizintsev came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin and discussed the safe evacuation of Indians. (Read more)
A week into the Ukraine invasion, Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, setting off worries of a potential nuclear incident. Ukrainian authorities said that the plant was taken after intense fighting, triggering a fire in a building at the complex. The fire was eventually brought under control.
The Ukrainian regional authority confirmed in a Facebook post that Russian forces had captured the plant and said personnel were monitoring the condition of power units to ensure they could operate safely. (Read more)
Russian law enforcement officers carried out searches on Friday at the Moscow office of human rights group Memorial International as well as Civic Assistance, an organisation that helps migrants and refugees, the OVD-Info protest monitor said.
It was not immediately clear what the searches were about and there was no comment from the police. Memorial International was ordered to shut down in December amid a sweeping crackdown. (Reuters)
Russian media watchdog has said that it has restricted access to some media websites, including the BBC, tightening controls over the internet. Access to websites of BBC, Meduza, Deutsche Welle and Russian-language US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Svoboda are "limited", news agency AFP reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy appealed directly to Russians on Friday to stage protests over the seizure of nuclear power infrastructure by Russian troops in Ukraine.
"Russian people, I want to appeal to you: how is this possible? After all we fought together in 1986 against the Chernobyl catastrophe," he said in a televised address. (Reuters)
Russia's parliament Friday passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally 'fake' information about the armed forces as Moscow fights back in what it casts as an information war over the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian officials have repeatedly said that false information has been spread by Russia's enemies such as the United States and its allies in an attempt to sow discord and divide its people. Russian lawmakers passed the law, making the spread of 'fake' information or public calls for sanctions against Russia criminal offences.
"If the fakes lead to serious consequences then imprisonment of up to 15 years threatens," the lower house of parliament, known as the Duma in Russian, said in a statement. The law appears to give the Russian state much stronger powers to crack down on what officials consider to be statements that discredit the armed forces. (Reuters)
Russia's parliament Friday passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally 'fake' information about the armed forces as Moscow fights back in what it casts as an information war over the conflict in Ukraine.
Russian officials have repeatedly said that false information has been spread by Russia's enemies such as the United States and its allies in an attempt to sow discord and divide its people. Russian lawmakers passed the law, making the spread of 'fake' information or public calls for sanctions against Russia criminal offences.
"If the fakes lead to serious consequences then imprisonment of up to 15 years threatens," the lower house of parliament, known as the Duma in Russian, said in a statement. The law appears to give the Russian state much stronger powers to crack down on what officials consider to be statements that discredit the armed forces. (Reuters)
France has activated the crisis cell at its ASN nuclear watchdog body after an earlier fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Ukraine, French Energy Minister Barbara Pompili said Friday.
Pompili added in a tweet that no changes regarding radiation levels had been signalled.
Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe after a building at the complex was set ablaze during intense fighting with Ukrainian defenders, local authorities said. Fears of a potential nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhia plant spread alarm across world capitals before authorities said the fire in a building identified as a training centre had been extinguished. (Reuters)
A fire had broken out in Europe’s largest nuclear power plant located in Zaporizhzhia following fighting between Russian and Ukrainian forces, Ukraine’s state emergency service said Friday. News agency Reuters reported that a “training building” in the plant compound caught fire, and luckily, the reactors were not hit and there was no indication of elevated radiation levels so far.
We take a look at how the events unfolded and the risks that the blaze posed. Read here.
Tripura Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Friday said that he would contribute from his salary the airfare of Agartala-Delhi flight for the students of the state, who are returning from war-ravaged Ukraine. "I am always indebted to the people of Tripura for their unconditional blessings and affection. As a humble token of gratitude, I have decided to contribute from my salary for the airfare for Delhi-Agartala flights for the students who are returning from Ukraine," he tweeted.
"Instructions have been given to Tripura Bhawan, New Delhi officials to co-ordinate with the students returning from Ukraine. GoI led by PM Shri @narendramodi Ji is committed to reunite the Indian origin students with their families," Deb also tweeted. Two students - Megha Trivedi and Jasmine Debbarma, both medical students of Ukraine, who returned home via Delhi, met the chief minister in his office on Thursday and expressed their gratitude for rendering help in their safe return to the homeland from the war-hit country. (PTI)
Scepticism over the value of joining NATO is waning fast in both Sweden and Finland as a result of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine.
A recent opinion poll taken in Sweden shows that public perception has shifted dramatically: 41% said they were in favour of NATO membership; 35% were against, while 24% said they are unsure. For the first time, more of those polled were in favour of membership than against.
That shift in opinion is even more dramatic in Finland. For the first time in its history, a majority of Finns are in favour of joining the alliance. (Read more)
A child playing with a frayed teddy bear. A couple embracing at a train station. An elderly grandmother being wheeled towards her train.
These are the goodbyes that have been repeated across Ukraine in the week since Russia invaded and began pounding the country's cities with bombs. The UN says the fighting has sent more than 1 million people fleeing the country, a number that is already the swiftest exodus of refugees this century and one that could soon skyrocket even further. Those leaving are overwhelmingly women and children. Ukrainian men have been ordered to stay and fight in the war.
As Russia's offensive in Ukraine became more intense last week, a 25-year-old medical student from Hardoi, like many other stranded Indian students, appealed for a safe passage back home.
Vaishali Yadav talked about how she and other students were running out of supplies and were hoping for a quick resolution. Her video went viral on social media and, within a few days, landed her in a spot. A third-year student in Ivano Frankvisk city of Ukraine, Vaishali was elected Pradhan Adhyhaksh in Teri Pursauli gram panchayat last year.
When Vaishali sought help to return to India, objection was raised regarding her absence while being a public representative. The Hardoi administration has now given her a showcause notice and is probing the functioning of the gram panchayat since the time she was elected. (Read more)
Russian military forces have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine's southeast, confirmed a local authority reports Reuters.
Nearly 800 Indian students, who made their way back to India on March 3, recalled their travel and experience at the border in Ukraine. The students had to leave their books and belongings and travel with just a single bag with a spare change of clothes.
Essential equipment at Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was unaffected after a fire there, with no change in radiation levels, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said on Friday, citing the country's regulatory authorities. Ukraine had said the plant in its southeast was shelled overnight, the IAEA added.
"The Ukraine regulatory authority said a fire at the site had not affected 'essential' equipment and plant personnel were taking mitigatory actions," it said. "There was no reported change in radiation levels at the plant, it said." (Reuters)
As Russia continues its advance into Ukraine, reports have surfaced that the Moscow administration is backing exiled former president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych as the man to take charge of the nation if the current regime falls.
Having the rare distinction of being ousted twice from the presidency, reports have emerged that Russia wants to install Yanukovych as the next president of Ukraine. The Kyiv Independent tweeted, citing a report by the Ukrayinska Pravda, an online newspaper, that the former president was being prepared by the Kremlin for a special occasion. (Read more)
Unshaven and wearing a military T-shirt, a haggard President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of Ukraine on Thursday hosted his first news conference since the war began, inviting journalists into his office building, now fortified with sandbags.
In an animated briefing, Zelenskyy, whose defiance has made him a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion, laid out the state of negotiations with Russia, voiced pride in his people, pleaded for a no-fly zone and spoke frankly about fear of dying.
Beyond the answers Zelenskyy provided to questions, pulling a chair close to attending journalists, the news conference seemed intended to signal that his battered government is at least still functioning a week into the war, despite increasingly dire conditions in Kyiv. (Read more)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi is chairing a meeting to review the Ukraine crisis and related evacuation efforts, reported news agency ANI.
Ukraine emergency services said Friday that they have extinguished a fire at Europe's largest nuclear power plant, reported news agency AFP. Kyiv has blamed Russian military shelling for the blaze at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.
"At 06.20 the fire in the training building of Zaporizhzhia NPP in Energodar was extinguished. There are no victims," it said, quoting Ukraine emergency services.
Melitopol residents protest the Russian occupation of their city, gathering in front of armed Russian soldiers, yelling at them to 'go home' and waving Ukrainian flags, reported news agency AFP.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of attempting to "repeat" the Chernobyl disaster following reports of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant catching fire in Russian shelling.
In a video message shared on Twitter with a single message "Urgently" in Ukrainian, Zelensky said: "No country other than Russia has ever fired on nuclear power units."
"This is the first time in our history. In the history of mankind. The terrorist state now resorted to nuclear terror," he added, according to an AFP report.
Mariupol: Heavy fighting is continuing on the outskirts of a strategic port city on the Azov Sea, Mariupol. The city's regional governor, Pavlo Kyrylenko, said Thursday night that power, water, heating and food deliveries to the city have been cut. He described the Russian siege as an "exemplary punishment" for the city.
Kherson: The Russian military says it controls Kherson, and local Ukrainian officials have confirmed Russian forces have taken over local government headquarters in the Black Sea port of 280,000 people. It is the first major city to fall since the start of the war.
Chernihiv: More shelling was reported in the northern city of Chernihiv, where officials said at least 33 civilians had been killed and 18 wounded in a Russian bombardment of a residential area. Rescue crews were forced to suspend their search in the wreckage because of renewed shelling.
Kyiv: Overnight explosions heard by Associated Press reporters in the capital, Kyiv, were missiles being shot down by Ukraine's air defense systems, according to the city's mayor. Russia's 64-km-long convoy of vehicles remains stalled outside Kyiv, which has been struck by deadly shelling.
Kharkiv: Russian forces have also been bombarding the country's second-biggest city, Kharkiv. An aide to Zelenskyy has called on compatriots to use guerrilla tactics against Russian forces, cut down trees and destroy rear columns of Russian troops.
The White House has imposed new sanctions on 50 Russian oligarchs, including Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskovt, and their families in the latest attempt to target President Vladimir Putin for ordering the invasion of Ukraine.
President Joe Biden said the sanctions will target those who "line their pockets with the Russian people's money" as the Ukrainian people seek shelter from airstrikes. The new penalties will cut members of the Russian elite, their families and close associates, from the US financial system.
"Today, I'm announcing that we're adding dozens of names to the list, including one of Russia's wealthiest billionaires. I'm banning travel to America by more than 50 Russian oligarchs, their families, and their close associates," Biden told reporters at the top of his Cabinet meeting at the White House on Thursday. (PTI)
Ukraine said officials were able to access the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant where a training facility on the exterior of the plant caught fire following Russian shelling, reported German news agency Deutsche Welle.
Both the IAEA and the White House said they were actively monitoring the attack on Europe's largest nuclear plant and that there has not been an increase in radiation levels. However, the IAEA said it is putting its Incident and Emergency Centre in full 24X7 response more.