The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, the largest of its kind in Europe, was on fire early morning today after an attack by Russian troops, the mayor of the nearby town of Energodar said.
There has been fierce fighting between local forces and Russian troops, Dmytro Orlov said in an online post, adding that there had been casualties without giving details.
Ukraine and Russia agreed to create humanitarian corridors to evacuate civilians, officials from both sides said yesterday, the only tangible progress from a second round of talks between Moscow and Kyiv.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said earlier yesterday that Moscow's advance in Ukraine is going "according to plan", as he opens a meeting with his security council. Russia is at war with "neo-Nazis" and that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people", he added.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky called for direct talks with Putin, as the "only way to stop the war", urging the West to increase military aid to Ukraine, saying Russia will advance on the rest of Europe otherwise, with the Baltic states first in line.
Here are the Highlights on Ukraine-Russia War:
Ukraine's strategic port city of Mariupol is under a "blockade" by the Russian army after days of "ruthless" attacks, its mayor said on Saturday, calling for the establishment of a humanitarian corridor.
The UN Security Council will hold an emergency meeting Monday on the humanitarian crisis triggered in Ukraine by the Russian invasion, diplomats said Friday.
After this public session, the 15 members of the council will confer behind closed doors to discuss a possible draft resolution, a diplomat speaking on condition of anonymity told AFP. (AFP)Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, leading his country's battle against the Russian invasion, will address the US Senate on Saturday, a US legislative aide said.
Zelensky will speak to senators via Zoom in the morning Washington time at the request of Ukraine. (AFP)
CNN will stop broadcasting in Russia, the news channel said on Friday after the introduction of a new law there that could jail anyone intentionally spreading "fake" news. (AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky lashed NATO on Friday for ruling out a no-fly zone over his country saying the Western military alliance knew further Russian aggression was likely.
"Knowing that new strikes and casualties are inevitable, NATO deliberately decided not to close the sky over Ukraine," he said in a video published by the presidency. (AFP)Russia's media regulator Roskomnadzor "restricted access" to social media network Twitter after blocking Facebook in the country, Russian news agencies reported Friday.
According to Interfax and RIA Novosti news agencies, access to Twitter was restricted on the basis of a request of the Prosecutor General from February 24 -- the day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Facebook attacked Russia's block on Friday of the dominant social media network, saying the move will cut millions off from reliable information and a forum to share their views.
Russia asserted that it had blocked Facebook over "discrimination" of Russian state media outlets, which have faced restrictions on various online platforms over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. (AFP)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday signed into law a bill introducing jail terms of up to 15 years for fake news about the Russian army, as Moscow pushes forward with its invasion of Ukraine.
The bill, adopted by lawmakers earlier on Friday, sets out jail terms of varying lengths and fines against people who publish "knowingly false information" about the military, with harsher penalties to hit when dissemination is deemed to have serious consequences. (AFP)
In the wake of Russia's attack on the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant in Ukraine, India today cautioned that any accident involving nuclear facilities may have severe consequences for public health and the environment, while asserting that the UN Security Council "must acknowledge" the pressing humanitarian crisis confronting Ukraine. "India attaches the highest importance to ensuring safety and security of nuclear facilities as any accident involving the nuclear facilities may have severe consequences for public health and the environment," India's Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador T S Tirumurti told the UN Security Council. (PTI)
The United Nations' World Food Programme warned Friday about a looming food crisis in Ukraine in conflict areas, while disruptions in production and exports could lead to food insecurity globally. "In a year when the world is already facing an unprecedented level of hunger, it's just tragic to see hunger raising its head in what has long been the breadbasket of Europe,' said the UN agency's director, David Beasley. "The bullets and bombs in Ukraine could take the global hunger crisis to levels beyond anything we've seen before," said Beasley. (AFP)
Moscow's ambassador to the UN denied on Friday that Russian forces had shelled a nuclear power plant in Ukraine. "These statements are simply untrue," Vassily Nebenzia told the Security Council. "This is all part of an unprecedented campaign of lies and disinformation against Russia." He said Russian troops had exchanged small arms fire with Ukrainian forces at Europe's largest atomic power plant in Zaporizhzhia but had not shelled the facility. (AFP)
G7 foreign ministers today urged Russia "to stop its attacks in the direct vicinity of Ukraine's nuclear power plants", following the overnight fighting and fire at the Zaporizhzhia atomic power plant. "Any armed attack on and threat against nuclear facilities devoted to peaceful purposes constitutes a violation of the principles of international law," they said in a joint statement. (AFP)
Yevghen Sboromyrskiy's body shook so violently that he couldn't place his cigarette in his lips as he watched his house burn to the ground after it was shelled in a Russian attack. Read here.
The G7 club of wealthy nations today called for the creation of humanitarian corridors to evacuate Ukrainian citizens, saying this needed to be done "reliably and swiftly". "We reemphasise that indiscriminate attacks are prohibited by international humanitarian law. We will hold accountable those responsible for war crimes, including indiscriminate use of weapons against civilians," G7 foreign ministers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Britain and the United States said in a joint statement. (AFP)
Ukraine will join NATO Cooperative Cyber Defence Centre of Excellence (CCDCOE) as a "contributing participant", the NATO-accredited military research institution said in a statement. "Ukraine could bring valuable first-hand knowledge of several adversaries within the cyber domain to be used for research, exercises and training," CCDCOE Director Colonel Jaak Tarien said in a statement on the CCDCOE website. (Reuters)
Russia's "reckless" overnight attack on a nuclear power plant in Ukraine endangered all of Europe, the US ambassador to the United Nations said Friday. "Russia's attack last night put Europe's largest nuclear power plant at grave risk," Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the Security Council. "It was incredibly reckless and dangerous. And it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe," she said. (AFP)
European Union chief Ursula von der Leyen said today the bloc was ready to hit Russia with more sanctions if President Vladimir Putin does not halt his war on Ukraine. "To be very clear, we are ready to take further severe measures if Putin does not stop and reverse the war he has unleashed," von der Leyen told reporters, speaking alongside US top diplomat Antony Blinken. (AFP)
Military operations around nuclear sites and other critical civilian infrastructure are "unacceptable" and "highly irresponsible", UN political affairs chief Rosemary DiCarlo told the United Nations Security Council on Friday. "Attacks on nuclear power facilities are contrary to international humanitarian law....Every effort should be taken to avoid a catastrophic nuclear incident," Di Carlo told an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after Russian forces in Ukraine attacked and seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant. (Reuters)
Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta said on Friday it would be removing content on Ukraine after lawmakers backed legislation that sets jail time and fines for "fake news" about Russia's army. In a statement on Telegram, the paper said it would continue working "under the conditions of military censorship" and "remove materials" on Russia's invasion of Ukraine from its website and social media. (AFP)
Poland has arrested a Spanish national on the suspicion of conducting intelligence activities for Russia, which could carry a 10-year prison sentence if he is found guilty, the Internal Security Agency (ABW) said on Friday. The man, identified as an agent of Russia's military intelligence agency (GRU), was detained in Przemysl - near Poland's border with Ukraine on Sunday night, ABW said in a statement. It said he was of Russian origin. (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 kms from the southwestern outskirts of the capital. (Reuters)
Health Ministry and National Medical Commission are exploring possibility of relaxing provisions of NMC Regulations, 2021 or finding alternatives to enable Ukraine-return medical students complete their courses in private colleges in India or abroad. Read here.
Russian President Vladimir Putin in a phone call with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz denied that Russian troops were bombing Ukrainian cities, dismissing such information as fake, the Kremlin said Friday. Putin said reports about "the alleged ongoing air strikes of Kyiv and other large cities are gross propaganda fakes," the Kremlin said in a statement. (AFP)
BBC boss Tim Davie today said the corporation was halting its coverage in Russia, as new legislation passed "appears to criminalise independent journalism". "It leaves us no other option than to temporarily suspend the work of all BBC News journalists and their support staff within the Russian Federation while we assess the full implications of this unwelcome development," he added. (AFP)
Budget carrier AirAsia India today said it is operating an evacuation flight from Suceava city in Romania to fly back stranded Indians from the war-hit Ukraine. AirAsia India's maiden rescue flight under Operation Ganga, has departed from Suceava to Delhi carrying over 170 guests safely, the airline said on Friday. "The flight departed to Delhi from Suceava at 6.30 pm (local time) and it is being operated via Dubai. it is expected to arrive in Delhi at 4.30 am (on Saturday), subject to OCC approval," an AirAsia India spokesperson said. (PTI)
The European Union wants Ukraine to become a member state "as soon as possible", Commissioner Maros Sefcovic told journalists on Friday after a ministers' meeting. "It's time for signaling that the Ukrainian people is one of the European peoples and we want them in as soon as possible", he said, but added that at the moment, the bloc needed to focus on short-term measures linked to the war. "I think what (...) is the most important now is to help Ukraine in the fight", he added. (Reuters)
The Ukrainian city of Mariupol has no water, heat or electricity and is running out of food after coming under attack by Russian forces for the past five days, its mayor said on Friday. Mayor Vadym Boychenko made a televised appeal for military help and said a humanitarian corridor should be created to evacuate civilians from the southeastern port city. "We are simply being destroyed," he said. (Reuters)
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 UN court centres on the interpretation of a 1948 treaty on the prevention of genocide, signed by both Russia and Ukraine. (Reuters)
Jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny told Russians today to protest against the war in Ukraine in Russian cities and across the world on March 6, and accused President Vladimir Putin of bringing shame on the Russian national flag and language. Navalny, Putin's most prominent domestic opponent, told Russians in a post on his blog to shrug off fears of protesting against Russia's invasion of Ukraine and to take to the squares of their cities even if they had already left Russia. (Reuters)
Union Minister Hardeep Singh Puri today said 3,000 Indian nationals have been evacuated from Budapest till Thursday and another 1,100 citizens are expected to leave on Friday amid the ongoing Russian military operation in Ukraine. Speaking to news agency ANI, Mr Puri said, "From Budapest, 3000 people have been evacuated till yesterday, another 1,100 expected to leave today." He added, "We've asked for seven more flights, which will make it another 1,400 people being evacuated tomorrow." (ANI)
Microsoft is halting new sales of its products and services in Russia, the tech giant announced Friday, in the latest fallout over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The US-based company behind software that runs on over one billion devices, said it would "suspend all new sales of Microsoft products and services" in Russia, but declined to elaborate on how the policy would be applied. (AFP)
The US 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 US characterization of Russia's actions in Ukraine since it launched its invasion on February 24. "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," US Embassy Kyiv said in its post. (Reuters)
Ukraine plans to hold a third round of talks this weekend with Russian officials to try to end the fighting triggered by Moscow's invasion, one of Kyiv's negotiators said Friday. "The third leg could take place tomorrow or the day after, we are in constant contact," Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said, on the eighth day of the war. Podolyak said Kyiv was just waiting for a response from Russian President Vladimir Putin's Kremlin to confirm the timing of the talks. (AFP)
Law Minister Kiren Rijiju who is overseeing the evacuation of Indians from war-hit Ukraine through Slovakia on Friday called on the prime minister of the Slovak Republic. The Indian embassy in Slovakia tweeted about the meeting. Mr Rijiju is among the four Union ministers sent by PM Modi as his special envoys to Ukraine's neighbouring countries as part of the Operation Ganga to evacuate Indian nationals. (PTI)
Russia's parliament today approved legislation aimed at countering the effects of sweeping Western sanctions on the country's economy imposed after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine. The package of bills aims at "defending the economy and citizens in the face of foreign sanctions," according to the website of the State Duma, the Russian parliament's lower house. (AFP)
Washington is committed to doing every needed to stop the war in Ukraine, US 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)
The European Union's foreign policy chief called on Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Friday to stop indiscriminate shelling and bombing of Ukraine. "This is Putin's war, and Putin has to stop this war," Josep Borrell told reporters in Brussels before a meeting of EU and other foreign ministers to discuss the Ukraine crisis. (Reuters)
European Union officials are examining curbing Russia's influence and access to finance at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) following its invasion of Ukraine, six officials told Reuters. One option under consideration is to remove Russia entirely from the institution that acts as a lender of last resort, officials said, though some noted that would prove difficult if not impossible. (Reuters)
Several explosions were heard in quick succession in Ukraine's capital Kyiv on Friday and an air raid siren blasted out, a Reuters reporter said. The exact origin of the explosions could not be immediately established. Russia has launched a multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine. Moscow describes its actions as a "special operation". (Reuters)
A total of 5,245 Indian nationals were airlifted from Romania to India till March 3 amid Russia's military operations in Ukraine, informed Centre on Friday. Over 20,000 Indians have left the Ukraine border since we issued our advisories. There are more people, but it's reassuring to see that these many people have left Ukraine, the Ministry of External Affairs said. Sixteen flights scheduled for the next 24 hours, including IAF's C-17 aircraft, the MEA added. (ANI)
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)
Eleven civilian and four Indian Air Force flights will return to India on Saturday with Indians from Ukraine's neighbouring countries, the Civil Aviation Ministry stated today. The 11 civilian flights on Saturday are expected to bring back more than 2,200 Indians, with 10 landing in Delhi and one in Mumbai, the ministry's statement noted. The statement did not say how many Indians will be coming on the four IAF flights. (PTI)
IndiGo said it will operate 12 evacuation flights with over 2,600 Indians from war-torn Ukraine's neighbouring countries between Friday and Sunday. In a statement, IndiGo said 42 evacuation flights with 9,200 Indians had been scheduled to operate between February 28 and March 6. "We have already operated 30 flights bringing back more than 6,600 of our citizens till today," the airline's Chief Operating Officer Wolfgang Prock-Schauer said on Friday. (PTI)
Two Air India Express flights today brought 369 Indian nationals who were stranded in war-hit Ukraine to Mumbai from Romania's capital Bucharest and the Hungarian capital Budapest, the airline's spokesperson said. So far, a total of 951 Indians stuck in Ukraine, most of them students, have landed in Mumbai by five evacuation flights operated by Air India and its subsidiary Air India Express since February 26. (PTI)
Ukraine's Black Sea port city of Mykolayiv issued an air raid warning on Friday after the authorities reported fighting around the city as Russian forces sought to advance. Earlier on Friday, the Ukrainian authorities said the Russian advance on the ship-building hub had been halted after Regional Governor Vitaliy Kim reported Russian troops entering the city. (Reuters)
India today 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. (PTI)
President Vladimir Putin has urged Russia's neighbours not to escalate tensions, eight days after Moscow sent its forces into Ukraine. "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. "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)
An overwhelming vote at the UN Human Rights Council today to probe abuses following Russia's invasion of Ukraine should show President Vladimir Putin "the whole world is against you", Kyiv's ambassador said. "The message to Putin has been clear: You're isolated on a global level and the whole world is against you," Ukrainian ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko told reporters after the vote. (AFP)
There have been "significantly fewer" than 10 recorded cases of Germans from the right-wing extremist spectrum who have traveled to Ukraine to take part in combat operations there, a German Interior Ministry spokesperson said today. One way to stop the extremists from leaving the country is to take away their passports and security officials are currently working on this, the spokesperson said. However, German law does not allow for prohibiting Ukrainian nationals or German Ukrainians to travel back to Ukraine to take part in the defence of their country, he said. (Reuters)
Union Minister Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi today welcomed Indian students who returned from war-hit Ukraine under Operation Ganga, at the Mumbai airport. As many as 184 students returned from Ukraine at 12.15 pm today. The students reached Budapest and were evacuated from there in Air India IX 1602. According to MoS External Affairs Meenakshi Lekhi, so far 9,000 Indian citizens have returned from the war-torn country. Three more Indian Air Force's C-17 aircraft returned to Hindan airbase late last night and early morning today carrying 630 Indian nationals from Ukraine, using airfields in Romania and Hungary. (ANI)
The Indian Air Force (IAF) has kept two IL-76 military transport aircraft on standby to evacuate Indians who are stranded in conflict-hit eastern Ukrainian cities like Sumy and Kharkiv from Russian capital Moscow, officials said on Friday. Two IL-76 aircraft -- which are of Russian origin -- have been kept on standby so that they can immediately depart for Moscow and evacuate Indians, the officials added. Till date, the IAF has evacuated a total of 1,428 Indians on seven flights from Ukraine's western neighbouring countries. These seven flights were operated through US-origin C-17 planes. (PTI)
Russia's parliament today 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 intentionally spread by Russia's enemies such as the United States and its Western European allies in an attempt to sow discord among the Russian people. (Reuters)
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said today that the Belarusian armed forces were not taking part and would not take part in Russia's military operation in Ukraine. A close Russian ally, Lukashenko said he spoke to Vladimir Putin at length by telephone on Friday. Russia has used Belarusian territory to carry out a multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine. (Reuters)
A huge blaze in a building at the site of Europe's biggest nuclear power station was extinguished today and officials said the plant was operating normally, seized by Russian forces in heavy fighting that caused global alarm. Officials said the fire at the Zaporizhzhia compound was in a training centre and not at the plant itself. An official at Energoatom, the state enterprise that runs Ukraine's four nuclear plants, said there was no further fighting, the fire was out, radiation was normal and Russian forces were in control. "Personnel are on their working places providing normal operation of the station," the official told Reuters in a message. (Reuters)
NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels today to discuss Russia's invasion of Ukraine as Kyiv called on Western allies to implement a no-fly zone or provide them with more planes to protect civilians and infrastructure including nuclear plants. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy has consistently called for a no-fly zone since Moscow's invasion more than a week ago, but NATO allies have resisted a step that could drag them into the war with nuclear-armed Russia. (Reuters)
India's Ambassador to Slovakia, Vanlalhuma informed today that around 400 Indian students have already flown back to India. In an exclusive interview with news agency ANI in Kosice, he said, "About 400 have already gone back on two flights. Then we have two more flights to go today and one more flight tomorrow." The ambassador said that a SpiceJet flight left for India with 188 students today morning and an Indian Air Force aircraft will be leaving in the afternoon with about 210 students. (ANI)
NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg today decried Russia's "recklessness" over the shelling of a nuclear power plant in Ukraine and demanded Moscow stop the war against its neighbour. "Overnight we have also seen reports about the attack against the nuclear power plant. This just demonstrates the recklessness of this war and the importance of ending it and the importance of Russia withdrawing all its troops and engaging good faith in diplomatic efforts," Stoltenberg said ahead of talks with Western foreign ministers. (AFP)
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky appealed directly to Russians today 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)
Forty-seven people were killed in Russian air strikes on a residential district of the Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Thursday, regional authorities said on Friday, updating an earlier death count of 33 killed.
Zelensky has said he fears he is the number one target of the Russian invasion but on Thursday also called for talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin
This happened when NDTV's Vishnu Som, reporting from Ukraine, visited a children's shelter in Lviv on Thursday.
Six lions and six tigers evacuated from near Kyiv arrived at a zoo in Poland on Thursday following a two-day odyssey skirting battle frontlines and coming face to face with Russian tanks, a zoo spokesman said.
Russia's media watchdog said Friday it had restricted access to the BBC and other independent media websites, tightening controls over the internet more than one week after Russia invaded Ukraine.
Access to websites of the BBC, the independent news website Meduza, German broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and the Russian-language website of the US-funded Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Svoboda, were "limited" by Roskomnadzor following a request from prosecutors.
Europe's largest nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine came under attack from Russian shelling early Friday, Ukrainian officials said, raising the stakes in Vladimir Putin's invasion as his forces bombarded cities across the nation.
Russia-Ukraine War: Indian student Harjot Singh shot at in Ukraine to NDTV: 'Was shot few days ago, my leg is fractured'
A fire that broke out in Europe's biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine after a Russian attack has been extinguished. Ukraine has condemned Russia for the attack on the facility, which could turn catastrophic. Read more
More than 167,600 Ukrainians have fled to Romania in the first eight days since Russia invaded Ukraine, border police data showed on Friday.
They have entered Romania through its four land border checkpoints with Ukraine, but also through its checkpoints with Moldova, data showed. Of them, 109,687 have already driven or flown out of Romania.
As the war in Ukraine rages on, Russian forces are moving ahead, destroying key cities and even attacking a nuclear plant. A video has now emerged on social media, which shows the extent of damage in Borodyanka, 60 kilometres northwest of capital Kyiv.
The drone footage shows destroyed trucks clogging the town's main street and smoke coming out of the buildings. Watch
Russia has intensified fighting in Ukraine, bombarding cities with shells and missiles, forcing civilians to cover in basements. Kyiv has called for direct talks with Moscow, as the "only way to stop the war".
An Indian student has reportedly been shot at in Ukraine capital Kyiv, Union Minister VK Singh told news agency ANI on Thursday, days after another student died in Russian shelling in the city of Kharkiv.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of endangering all of Europe Friday, after invading Russian forces attacked a Ukrainian nuclear power plant.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday urged Russia to cease firing on a Ukrainian power plant and to allow in emergency services, as a senior US official said there was no sign of "elevated levels of radiation."
A fire was reported in a key nuclear plant in Ukraine on Friday as Russia intensified fighting as President Vladimir Putin said Moscow's advance was "going to plan" and to schedule.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow on Friday of resorting to "nuclear terror" and wanting to "repeat" the Chernobyl disaster after he said invading Russian forces shot at a nuclear power plant.
Europe's biggest nuclear power plant, the Zaporizhzhia facility in Ukraine, was on fire after a Russian attack, the mayor of a nearby town said. Firefighters could not battle the blaze because they were being fired upon by Russian troops. Read more
Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba called on Russian troops to stop attacking Europe's largest nuclear power plant on Friday after a fire broke out.
The blaze erupted at a power unit of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant following Russian strikes, according to spokesman Andrei Tuz.
The station at Zaporizhzhia, an industrial city in southeastern Ukraine, supplies an estimated 40 percent of the country's nuclear power.
After ringing Ukraine with tens of thousands of troops, Russia invades its neighbour in the early hours of February 24, setting off the worst conflict in Europe in decades.