Post by Atticus Pizzaballa on Mar 4, 2022 11:07:44 GMT -5
Zelensky: 'The end of the world has arrived'
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday issued a dire appeal for help as Russia's attacks across the country intensified.
"The end of the world has arrived," Zelensky said during a televised news conference in Kyiv.
He appealed to Western leaders who have resisted calls to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine. "If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader also called for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Good Lord, what do you want? Leave our land. If you don't want to leave now, sit down with me at the negotiating table. But not from 30 meters away, like with [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz,” Zelensky said, according to a translation from journalist Max Seddon, the Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief. The “30 meters” line appears to be a reference to the lengthy table Putin uses for meetings with foreign leaders and his own advisers.
“Sit down with me and talk. What are you afraid of? We're no threat to anyone,” Zelensky added.
His comments came one week after Putin ordered a military invasion of Ukraine. Russia has since stepped up its assault on key cities after an attempt by its forces to encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, appeared to stall.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Russian troops had seized Kherson, capturing their first major Ukrainian city since the start of the invasion. Zelensky's office denied the report, saying the battle for the port city was ongoing.
Battles continue to rage in other Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv, the two largest population centers, as outnumbered Ukrainian troops mount a ferocious response that has been aided by ordinary citizens wielding Molotov cocktails.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations were expected to meet Thursday for a second round of talks in Belarus, but there appeared to be no end to the invasion in sight.
Zelensky vowed to continue defending the nation while pleading with NATO countries to help.
"If we are no more, then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next," he said.
news.yahoo.com/zelenky-ukraine-russia-end-of-the-world-180049216.html
Russia seizes Europe's biggest nuclear plant in 'reckless' assault
By Pavel Polityuk and Aleksandar Vasovic
LVIV, Ukraine/KYIV, March 4 (Reuters) - Russian invasion forces seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant on Friday in what Washington called a reckless assault that risked catastrophe, although a blaze in a training building was extinguished and officials said the facility was now safe.
Combat raged elsewhere in Ukraine as Russian forces surrounded and bombarded several cities in the second week of the assault launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A presidential adviser said an advance had been halted on the southern city of Mykolayiv after local authorities said Russian troops had entered it. If captured, the city of 500,000 people would be the biggest yet to fall.
The capital Kyiv, in the path of a Russian armoured column that has been stalled on a road for days, came under renewed attack, with air raid sirens blaring in the morning and explosions audible from the city centre.
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called the Russian assault on the Zaporizhzhia plant a "war crime". Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said it showed how reckless the Russian invasion has been.
"It just raises the level of potential catastrophe to a level that nobody wants to see," he told CNN.
Video verified by Reuters showed one building aflame and a volley of incoming shells before a large incandescent ball lit up the sky, exploding beside a car park and sending smoke billowing across the compound.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed or wounded and more than 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Feb. 24, when Putin ordered the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Although the nuclear plant was later said to be safe and the fire out, officials worried about the precarious circumstances.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Raphael Grossi paid homage to the plant's Ukrainian staff: "to their bravery, to their courage, to their resilience because they are doing this in very difficult circumstances."
The plant was undamaged from what he believed was a Russian projectile, Grossi said. Only one of its six reactors was working, at around 60% of capacity.
An official at Energoatom, the Ukrainian state nuclear plant operator, told Reuters there was no further fighting and radiation was normal, but his organisation no longer had contact with the plant's managers or control over its nuclear material.
Russia's defence ministry also said the plant was working normally. It blamed the fire on a "monstrous attack" by Ukrainian saboteurs and said its forces were in control.
"EUROPEANS WAKE UP"
"Europeans, please wake up. Tell your politicians – Russian troops are shooting at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address. In another address, he called on Russians to protest. read more
www.reuters.com/markets/europe/top-wrap-1-europes-largest-nuclear-power-plant-fire-after-russian-attack-mayor-2022-03-04/
OK it was just mentioned on MSNBC that if this plant starts to leak radiation it could kill up to a BILLION PEOPLE. Putin has not escalated his war as a WORLD WAR. Security Council is having emergency meeting. They keep saying the US and NATO does not want to get directly involved unlerss Putin attacks a NATO Nation. That to me is crazy. ESCALATE THIS WAR NOW
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday issued a dire appeal for help as Russia's attacks across the country intensified.
"The end of the world has arrived," Zelensky said during a televised news conference in Kyiv.
He appealed to Western leaders who have resisted calls to set up a no-fly zone over Ukraine. "If you do not have the power to close the skies, then give me planes," Zelensky said.
The Ukrainian leader also called for direct negotiations with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"Good Lord, what do you want? Leave our land. If you don't want to leave now, sit down with me at the negotiating table. But not from 30 meters away, like with [French President Emmanuel] Macron and [German Chancellor Olaf] Scholz,” Zelensky said, according to a translation from journalist Max Seddon, the Financial Times’ Moscow bureau chief. The “30 meters” line appears to be a reference to the lengthy table Putin uses for meetings with foreign leaders and his own advisers.
“Sit down with me and talk. What are you afraid of? We're no threat to anyone,” Zelensky added.
His comments came one week after Putin ordered a military invasion of Ukraine. Russia has since stepped up its assault on key cities after an attempt by its forces to encircle the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, appeared to stall.
The New York Times reported Wednesday that Russian troops had seized Kherson, capturing their first major Ukrainian city since the start of the invasion. Zelensky's office denied the report, saying the battle for the port city was ongoing.
Battles continue to rage in other Ukrainian cities, including Kyiv and Kharkiv, the two largest population centers, as outnumbered Ukrainian troops mount a ferocious response that has been aided by ordinary citizens wielding Molotov cocktails.
Ukrainian and Russian delegations were expected to meet Thursday for a second round of talks in Belarus, but there appeared to be no end to the invasion in sight.
Zelensky vowed to continue defending the nation while pleading with NATO countries to help.
"If we are no more, then, God forbid, Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia will be next," he said.
news.yahoo.com/zelenky-ukraine-russia-end-of-the-world-180049216.html
Russia seizes Europe's biggest nuclear plant in 'reckless' assault
By Pavel Polityuk and Aleksandar Vasovic
LVIV, Ukraine/KYIV, March 4 (Reuters) - Russian invasion forces seized Europe's biggest nuclear power plant on Friday in what Washington called a reckless assault that risked catastrophe, although a blaze in a training building was extinguished and officials said the facility was now safe.
Combat raged elsewhere in Ukraine as Russian forces surrounded and bombarded several cities in the second week of the assault launched by Russian President Vladimir Putin.
A presidential adviser said an advance had been halted on the southern city of Mykolayiv after local authorities said Russian troops had entered it. If captured, the city of 500,000 people would be the biggest yet to fall.
The capital Kyiv, in the path of a Russian armoured column that has been stalled on a road for days, came under renewed attack, with air raid sirens blaring in the morning and explosions audible from the city centre.
The U.S. Embassy in Ukraine called the Russian assault on the Zaporizhzhia plant a "war crime". Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said it showed how reckless the Russian invasion has been.
"It just raises the level of potential catastrophe to a level that nobody wants to see," he told CNN.
Video verified by Reuters showed one building aflame and a volley of incoming shells before a large incandescent ball lit up the sky, exploding beside a car park and sending smoke billowing across the compound.
Thousands of people are believed to have been killed or wounded and more than 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine since Feb. 24, when Putin ordered the biggest attack on a European state since World War Two.
Although the nuclear plant was later said to be safe and the fire out, officials worried about the precarious circumstances.
International Atomic Energy Agency chief Raphael Grossi paid homage to the plant's Ukrainian staff: "to their bravery, to their courage, to their resilience because they are doing this in very difficult circumstances."
The plant was undamaged from what he believed was a Russian projectile, Grossi said. Only one of its six reactors was working, at around 60% of capacity.
An official at Energoatom, the Ukrainian state nuclear plant operator, told Reuters there was no further fighting and radiation was normal, but his organisation no longer had contact with the plant's managers or control over its nuclear material.
Russia's defence ministry also said the plant was working normally. It blamed the fire on a "monstrous attack" by Ukrainian saboteurs and said its forces were in control.
"EUROPEANS WAKE UP"
"Europeans, please wake up. Tell your politicians – Russian troops are shooting at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said in a video address. In another address, he called on Russians to protest. read more
www.reuters.com/markets/europe/top-wrap-1-europes-largest-nuclear-power-plant-fire-after-russian-attack-mayor-2022-03-04/
OK it was just mentioned on MSNBC that if this plant starts to leak radiation it could kill up to a BILLION PEOPLE. Putin has not escalated his war as a WORLD WAR. Security Council is having emergency meeting. They keep saying the US and NATO does not want to get directly involved unlerss Putin attacks a NATO Nation. That to me is crazy. ESCALATE THIS WAR NOW