Eyes turn again to Zaporijjia. The nuclear safety of the Ukrainian power plant (south-east) is in a “precarious state”, alerted, Wednesday March 22, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, in a communicated.
On the ground, the Russian attacks continue. At least eight people were killed overnight in a drone attack on Rzhyshchiv in the Kyiv region, regional police chief Andrii Nebytov said.
Zaporizhia: the safety of the nuclear power plant in a “precarious” state
The nuclear safety of the Ukrainian power plant in Zaporizhia (southeast) is in a “precarious state”, warned the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, in a press release. . According to the organization, the “last emergency power line” of the plant, damaged since March 1, remains “disconnected and under repair”. However, it allows it as a last resort to ensure nuclear safety and security, in particular by cooling its reactors.
The plant has relied for three weeks on electricity from a single main external 750 kV line, and “any damage (to this line) will result in the total loss of all offsite power to the plant”. “Nuclear safety within the (plant) remains in a precarious state,” said Rafael Grossi. “I once again call on all parties to commit to ensuring nuclear safety and protecting the security of the plant.” On March 9, the gigantic power station, occupied by the Russian army, had been cut off from the Ukrainian electricity network for 11 hours after a Russian strike.
Zelensky, near Bakhmout, promises military victory
President Volodymyr Zelensky visited Wednesday near Bakhmout, epicenter of the front and symbol of Ukrainian resistance in the east of the country, where he promised a military victory over “terrorist” Russia, the day after a call for peace launched without convincing from Moscow by the Chinese head of state Xi Jinping. The declarations of the Ukrainian president, who came to reinforce his troops as close as possible to the fighting near Bakhmout, then in Kharkiv, a large city in the northeast, followed new deadly strikes by the Russian army.
These claimed the lives of at least eight civilians in the Kiev region, and hit a residential building in Zaporijjia (center-east) head-on, killing at least one person and injuring dozens. “We will definitely respond (…) to all attacks on our cities,” Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video message. “Here in the Donbass, in the Kharkiv region, wherever the Russian Evil has come, it seems obvious that this terrorist state cannot be stopped other than by our victory,” he added.
Washington rejects Moscow complaints over delivery of depleted uranium shells to kyiv
The United States rejected the complaints of Russia, which criticized the announcement, by Great Britain, of the imminent delivery of ammunition containing depleted uranium to Ukraine. Moscow had judged that such a choice would represent a “serious aggravation” of the conflict, threatening to “replicate”. John Kirby, spokesman for the White House National Security Council, called the Russian arguments “misleading”.
These shells, effective against tanks and armored vehicles, “are not radioactive”, and “do not even approach” the category of nuclear weapons, he added. “It’s a common type of ammunition, used particularly for its armor-piercing ability,” said John Kirby, warning that if Moscow “is worried about its tanks and the soldiers operating them,” they can “just cross the border to bring them back to Russia”. The United States is by far the largest source of military aid to Ukraine, but does not provide depleted uranium, said John Kirby.
Belarusian opponent Tikhanovskaya urges her country to break ties with Moscow
Belarusian opponent Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa, traveling to Washington on Wednesday, urged her country to sever relations with its “colonialist” Russian neighbor. “It is time to oppose Russian interference in the internal affairs of Belarus,” she pleaded during a press conference in Congress. Moscow “supports the illegitimate regime” and “carries out colonialist actions”, accused the 40-year-old opponent, who had run for president in 2020 against Alexander Lukashenko, the strong man of the country, in power for three decades .
Forced into exile, she is now the face of democratic forces in Belarus and the enemy of a regime whose brutal abuses she tirelessly denounces. From Washington, Svetlana Tikhanovskaïa called on the Belarusians to break their “close relations with the Russian aggressor”. “The military aggressor freely uses our territory, our airspace to attack and threaten Ukraine”, she regretted, calling on the Russian army to “totally withdraw from Belarus”.
Deadly Russian strikes: Ukraine “will respond to all attacks” from Moscow
Ukraine “will respond to all Russian attacks”, launched Volodymyr Zelensky, after a Moscow drone attack that killed at least seven people in the Kiev region, and a strike against a building in Zaporijjia (center-east) .
“We will respond with certainty to the occupier to all attacks against our cities (…) All Russian strikes will receive a military, political and legal response”, he assured in his daily speech, at the end of a move near Bakhmout, on the front, then to Kharkiv (north-east).
