In the southwest, Russian troops are advancing towards Odessa. It is not only the fighting over the nuclear power plant that is causing international outrage.
Soldiers of the Ukrainian Territorial Defense Forces patrol in Odessa.
The Russian invading army continues to advance in southern Ukraine. In the western thrust, after taking Cherson on Friday, the attackers targeted Mikolaiv at the mouth of the Bug.
According to the Ukrainian armed forces, all attacks on the city were repelled. In the surrounding area, however, the Russian troops gained territory and took at least one provincial town. The westward movement is seen as a preparation for the attack on Odessa, Ukraine’s third largest city.
Precarious situation in Mariupol
In the southeast, the city of Mariupol on the Azov Sea is now completely surrounded, according to Ukrainian information. The port city has been under heavy shelling for several days. The situation of the civilian population is worrying. The district heating system as well as the water and power supply are said to have been largely destroyed.
Mariupol is considered one of the areas where humanitarian corridors most urgently need to be set up, on which the Russian and Ukrainian sides agreed in principle at the second round of talks on Thursday evening. Details are not known until now. The government in Kyiv appealed to the International Committee of the Red Cross on Friday, urging them to help evacuate civilians.
Concern about the safety of nuclear power plants
On Friday night, Russian troops also took control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, about 150 kilometers north of Crimea. During the fighting, a fire broke out at the site of Europe’s most powerful nuclear power plant, raising serious concerns about the safety of Ukraine’s nuclear reactors. During the day, the Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that no central facilities of the nuclear power plant had been damaged.
Kyiv has accused Moscow of deliberately shelling the facility in violation of martial law. Many Western countries have strongly condemned the Russian attack on the nuclear power plant. Russia, in turn, claims that Ukrainian troops were behind the fire.
NATO raised further allegations against the Russian conduct of the war. After a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Friday, Secretary General Stoltenberg said that Russia was using cluster bombs and that there were also reports of other weapons that were banned under international law. However, he again ruled out that NATO would impose a no-fly zone over Ukraine because it would lead to a direct confrontation with Russia.
However, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock announced further sanctions against Russia, which were intended to hit the power center in the Kremlin. She did not give any details. The UN Human Rights Council decided by a large majority on Friday to open investigations into Russian human rights violations in Ukraine.
Navy flagship sunk
Russian troops also continued their attacks on the northern and eastern fronts. According to Ukrainian sources, 39 civilians were killed in Kharkiv and the surrounding area. The number of victims of the heavy shelling of the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv on Thursday has risen to 47. A shell hit a school in Zhitomir, a town 130 kilometers west of Kyiv.
In the immediate vicinity of Kiev, Russian troops continue to encounter fierce resistance as they attempt to encircle the city. At Hostomel Airport, which has been contested since the beginning of the war, the world’s largest aircraft and the pride of Ukrainian aviation, the Antonov An-225 Mriya, was completely destroyed.
The Navy’s flagship is also out of action. As has now become known, on the first day of the war, Ukrainian forces sunk the frigate “Hetman Zahaydachni”, which was being overhauled in a shipyard in Mikolajiv, so that it would not fall into enemy hands.