Ukraine: Ceasefire in five cities – Second nuclear plant bombed

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Monday it had been informed by Ukrainian authorities that artillery shells had damaged a nuclear research facility in Ukraine’s second largest besieged city, Kharkiv, but without “radiological consequences”.

According to the international body, part of the Vienna-based United Nations system, Ukrainian authorities said the attack took place on Sunday, adding that there had been no increase in the level of radioactivity at the facility.

According to the same sources, part of the Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology, which produces radiological material for medical and industrial use, was affected.

However, “the stock of radioactive materials in the facility is very low”, added the IAEA, which assured that “the damage (…) reported had no radiological consequences”.

“We have been informed of various incidents that have endangered the safety of Ukrainian nuclear facilities,” said Rafael Mariano Grossi, the organisation’s director general.

In recent days, Kharkov has been under intense artillery and missile bombardment as Russian forces increase pressure on Ukraine to surrender.

The Russian army has owned the nuclear plant in Zaporizhia since Friday (southeast), where Russian artillery strikes, according to the Ukrainians, caused a fire. Moscow denies the Ukrainian version of events and says its forces did not cause the fire.

Only two of the plant’s six reactors, the largest in Ukraine and Europe, are in operation.

The IAEA director general said Friday that he was prepared to go to Chernobyl, where one of the worst nuclear accidents in history took place in 1986. The site of the damaged nuclear plant was occupied by Russian troops on the first day of the invasion, February 24.

Ceasefire to open humanitarian corridors

Russia announced Monday night a ceasefire in several Ukrainian cities.

The ceasefire will take effect at 9am today, making it possible to evacuate civilians via humanitarian corridors, according to Moscow.

“The Russian Federation announces a ceasefire from 10.00 (Moscow time) on March 8,” so that civilians can leave Kyiv and the cities of Sumy, Kharkiv, Chernihiv and Mariupol, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

What happened in the third round of Ukraine-Russia negotiations

According to Reuters, a Ukrainian negotiator said that the talks with Russia led to small positive developments regarding the humanitarian corridors. He also said that they did not lead to a result that could improve the situation.

Russia and Ukraine will continue their talks on a ceasefire, Ukrainian negotiator Mikhail Pontolyak said after the third round of talks was completed.

In a video message, Pontoliak said that the talks were successful “little progress” in logistics for the evacuation of civilians. However, there was no agreement that would significantly improve the wider situation.

The third round of negotiations has ended. There are small positive subductions in improving the logistics of humanitarian corridors … Intensive consultations have continued on the basic political block of the regulations, along with a ceasefire and security guarantees. pic.twitter.com/s4kEwTNRhI

– Михайло Подоляк (@Podolyak_M) March 7, 2022

At least 10 killed in Russian bombing raids in Sumy

More than ten people have been killed in Russian airstrikes in Sumyin northeastern Ukraine, local authorities announced.

“In some places, apartment buildings were bombed,” complained Dmitry Zivicki, head of the regional government, in a statement he uploaded to the social networking site Facebook.

Among the ten people killed when houses were bombed, even in central Sumi, were children, he continued.

Four Ukrainian soldiers were also killed in what Mr Zivitsky called an “unequal battle with the Russian army”.

The information provided by the local official could not be independently verified.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian Infrastructure Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov estimated that the damage caused by the Russian armed forces after the invasion exceeded $ 10 billion on Sunday. He explained that he was referring mainly to the damage to infrastructure such as bridges, airports, the railway network, etc., according to the current edition of the newspaper Ukrainian Pravda. He added that the damaged infrastructure can be restored in two years and that the country is counting on international aid for its reconstruction.

Zelensky accuses Russian forces of obstructing evacuation of civilians

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Monday blamed the Russian military for failing to evacuate civilians through so-called humanitarian corridors set up following talks between Kiev and Moscow.

“We agreed on the humanitarian corridors. Did they work? Did the Russian tanks, the Grands, the mines work, did they work?” Telegram.

He also accused Russian forces of “mining the road agreed to be used to transport food and medicine” to besieged Mariupol in southern Ukraine, and of “destroying buses” to evacuate civilians from war zones.

He accused Russia of “cynicism”, claiming that it had opened “a very small corridor to the occupied territories for a few dozen people”, for “propaganda” purposes, to be shown “by the cameras”.

He noted, however, that negotiations with Moscow would continue. “We are realistic. That is what we will talk about. We will insist on negotiations until we find a way to tell our people: this is how we came to peace.”

Moscow announced yesterday morning a ceasefire in various locations and the opening of corridors to allow civilians to leave Ukrainian cities under siege, as the humanitarian crisis worsens with each passing day and food is now in short supply.

But Kyiv refused to evacuate civilians to Russia, where four of Moscow’s six corridors were headed, or to Belarus. Following new negotiations, Russia announced today that a new ceasefire will take effect locally from 09:00 to allow civilians to leave. The routes to be followed remain to be approved by the Ukrainian side, he added.

Mr. Zelensky assured in the video that he will not leave the capital, although the siege of Russian forces is tightening and fighting is taking place. “I live here, I live in Kyiv,” he said, “I’m not afraid.” “It is the twelfth night of our match (…). We are all here, everyone is working. I am in Kyiv, my team is with me,” he insisted. “Every day that Ukraine is at war creates ‘better conditions,'” he said.

According to the services of the Ukrainian president, all Ukrainian soldiers deployed in missions abroad (Kosovo, DR Congo, Cλεte d’Ivoire, according to Ukrainian media) were recalled to Ukraine to take part in the war.

Russia has deployed “virtually all” of its forces on the border, US estimates

Russia has deployed in Ukraine almost all the troops it has amassed in recent months around the two countries’ borders, the Pentagon said Monday, adding that the United States would send another 500 troops to Europe to bolster allied security. in NATO.

Amid the intensification of Russian operations, civilians are increasingly affected, while Moscow is now “recruiting” foreign fighters, mainly Syrians, according to the US Department of Defense.

However, there has been no “real progress in recent days” on the advance of Russian forces beyond southern Ukraine, Moscow’s spokesman John Kerby told reporters in Washington.

The United States has deployed an additional 12,000 troops from those stationed in Europe since February.

Over the weekend, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin ordered another 500 to be sent to various locations in Europe “to reinforce forces already there,” Kerby said.

It is a reaction to the “current security environment due to the unjustified Russian invasion of Ukraine” with the aim of “strengthening NATO’s deterrent and defense capabilities”, especially its eastern wing, he explained.

US President Joe Biden has made it clear that all additional force missions to Europe do not in any way mean that the US will deploy troops to Ukraine. He assures that Washington will not get involved in the war. He stressed that this is a precautionary deployment of forces in NATO member states, of which Ukraine is not a member.

A Pentagon staffer who assisted in compiling the report, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin had “expanded virtually all the fighting forces in Ukraine” that had gathered in recent months on the Russian-Ukrainian border, with more than 150,000 troops in Washington.

Always According to the US Department of Defense, Moscow forces are increasing their bombardment with artillery, missiles and aircraft as they are unable to advance.

“We believe that the ‘Russian army’ has problems with morale, supply, (lack of) fuel and food,” said John Kerby, who spoke again of “strong Ukrainian resistance”.

He noted that the intensification of bombings against Ukrainian cities had “an increasingly serious impact on the number of civilian casualties” as houses, churches, hospitals and schools were being destroyed.

“The result is more civilians dead and wounded,” he said.

“Mr Putin still has the option of stopping the escalation and choosing ‘the diplomatic route out of the crisis and the end of the invasion,'” he said.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has expressed concern about the fate of Odessa, a port of strategic importance that Russian forces are preparing to bomb.

“We believe that the Russians want to occupy Odessa,” a senior Pentagon official said yesterday, without ruling out an amphibious attack in the near future. However, he added, Washington “has no indication at this stage” that moves are being made on this front.

Kuleba confirms plans to hold talks with Lavrov in Turkey the day after tomorrow

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba confirmed on Monday night that he planned to meet with his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov in Turkey the day after Thursday.

“At the moment (meeting) is scheduled for the 10th (March). Let’s see – if he goes by air to Antalya, I will go too. Let ‘s sit down and talk,” Mr Kouleba said in a recorded message.

Earlier in the day, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoλουlu announced that the foreign ministers of the two war-torn countries were expected to meet for talks in Antalya on March 10th. These talks will probably be tripartite, Mr. Tsavousoglou himself intends to participate, as he clarified.

“If Sergei Lavrov is willing to have a serious discussion, ‘diplomat to diplomat’ can be negotiated, but if the Russian foreign minister ‘starts to pick up the absurd propaganda he has been serving lately, he will hear what he deserves, the truth,'” he said. Dmitro Kouleba.

The head of the Ukrainian diplomacy also reiterated that Kyiv wants direct talks between Presidents Volodymyr Zelensky and Vladimir Putin.