‘Serious crisis’ at Ukraine nuclear plant, UN says
This week Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv and Jennifer Rankin followed Ukraine and Russia trading blame for the bombing of Europe’s biggest nuclear plant last weekend, with the UN secretary-general since demanding access to international inspectors at the factory. “Any attack on a nuclear plant is suicidal,” Antonio Guterres said at a news conference in Japan on Monday, after Saturday’s bombing destroyed three radiation sensors. Ukraine’s ambassador to the IAEA, Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, repeated the call for international inspectors and said Russian forces were trying to cause blackouts in southern Ukraine by bombing the Zaporizhzhia plant, which was seized by Russian forces in early March but is still being run by Ukrainian technicians. . However, Russia maintains that Ukrainian forces hit the site with multiple rocket launchers. The head of Zaporizhzhia’s occupation authorities, Evgeniy Balitskyi, said Ukrainian forces had “decided to bring the whole of Europe to the brink of a nuclear disaster” by bombing the plant, in southeastern Ukraine. As Peter Beaumont explains, the shelling around the factory is a concern, but the more serious issue is the disruption to the security regime and routine maintenance of the factory as a result of the ongoing conflict. By Friday, the bombing had resumed and the UN was warning of a “serious crisis”. The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, to which the UN has requested access to international inspectors. Photo: AP
Russian air base on the coast of Crimea was damaged by explosions
A Russian air base deep behind the front lines in Crimea was damaged Tuesday by several large explosions, killing at least one person and destroying up to a dozen Russian aircraft, Dan Sabbagh reports from Kyiv. Political sources in Ukraine said the country carried out the attack on the western coast of Crimea – but Kyiv did not publicly claim responsibility for the incident. Ukraine’s public candor about the attack is designed in part to maintain some ambiguity about the means used, sources said, prompting widespread speculation about how Kyiv was able to strike so deep behind Russian lines, in one of the first attacks on the territory of Crimea after the Russian invasion began in February. By Thursday, satellite images had emerged showing at least nine Russian warplanes destroyed and large sections of the runway heavily damaged. An analysis piece by Dan Sabbagh suggests the attack sends a strong message to Moscow. Although it is not the first Ukrainian attack in Crimea since the start of the war, it is the most significant, not only because it took place some 180 kilometers behind the front lines, but because it took place in front of thousands of tourists. says. People on a beach as flames rise after explosions at a Russian military air base in Novofedorivka, Crimea. Photo: Reuters
Inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians were burned to death
Screams of tortured soldiers, overflowing cells, inhumane conditions, a regime of intimidation and murder. Inedible porridge, no communication with the outside world and days marked with a homemade diary written on a tea box. That, according to a detainee who was there, is the conditions inside Olenivka, the notorious detention center outside Donetsk where dozens of Ukrainian soldiers were burned to death while in Russian captivity in a horrific episode late last month. Anna Vorosheva, a 45-year-old Ukrainian businesswoman, gave Luke Harding a chilling account of the 100 days she spent in prison. He was arrested by the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic on charges of “terrorism” for trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to Mariupol. Now recovering in France, Vorosheva said she had no doubt that Russia “cynically and deliberately” murdered Ukrainian prisoners of war. Test: Anne Vorosheva. Photo: Abdulmonam Eassa/The Observer
Zelensky scolds Amnesty for accusing Ukraine of endangering civilians
An Amnesty International report accusing the Ukrainian military of putting civilians at risk has drawn criticism from Western diplomats, including the British and US ambassadors to Ukraine, as the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, attacked its findings, Isobel Koshiw writes in Kyiv. The report accused the Ukrainian military of putting civilians at risk by stationing themselves in residential areas, saying soldiers should not be based in empty schools or repositioning civilian buildings in urban areas, as this would mean the Russians would target them and civilians will be caught in the crossfire. Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed the report as proof that Ukraine is using civilians as human shields. But critics say the report was poorly researched and written. Amnesty’s head of operations in Ukraine, Oksana Pokalchuk, resigned from her post on Friday afternoon, a day after she claimed the organization ignored her concerns about the report. Amnesty International stood by its claim that Ukraine violated international humanitarian law and said its findings were based on evidence gathered during extensive investigations. While stressing that he condemned the Russian invasion, he said he would report Ukrainian violations when he saw them.
Women who fled Ukraine are anxious about when they will return
Natalia Kompaniets spends her days running into a dilemma with her daughter as they sit in their temporary new home in Budapest. “Every day we think: should we go back or not? There is a battle in our souls,” Kompaniec, a 51-year-old who fled the town of Obukhiv outside Kyiv in early March, tells Shaun Walker in Budapest and Warsaw. In the coming months, life is likely to become more difficult for many Ukrainian refugees as the initial burst of goodwill across Europe wears off, and more people are forced to fend for themselves when it comes to food and shelter. Many are asking similar questions to Kompaniets: if they come from a relatively safe part of Ukraine, is it time for them to return? Wait for the war to end? And how long would that mean waiting? Tatyana, a 32-year-old from Zaporizhia, came to Budapest because a friend of hers worked there as a builder and allowed her and her son to stay in a house she was renovating. But when the renovations were completed they had to move. She now lives in a safe house originally intended for victims of domestic violence, but since March one floor has been reserved for Ukrainian refugees. She is worried about staying in Hungary and is not sure if she can find a job there. But he is also worried about returning to Zaporizhzhia, a city near the front lines in eastern Ukraine. Natalia Kompaniets with her granddaughter. “There is a battle in our souls.” Photo: Andras Fekete/The Guardian
