Chernobyl: 92 power plant employees held hostage by Russian forces, official says
92 Chernobyl power plant employees held hostage by Russian forces, Ukrainian Ambassador to the US says
From CNN’s Ellie Kaufman
Ninety-two members of the Chernobyl power plant operational personnel are being held hostage by Russian forces, Ukrainian ambassador to the US Oksana Markarova said during a press conference in Washington, DC, on Friday.
Because the power plant personnel are being held hostage, they are not able to work in shifts and follow the strict regulations that the power plant requires, she said.
The responsibility of the power plant now “relies on Russian forces and Russian army,” Markarova said. Ukraine is reaching out to all nuclear regulators and other countries to alert them to the situation at Chernobyl, she added.
“In defending these plants, we are trying to be very responsible and careful so there is no damage to it. We can’t say the same about the Russian federation, so that’s why we are warning and that’s why we’re reaching out to everyone,” Markarova said.
The White House on Thursday condemned Russia for taking hostage civilian staff of the Chernobyl power facilities in northern Ukraine and demanded their immediate release.
“We are outraged by credible reports that Russian soldiers are currently holding staff of the Chernobyl facilities hostage,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters on Thursday. “This unlawful and dangerous hostage taking, which could upend the routine civil service efforts required to maintain and protect the nuclear waste facilities is obviously incredibly alarming and greatly concerning. We condemn it and we request their release.”
Russia plans to threaten to kill Ukrainians who don’t surrender, US official says
From CNN’s Kylie Atwood and Jennifer Hansler
The Biden administration believes that Russia will threaten to kill the families of Ukrainian soldiers if they do not surrender, a US official said on Friday amid the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“Our information also indicates that Russia plans to threaten killing the family members of Ukrainian soldiers if they do not surrender,” the official said, who also commended the “incredible bravery” that the Ukrainians showed in the first day of fighting.
The State Department did not immediately respond when asked why the US believes that this is what the Russians will do.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken has recently warned of the possibility of widespread human rights abuses against the Ukrainian people carried out by Russia.
“All evidence suggests that Russia intends to encircle and threaten Kyiv, and we believe Moscow has developed plans to inflict widespread human rights abuses – and potentially worse – on the Ukrainian people,” he said on Thursday.
Ukraine’s foreign minister echoed US concerns about the possibility of forthcoming human rights abuses on Friday. Citing intelligence, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said there could be Russian false flag operations that would erroneously cast the Ukrainians as the aggressors.
“According to intelligence, Russia plans a massive false flag operation to ‘dehumanize’ Ukrainians and accuse Ukraine of alleged inhuman actions. Don’t trust fakes. Ukraine defends its land in a just and defensive war. Unlike Russia, we don’t target kindergartens and civilians,” Kuleba tweeted.
The US official also said the Kremlin is carrying out a disinformation campaign to suggest a large number of Ukrainian troops have already surrendered to Russian forces.
“We commend the Ukrainian people for showing strength and determination in response to an unprovoked attack by a significantly larger military,” the official said, adding “We are concerned, however, that Russia plans to discourage them and induce surrender through disinformation. Our information indicates Russia is creating a disinformation campaign by publicizing false reports about the widespread surrender of Ukrainian troops.”
On Thursday President Volodymyr Zelensky said that 137 people were killed during the first day of Russia’s invasion, but he said that they died a “heroic death” and that they did not surrender.
UN humanitarian chief says they are not leaving Ukraine and have set up an operations center in Geneva
The United Nations humanitarian presence will remain in Ukraine and will work to expand and scale up their operations, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)’s Martin Griffiths said Friday.
“The UN and its humanitarian partners, all those people I have the fortune to work with, are committed to continue and indeed to expand our presence. We had not left; we are not leaving Ukraine,” said Griffiths, OCHA’s under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator, during a briefing at UN headquarters in New York City.
Griffiths said that this year alone, the UN and its partners have delivered about 150 tons of assistance to the Donbas region. He noted that UN staff are “bunkered down at the moment,” but said they continue to expand efforts.
The expansion is accompanied by the establishment of an inter-agency operations center in Geneva, where Griffiths said he will be heading this weekend. He recalled UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ Thursday announcement of $20 million in humanitarian aid and said the funds would help support emergency operations along the contact line in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
He underscored the importance of allowing for safe access to UN workers in the region.
“We need the safe, unimpeded access and protection of our humanitarian workers and the deliveries that they will be doing, that they will be resuming, as soon as the security allows it to all areas of Ukraine affected by conflict,” Griffiths said.
The UN humanitarian chief also said they are currently facilitating the temporary relocation of nonessential UN staff and eligible family members within Ukraine for the purpose of their security and safety.
“There are no plans at the moment to relocate our staff outside the country, but we’ll continue, obviously, to evaluate the developing security situation,” Griffiths said.
Special evacuation trains scheduled to travel from Kyiv to western Ukraine
From CNN’s Ivana Kottasová and Yulia Kesaieva in Kyiv
The Ukrainian Railway Company has on Friday announced a number of special evacuation trains running from Kyiv to the western parts of Ukraine.
The extra trains are departing from Kyiv’s main rail and suburban station.
The company announced the added trains will be for Rakhiv, Uzhhorod, Truskavets, Vorokhta, Kovel, Chernivtsi and Lviv.
Here are some details the company provided about these evacuation trains:
- Seats on the train will be available on first-come-first-served basis.
- Priority will be given to children, women and people with limited mobility.
- Due to the circumstances, train delays are possible.
- There are enough cars for the safe evacuation of about 10,000 people by the end of Friday.
The company has asked those traveling on the special trains to not disclose their locations and not to be surprised if emergency lighting is used.
“The less the train looks like a garland, the safer the journey,” it added.
NATO official says “we will do what it takes” to support Ukraine as response force is activated
From CNN’s Nada Bashir
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Friday that NATO will “do what it takes” to defend all its allies, including Ukraine, and “every inch of NATO territory,” confirming that the NATO Response Force (NRF) had been activated for the first time in response to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine.
“This goes far beyond Ukraine — this is about how Russia is actually challenging and contesting core values of our security, and demanding that NATO should withdraw all forces and infrastructure from almost half of our members,” Stoltenberg said.
“We have to take this seriously, and that is exactly why we are now deploying the NATO Response Force for the first time in a collective defense context,” he added.
The activation of the response troops does not mean that any US or NATO troops will go into Ukraine, which is not a member of the alliance. US President Joe Biden has been clear that US troops are deploying to eastern Europe to help bolster NATO countries nervous about Russia’s aggressive actions, and they will not be fighting in Ukraine.
Speaking during a press briefing following a rare meeting of NATO Heads of State and Government in Brussels, Stoltenberg clarified that while the US, Canada and European allies have “deployed thousands of more troops” to the eastern part of the alliance, NATO is not deploying the entire response force.
“We have over 100 jets at high alert, operating in over 30 different locations and over 120 ships from the high north to the Mediterranean,” Stoltenberg said. “We activated the defense plans yesterday, and now elements of this force are being deployed.”
According to Stoltenberg, the size of the NATO Response Force has “tripled since 2014 to roughly 40,000 troops.”
“I am not saying we are deploying the whole thing, I’m saying we are deploying elements,” he reiterated.
US plans to impose sanctions on Russia’s Putin as soon as today, sources tell CNN
From CNN’s Phil Mattingly
The United States is planning to impose sanctions on Russian President Vladimir Putin as soon as Friday, according to two sources familiar with the decision.
The Russian leader will become the highest profile target in the effort to impose costs on the Russian economy and Putin’s inner circle in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Additional Russian officials are likely to be included, one of the sources said.
The US action follows reports the European Union plans to target Putin and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov with sanctions.
US President Joe Biden has said sanctioning Putin has been an option under consideration, telling CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Thursday it was “on the table.”
Kyiv mayor warns of “difficult” night ahead as Russian troops are “very close” to Ukrainian capital
From Yulia Kesaieva and Ivana Kottasova in Kyiv
Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that Russian troops were “very close to the capital” and predicted “a difficult night” for the city.
“The situation now is threatening for Kyiv, no exaggeration. The night and the morning will be difficult,” Klitschko said in the address posted on his Telegram channel on Friday.
“Russian troops are very close to the capital. The sabotage groups are neutralizing the military and law enforcement agencies in the city. Bridges are under protection and special control in the capital. Military equipment and soldiers of the Armed Forces are patrolling them,” he said.
He added that Kyiv hospitals were operating in wartime mode and said checkpoints have been installed at the main entrances to the city and near strategic facilities in the capital.
“We are doing this to protect Kyiv,” he said, adding “I thank the people of the city for their willingness to defend the capital and the country, along with other units of the Armed Forces and law enforcement agencies.”
CNN earlier reported that US intelligence officials are concerned that Kyiv could fall under Russian control within days, according to two sources familiar with the latest intelligence.
First publicly acknowledged military aid arrives in Ukraine since invasion
From CNN’s Paul P. Murphy and Josh Pennington
Poland has shipped a convoy with ammunition to Ukraine, according to the country’s Minister of Defense Mariusz Błaszczak, making it the first publicly acknowledged shipment of military aid to Ukraine since the Russian invasion began.
“A convoy of ammunition we are donating to Ukraine has already reached our neighbors. We stand by the Ukrainians, and show solidarity against Russian aggression,” he said in a tweet.
The tweet neither described the sort of ammunition Poland sent the Ukrainians nor the amount.
Ukrainian airspace warning expanded, citing missile threat
From CNN’s Pete Muntean
European aviation regulators are doubling the size of the warning zone around Ukraine, fearing “mid-range missiles penetrating into controlled airspace.”
The European Union Aviation Safety Agency has expanded its warning for airlines and other civilian operators from 100 nautical miles to 200 nautical miles of the Ukrainian border with Russia.
EASA said the expanded area now factors in the “risk posed by the threat of missile launches to and from Ukraine.”
The threat is real: In 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 was shot down over eastern Ukraine by a surface-to-air missile, killing nearly 300 people. Western officials and a Dutch-led investigation said Russian President Vladimir Putin bears responsibility for the incident, but Putin denied it.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/europe/live-news/ukraine-russia-news-02-25-22/h_c3235e08f974d46a04900efa688e3554
