March 3, 2022 Russia-Ukraine news

The fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant has been put out, according to a statement from the Ukrainian State Emergency Service on Friday. 

Airbnb is suspending all operations in Russia and Belarus, the company’s CEO Brian Chesky said in a tweet on Friday.

Airbnb joins a growing number of international companies dialing back operations in Russia, including Apple, Disney and Ford.

Read more here.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of a "nuclear terror attack" after a fire broke out at a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

In a Facebook post early Friday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of intentionally firing at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, after a fire broke out at the facility following heavy shelling from Russian forces.

Ukrainian authorities say the power plant has not sustained any critical damage, and that radiation levels are currently normal, though the situation remains fluid and firefighters continue to battle the blaze.

“Russian tanks are shooting at the atomic blocks equipped with thermal imagers. They know what they are shooting at. They’ve been preparing for this (attack),” he said in the post.

Zelensky also referred to the Chernobyl tragedy and its victims in the post. “For all Ukrainians, for all Europeans, for all people who know the word ‘Chernobyl,’ how many victims there were.”

The 1986 Chernobyl disaster, which took place in Soviet Ukraine, is considered the worst nuclear accident in history. It was a “global catastrophe that affected the lives of hundreds of thousands of people,” and had a lasting impact on the country, Zelensky said.

What’s happening now: Ukrainian authorities say fighting has stopped in the area and about 40 firefighters are working to put out the blaze.

But the very fact Russia launched an attack at the plant is itself an extremely dangerous act and could cause a potential catastrophe, he said. “There are 15 nuclear reactors in Ukraine. If one of them blows, that’s the end for everyone, that’s the end of Europe,” he added.

Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov.

The mayor of Kharkiv, the northeastern city under siege by Russian forces, told CNN on Friday the Russian military is “intentionally trying to eliminate Ukrainian people” as it targets civilian spaces.

“The situation is extremely difficult,” Mayor Ihor Terekhov said. “To date, Kharkiv has been hard impacted by continuous bombardment. Planes are flying constantly, (rockets) are being launched, grenades are launched, and residential houses are being hit.”

While many residents are taking shelter, “a great number” have been killed, Terekhov said, adding that many are wounded and in hospital. 

The state emergency services in Ukraine on Thursday morning said 34 civilians in the Kharkiv region had been killed in just 24 hours, and another 285 injured.

The fire that broke out at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Friday started in a training building outside the main reactor complex, according to Ukraine’s State Emergency Services (SES). 

“As of 05:20am (local time), the State Emergency Service Units responded to the fire at the training building of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant,” SES said in a statement on Telegram.

Some 40 firefighters and 10 units are now working to tackle the blaze, SES said. 

“The occupiers will face severe punishment for this cynical attack on the largest nuclear power plant in EUROPE!” the statement read. 

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky about the “gravely concerning situation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, he said in a tweet Friday.

“Russia must immediately cease its attack on the power station and allow unfettered access for emergency services to the plant,” Johnson said.

Johnson’s office released a statement after the two leaders’ call, saying the United Kingdom “would do everything it could to ensure the situation did not deteriorate further.”

Emergency UN meeting: The statement added that Johnson will seek an emergency United Nations Security Council meeting in the coming hours, where the UK plans to raise this issue with Russia and its partners.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has put its Incident and Emergency Centre in “full 24/7 response mode” due to the “serious situation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the agency said on Twitter.

The agency is in contact with Ukrainian authorities about the ongoing fire at the power plant.

Read the tweet:

New videos posted to social media show the horrific aftermath of Russian military strikes that hit an apartment complex in the northern city of Chernihiv on Thursday. 

CNN has geolocated and verified the authenticity of this and other videos that show the moment of the strikes and the aftermath.

One video shows the strike as it happens, with residential buildings torn apart in a split second. Sirens echo as the camera shows parts of the building’s walls torn open, exposing entire apartment rooms. The walls of one apartment complex were reduced to rubble.

A fire is seen on the ground, with smoke elsewhere still rising from the explosion. 

The person filming the video moves out into the street, which is littered with debris and damaged cars. The video shows an injured woman on the ground, beside two people who appear burned and unmoving. “Kids … little kids,” she can be heard saying.

CNN does not know the condition of the woman seen in the video.

A second before the military strikes, the roar of a projectile is heard on a surveillance video from a nearby house in Chernihiv, which shows at least five explosions. 

Deaths reported: The Ukrainian Emergency Services said on Twitter that as of 6:20 p.m. local time, they had pulled 33 bodies from the rubble of the complex in addition to 18 injured people.

There are no military facilities nearby, only civilian structures like residential buildings and schools, the Chernihiv Regional State Administration told CNN.

All eyes are on the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, where officials reported a fire breaking out amid heavy shelling by Russian forces. Here’s what we know:

What happened? Ukrainian authorities said about 2:30 a.m. local time Friday that a fire had broken out at the nuclear power complex, located in Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine.

The plant is the largest of its kind in Ukraine and contains six of the country’s 15 nuclear energy reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Fighting has since stopped in the area, a spokesperson for the power plant, Andrii Tuz, told CNN.

How serious is the situation? It’s hard to say since there is still a lot we don’t know — such as where the fire is located within the complex, whether the reactors have been impacted, whether there are secondary and tertiary cooling systems in place, and more.

But the plant has not sustained any “critical” damage, Tuz said. The fire has not affected any “essential” equipment, and staff are taking action to mitigate any damage, said the IAEA, citing Ukrainian authorities.

Are we seeing any radiation spikes? No — nuclear regulators and government bodies in the US and Ukraine say radiation levels appear normal at the moment.

What are the risks and how likely are they? The worst-case scenario would be if a fire or attack reached the reactors, disrupted their cooling system and caused a meltdown, which would release large amounts of radioactivity.

Graham Allison, professor at the Belfer Center, Harvard University, told CNN early Friday that plants have systems to automatically fight fires, but not “all fires” — so the situation depends on where the blaze is happening. And “not all fires in a power plant, have catastrophic consequences,” he said.

US Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm tweeted Thursday night that she spoke with Ukraine’s energy minister about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

The US has activated its Nuclear Incident Response Team, and is monitoring the situation along with the Department of Defense, the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the White House, she said.

Radiation levels normal: “We have seen no elevated radiation readings near the facility. The plant’s reactors are protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down,” she said.

Early Friday, Ukrainian officials reported a fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Here’s what we know about the facility:

Where is the plant? It’s located in the city of Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine, some 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the city of Zaporizhzhia. Six power units are in operation at the facility, with the first coming online in 1984, according to Energoatom, Ukraine’s nuclear power operator.  

How much power does it generate? The plant generates 40-42 billion kWh, which accounts for one-fifth of the average annual electricity production in Ukraine and almost 47% of electricity generated by Ukrainian nuclear power plants.  

The plant has capabilities “for continuous radiation monitoring of the nuclear power plant industrial site, the sanitary protection and 30-kilometers radiation control zones,” according to Energoatom. There is also a dry storage facility onsite for spent fuel. 

What’s the biggest concern? National security analyst Joe Cirincione told CNN he was “very concerned” about the blaze.” There are multiple ways this could get very terrible very quick,” he said.

He warned the plant could see a nuclear meltdown if the electricity or plumbing to the facility get cut off. Cirincione added that if the Russian military wants to take the plant offline, they should capture the facility rather than physically attack due to the dangers involved. 

But we don’t know enough yet: Nuclear policy expert Graham Allison told CNN that “not all fires at a power plant have catastrophic consequences.” A disaster would depend on where the fire is located, whether staff are able to take the appropriate measures, and several other factors — including how many reactors were impacted, he said.

The Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant seen on July 9, 2019.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a tweet on Friday that “essential” equipment at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant site has not been affected by the fire, according to Ukrainian authorities.

It added that the “plant personnel (are) taking mitigatory actions.”

Earlier on Friday, Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant spokesperson Andrii Tuz also told CNN that the plant has not sustained any critical damage.

Two White House officials said their latest information shows “no indications of elevated levels of radiation” at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power complex in Ukraine. 

The White House is continuing to monitor the situation closely. 

US President Joe Biden received an update from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky late Thursday night about the reported fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the White House said in a statement after the two leaders’ phone call.

Biden also received an update on the situation from the under secretary for Nuclear Security of the US Department of Energy and Administrator of the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). 

Fighting has stopped near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and background radiation levels are currently normal as a fire continued at the facility, a spokesperson at the plant said on Friday.

Spokesperson Andrii Tuz said the plant has not sustained any critical damage, although only one power generation unit out of six is operational.

In an earlier Facebook post, Tuz said at least one power generating unit at the nuclear plant was struck in the fighting. “A lot of technical equipment was hit,” he told CNN.

Firefighters met with guns: Earlier Friday, Ukrainian officials said firefighters were unable to access the nuclear plant. Tuz said when firefighters initially arrived, they were met with guns and turned around. 

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is the biggest in Europe according to the plant’s website. It supports one fifth of total electric power generated in Ukraine.

The nuclear plant has six units in total, with the first one connected to the power grid in 1984, and the sixth one connected in 1995.

Leaders of the American Nuclear Society have urged all armed forces in Ukraine to “refrain from military actions near nuclear facilities,” saying staff at nuclear power plants must be able to do their jobs without interruption or “the fear of being killed or injured.”

They urged an end to the war to “prevent further loss of life and prevent any risk to Ukraine’s nuclear facilities.”

As a fire reported by Ukrainian officials continues at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, nuclear experts answered some of the most urgent questions:

Are there systems in the plant that can automatically fight the fire? Yes, but they don’t fight all fires, said nuclear policy expert and Harvard professor Graham Allison. And not all fires at a power plant can have “catastrophic consequences.” It depends on where the fire is — the biggest concern is if the blaze reaches a reactor’s cooling pits, which could cause a meltdown of the reactor.

What could happen if a reactor melts down? If a fire, missile strike or other type of attack disrupts the nuclear reactor’s cooling structure, it won’t be able to cool itself — causing the fuel inside to overheat and melt down, releasing large amounts of radioactivity, said James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

The most recent and severe examples include the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan, and the 1986 Chernobyl disaster in Soviet Ukraine.

How likely is this? It’s hard to say because there’s still much we don’t know, several experts agreed — most importantly, where the fire is located, whether it’s even near the reactors or in a different part of the nuclear power complex, whether all the reactors are working — all things that could influence the severity of a disaster, if one occurs.

Why is the power plant coming under attack? Russian troops appear to be trying to seal off a nearby river and encircle Ukrainian forces, a classic maneuver, said retired US Army Gen. Wesley Clark — and the power plant is “right in the way.” The plant is also a “key strategic asset,” providing much of Ukraine’s power, he added: “Take that offline, the grid is at least temporarily destabilized. You’re cutting the ability of Ukrainians to be able to handle communications to a lot of other things.”

The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is on fire following an attack by the Russian military, according to Dmytro Orlov, the mayor of the nearby city of Enerhodar.

The plant is located in Enerhodar, southeastern Ukraine, some 70 miles (112 kilometers) from the city of Zaporizhzhia.

Zaporizhzhia is located about 125 miles (200 kilometers) west of the city of Donetsk within one of the two pro-Moscow territories recognized as an independent state last month by Russia.

The plant is the largest of its kind in Ukraine and contains six of the country’s 15 nuclear energy reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Ukraine’s nuclear regulator told the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) there is “no change reported in radiation levels at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant site,” the IAEA tweeted on Friday.

Ukrainian officials said early Friday a fire had broken out at the nuclear plant as Russian forces attacked “from all sides,” with firefighters unable to reach the site.

Though reports of a fire at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are alarming, there’s still a lot we don’t know, nuclear weapons expert Jeffrey Lewis said Friday.

So far, radiation monitoring conditions — which were updated just a few minutes ago — look “normal,” according to Lewis, director of the East Asia Nonproliferation Program at the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies.

There are radiation detectors “all over the place,” that would be able to pick up on any spikes in radiation, he said. “Reactors are big, sealed and concrete structures. They should not catch on fire. We don’t know what caused the fire.”

Biggest fear: If a potential fire breaches the containment structure of the reactor, that’s when it could get dangerous, Lewis said.

But there should be workers at the site 24/7, who could stop the reactor before the fire reached it, he added.

James Acton, co-director of the Nuclear Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, said the biggest concern was if the fire disrupted the reactors’ cooling systems. If they can’t cool themselves, the fuel inside could overheat and melt down.

If the cooling stopped, a meltdown could range from taking place in a few hours or days, depending on how radioactive the reactor is.

US President Joe Biden has just spoken with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as the White House continues to monitor the reported fire at the Zaporizhzia nuclear power plant.