EU asks UN watchdog to safeguard Ukraine's nuclear plants
The European Union has asked the UN nuclear watchdog to safeguard Ukraine's nuclear plants, two of which are now under Russian control, and mobilise international help in case of an emergency, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
Russian forces have seized Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe' biggest, and the spent-fuel and radioactive waste facilities at Chernobyl, next to the now defunct power plant where the world's worst nuclear accident happened in 1986, Reuters reported.
"I... request that IAEA does its utmost to ensure the nuclear safety of Ukraine's nuclear facilities under the current conditions of war," EU energy policy chief Kadri Simson wrote in a letter to International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) director Rafael Grossi.
Russia "should immediately cease its violent actions against Ukraine and first and foremost return all of Ukraine's nuclear facilities to the full operational and regulatory control of Ukraine," said the letter, dated March 4 and seen by Reuters.
Ukrainian authorities said Russian forces had seized control of Zaporizhzhia on Friday after setting an adjacent training facility on fire. Russia's defence ministry blamed the attack on Ukrainian saboteurs.
Russian forces have since placed staff running the facility under their command and restricted communications with the outside world - developments the IAEA said on Sunday it was "extremely concerned" about. Read full story
While the fire at Zaporizhzhia was quickly extinguished and there was no damage to its reactors, it highlighted concerns about the potentially disastrous consequences should the conflict damage one of Ukraine's four operating nuclear power plants, Reuters reported.
Simson called on the IAEA to mobilise the international community "to be ready to provide Ukraine with assistance in case of an emergency".
Ukrainian power producer DTEK called on Sunday for Western countries, NATO and the U.N. to introduce no-fly zones over Ukraine's nuclear power plants.
The EU is preparing to urgently link Europe's electricity system to Ukraine's grid, which would allow Ukraine to receive emergency power from Europe if military attacks caused power outages.
China says friendship with Russia is ‘rock solid’
China’s friendship with Russia is “rock solid” and the prospects for cooperation are very broad, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Monday, Reuters reported.
Cooperation between the two countries brings benefits and well-being to the two peoples, he told his annual news conference on the sidelines of China’s annual meeting of parliament, according to Reuters.
CPN (MC) adds 97 central members, to discuss MCC after local level elections
CPN (Maoist Centre) has added 97 central members.
A Central Committee meeting held on Monday endorsed the names of 97 persons added by party Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal.
Chairman Dahal submitted the names of 55 persons from the open category and 42 from the proportional category.
With the addition, the Maoist Central Committee has 343 members.
Earlier, the 8th general convention held in December had selected 246 central members.
Central member Raju Khadka said that the Central Committee has also resolved the issue of Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).
The Central Committee has decided to discuss the $500 million grant compact after the local level elections.
Ukraine says Russia steps up shelling of residential areas
Russian forces intensified shelling of cities in Ukraine’s center, north and south, a Ukrainian official said, as a second attempt to evacuate besieged civilians collapsed, Associated Press reported. With the Ukrainian leader urging his people to take to the streets to fight, Russian President Vladimir Putin shifted blame for the invasion, saying Moscow’s attacks could be halted “only if Kyiv ceases hostilities.”
The outskirts of Kyiv, Chernihiv in the north, Mykolaiv in the south, and Kharkiv, the country’s second-largest city, faced stepped-up shelling late Sunday, presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said. Heavy artillery hit residential areas in Kharkiv and shelling damaged a television tower, according to local officials.
The attacks dashed hopes that more people could escape the fighting in Ukraine, where Russia’s plan to quickly overrun the country has been stymied by fierce resistance. Russia has made significant advances in southern Ukraine and along the coast, but many of its efforts have become stalled, including an immense military convoy that has been almost motionless for days north of Kyiv, according to the Associated Press.
Food, water, medicine and almost all other supplies were in desperately short supply in the southern port city of Mariupol, where Russian and Ukrainian forces had agreed to an 11-hour cease-fire that would allow civilians and the wounded to be evacuated. But Russian attacks quickly closed the humanitarian corridor, Ukrainian officials said.
“There can be no ‘green corridors’ because only the sick brain of the Russians decides when to start shooting and at whom,“ Interior Ministry adviser Anton Gerashchenko said on Telegram.
A third round of talks between Russian and Ukrainian leaders is planned for Monday, Associated Press reported.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyyrallied his people to remain defiant, especially those in cities occupied by Russians.
“You should take to the streets! You should fight!” he said Saturday on Ukrainian television. “It is necessary to go out and drive this evil out of our cities, from our land.”
Zelenskyy also asked the United States and NATO countries to send more warplanes to Ukraine, though that idea is complicated by logistical questions about how to provide aircraft to Ukrainian pilots, according to the Associated Press.
He later urged the West to tighten its sanctions on Russia, saying that “the audacity of the aggressor is a clear signal” that existing sanctions are not enough.