Ukraine says Russian attempts to advance in southern city repulsed

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LVIV (BLOOMBERG/REUTERS) - Russian troops have entered the Ukrainian Black Sea port city of Mykolayiv for the first time, regional authorities said on Friday (March 4), but their attempts to advance have been halted.  

In a video statement shared online, Governor Vitaliy Kim said fighting was under way in parts of the city.  “Let’s not get nervous,” he said.

Ukraine's presidential adviser later said Russia’s attempts to advance on Mykolayiv had been repulsed.

If captured, the city of 500,000 people would be the biggest yet to fall. 

He added that there is no immediate threat to Odessa, a city on the Black Sea just west of Mykolayiv, and that Kyiv "feels cautious optimism" about how the situation could develop.

The capital Kyiv, in the path of a huge Russian armoured column that has been stalled on a road for days, came under renewed attack, with air raid sirens blaring in the morning and explosions audible from the city centre.

Earlier on Friday, Russian military forces have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine’s south-east, the regional state administration.

“Operational personnel are monitoring the condition of power units,” it said on social media, adding that the efforts sought to ensure the operations were in line with safety requirements.

Ukraine said Russian forces attacked the plant in the early hours of Friday, setting an adjacent five-storey training facility on fire.

The fire was put out and no injuries were reported.

Authorities say the facility is now safe and radiation levels are normal.

Russia’s defence ministry on Friday blamed the attack at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a monstrous provocation.

 A ministry spokesman said the nuclear plant was operating normally and the area had been under Russian control since Feb 28.  

"However, last night on the territory adjacent to the power plant, an attempt was made by the Kyiv nationalist regime to carry out a monstrous provocation," spokesman Igor Konashenkov was quoted as saying.  

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He said that a Russian national guard patrol was attacked by a Ukrainian sabotage group on territory adjacent to the plant.

Ukraine earlier told the International Atomic Energy Agency the blaze had “not affected ‘essential’ equipment”, and that no change had been reported in radiation levels. 

Reactors are “being protected by robust containment structures” and are being safely shut down, US Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm said in a statement, adding her department had activated its nuclear incident response team.

The Zaporizhzhia facility is Europe's largest nuclear power plant and home to six Soviet-designed 950MW reactors built between 1984 and 1995, with capacity of 5.7GW, enough to power more than 4 million homes. The site accounts for about 20 per cent of the country’s electricity, according to its website.

As reports about Friday morning's attack emerged, US President Joe Biden spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. The leaders called on Russia “to cease its military activities in the area and to allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site", according to a White House statement.

“Europe must wake up,” Zelensky said in a video message after the attack. “Russian tanks are firing at the nuclear power station, the biggest one in Europe.” He also spoke to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and other leaders.

“If there is an explosion, it is the end of Europe,” Zelensky added. “Only urgent Europe actions can stop Russian troops.” 

Those sentiments were echoed by his foreign minister, who had warned that the fire posed a significant risk.

“If it blows up, it will be 10 times larger than Chernobyl!” Dmytro Kuleba said on Twitter, referring to the disaster at that nuclear site in 1986. “Russians must immediately cease fire and allow firefighters to establish a security zone,” he said. 

Mariano Grossi, the IAEA’s director general, spoke to Ukrainian authorities and warned of “severe danger” if its reactors were hit. 

Earlier, Ukrainian authorities reported Russian troops were stepping up efforts to seize the plant and had entered the town with tanks.

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The IAEA's Grossi had on Thursday called on Russian and Ukrainian troops not to fight in the area of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

“Director General Grossi appealed for an immediate halt to the use of force at Enerhodar and called on the military forces operating there to refrain from violence near the nuclear power plant,” the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.

If shelling had occurred, the reactors should switch off automatically, said Mark Nelson, Managing Director of Radiant Energy Fund, which advises non-profits and industry about nuclear energy. 

“How worried should we be? Not worried, if we’re talking about health impacts outside of the plant,” said Nelson.

“If the plant’s emergency responses have been disabled, which would almost certainly take more than incidental firing with light weapons, then the worst we can expect is a contained 'TMI' style accident,” he said, referring to the 1979 Three-Mile Island incident in Pennsylvania.

The invasion of Ukraine has entered its ninth day. Thousands are thought to have died or been wounded as the biggest attack on a European state since World War II unfolds, creating one million refugees, hits to Russia’s economy, and fears of wider conflict in the West unthought-of for decades.

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Russia has already captured the defunct Chernobyl plant, some 100km north of Ukraine's capital, Kyiv.

On Thursday, the United States and Britain announced sanctions on more oligarchs, following on from European Union measures, as they ratcheted up the pressure on the Kremlin.

Included was Russian tycoon Alisher Usmanov, the founder of mining company Metalloinvest.

Visa restrictions will be imposed on 19 Russian oligarchs, their family members and associates, the White House said.

Sanctions have “had a profound impact already", said US President Biden.

Russia calls its actions in Ukraine a “special operation” that is not designed to occupy territory but to destroy its neighbour’s military capabilities and capture what it regards as dangerous nationalists. It denies targeting civilians.

Follow The Straits Times' live coverage on the Ukraine crisis here.

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