Zelenskyy meets with Turkish president, UN chief as fighting rages near power plant: Ukraine live updates
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy met with U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv on Thursday as the conflict with Russia approached the six-month mark with no end in sight.
Turkey agreed to help rebuild Ukraine’s infrastructure and Zelenskyy asked the U.N. to intervene for Ukrainian citizens deported to Russia and to help free captured soldiers and medics, his website said.
The trip marks Erdogan’s first Ukraine visit since Feb. 3, and it was the second visit for Guterres. U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the three leaders would discuss the situation at the Russian-controlled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine as fighting nearby continues to rage. They were also expected to discuss grain exports.
Meanwhile, Russian missile strikes that began Wednesday night continued Thursday morning in and around the northeastern city of Kharkiv, killing at least 17 and wounding 42, Ukrainian authorities said. Zelenskyy called the assault “despicable and cynical.”
One person also died in Russia’s recent attack on Mykolaiv, a southern Ukrainian city considered an important transportation hub for the country. Two others were injured, said Mykolaiv’s mayor, Oleksandr Sienkevych, who reported explosions in the city Thursday afternoon local time.
Latest developments:
►Amid the tense international climate created by the war, Russia deployed warplanes carrying state-of-the-art hypersonic missiles to its Kaliningrad region, which is surrounded by two NATO countries, Poland and Lithuania.
►Mariupol’s minister of education and four school principals are suspected of treason, the Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine said. They’re accused of cooperating with Russian occupation authorities in Mariupol and heading “a pseudo-organization that organizes the educational process in the city,” the office said.
►Russian and Ukrainian officials acknowledged Tuesday that an ammunition dump exploded in northern Crimea, the U.K. Ministry of Defense said. The Russian Defense Ministry blamed Tuesday’s explosions on “sabotage”. A senior Ukrainian official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the New York Times an elite unit was responsible. Kyiv said the explosions destroyed nine Russian airplanes.
Zelenskyy-UN have deal on experts’ visit to nuclear plant; Russia could oppose it
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and U.N. head Antonio Guterres agreed Thursday on the terms of a trip by the International Atomic Energy Agency to the embattled Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the presidential website said.
However, the plant has been under Russian control since early in the war and it’s not certain the Kremlin will accede to the visit. A Russian Foreign Ministry official rejected the notion of withdrawing troops, saying it would leave the plant “vulnerable.”
The warring sides have been accusing the other of risking a nuclear calamity by shelling in the vicinity of the plant and, on Thursday, of plotting to attack the site and then blame the other party.
Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov said his country may cease operations of the plant “if the situation with Ukrainian shelling continues to develop negatively.”
The facility, the largest one of its kind in Europe, generated 20% of Ukraine’s electricity before the war.
survival tools to thousands of deaf or hard-of-hearing Ukrainians living in the midst of war, including solar-powered lights, cellphone chargers and drinking-water filters.
“When a hearing person says to people, ‘Go, go, go,’ Deaf people miss this small window of opportunity to flee,” Off-The-Grid founder Angela Maria Nardolillo told USA TODAY via email. “Deaf are the first to get cut off from vital information and the last to get help.”
That likely occurred Wednesday night when Russian missile strikes in a residential area of Kharkiv destroyed a dormitory for deaf people, among other buildings. Officials said at least 17 people were killed and 42 injured in an attack that continued Thursday.
Off-The-Grid’s presence in Ukraine reflects a growing understanding among those in charge of responding to disasters that the unique needs of people with disabilities must be considered in preparation plans.
Grain-loaded cargo ships continue departing Ukraine’s unblocked ports
The 25th grain-carrying cargo ship has left Ukraine under a deal with Russia brokered by Turkey and the United Nations to unblock Ukraine’s ports, according to Agence France-Presse. The ship I Maria, loaded with 33,000 tons of corn, departed from the port of Chornomorsk, Ukraine’s ports authority said in a statement. It is expected to reach Egypt in a few days.
Last month, 600,000 tons of Ukrainian agricultural products were shipped in Istanbul through a corridor agreed to by Moscow and Kyiv, according to the ports authority. “So far, 25 ships with Ukrainian products (have) left the ports of Odessa, Pivdennyi and Chornomorsk for the Bosphorus Strait,” the authority said.
Russia and Ukraine are two of the world’s largest grain-exporting countries. Russia gained assurances that its food and fertilizer wouldn’t face sanctions under the deal, which lifted a blockade and allowed cargo ships to start departing from Black Sea ports Aug. 1.
Contributing: The Associated Press