Dusseldorf After intense fighting, Russian forces have captured Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in south-eastern Ukraine, according to local sources. According to the UN, no radioactive radiation has escaped so far. The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Mariano Grossi, said on Friday that a Russian shell had hit a training building on the site. The Zaporizhia reactor in Enerhodar is not affected.
Two people were injured when a fire broke out. The fire has been extinguished. The Ukrainian state operator of the nuclear power plant (NPP) said three Ukrainian soldiers were killed and two wounded in the attack. This information cannot be independently verified.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky said only quick action by Europe could stop Russian troops. “Don’t let Europe die from a catastrophe in a nuclear power plant,” he said, calling on politicians and citizens to put pressure on the Russian leadership to stop the Russian soldiers. Zelensky called for the establishment of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg predicts that the coming days will “get even worse,” he says after consultations with NATO foreign ministers. He appealed to Russian President Vladimir Putin to end the war immediately, withdraw troops from Ukraine and come to the negotiating table. “NATO does not want a war with Russia.” Everything must be done to ensure that the war does not spread beyond Ukraine. He ruled out any intervention by the Alliance.
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sanctions from Germany
According to Chancellor Olaf Scholz, the fire on the site of the nuclear power plant affected an administration building.
According to Scholz, even if no radiation has escaped, it is important to avoid such escalations: “But it shows how dangerous the situation is. Wars always result in destruction that neither warring party really intends to do, but which can still have terrible effects.”
Scholz had previously spoken to the Ukrainian President Zelensky on the phone. He had spoken publicly of a targeted shelling of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant by Russian tanks.
>> Read more: A turning point for Europe’s politics and economy – This is how Vladimir Putin’s war reorganizes the world
Scholz also warned against escalating the war in Ukraine. The NATO countries would therefore not intervene directly in the military conflicts, said Scholz. “It is important that there is no escalation of the conflict beyond Ukraine.”
Nevertheless, the EU supports Ukraine and has imposed far-reaching sanctions on Russia. At the same time, one must ensure that nobody attacks NATO territory.
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) has announced further punitive measures against Russia. “Beyond the three severe sanctions packages that we have already decided on, we will take further measures that target Putin’s center of power,” she said on Friday at the sidelines of a special meeting of NATO foreign ministers. The Green politician did not initially give any details.
The Foreign Minister announces further punitive measures against Russia.
(Photo: IMAGO/photothek)
The EU sanctions against Ukraine that have been passed so far include severe economic and financial sanctions. In addition, some oligarchs associated with Russian President Vladimir Putin have already been put on the EU sanctions list. Among other things, this freezes their assets in the EU and restricts their freedom to travel.
Great Britain wants to enforce sanctions more strongly
Great Britain also wants to take stronger action against Russian oligarchs. Their assets will be confiscated if there is a legal basis for doing so, said Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab on Friday. “If we have the evidence and there is a legal basis, we will do it,” he added on radio station LBC when asked about the possibility of property seizures in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The British government is thus following the course of the EU and the USA.
The government in London also wants to prevent Russian oligarchs from using the British court system to sue people or organizations that investigate cases of corruption. “This is an abuse of our system,” Justice Minister Raab said on BBC television.
What is the situation in Ukrainian cities?
According to British sources, the Ukrainian armed forces remain in control of the port city of Mariupol in the south-east of the country. However, the British Ministry of Defense announced that it was probably surrounded by Russian troops on the basis of a new intelligence situation report. The civil infrastructure is still exposed to intense shelling by the Russian military.
>>Read more: All news about the Ukraine war in the live blog.
There are said to have been air raids on the northern Ukrainian city of Chernihiv. Videos showed heavy destruction in the city of about 300,000 people near the border with Russia. The leadership in Moscow denies targeting civilian buildings. However, the information cannot be independently verified.
The adviser to the Ukrainian president, Olexii Arestovych, is nevertheless cautiously optimistic. We are cautiously optimistic about future developments. He explains that advances by the Russian army towards the city of Mykolaiv in the south of the country have been repelled.
Before that, there should have been fighting in the port city, as Governor Vitalii Kim said in a video message. He appealed to the population to remain calm. “Let’s not get nervous,” Kim said.
Zelensky’s adviser Arestovych also explained that the metropolis of Odessa, located further west, was not in any immediate danger. In the east, the situation in the partially encircled port of Mariupol on the Sea of Azov is under control. Reuters cannot verify the information.
Calls for Russia to withdraw WTO privileges are growing louder
In view of the invasion of Ukraine, there are increasing calls in the EU to withdraw the trade advantages granted by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to Russia. “We cannot continue as before in the WTO when it comes to trade with Russia,” wrote the chairman of the Trade Committee in the EU Parliament, Bernd Lange, on Twitter on Friday.
One step could be removing most-favoured-nation status, which grants trade advantages to Russia. “We are discussing options that are available to us in the WTO context,” said a spokesman for the EU Commission. This is now being discussed with representatives of the EU countries.
WTO law allows most-favoured-nation treatment to be lifted for security reasons. “The EU and other countries could make use of this opportunity,” said the director of the Austrian Institute for Economic Research (Wifo) in Vienna, Gabriel Felbermayr, to the Reuters news agency. “That would mean that higher tariffs on imports from Russia could come into effect. That would mean a tightening of the existing sanctions regime.”
About 1.25 million people flown from Ukraine
According to the UN Organization for Migration (IOM), the number of refugees from Ukraine is now 1.25 million. Of these, around 672,000 fled to Poland alone, around 194,000 to Moldova and around 133,000 to Hungary, said an IOM spokesman in Geneva on Friday.
The spokesman said that among the refugees were 78,800 people who did not come from Ukraine but from 138 different other countries. Dozens of countries have asked the IOM for help to bring their compatriots from Ukraine or neighboring countries home. The organization is investigating reports that foreigners have been denied medical assistance. Such behavior is completely unacceptable, the spokesman stressed.
In this context, the EU Commission has also announced further relief supplies for Ukraine. Further medical aid will be provided via camps in Germany, Hungary and the Netherlands, the EU Commission announced on Friday.
According to the Federal Ministry of the Interior, there are no systematic controls on the German-Polish border. There are only increased samples. The authorities took a closer look, says a spokesman for the ministry.
War refugees from the Ukraine should also receive benefits similar to those for asylum seekers in Germany and thus have no direct entitlement to Hartz IV. This is what an agreement between the Federal Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Labor is all about, a person familiar with the negotiations told the Reuters news agency on Friday.
War refugees from the Ukraine should also receive similar benefits in Germany as asylum seekers for their maintenance.
(Photo: dpa)
Unlike asylum seekers, however, they should have immediate access to the German labor market. Your residence permit includes the right to work. There will be talks with the federal states later in the day about the agreement between the two ministries. The expected refugees are to be distributed among the countries.
A spokesman for the Federal Ministry of the Interior confirmed on request “that the Asylum Seekers Benefits Act will probably be applicable to war refugees from Ukraine”. The refugees do not have to apply for an asylum procedure because they receive protection for up to three years on the basis of an EU directive.
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With agency material