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Russia has resorted to “nuclear terror” according to Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, after bombing resulted in fires at Europe’s largest nuclear plant.
The fires burned for hours at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant overnight after shelling from Russian forces prompted widespread concern about the safety of Ukraine’s atomic infrastructure.
The reactors are safe and the blaze was extinguished at 6.20am local time. But the incident underlined the dangers to a nuclear plant in the midst of the conflict. The Russian military now controls the site.
“Europe must wake up now,” Zelenskiy said. “No country other than Russia has ever fired on nuclear power units … This is the first time in our history. In the history of mankind. The terrorist state now resorted to nuclear terror.”
What’s the situation with radiation? The International Atomic Energy Agency said, shortly before 4am Ukraine time, that it had been informed by the Ukrainian nuclear regulator there was no change in radiation levels at the plant.
How did world leaders react? US president, Joe Biden, called Zelenskiy at 3.40am Kyiv time, urging Russia to “cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site”. The UK prime minister, Boris Johnson, called it “reckless” and echoed ceasefire calls.
What is Putin thinking? The “worst is yet to come”, France said on Thursday, after Russia’s Vladimir Putin and France’s Emmanuel Macron spoke for 90 minutes – as Putin said Kyiv’s “refusal to accept Russia’s conditions” means he will continue to pursue his war in Ukraine.
What about talks? Ukraine and Russia agreed on Thursday to temporary, local ceasefires to allow the evacuation of civilians as well as aid deliveries via safe corridors. Zelenskiy asked Putin for face-to-face talks.
‘They tricked us’: demoralised Russian soldiers tell of anger at being ‘duped’ into war
Eight days after Putin’s invasion it is clear that a significant number of his servicemen are demoralised and reluctant to fight, Luke Harding reports from Lviv. Some have given themselves up. Others have abandoned their vehicles and set off back towards the Russian border on foot, lugging their weapons and kitbags, videos suggest. These episodes do not mean that the Kremlin will fail in its attempts to conquer Ukraine, as its tactics shift to the brutal shelling of civilian targets.
Low morale among invading troops might be one reason why Russia’s Blitzkrieg plan to overwhelm Ukraine appears not to have progressed at the speed Putin would have wanted.
“Frankly speaking, they tricked us,” a Russian officer says in one video, referring to his military superiors sitting in Moscow. “Everything we were told was a fake.”
Meanwhile, Ukraine has announced it will issue non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to fund its armed forces, as cryptocurrency becomes an increasingly popular means of giving support to the government in Kyiv.
What’s happening in Chernihiv? Russian forces killed at least 33 civilians in a single airstrike in a residential area on Thursday, Ukrainian forces said. The city has been bombarded, alongside Kharkiv.
What’s happening in Kyiv? Ukraine retains control. A US defence official suggested the Russian advance appears to have “stalled”, but there are also reports that about 15,000 troops attached to a huge column of Russian military vehicles nearby may be regrouping, waiting to attack.
What’s happening in southern Ukraine? Russian forces appeared to be moving to cut off Ukraine from the sea via its key southern ports, claiming the capture of Kherson and tightening the siege of Mariupol.
Trump strikes deal to evade deposition in New York investigation – for now
Donald Trump has reached an agreement with the New York attorney general’s office that will temporarily spare him from having to answer questions under oath as part of an investigation into his business. Trump was ordered last month to appear for a deposition, alongside two of his children, over fraud allegations into the Trump Organization. Trump will not have to appear while he’s appealing against the ruling.
In other news …
The House select committee investigating the 6 January Capitol attack has subpoenaed the fiancee of Donald Trump’s eldest son, Kimberly Guilfoyle. House investigators issued the subpoena after Guilfoyle abruptly ended a voluntary interview with the panel last week.
Novak Djokovic set to play at the French Open in May with French vaccination restrictions to be eased. The 34-year-old tennis player is not vaccinated and failed in his bid to play at the Australian Open.
Hong Kong shops ration food and drugs to curb panic buying amid Covid lockdown fears. The surge in Covid cases and fears over a lockdown have sparked mass departures of people from the city.
The propagation of White supremacist propaganda in the US remained at historically high levels in 2021 despite a small recent dip, a study from the Anti-Defamation League has revealed. Throughout 2021, white supremacist propaganda was reported in all US states except Hawaii.
A Kentucky jury has cleared a former police officer who fired shots during the 2020 drug raid that ended in Breonna Taylor’s death. Brett Hankison was found not guilty of three counts of wanton endangerment for firing shots that ripped into a neighboring apartment.
Stat of the day: Bashanosaurus dinosaur lived about 168m years ago, fossils suggest
A dinosaur that sported spine-like plates along its back is one of the earliest stegosaurs yet discovered, fossil hunters have revealed, and they say the find could shed light on the evolution of some of the most famous dinosaurs to roam Earth. The stegosaur, which has been named Bashanosaurus primitivus in a nod to the ancient name of the region in China in which it was found in 2016 and its position on the stegosaur family tree, is thought to have lived about 168m years ago.
Don’t miss this: director Jane Campion on The Power of the Dog
The film director discusses Oscar nominations, filming through the pandemic – and what it’s like for a woman to make a western with Catherine Shoard. The film has 12 Oscar nominations, the most of any film this year. “It’s quite eroticised. That rope, man!” Campion says. Did she worry about overdoing the leather and ropes and chaps? “I encouraged it!”
… or this: Nasa’s Webb telescope mirror alignment continues
Nasa has completed three of the seven stages to bring the 18 hexagonal segments of the James Webb space telescope’s primary mirror into alignment, reports Robin McKie. This means the separate images produced by the segments have been united to form a single image. The Webb telescope is the largest, most powerful space telescope ever built and will allow astronomers to study the beginning of the universe shortly after the big bang.
Climate check: agribusiness giants tried lobbying to thwart EU deforestation plan
Five of the world’s biggest agribusiness firms sought to weaken a draft EU law banning food imports linked to deforestation, eight days after pledging at Cop26 to accelerate their forest protection efforts, Arthur Neslen reports. The CEOs of 10 major food companies vowed to “accelerate sector-wide action” on deforestation, but a week later, five of them warned of soaring prices and food shortages if the EU proceeded with its own blueprint.
Last Thing: how the magic of mushrooms connects the plant world
Mushrooms are sometimes compared to icebergs, because most of the activity is actually taking place under the surface, out of sight. Here, networks of “mycelium”, the vegetative part of the fungus, twist through the soil and make connections between plants. It’s now understood that more than 90% of plants depend on mycorrhizal fungi for improving their water and nutrient absorption, which has led to these networks being called the “Wood Wide Web”, Tim Lewis writes.
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