US Says Russia Using Nuclear Shield on Ukraine, Flags Big Risk
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that the Zaporizhia plant is now a Russian base used to fire on Ukrainian forces.
The United States says Russia is using Ukraine’s largest nuclear power plant as a “nuclear shield” by deploying troops there, preventing Ukrainian forces from firing back and risking a catastrophic nuclear accident.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Washington was “deeply concerned” that the Zaporizhia plant, which Russia accused of dangerously launching missiles in March, was now a Russian military base used to fire on nearby Ukrainian forces.
Also Read:- Russia says drone strike Hits Crimean naval headquarters: Report 01Aug 2022
“Obviously the Ukrainians cannot fire back to avoid a terrible accident involving a nuclear plant,” Blinken told reporters after talks on nuclear non-proliferation at the United Nations in New York on Monday.
Russia’s actions go beyond the use of “human shields,” Blinken calls them “nuclear shields.”
At the New York talks, Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mykola Tochytskyi said “strong joint action is needed to prevent a nuclear catastrophe” and called on the international community to “close the skies” over nuclear power plants, including Ukraine’s air defense system.
Russian President Vladimir Putin’s February 24 invasion of Ukraine sparked the biggest conflict in Europe since World War II, killing thousands, displacing millions and leaving Ukraine in ruins.
Also Read:- Zelensky ordered citizens to evacuate the Donetsk region: Report 31Jul 2022
Russia and Ukraine produce about one-third of the world’s wheat, and Western sanctions on Russia, Europe’s main energy supplier, have led to a global energy crisis.
First grain ship
The first ship carrying Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea since Russia invaded Ukraine five months ago left the port of Odessa for Lebanon on Monday under a safe passage agreement.
The sailing was made possible after Turkey and the United Nations last month negotiated a grain and fertilizer export deal between Russia and Ukraine, an unusual diplomatic breakthrough in a conflict that has turned into a protracted war.
The Sierra Leone-flagged ship Rezoni will proceed to Lebanon’s Tripoli port after transiting Turkey’s Bosphorus Strait, which connects the Mediterranean Sea with the Russian Navy’s Black Sea. It transported 26,527 tonnes of maize.
But before millions of tons of Ukrainian grain can leave Black Sea ports, hurdles must still be overcome, including clearing sea mines and building a framework for ships to safely enter conflict zones and pick up shipments.
The UN has warned of the risk of multiple famines this year due to the war in Ukraine.
Known as Europe’s bread basket, Ukraine hopes to export 20 million tons of grain stored in silos and 40 million tons of current crops, primarily from Odessa and nearby Pivdeny and Chornomorsk, to help clear silos for the new crop.
Also Read:- Russia wants to remove Ukraine from world map: US envoy: Report 30Jul 2022
Moscow called Rezoni’s departure “very positive” news but denied responsibility for the food crisis, saying Western sanctions hampered its exports and accusing Ukraine of laying underwater mines at the entrance to its ports.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of mines now floating around the Black Sea, far off Ukraine’s coast, with Romanian, Bulgarian and Turkish military diving teams deactivating those that ended up in its waters.
Russian progress
Russia invaded Ukraine in what it called a “special operation” to disarm its neighbor. Ukraine and the West dismissed it as a baseless pretext for war.
After failing to capture the capital Kyiv at the start of the war, Russia now wants to capture the eastern Donbas region, which includes Donetsk and Luhansk, which was partially held by Russian-backed separatists before the invasion, and more of the south. After seizing Crimea from Ukraine in 2014.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovich said in an interview posted online that about 22,000 Russian troops were preparing to advance on the towns of Kriviy Rih and Mykolaiv, where a “substantially large” Ukrainian force was waiting.
In the Kherson region, which is mostly under Russian control, Ukrainian troops have liberated about 50 towns, said Yuriy Sobolevsky, deputy head of the exiled regional council.
#russia using nuclear shield on ukraine #russia using nuclear shield on ukraine #russia using nuclear shield on ukraine #russia using nuclear shield on ukraine
US Says Russia Using Nuclear Shield on Ukraine, Flags Big Risk
Also Read:- killed and 25 injured in Russian missile attack on city in central Ukraine: Report 29Jul 2022
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by News East India staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
[…] US Says Russia Using Nuclear Shield on Ukraine, Flags Big Risk:… […]