(Reuters) – Russian forces seized Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine after fierce fighting which set an adjacent training facility on fire, a local authority said.
* No sign of radiation leak
Essential equipment at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was unaffected after the fire, with no change in radiation levels, the International Atomic Energy Agency said.
* ‘Europeans, please wake up’ – Zelenskiy
Ukrainian President Zelenskiy said Russian tanks had shot at the reactor plants, though there was no evidence cited that they had been hit. “Europeans, please wake up. Tell your politicians – Russian troops are shooting at a nuclear power plant in Ukraine,” he said in a video message.
*Stop fighting around nuclear plant – Biden
U.S. President Biden and British Prime Minister Johnson spoke separately with Zelenskiy about the fire. The White House said Biden urged Russia to “cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site.”
*One million refugees
More than 1 million refugees have fled Ukraine in just seven days, the United Nations said.
*‘According to plan,’ Putin says “I want to say that the special military operation is proceeding strictly in line with the timetable. According to plan. All the tasks that have been set are being successfully resolved,” he said on television.
* Fake news?
Russia’s communications watchdog restricted access to BBC Russian service as well as Radio Liberty and the Meduza media outlet, the RIA news agency reported.
*Google pulls ads in Russia
Google said it had stopped selling online advertising in Russia, a ban that covers search, YouTube and outside publishing partners. Sneaker maker Nike and home furnishings firm IKEA shut down stores in Russia.
*France’s Macron tells Putin: ‘You are lying to yourself’ – French official In a phone call to French President Macron, Putin reiterated that he was seeking the “de-nazification of Ukraine”. According to a French presidential adviser, Macron replied: “You are lying to yourself.”
*MARKETS: Stocks slide, oil jumps
Asian equities and the euro weakened while oil prices jumped as investors took fright over reports of the fire at the nuclear plant.
(Editing by Stephen Coates)
