WAR IN UKRAINE: March 4, 2022
I’ve decided to start today’s update in the wee hours of the morning. But with a photo which made me sad, speechless. No words. No words.
See the caption below. The image was taken by someone I’ve had the honour of working with - as part of the OSCE and including at the MH17 crash site - and who I count as a close friend, Evgeny Maloletka. He’s on the frontlines covering the war for a worldwide audience for the Associated Press.
Serhii, the father of teenage Iliya, cries over his son’s lifeless body lying on a stretcher in a hospital in Mariupol, Ukraine. Wednesday, March 2, 2022.
A potentially catastrophic fire at one of the world’s largest nuclear power plants has been extinguished, the Presidential office says.
Several dozen firefighters worked to put out the blaze, CNN reported, which started after Russian military units fired on a training building outside the main reactor complex of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Ukraine's State Emergency Services (SES) said in a statement on Telegram Friday morning local time. "There are no dead or injured," the statement added.
My big picture take: this terrifying incident makes the war in Ukraine a world war. Full stop. A nuclear catastrophe which could have obliterated Europe - if not the wider global community - was averted. But it goes to show the callousness of Russian military planners - as well as their disdain towards basic international obligations.
Click above for our discussion on CNN Newsroom with Alisyn Camerota from Thursday evening. Along with me is CNN national security analyst Steve Hall.
Ukrainian negotiators gave a long briefing here in Lviv today, following their second meeting with the Russia side in Belarus. Here’s a summary of their main points taken from my live Twitter feed:
JUST IN: Key #Ukraine negotiators now in Lviv say they feel RF side taking talks seriously - even show up to venue in Belarus day ahead of time. Realize now the package of sanctions will lead to great consequences for Russia, & that UAF much more capable
A no fly zone would be a game changer in this war. Will help us to address humanitarian crisis and force RF side to follow the rules of conflict. It will help reduce civilian deaths, injuries & aid UKR in negotiations - #Ukraine negotiators
Unfortunately our western partners don’t realize Russians are conducting terrorist operations - they’re violating all the rules including bombarding civilian infrastructure. RF ignores proposal for 30km radius safe zone at all nuke plants- #Ukraine negotiators
New photos have emerged from the destruction of the world’s largest airplane and the pride of Ukraine, the Mriya (‘dream’ in Ukrainian) Antonov AN-225. The huge cargo plane was undergoing maintenance at an airfield near Kyiv when Russian forces attacked it. “Russia may have destroyed our ‘Mriya’.’ But they will never be able to destroy our dream of a strong, free and democratic European state. We shall prevail",” wrote foreign affairs minister Dmytro Kuleba in a Tweet.