Ukrainian President Volodymry Zelenskiy has told U.S. lawmakers that Russian forces have seized two Ukrainian nuclear power plants and are advancing toward a third.
Zelenskiy told U.S. senators and aides in a video call on March 5 that the Yuzhnoukrayinsk nuclear power plant, located in Ukraine’s southern Mykolayiv region, was under threat as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine entered its 10th day.
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The Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant, in southeastern Ukraine on the banks of a reservoir on the Dnieper River, was the source of international concern after it caught fire after being shelled and seized by Russian forces on the night of March 3-4.
The Chernobyl nuclear power plant, located north of Kyiv and site of the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 1986, was captured by Russian forces on February 24, the first day of the Russian invasion.
Earlier on March 5, Ukrainian officials put on hold civilian evacuation plans in two besieged cities after reporting firing by Russian troops despite a Moscow claim to have ordered cease-fires around Mariupol and Volnovakha based on mutual agreement to allow humanitarian corridors.
Meanwhile, a third round of talks between Kyiv and Moscow are scheduled to take place on March 7.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on March 5 indicated that Moscow was not optimistic about the outcome of negotiations, accusing Zelenskiy of harming the talks by trying to secure help from NATO, but that Moscow was ready for a third round.
Earlier on March 5, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said he was open to talks with Lavrov, but only if they were “meaningful.”
In the video call, Zelenskiy also stressed to the U.S. lawmakers Ukraine’s need for Eastern European countries to provide…