DM Monitoring
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the leaders of the United States, France and Germany on Sunday stressed the importance of ensuring the safety of nuclear sites in Ukraine in a call, Johnson’s office said.
“On a joint call, the Prime Minister, President (Joe) Biden, President (Emmanuel) Macron and Chancellor (Olaf) Scholz underlined their steadfast commitment to supporting Ukraine in the face of Russia’s invasion,” a Downing Street spokesperson said in a statement.
“They stressed the importance of ensuring the safety and security of nuclear installations and welcomed recent discussions on enabling an IAEA mission to the Zaporizhzhia facility.”
Meanwhile, Russia said on Sunday that its Kalibr missiles had destroyed an ammunition depot containing missiles for U.S.-made HIMARS rocket in Ukraine’s southeastern Odesa region, while Kyiv said a granary had been hit.
Russia’s Defence Ministry said sea-based Kalibr missiles had destroyed a depot that also housed Western-made anti-aircraft systems.
A spokesman for Odesa’s regional administration said two missiles had been shot down over the sea, but that three had struck agricultural targets.
There were no casualties, the spokesman, Serhiy Bratchuk, said on Telegram. An explosives expert and investigators were working at the granary, he said.
In the southern city of Mykolaiv, some 50km from occupied Kherson, residents collected gallons of water brought in as humanitarian aid after Russian shelling damaged the city’s pipelines.
“Many haven’t had fresh drinking water for months,” Teresa Bo reporting from Mykolaiv said.
While their city has been razed to the ground, residents “continue to insist about the need to fight to their land, to fight for their homes”, Bo said. In the capital, Kyiv, Russian burned-out tanks were being displayed on the central boulevard in the run-up to the celebration of Ukraine’s Independence Day on Wednesday, which also marks six months since the war began.
Resident Maryna Bespalova told media Ukrainians believe they can win the war. “We hope it will be soon,” she said.
German Economy Minister Robert Habeck has ruled out extending the lifespan of the country’s three remaining nuclear power plants, saying it would save at most two percent of gas use.
“It is the wrong decision given the little we would save,” Habeck said.
The plants are due to be shut down by the end of the year under legislation introduced by the government of former Chancellor Angela Merkel following the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in 2011.
Habeck said during a discussion with citizens at the government’s open-door day that the gains did not justify reopening the debate about the exit from nuclear energy given the consensus on the topic.
