Fury over Russian attack on Ukraine nuclear plant

A man stands in front of a residential building in the city of Chernihiv on March 4, 2022, after it was damaged in shelling

Ukraine and its allies expressed fury on Friday after Europe's largest atomic power plant was attacked and seized by invading Russian forces, which continued to shell major cities.

The six reactors at Zaporizhzhia, which can power up to four million homes, appeared undamaged by the fighting and a fire that broke out in a training facility.

Moscow's UN ambassador called accusations that Russian forces had shelled the plant part of "an unprecedented campaign of lies".

In a Kyiv hospital, wounded soldiers told AFP of their grim battle against the Russian advance on the capital, and vowed to return to the frontline.

"We fought them and killed their soldiers on foot, but they showered us with mortar fire."

It added that Russian artillery and multiple launch rocket systems were pounding residential buildings and infrastructure.

"Russian tank commanders knew what they were firing at," he said, adding: "The terrorist state now resorted to nuclear terror."

As the war intensifies, some US lawmakers are urging President Joe Biden to take a tougher stance against Russia, such as by suspending imports of its oil.

"We are faced together with what is President Putin's war of choice, unprovoked, unjustified, and a war that is having horrific, horrific consequences," US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in Brussels.

With fears growing of nuclear conflict, the US and Russian armed forces have set up a new direct phone line to reduce the risks of "miscalculation," the Pentagon said Friday.

According to the Kremlin, Putin told his Belarusian counterpart that "the tasks set for the (Ukraine) operations are going according to plan and will be fulfilled in their entirety".

Authorities have imposed a news blackout and two liberal media groups have halted operations.

Twitter was restricted and Facebook blocked.

CNN said it would halt broadcasting in Russia, while independent Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta said it would remove Ukraine content in the wake of the new law.

NATO, fearful of provoking its own war with nuclear-armed Russia, again ruled out enforcing a no-fly zone over Ukraine.

Mariupol, east of Kherson, is cut off without water or electricity in the depths of winter.

"I believe that (Putin) wants to destroy Ukraine as a nation," he said. 

Putin has denied bombing cities.

Ukraine authorities say residential parts of the eastern city of Kharkiv have also come under indiscriminate shelling, which UN prosecutors at The Hague are investigating as a possible war crime.

In Geneva, the UN Human Rights Council overwhelmingly voted to create a top-level investigation into violations committed in the invasion.

The UN Security Council will also hold an emergency meeting Monday on the humanitarian crisis triggered in Ukraine by the Russian invasion and discuss a possible draft resolution, diplomats told AFP Friday.

The global body's food agency warned Friday the conflict would create a food crisis in Ukraine and worsen global food insecurity, with Moscow and Kyiv providing around 29 percent of the global wheat trade.

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