Russia-Ukraine war: Fires threaten Chernobyl nuclear plant as Zelenskyy pledges no NATO move

The Chernobyl nuclear plant is once again in danger as dangerous fires threaten to spread out of control and Ukraine’s leader makes a surprising concession to help end the war.

A new crisis is threatening the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, as forest fires erupt close to the reactor.

More than half a dozen fires are blazing within Chernobyl’s exclusion and Ukraine’s parliament believes “armed aggression of the Russian Federation” sparked them - although it was not immediately known what the cause was.

A disastrous 1986 explosion at Chernobyl is the world’s largest nuclear accident and there was widespread alarm when the plant was taken by Russian soldiers soon after the war began. Authorities in Ukraine say the war is thwarting attempts to safely monitor radiation levels, meaning they could worsen rapidly with little warning.

Images of the fires were captured via satellite from the European Space Agency.

The Ukrainian parliament statement said fires within 10km of the plant are “particularly dangerous”, with firefighters prevented from being able to control the outbreak because of the threat from Russian forces.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he is prepared to pledge that Ukraine wouldn’t join NATO, in a bid to broker a peace deal with Russia.

Mr Zelenskyy said he would still demand complete withdrawal of Russian forces from his country and international commitments to Ukraine’s security.

SUPER-BOMBS ROCK MARIUPOL

Two “super powerful bombs” rocked Mariupol on Tuesday as Ukrainian authorities made a fresh attempt at rescuing civilians from the besieged port city which has suffered relentless shelling since Russia’s invasion began almost a month ago.

More than 200,000 people are trapped in the strategic city described by those who managed to escape as a “freezing hellscape riddled with dead bodies and destroyed buildings”, Human Rights Watch said, quoting figures provided by a local official.

Two “super powerful bombs” slammed into the city even as rescue efforts were ongoing, said Mariupol local authorities, without giving an immediate toll.

Burning oil storage tanks and industrial area in Chernihiv, Ukraine.

This Maxar satellite image taken on March 19, 2022 and released on March 21, 2022 shows burning apartment buildings, "likely shelled by artillery" and burning buildings in northeastern Mariupol, Ukraine. Picture: Satellite image ©2022 Maxar Technologies / AFP

Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy turned to Pope Francis for help, urging the pontiff to mediate in the conflict and to help end “human suffering”.

But he warned his country would be “destroyed” before it surrenders.

Meanwhile footage appears to show Azov Battalion tanks rolling down a Mariupol street and firing away among the ruins.

Azov Battalion, or simply Azov, is a right-wing extremist, neo-Nazi, formerly paramilitary unit of the National Guard of Ukraine, based in Mariupol.

Smoke hangs over the cemetery of Mykolaiv, southern Ukraine.

Ukrainian servicemen stand at a check point in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

RUSSIA’S NUKE WARNING

US President Joe Biden warned that Russian President Vladimir Putin was considering using chemical and biological weapons in Ukraine, as he described Moscow’s tactics as increasingly “brutal”.

Russia said it would only use nuclear weapons in the context of the Ukraine conflict if it were facing an “existential threat,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says.

Peskov’s comment came as CNN interviewer Christiane Amanpour pushed him on whether he was “convinced or confident” that President Vladimir Putin would not use the nuclear option in the Ukrainian context.

Belegay Vladik, a five-year-old boy from Polohy, receives treatment for severe injuries in a room protected by sandbags at the Zaporizhzhia Regional Clinical Children's Hospital. Picture: Emre Caylak/AFP

ATTACK ON SCIENTIFIC INSTITUTE

It comes as at least three people were killed in a drone attack on a scientific institute in the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on Tuesday, according to officials.

Smoke rose from the white seven-storey building at the Institute for Superhard Materials in northwestern Kyiv, part of the National Academy of Science of Ukraine.

Soldiers at the scene pointed out a winged vehicle about a metre long and broken into two large pieces, that they said was a Russian drone.

A defence ministry intelligence official said at the scene that three people had died, but there was no other confirmation of the toll.

“During today’s air raid the armed forces of the Russian Federation used Orlan drones, one of which dropped a bomb, as a result of which the premises caught fire,” the official, who asked not to be identified by name, told AFP.

A man walks in the street after a Russian drone hit a building of the Institute for Superhard Materials, part of Ukraine's National Academy of Science, in Kyiv. Picture: AFP

Ukrainian police officers inspect a downed Russian drone in the area of a research institute, part of Ukraine's National Academy of Science, after a strike in northwestern Kyiv. Picture: AFP

“Later two more drones appeared and also tried drop bombs, they were downed. It used to be an industrial workshop here, a civilian institution. No military.”

One body removed from the wreckage, which was in military uniform, was placed on a stretcher and covered in black plastic before being put into a van, according to media reports.

Wiring and circuitry could be seen inside the wreckage of the khaki-coloured drone, which lay in pieces on a road about 50 metres from the bombed building.

Military emergency service members remove the body of a dead Ukrainian serviceman in the area of a research institute, part of Ukraine's National Academy of Science, after a strike, in northwestern Kyiv. Picture: AFP

ATTACK ON SHOPPING MALL SHOOK CITY

The attack came as Kyiv was under tight security because of a curfew that runs until Wednesday morning.

The capital was already reeling from a huge Russian missile strike on a Kyiv mall that was reduced to fiery rubble and killed eight people on Sunday.

Shocked residents believe the attack on the Retroville shopping centre on the northwestern outskirts of the city is one of the most powerful in the capital since the Russian invasion began.

The blast was reportedly so intense it shook the entire city.

Ukrainian firefighters and servicemen walk amid the rubble of the Retroville shopping mall. Picture: AFP

The damage at the Retroville shopping mall. Picture: AFP

Opened in early 2020 the Retroville had 250 shops, Western brands, a multiplex cinema, and 3000 parking places.

Inside there are signs of normalcy – shelves of power drills and light fittings in a Western DIY store remain intact, but mostly there is carnage.

A soldier with a black scarf over his face warns of the horror ahead.

“There are bits of body over there,” he said.

Constantin, 22, was there when the explosion happened.

“It blew everything sky high. I don’t know if it was a missile or a massive rocket. It landed right on the gym club.”.

Ukrainian firefighters and servicemen work next to a digger amid the rubble of the Retroville shopping mall. Picture: AFP

Fires rage after Russian force bombed Retroville shopping mall in Kyiv's Podilskyi district.

Six bodies lay beneath a garish advertising sign – their bare feet stick out from under a black plastic groundsheet. Two of the bodies are dirty with blood-caked earth, twisted and half naked, suggesting they were asleep when they were killed.

One theory is the victims were soldiers; what appears to be a destroyed tank nearby lends weight to the theory.

Locals said the Ukrainian army is using their area as a base, with Russian troops just a few kilometres (miles) away in Irpin.

“I was just minding my business at home,” resident Vladimir says.

“My apartment shook with the force of the blast. I thought the building would collapse,” he recalls, visible shaken.

The Russians “were probably targeting the power station a few hundred metres away”, he said.

Smoke billows after a Russian attack on the Retroville shopping mall and residential district of Kyiv. Picture: AFP

A Ukranian serviceman walks between debris inside the Retroville shopping mall. Picture: AFP

A handful of firefighters and soldiers trawls through the smoking wreckage of a 10-storey building wreckage searching for more victims.

“That was where the shopping centre offices were,” explains a local, nodding towards the concrete shell of the building.

“Luckily there was no one in there at the time.”

Originally published as Russia-Ukraine war: Fires threaten Chernobyl nuclear plant as Zelenskyy pledges no NATO move