The Russian military shelled Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, the largest in Europe, early Friday.
Summary
Russian shelling hit Europe’s largest nuclear power plant early Friday. The shelling started a massive fire at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.
- Ukrainian forces were able to extinguish the conflagration before it caused a meltdown. No radiation was released.
- The United States embassy in Kyiv responded to the attack, saying, “it is a war crime to attack a nuclear power plant. Putin’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear plant takes his reign of terror one step further.”
- NATO rejected an appeal from Kyiv for a no-fly zone over Ukraine Friday. NATO leaders justifiably fear instituting a no-fly zone could spark World War III.
- Russia agreed Thursday to create humanitarian corridors for civilians to evacuate but it’s unclear when the local cease-fires necessary for civilian safe passage will be enacted.
- Also on Friday, Ukraine requested a special criminal tribunal to prosecute Vladimir Putin and his cronies for the “crimes of aggression” they committed by invading Ukraine.
- US Senator Lindsey Graham called for Putin’s assassination on Twitter. His statement received bipartisan criticism.
- BBC News outlined five scenarios of how the war could end. The five scenarios: a short war; a long war; a general European war; a negotiated solution; and the ouster of Vladimir Putin.
- Politico argued NATO needs to stop “spreading itself too thin” and get “back to basics” to focus on its core mission: protecting Europe from Russian aggression.
- CNN reported Lukoil, Russia’s second largest oil company, has broken ranks with Putin and called for an end to the Russian invasion.
- Fox News wrote that Russian troops are planning to ‘mine’ the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to “blackmail the whole of Europe.” Russian brutality and recklessness truly knows no bounds.
- National Review called for a $1 trillion defense budget to defend our nation from a genuinely threatening global landscape. The decade-long decline in defense spending in real terms must end, in their view, and the US needs to recognize modernized hard power capabilities are essential for defending the United States and its allies.
- The Washington Examiner reported that police in London are investigating the mysterious suicide of a Ukrainian oil and gas billionaire. Mikhail Watford was found hanged at his home and his friends speculate it was an assassination orchestrated by Russian intelligence. It wouldn’t be the first time.
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© Dominic Moore, 2022
