Heading towards World War III?

A huge nuclear power plant occupied by Russia during its invasion of Ukraine is "completely out of control", The head of the UN's nuclear agency says.

Rafael Grossi was quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying the Zaporizhzhia plant needed an inspection and repairs.

"You have a catalogue of things that should never be happening in any nuclear facility," he said.

Europe's biggest nuclear plant is dangerously close to the fighting.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia earlier this week of using the plant, which it overran in March, as a military base to launch attacks on Ukrainian forces.

Ukrainian officials have said Russians station troops and store military hardware on the grounds of the power station on the Dnipro river in the south of Ukraine.

But a Russian-installed official in the region told Reuters news agency that Ukrainian forces were using Western-supplied weapons to attack the plant.

Yevgeny Balitsky said officials were ready to show Mr Grossi's agency, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), how Russians were guarding the nuclear facility while Ukrainians were allegedly attacking it.

When Russia seized the plant, its shelling of buildings there caused an international outcry.

The plant is still operating, with Ukrainian staff under Russian control.

www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62412429

Russia’s Defence Ministry has accused Ukraine of deliberately targeting a prison in Donbass where it knew dozens of its own POWs were being held.

The Ukrainian authorities were aware that their soldiers, who surrendered to Russian forces at the Azovstal steel plant, were being held at the prison in the village of Yelenovka, as Kiev itself insisted on them being placed there, Russian Deputy Defense Minister Aleksandr Fomin said on Wednesday.

The shelling of Correctional colony No.120 in the Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR) in late July killed 50 inmates and left 73 others wounded. The facility held members of the infamous Azov nationalist battalion, who were captured in May after being holed up for weeks at the Azovstal steelworks during the Russian siege of the Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

“On May 20, 2022, the surrendered servicemen of the Azov nationalist battalion were taken to the pre-trial detention center in the village of Yelenovka. The Ukrainian side insisted on this particular place for their detention,” Fomin said during a briefing for foreign military attachés in Moscow.

Kiev’s attack on the prison was deliberate, with “the Ukrainian leadership giving the order to carry out the missile strike because the Azov fighters started giving testimonies exposing their crimes, including those perpetrated against peaceful civilians,” he insisted.

Another reason for Ukraine hitting Yelenovka was to scare its own troops on the battlefield and “deter them from surrendering,” the Russian defense official said. Many Ukrainian soldiers have been recently laying down their arms, he added.

Aleksandr Fomin denied Ukraine’s “groundless” claims that Moscow struck the prison itself to pin the blame on Kiev, saying all the evidence shows that the missiles came from the north-western direction, where Kiev’s forces were located.

Last week, RIA Novosti news agency cited an unnamed high-ranking Pentagon official, who suggested that if Ukraine did shell the prison in Yelenovka, then it did so unintentionally.

The Russian deputy defense minister insisted that those words were nothing but “a clumsy attempt to justify the provocation by the Kiev regime.”

The attack on the detention facility was carried out with HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, supplied to Ukraine by the US, and the Americans have been claiming that those are “high-precision systems, which hit the targets they were meant to hit,” he said.

Also, in planning its strikes, the Ukrainian military actively relies on space and air reconnaissance data provided by the US and its allies, Fomin added.

Russia asks UN to investigate Ukrainian POW killings
Read more Russia asks UN to investigate Ukrainian POW killings
In a bid to curb further speculation, the Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that it had officially invited experts from the UN and the International Red Cross Committee to carry out an impartial investigation into the incident in Yelenovka.

www.rt.com/russia/560189-yelenovka-prison-shelling-ukraine

The European Council added former Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich and his son Aleksandr to its sanctions list on Thursday. They accused the former leader, who was ousted during the 2014 'Maidan' coup, of playing a role in “undermining or threatening the territorial integrity, sovereignty and independence of Ukraine,” as well as its “stability and security.”

The council did not elaborate on why Yanukovich was added to the list, simply referring to him as “pro-Russian.” His son was accused of “conducting transactions with the separatist groups” in Donbass.

www.rt.com/russia/560261-eu-sanctions-former-president-ukraine

One of NATO’s main goals in the Ukraine conflict is preventing a “full-scale war” with Russia, the alliance’s Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Thursday. The US-led bloc has been effectively using Ukrainian forces as proxies to fight Moscow.

“In this conflict, NATO has two tasks: supporting Ukraine and preventing the war from escalating into a full-scale war between NATO and Russia,” Stoltenberg said in a speech in Norway.

The military bloc’s chief described the Russia-Ukraine conflict as “the most dangerous situation in Europe since World War Two” adding that Moscow must not be allowed to win. “If Russia wins the war, [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will be convinced that violence works. Then other neighboring countries may be next,” Stoltenberg argued.

Since the start of Russia’s military operation on February 24, Ukraine has received substantial military aid from NATO countries, with billions of dollars’ worth of weaponry pouring into the country – something Moscow has repeatedly criticized.

US Senate approves NATO expansion
Read more US Senate approves NATO expansion
In July, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview to RT that Ukraine was being “pumped” with Western military hardware, and moreover, “forced to use these weapons in an increasingly riskier way,” thus keeping Kiev from making “any constructive steps”.

www.rt.com/news/560224-stoltenberg-avoiding-war-ukraine-conflict

The original source of the contemporary threat to the global order was the 2014 Maidan coup in Kiev, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov claimed on Thursday. Peskov was pushing back on assertions made by NATO’s secretary-general that Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine was to blame for a major shake-up.

“The real threat to the world order and the situation in the world and … in Europe comes from the coup that took place in Ukraine in 2014, which was carefully orchestrated by, among others, NATO countries, despite the guarantees that the foreign ministers of a number of countries had provided. Hence the threat and danger to the world order,” he stressed.

According to Peskov, tensions in Europe have been stoked by aggressive NATO policies and encroachment toward Russia’s borders.

“This situation has been maturing for several decades and in many ways it was fueled by the aggressive policies NATO pursued towards our country as they brought their infrastructure closer to Russia. This created additional threats for us,” Peskov noted, explaining that, faced with such reality, Moscow had no choice but to take action.


www.rt.com/news/560247-peskov-maidan-coup-threat

Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador urged the international community on Thursday to agree to a five-year truce amid the Ukraine conflict and stand-off over Taiwan.

Speaking at a press conference at the National Palace in Mexico City, the president said that geopolitical tensions between China, Taiwan, and the US are hurting the world, which is reeling under record inflation and supply chain issues.

“Nations can agree on a truce of at least five years to be able to face the crisis affecting the peoples. A truce that ends war, confrontation, and provocations,” he said. “Once the fighting stops, let things stay as they are, especially the war between Russia and Ukraine.”

Russia blames US for Taiwan tensions
Read more Russia blames US for Taiwan tensions
When asked about Mexico’s stance on the issue of Taiwan, Lopez Obrador stated that dialogue should take precedence over confrontation, adding that countries should end the trade wars and use the UN’s framework to monitor the relevant commitments.

During the truce, he said, nations could work together to help the poor and promote economic development. “NO to provocations, NO to war. We do not want hegemonies in the world. It is not too much to ask the United States, Russia, and China to accept this proposal, which could be raised in the United Nations,” he noted.

The president added that “it’s not about good and bad guys,” but about putting the interests of the ordinary people above those of governments and economic groups. “Although this seems utopian, this is what is needed. There is no other way around.”

www.rt.com/news/560268-mexico-truce-taiwan-lopez-obrador