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Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected to visit the Russian-occupied Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine on Wednesday. He has described the situation there as very dangerous. Follow our live blog for the latest updates on the war in Ukraine. All times are Paris time (GMT+2).
6:47am: Zelensky invites China’s Xi to visit Ukraine
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has extended an invitation to Chinese President Xi Jinping to visit, the Associated Press reported on Wednesday.
“We are ready to see him here,” Zelensky told the news agency in an interview.
Xi has not talked to Zelensky since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February last year. However, China published a 12-point plan for “a political resolution of the Ukraine crisis” last month.
Xi discussed the conflict with his “dear friend”, Russian President Vladimir Putin, while on a state visit to Moscow last week, although the talks did not show progress on how to end the war.
China’s proposal includes a call for a de-escalation and eventual ceasefire in Ukraine.
6:27am: Ukrainian forces shell Russian-occupied Melitopol, Russian media reports
Ukrainian forces have shelled the Russian-controlled Ukrainian city of Melitopol, south of the Zaporizhzhia region, and Russian media reported on Wednesday that as a result, the city’s power supply had been cut.
Ivan Fedorov, the exiled mayor of Melitopol, which has been occupied by Russian forces since March last year, said on the Telegram messaging app that several explosions had gone off in the city.
Russia’s state TASS news agency, citing Moscow-installed officials in the area, said Ukrainian shelling had damaged the city’s power supply system and knocked out electricity in the city and some nearby villages.
TASS also reported that a locomotive depot was destroyed but according to initial information, there were no casualties.
4:19am: IAEA chief Rafael Grossi due to visit Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant
Rafael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), is expected on Wednesday at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine, which is currently occupied by Russian forces. He has described the situation there as very dangerous.
Grossi and his delegation are due to arrive at the site in the morning and leave in the afternoon, according to the TASS agency, citing an official from the Russian operator Rosenergoatom. This is Grossi’s second visit to Zaporizhzhia, Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, since the Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
3:06am: Kyiv urges Russians not to adopt Ukraine’s ‘stolen’ children
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk urged Russians on Tuesday not to adopt children who she said were “stolen” in Ukraine during the war and deported to Russia.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant earlier in March against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, accusing them of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
The war that Russia has been waging on its neighbour for 13 months has seen millions of people displaced, including families and children. The number of children who have been forcefully deported to Russia is impossible to establish.
2:02am: Russian embassy says US wants to play down involvement in Nord Stream blasts
The Russian embassy in the US said Wednesday that Washington is seeking to play down damaging information about the alleged involvement of its intelligence services in last year’s blasts that damaged the Nord Stream gas pipelines.
Moscow failed on Monday to get the UN Security Council to ask for an independent inquiry into explosions in September that ruptured the pipelines connecting Russia and Germany and spewed gas into the Baltic Sea.
Russian officials reacted angrily and the Kremlin said on Tuesday it would keep demanding an international investigation.
12:53am: Biden calls Putin’s nuclear deployment talk ‘dangerous’
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday blasted Russian President Vladimir Putin’s stated plan to deploy nuclear weapons in neighboring Belarus, branding it “dangerous” talk.
“This is dangerous kind of talk and it’s worrisome,” Biden told reporters at the White House.
The Kremlin leader announced on Saturday that he was ordering the deployment of Russian tactical nuclear weapons in Belarus, which is run by fellow authoritarian leader Alexander Lukashenko, one of Moscow’s closest allies.
Key Developments from March 28
International Olympic Committee (IOC) president Thomas Bach announced yesterday that a decision on whether athletes competing for Russia and Belarus will be able to participate in the Paris 2024 Games would be taken “at the appropriate time”.
Bach also defended a recommendation that nationals of the two countries be able to join other international sports competitions as “Individual Neutral Athletes”.
Ukraine welcomed the move to delay the decision on the Games. The head of Russia’s Olympic Committee denounced the recommendation for international competitions, calling the criteria, which include that athletes have no links to Russia’s military, “unacceptable”.
Also of note, Amnesty International released its annual report yesterday, in which it said that outrage over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has exposed the West’s “double standards” towards human rights abuses throughout the world.
Read FRANCE 24’s liveblog for all the developments from Tuesday, March 28.
(FRANCE 24 with AFP, AP and Reuters)
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