Russia Intensifies Its Attack As Ukraine 'Narrowly' Avoids Nuclear Tragedy

As Moscow's forces resumed their destructive campaign of artillery and airstrikes against civilian regions of Ukraine, the US representative to the UN declared the world had narrowly spared a nuclear disaster in Russia's attack on Europe's largest nuclear power plant.

The US envoy, Linda Thomas-Greenfield, said Russia's actions, which resulted in a large fire at the Zaporizhzhia facility, indicated a "dangerous new escalation" in its invasion of Ukraine, addressing at an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council in New York on Friday. "Russia's strike on Europe's largest nuclear power plant last night put it in great danger," she warned. "It was extremely risky and dangerous." It also put the safety of citizens in Russia, Ukraine, and Europe in jeopardy."

Meanwhile, Ukraine's president chastised Nato for refusing to establish a no-fly zone, citing concerns that doing so might extend the conflict across Europe.

"All the people who die from this day forward will also perish because of you, because of your weakness, because of your lack of unity," Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared in a heated late-night speech.

"By refusing to establish a no-fly zone, the alliance has given the green light to the bombardment of Ukrainian cities and villages."

Jens Stoltenberg, the alliance's secretary general, told a conference of Nato foreign ministers in Brussels that the coalition could not confront Russian soldiers directly.

"The only option to impose a no-fly zone is to send Nato fighter planes into Ukrainian airspace and then shoot down Russian planes," Stoltenberg stated.

In Schastia, two women converse in front of a demolished structure.

The incident in Zaporizhzhia enraged Western leaders, with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson describing Putin's actions as "now directly endangering the safety of all of Europe" and US President Joe Biden condemning Moscow for the shelling, which Russia claimed was a "monstrous provocation" by Ukrainian saboteurs.

In a tweet, the US embassy in Kyiv termed the incident a "war crime," but the US state department apparently distanced itself from the claim, telling its other embassies not to repeat it.