German Chancellor Scholz urges Putin to end hostilities in Ukraine
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz urged Russian President Vladimir Putin in a telephone call on Friday to stop all hostilities in Ukraine and allow access for humanitarian aid, his office said.In a one-hour phone call, Scholz "called on the Russian leadership to immediately cease all hostilities and to allow humanitarian access to the embattled areas", a statement read.Putin said reports about "the alleged ongoing air strikes of Kyiv and other large cities are gross propaganda fakes," the Kremlin said in a statement. He added that dialogue on Ukraine would be possible only if Russian demands are met. Scholz said he was briefed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on the fire at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant during the night, and that immediate fears of severe consequences had not materialised.A Russian attack at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant in Ukraine did not result in any radiation being released and firefighters extinguished a blaze at the facility, UN and Ukrainian officials said, as Russian forces pressed their campaign Friday to cripple the country despite global condemnation. The International Atomic Energy Agency’s director-general, Rafael Mariano Grossi, said Friday the building hit by a Russian “projectile” at the Zaporizhzhia plant was “not part of the reactor” but instead a training centre.The plant fire came as the Russian military advanced on a strategic city on the Dnieper River near where the facility is located, and gained ground in their bid to cut the country off from the sea. That would deal a severe blow to Ukraine’s economy and could worsen an already dire humanitarian situation. With the invasion in its second week, another round of talks between Russia and Ukraine yielded a tentative agreement to set up safe corridors to evacuate citizens and deliver humanitarian aid. The war has sent more than 1 million fleeing over the border and countless others sheltering underground.