Russian forces are struggling to control an important energy-producing city in southern Ukraine and are approaching the country’s largest nuclear power plant.
Russian tanks and infantry entered Enerhodar, a city on the Dnieper River on Thursday, which produces about a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity production.
Mayor Dmitry Orlov said a large Russian convoy was approaching the city and urged residents not to leave their homes.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said in a statement that Russian infantry troops were moving to the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, a few kilometers from Enerhodar.
Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the situation was “critical” and called on military forces on the ground to refrain from violence near the site.
“The IAEA continues to consult with Ukraine and others in order to provide the maximum possible assistance to the country, as it seeks to maintain nuclear safety and security in the current difficult circumstances,” Grossi said in a statement.
The fighting came after a second round of talks between the two countries led to a preliminary agreement to establish safe corridors in Ukraine for the evacuation of citizens and the delivery of humanitarian aid.
Analysts say Moscow’s efforts in the south are aimed at severing Ukraine’s ties with the Black and Azov Seas, allowing Russia to build a land corridor to Crimea occupied by Moscow in 2014.
Pro-Russian separatists said on Thursday that they had “tightened the circle” around the port city of Mariupol, which is surrounded and cut off by electricity as food and water supplies dwindle.
The Russian military says it has captured Kherson, the first major city to fall since the invasion began a week ago. The shipyard, with a population of 290,000, is said to have fallen after a three-day siege that left no food or medicine.
From Kherson, Russian troops appeared to be headed for Nikolaev, another key Black Sea port and shipbuilding center to the west. District Governor Vitaly Kim said large convoys of Russian troops were advancing on the city.
A group of Russian landing craft also headed for the port of Odessa, further west, the Ukrainian military said.
On the eighth day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Moscow’s ground offensive against the Ukrainian capital in the north seems to have stopped.
A Russian convoy of hundreds of tanks and other vehicles still appears to have stopped about 25km (16 miles) from Kyiv, without making real progress in days. Ukrainian authorities say the convoy, which appears ready to launch an attack on the capital, is overwhelmed by fuel and food shortages.
A mass evacuation continues in Kharkov, Ukraine’s second-largest city, which came under heavy shelling this week. Russian airborne troops landed in the city on Wednesday, sparking street clashes.
More shelling was also reported in the northern city of Chernihiv, where emergency services said at least 33 civilians had been killed and 18 wounded in a Russian bombing of a residential area.
Russia has sought to overcome Ukraine’s fierce resistance with firepower, launching hundreds of missiles and artillery attacks on cities and other sites across the country, and has made significant strides on the ground. According to US defense officials, Russia has fired more than 480 missiles since the invasion began.
During the second round of talks between Ukrainian and Russian delegations in neighboring Belarus, Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Ukraine that it must quickly accept the Kremlin’s request for its “demilitarization” and declare itself neutral by withdrawing its candidacy. its joining NATO.
Both delegations said they had agreed to allow a ceasefire in areas designated as safe corridors, and that both sides would seek to clarify details quickly.
Despite the preliminary agreement, Putin told French President Emmanuel Macron that he was determined to continue his attack “until the end”, according to Macron’s office.
The fighting sent more than a million people to flee Ukraine. At least 227 civilians have been killed and 525 injured, according to the office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, although he acknowledges that this is a significant count. Ukrainian authorities say more than 2,000 civilians have died.
In a video address to the nation, Zelensky praised his country’s resistance and said the Russians “will have no peace here. They will not have food, “he said. “They will not have a single quiet moment.”