Ukraine accuses Russia of destroying Chernobyl, UN says Moscow ‘can’t win’

“The €6 million laboratory, built with support from the European Commission, has been in operation since 2015. The laboratory contains highly active samples and radionuclides, currently fell into enemy hands. We hope that those who are keeping those specimens will harm themselves, not the civilized world,” Al Jazeera news agency quoted Ukrainian media as saying.

An area of ​​the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, Ukraine. Photo: AP

Earlier on March 21, Ukraine’s nuclear regulator announced that the radiation level monitors installed around the Chernobyl plant had stopped working.

Currently, Al Jazeera and a number of other major news agencies have not been able to verify whether the above accusations of Ukrainian media are true or not.

UN says Russia ‘cannot win’ in Ukraine

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the press on March 22 that it was “inevitable” for the parties to come to the negotiating table.

“With Russia, this war cannot be won. Sooner or later, everything will have to move from the battlefield to the peace negotiation table. This is inevitable,” Guterres was quoted as saying by the UN website.

“The only question now is how many more lives will be lost, how many more bombs will have to be dropped, and how many Ukrainians and Russians will die before everyone realizes this war. There are only losers – there are no winners,” Guterres added.

According to the UN Secretary-General, the continuation of the war is “morally unacceptable, politically indisputable and militarily unjust”.

The US assesses Russia’s combat power in Ukraine

“The combat strength of the Russian army has decreased to 90% compared to the time before the country’s military operation in Ukraine took place. Damage to military equipment and casualties of Russian soldiers is increasing,” Al Jazeera quoted an unnamed US defense official as saying.

However, this official did not provide any data to support his claims.

Earlier, Russia’s Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper on March 21 drew attention when it published a report from the country’s defense ministry on the number of soldiers and casualties in Ukraine, but this information was later deleted. “According to the Russian Defense Ministry, during the special operation in Ukraine, the armed forces killed 9,861 soldiers and wounded 16,153,” the report said.

Tuan Tran