The United Nations’ nuclear watchdog says missiles have hit a radioactive waste disposal site in the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.
In a statement late on Sunday, International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi said Ukrainian authorities informed his office about the overnight strike, but there are no reports of damage to the buildings or indications of a release of radioactive material.
He said his agency expects to soon receive the results of on-site radioactive monitoring.
The report came a day after an electrical transformer at a similar disposal facility in the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv was damaged.
Such facilities typically hold low-level radioactive materials such as waste from hospitals and industry, but Mr Grossi said the two incidents highlight a “very real risk”.
He said if the sites are damaged there could be “potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment”.
Next 24 hours “crucial” for Ukraine
Boris Johnson has told President Volodymyr Zelensky he will do “all he could” to ensure further military aid reaches Ukrainian forces, Downing Street has said.
The Prime Minister spoke to the Ukrainian president again on Sunday, praising the “heroic” resistance of the Ukrainian people in the face of the Russian attack, according to the No 10 readout of the call.
Mr Zelensky said, in turn, that the next 24 hours will be “a crucial period” for his country.
“The Prime Minister lauded the bravery of the Ukrainian people following the Russian invasion and praised the leadership of President Zelensky in the face of such adversity,” a No 10 spokesman said. “The resistance of the Ukrainian people was heroic, the Prime Minister added.
“President Zelensky said he believed the next 24 hours was a crucial period for Ukraine, and the Prime Minister said he would do all he could to help ensure defensive aid from the UK and allies reached Ukraine.
“The leaders agreed to continue to stay in close contact and the Prime Minister reiterated the UK’s staunch support for Ukraine’s sovereignty.”
Are sanctions on Russia working?
The Russian rouble sank nearly 26% against the US dollar early on Monday after Western nations moved to block Russian banks from the Swift global payment system.
The rouble was trading at a record low 105.27 per dollar (£78.95), down from about 84 per dollar (£63) late on Friday.
Over the weekend, Japan joined the moves by the US and other western nations to impose more sanctions against Russia.
Restrictions on the Russian central bank target its access to more than 600 billion dollars (£450 billion) in reserves the Kremlin has at its disposal. They hinder Russia’s ability to support the rouble as it plunges in value.
Sanctions announced earlier had taken the Russian currency to its lowest level against the dollar in history.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel