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Ukraine hosts Turkish president and UN secretary general for diplomatic talks

UKRAINIAN President Volodymyr Zelensky hosted diplomatic talks today between Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

The meeting was held in the western city of Lviv, far from the front lines of Ukraine’s war with Russian invasion forces, after the Morning Star went to press.

Mr Guterres was expected to use his visit to focus on containing the volatile situation at a Russian-occupied nuclear power plant, while Mr Erdogan sought to broker a deal to expand grain exports from Ukraine.

Moscow and Kiev have both accused each other of shelling southern Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is Europe’s largest.

In his nightly video address, Mr Zelensky reaffirmed his demand for the Russian military to leave the complex, warning that “only absolute transparency and control of the situation” by the UN International Atomic Energy Agency and others could guarantee a return to nuclear safety.

Russian Lieutenant General Igor Kirillov warned of the threats the plant posed during the war, claiming that Ukrainian troops were planning to strike the plant again today in order to accuse Russia of nuclear terrorism.

He said an emergency at the plant could see “a discharge of radioactive substances into the atmosphere and spreading them hundreds of kilometres away.

“An emergency of this kind will cause massive migration and will have more catastrophic consequences than the looming gas energy crisis in Europe.”

 Zelenskyy and Guterres agreed on arrangements for an IAEA mission to the plant, the Ukrainian president's website reported.

Meanwhile, at least 11 people were killed and 40 wounded in a Russian missile strike on the Kharkiv region on Wednesday night and yesterday morning.

The Russian Defence Ministry said it had targeted “a temporary base of foreign mercenaries” in Kharkiv, killing 90 of them.

 

 

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