Each week we wrap up the must-reads for our Ukraine war coverage, from news and features to analysis, visual guides and opinions.
‘Serious crisis’ at Ukraine nuclear power plant, UN says
this week Isobel Koshiw in Kyiv and Jennifer Rankin It followed the exchange of accusations between Ukraine and Russia over the bombing of Europe’s largest nuclear plant last weekend, with the UN secretary-general since calling for international inspectors to have access to the floor.
“Any attack on a nuclear power plant is a suicidal thing,” António Guterres told a news conference in Japan on Monday after Saturday’s bombing damaged three radiation sensors.
Ukraine’s ambassador to the IAEA, Yevhenii Tsymbaliuk, echoed the call from international inspectors, saying Russian forces were trying to cause blackouts in southern Ukraine by bombing the Zaporizhzhia plant, which was captured by Russian forces in early March but is still run by Ukrainian technicians. . However, Russia maintains that Ukrainian forces struck the site with a multiple rocket launcher. The head of Zaporizhzhia’s occupation authorities, Evgeniy Balitskyi, said Ukrainian forces had “decided to bring all of Europe to the brink of a nuclear catastrophe” by bombing the plant in southeastern Ukraine.
How Peter Beaumont he explains, the bombing around the plant is worrying, but the most serious problem is the disruption of the security regime and routine maintenance of the plant as a result of the ongoing conflict.
On Friday, the bombing had resumed and the UN was warning of a “serious crisis”.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, to which the UN has requested access to international inspectors. Photograph: AP
The Russian air base on the coast of Crimea has been damaged by the explosions
A Russian airbase behind the front line in Crimea was damaged by several large explosions on Tuesday, killing at least one person and destroying up to a dozen Russian planes. And Sabbagh reports from Kyiv.
Ukrainian political sources said the country had carried out the attack on the western coast of Crimea, but Kyiv did not publicly claim responsibility for the incident. The sources said that Ukraine’s public coyness about the attack is designed in part to preserve some ambiguity about the means used, prompting widespread speculation about how Kyiv was able to strike so deep behind Russian lines, in a of the first attacks on Crimean soil from Russia. the invasion began in February.
On Thursday, satellite images appeared to show at least nine Russian warplanes destroyed and large parts of the runway badly damaged.
An analysis piece by Dan Sabbagh suggests the attack sends a powerful message to Moscow.
Although it is not the first Ukrainian attack on Crimea since the start of the war, it is the most significant, not only because it took place some 180 km (112 miles) behind the front line, but because it had place in sight of thousands of tourists. he says
People on a beach as flames rise after explosions at a Russian military airbase in Novofedorivka, Crimea. Photograph: Reuters
Inside the Russian prison camp where dozens of Ukrainians were burned to death
Screams of tortured soldiers, overflowing cells, inhumane conditions, a regime of intimidation and murder. Inedible pata, no communication with the outside world and days marked with a homemade calendar written on a tea box.
According to a prisoner who was there, these are the conditions inside Olenivka, the notorious detention center outside Donetsk where dozens of Ukrainian soldiers were burned to death while in Russian captivity in a horrific episode late last month .
Anna Vorosheva, a 45-year-old Ukrainian businesswoman, gave a chilling account Luke Harding of his 100 days spent in prison. She was detained by the pro-Russian Donetsk People’s Republic on charges of “terrorism” for trying to deliver humanitarian supplies to Mariupol.
Now recovering in France, Vorosheva said she had no doubt that Russia “cynically and deliberately” murdered Ukrainian prisoners of war.
Proof: Anne Vorosheva. Photograph: Abdulmonam Eassa/The Observer
Zelenskiy reprimands Amnesty for accusing Ukraine of endangering civilians
A report by Amnesty International accusing the Ukrainian military of endangering civilians has drawn criticism from Western diplomats, including the British and US ambassadors to Ukraine, as the country’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, attacked its findings, Isobel Koshiw Write to Kyiv.
The report accused the Ukrainian military of putting civilians at risk by positioning themselves in residential areas, saying soldiers should not base themselves in empty schools or repurpose civilian buildings in urban areas, as it meant Russians they would target them and that civilians would be trapped in them. the crossfire Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova held up the report as evidence that Ukraine was using civilians as human shields.
But critics say the report was poorly researched and produced. Amnesty’s head of operations in Ukraine, Oksana Pokalchuk, resigned from her post on Friday evening, a day after she claimed the organization was ignoring her concerns about the report.
Amnesty International stood by its claim that Ukraine violated international humanitarian law and said its findings were based on evidence gathered during extensive investigations. While stressing that he condemns Russia’s invasion, he said he will denounce Ukraine’s violations when he observes them.
Women who fled Ukraine agonize over when they will return
Natalia Kompaniets spends her days facing a dilemma with her daughter as they sit in their new temporary home in Budapest. “Every day we think: should we go back or not? There is a battle in our souls,” says Kompaniets, a 51-year-old man who left the city of Obukhiv outside Kyiv in early March. Shaun Walker in Budapest and Warsaw.
In the coming months, life is likely to become more difficult for many Ukrainian refugees, as the initial outpouring of goodwill across Europe fades and more people are forced to fend for themselves when it comes to food and accommodation. Many are raising similar questions to Kompaniets: if they are from a relatively safe part of Ukraine, is it time to return? Should they wait for the war to end? And how long would it mean to wait?
Tatiana, a 32-year-old from Zaporizhzhia, came to Budapest because a friend worked there as a builder, and he allowed her and her son to stay in a house he was renovating. But when the renovations were finished they had to move. She is now staying in a safe house that was originally meant for victims of domestic violence, but since March a flat has been set aside for Ukrainian refugees.
She is worried about staying in Hungary and is not sure if she can find a job there. But she is also worried about returning to Zaporizhzhia, a city near the front line in eastern Ukraine.
Natalia Kompaniets with her granddaughter. “There is a battle in our souls.” Photograph: Andras Fekete/The Guardian