Ukraine plans to hold a third round of talks this weekend with Russian officials to try to end the fighting triggered by Moscow's invasion, one of Kyiv's negotiators said Friday.
"The third leg could take place tomorrow or the day after, we are in constant contact," Ukrainian presidential advisor Mykhailo Podolyak said, on the eighth day of the war.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky demanded still tougher sanctions against his Moscow foes on Friday after invading Russian forces attacked and seized a nuclear plant.
"An immediate reinforcement of sanctions against the nuclear terrorist state is necessary," he declared, amid fears that fighting at the Zaporizhzhia plant could trigger a nuclear accident.
ALSO READ: NATO chief slams Russia 'recklessness' in nuclear plant shelling
An overwhelming vote at the UN Human Rights Council on Friday to investigate abuses following Russia's invasion of Ukraine should show President Vladimir Putin "the whole world is against you", Kyiv's ambassador said.
"The message to Putin has been clear: You're isolated on a global level and the whole world is against you," Ukrainian ambassador Yevheniia Filipenko told reporters after the vote.
ALSO READ: Russia isolated as UN council votes to probe rights abuses in Ukraine
Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that the Belarusian armed forces were not taking part and would not take part in Russia's military operation in Ukraine.
A close Russian ally, Lukashenko said he spoke to President Vladimir Putin at length by telephone on Friday. Russia has used Belarusian territory to carry out a multi-pronged invasion of Ukraine.
Russian forces have entered the site of a Ukrainian nuclear power plant that caught fire overnight during clashes, the Ukrainian nuclear inspectorate said Friday.
"The territory of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant is occupied by the armed forces of the Russian Federation," the agency said of the site in Zaporizhzhia, Europe's largest.
The statement said plant staff were continuing to operate the reactor and supply power according to normal safety rules.
ALSO READ: UN nuclear watchdog head offers to travel to Chernobyl
The Ukrainian nuclear regulator said Friday that no leaks of radiation have been detected at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, which caught fire overnight during a battle with Russian troops, AFP reports.
"Changes in the radiation situation have not been registered," the State Nuclear Regulatory Inspectorate of Ukraine said.
The fire at Europe's largest nuclear power plant has been extinguished, Ukrainian emergency services said Friday, after Kyiv blamed Russian military shelling for the blaze.
Emergency services in Ukraine said Friday that they had extinguished the fire at Europe's largest nuclear power plant after Kyiv blamed Russian military shelling for the blaze, reports AFP.
"At 06:20 (04:20 GMT) the fire in the training building of Zaporizhzhia NPP in Energodar was extinguished. There are no victims," the emergency services said in a statement on Facebook.
Russian military forces have seized the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in Ukraine's southeast, a local authority said on Friday.
"Operational personnel are monitoring the condition of power units," it said on social media, adding that the efforts sought to ensure the operations were in line with safety requirements, Reuters reported.
Senior US senator Lindsey Graham called for "somebody in Russia" to assassinate President Vladimir Putin after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in a televised interview Thursday evening.
"How does this end? Somebody in Russia has to step up to the plate... and take this guy out," the senator told conservative Fox News TV host Sean Hannity, AFP reported.
He repeated the call later in a series of tweets, saying "the only people who can fix this are the Russian people."
Europe's largest nuclear power plant was on fire Friday after Russian strikes hit the Ukrainian facility, with the country's foreign minister demanding an immediate ceasefire at the site to avoid disaster, AFP reported.
"As a result of shelling by Russian forces on the Zaporizhia Nuclear Power Plant, a fire broke out," spokesman Andrei Tuz said in a video posted on the plant's Telegram account.
The plant's power unit had been hit, he added, as Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba called for an immediate halt to fighting at the site.
A live feed of the site earlier appeared to show blasts at the site, with fire lighting up the night sky and plumes of rising smoke.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Moscow Friday of resorting to "nuclear terror" and wanting to "repeat" the Chernobyl disaster after he said invading Russian forces attacked a nuclear power plant.
Zelensky had earlier begged world leaders to wake up and prevent Europe from "dying from a nuclear disaster" after Russian forces shelled the continent's largest plant, reports AFP.
"No country other than Russia has ever fired on nuclear power units," he said in a video message released by his office. "This is the first time in our history. In the history of mankind. The terrorist state now resorted to nuclear terror."
He accused the troops of knowingly firing on the nuclear facility.
"These are tanks equipped with thermal imagers, so they know where they are shooting," said Zelensky.
Ukraine's emergency services said Friday they had gained access to a nuclear power plant where a fire erupted after shelling by the Russian military.
"As of 05:20 at the Zaporizhzhia NPP in Energodar, State Emergency Service units went to put out the fire in the training building," the state emergency services wrote on Facebook, noting that 40 people and 10 vehicles were involved in the operation, reported AFP.
Ukrainian emergency services said Friday that Russian troops were preventing them from extinguishing a fire that broke out at a nuclear power plant after it was struck by shelling, AFP said.
"The invaders are not authorising Ukrainian public rescue units to begin extinguishing the fire," the emergency services said on Facebook, stating that the blaze had affected a "training building" and that only one of the plant's six reactors were operational.
US President Joe Biden on Thursday urged Russia to cease firing on a Ukrainian power plant and to allow in emergency services, as a senior US official said there was no sign of "elevated levels of radiation."
"President Biden joined President Zelensky in urging Russia to cease its military activities in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders to access the site," a White House readout of a call between the two leaders said, reported AFP.
Additionally, the senior US official said "our latest information shows no indications of elevated levels of radiation, and we're monitoring closely."
Russia and Ukraine agreed on Thursday to the need for humanitarian corridors to help civilians escape Moscow's eight-day-old invasion, the first apparent progress in talks, Reuters reported.
After talks at an undisclosed location, Russia said "substantial progress" had been made while the Ukrainian side pointed to an understanding on helping ordinary people, but not the results Kyiv had hoped for.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said a temporary halt to fighting in select locations was also possible.
They had also seen eye-to-eye on the delivery of medicines and food to the places where the fiercest fighting was taking place. The negotiators will meet again next week, the Belarusian state news agency Belta quoted Podolyak as saying.
Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, to sit down for direct talks and end Russia’s invasion of his country, while also calling on the West to increase military aid to Kyiv, reported AFP.
Speaking to journalists at his heavily fortified office in the Ukrainian capital, Zelenskyy on Thursday warned the West that Russia may advance to the rest of Europe if Putin’s military offensive succeeds.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman offered to host mediation talks between Russia and Ukraine in a phone call Thursday with Russian leader Vladimir Putin as the conflict entered its second week.
The Gulf state's de facto leader called for a "political solution" after the Russian invasion and also reiterated his support for the OPEC+ group of oil producers, which includes Russia, to stabilise oil markets.
