Following the attack on a nuclear plant in Ukraine by Russian troops, the United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting at 11:30 am ET Friday in New York.
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“The United States, the UK, France, Ireland, Norway, and Albania have called an emergency UN Security Council meeting at 11:30ET following Russia’s attack on the Zaporizhzhya nuclear plant in Ukraine,” Olivia Dalton, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, tweeted.
It was supposed to be an open gathering featuring speeches from officials from the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations.
Several countries, notably the US and the UK, were scheduled to make remarks at the meeting.
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Russian invading forces captured Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in southeastern Ukraine on Friday, causing global concern, but a massive fire in a training building was contained and officials indicated the facility was now safe.
Russia’s military ministry blamed the plant fire on a “monstrous attack” by Ukrainian saboteurs and declared that its soldiers were in command.
Following the incident, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson and UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson both stated that an emergency meeting will be held.
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The United Nations has been in the vanguard of diplomatic efforts in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, convening the Security Council and the General Assembly multiple times in recent weeks.
In a historic decision on Wednesday, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously condemned Russia for invading Ukraine and urged that Moscow halt fighting and evacuate its military forces, a move aimed at diplomatically isolating Russia at the international body.
Thousands of people are believed to have been dead or injured, and over one million refugees have fled Ukraine since Feb. 24, when Putin launched the worst attack on a European state since World War II.
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Although the nuclear plant was declared safe and the fire was extinguished, officials were concerned about the precarious situation, with Ukrainian personnel operating under Russian supervision in war conditions beyond the reach of administration.
Raphael Grossi, the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, described the scenario as “normal operations, but in fact there is nothing normal about this.”