LVIV, UKRAINE
\nTurkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Thursday of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine during his first face-to-face talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia\u2019s invasion began, echoing pleas from the UN\u2019s chief.
\nA flare-up in fighting around Europe\u2019s largest nuclear facility in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine has sparked urgent warnings from world leaders and UN chief Antonio Guterres cautioned during talks with Erdogan that any damage to the plant would be akin to \u201csuicide\u201d.
\n\u201cWe are worried. We don\u2019t want another Chernobyl,\u201d Erdogan said during a press conference in the eastern city of Lviv, during which he also assured the Ukrainian leader that Ankara was a firm ally.
\n\u201cWhile continuing our efforts to find a solution, we remain on the side of our Ukraine friends,\u201d Erdogan said.
\nGuterres said he was \u201cgravely concerned\u201d about the situation at the plant and said it had to be demilitarised, adding: \u201cWe must tell it like it is \u2014 any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide\u201d.
\nErdogan, who has major geopolitical rivalries with the Kremlin but maintains a close working relationship with President Vladimir Putin, met with the Russian leader less than two weeks ago in the Black Sea resort of Sochi.
\nThe Turkish leader along with Guterres were key brokers of a deal inked in Istanbul last month allowing the resumption of grain exports from Ukraine after Russia\u2019s invasion blocked essential global supplies.
\nAhead of the press conference with Zelensky, Ukraine\u2019s port authority announced that the 25th cargo ship under the deal had departed for Egypt carrying 33,000 tonnes of grain.
\nUkraine and Russia are two of the world\u2019s biggest grain exporters and the halt in exports saw grain prices soar and fears rise of global food shortages, particularly in poor countries already experiencing shortfalls.
\nGuterres said during the meeting with reporters that the sides hoped to intensify efforts to bolster operations at three southern ports designated for exports under the deal.
\n\u201cWe will do our best to scale up our operations to face… the coming winter,\u201d the UN chief said, hailing the deal that saw a safe corridor established for cargo ships to exit Black Sea ports.
\nThe success of the grain deal contrasts with failed peace talks early in the war and Zelensky on Thursday ruled out peace with Russia unless it withdraws its troops from Ukraine.
\nHe told reporters he was \u201cvery surprised\u201d to hear from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan that Russia was \u201cready for some kind of peace\u201d, adding: \u201cFirst they should leave our territory and then we\u2019ll see\u201d.
\nFighting raged along the front on Thursday.
\nIn the war-scarred eastern region of Kharkiv, Russian strikes left several dead and dozens injured.
\nThe early morning bombardments across the city of Kharkiv and nearby Krasnograd left at least six dead and 25 injured, just one day after Russian bombardments killed 13 in the country\u2019s second-largest urban centre.
\nThe regional governor Oleg Synegubov posted images from the scene of one Kharkiv strike showing the smouldering remains of several burnt-out buildings and twisted wreckage of destroyed vehicles nearby. \u201cKharkiv. 175 days of horror. Daily terror, missile strikes on residential areas and civilians,\u201d a senior presidential aide, Mykhaylo Podolyak, wrote on social media.
\nBut fighting in recent weeks has focused around the southern region of Zaporizhzhia and the nuclear facility there, and Zelensky has called on the UN to ensure security at the plant after direct talks with Guterres in Lviv.
\n\u201cThe UN must ensure the security of this strategic object, its demilitarisation and complete liberation from Russian troops,\u201d he said, blaming Russia for \u201cdeliberate\u201d attacks on the facility.
\nRussian forces took the Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine in March and uncertainty surrounding it has fuelled fears of a nuclear incident, recalling the Chernobyl disaster in 1986.
\nMoscow meanwhile dismissed Ukrainian allegations Thursday saying its forces had not deployed heavy weapons at Zaporizhzhia and accused Kyiv of preparing a \u201cprovocation\u201d there.
\n\u201cRussian troops have no heavy weapons either on the territory of the station or in areas around it. There are only guard units,\u201d the ministry said in a statement.
\nNATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said Russia\u2019s seizure of the plant \u201cposes a serious threat\u201d and also called for a Russian withdrawal and inspections by the IAEA.
\nThe UN chief is due to travel on Friday to Odessa, one of three ports involved in the grain exports deal.
\nHe will then head to Turkey to visit the Joint Coordination Centre, the body tasked with overseeing the accord.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
LVIV, UKRAINE Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Thursday of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine during his first face-to-face talks with President Volodymyr Zelensky since Russia\u2019s invasion began, echoing pleas from the UN\u2019s chief. A flare-up in fighting around Europe\u2019s largest nuclear facility in Russian-controlled southern Ukraine has sparked urgent warnings from world leaders and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278379,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-278353","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n