Russia’s war on Ukraine is in its ninth day. Russian forces have shelled Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, sparking a fire there that was extinguished overnight. The U.N. nuclear watchdog says there was no sign Friday of radiation leaks.
As Russian President Vladimir Putin’s forces press a campaign that has brought global condemnation, people across Ukraine have taken up arms and sought shelter. More than 1.2 million people have fled to neighboring countries, the U.N. refugee agency said Friday. That number more than doubled from an initial estimate of 520,000 refugees in just four days.
Delegates from Ukraine and Russia met in Belarus on Thursday and agreed on humanitarian corridors that would allow civilians to flee safely and allow for humanitarian supplies to be delivered — but made little headway on ending the fighting.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called on other European nations to support his country’s fight against the invading Russian military.
Zelenskyy appeared on video as he addressed thousands of people protesting the war in several European cities, naming among them Paris, Prague, Lyon, Frankfurt and others. He asked the big crowds not to be silent about what’s going on in his country.
“Don’t turn a blind eye on this. … Come out and support Ukraine as much as you can,” he said though a translator.
“If we fall, you will fall,” he said.
“And if we win, and I’m sure we’ll win, this will be the victory of the whole democratic world, this will be the victory of our freedom, this will be the victory of light over darkness, of freedom over slavery. And if we win we will become as blossoming as Europe. And Europe will be flourishing more than ever,” he said.
“All of you are Ukrainians today, thank you for this.”
Reporting by the Associated Press.
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Militia men carry the coffin with the body of Volodymyr Nezhenets, 54, during his funeral in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. A small group of reservists are burying Nezhenets, who was one of three killed on Feb. 26 in an ambush Ukrainian authorities say was caused by Russian ‘saboteurs’. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) Oksana is hugged by her soon Dmytro during the funeral of her husband, Volodymyr Nezhenets, 54, in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. A small group of reservists are burying Nezhenets, who was one of three killed on Feb. 26 in an ambush Ukrainian authorities say was caused by Russian ‘saboteurs’. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti) A machine-gunned bus is photographed after an ambush in the city of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. While a small group of reservists were burying their comrade, 54-year-old Volodymyr Nezhenets, who was one of three killed on Feb. 26 in an ambush Ukrainian authorities say was caused by Russian ‘saboteurs’, a few kilometers away from the cemetery, the remains of the convoy Volodymyr was killed in 6 days ago still stands in the road with charred vehicles, a bus riddled with bullets, a spatter of blood on the drivers seat. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A Ukrainian serviceman wounded during the fighting with Russian troops near the Ukrainian capital is pictured in a hospital in Kyiv on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images) A mother of a wounded Ukrainian serviceman waits outside a ward in a hospital in Kyiv on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Supinsky/AFP via Getty Images) This general view shows destroyed Russian armored vehicles in the city of Bucha, west of Kyiv, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Aris Messinis/AFP via Getty Images)
A man walks in front of a residential building damaged in yesterday’s shelling in the city of Chernihiv on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP via Getty Images) A young man throws a Molotov cocktail during a civilian self-defense course on the outskirts of Lviv, western Ukraine, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images) Volunteers hold a basket with hand-made Molotov cocktails during a self-defense course on the outskirts of Lviv, western Ukraine, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images)
A child learns how to use an AK-47 assault rifle during a civilian self-defense course in the outskirts of Lviv, western Ukraine, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images) An Aero L-39C Albatros aircraft from Ukraine Air Force flies over Lviv, western Ukraine, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Daniel Leal/AFP via Getty Images) Civilians evacuate across a contested bridge at the frontline between Bucha and Irpin City on March 04, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
A member of the Ukrainian military gives instructions to women and children who fled fighting in Bucha and Irpin, before they board an evacuation train from Irpin City to Kyiv on March 04, 2022 in Irpin, Ukraine. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) With men staying behind to fight, women and children rush to board an evacuation train to Kyiv that was scheduled after heavy fighting overnight in Irpin, Ukraine. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images) Women and children board an evacuation train from Irpin City to Kyiv. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
A woman cries after not being able to board an evacuation train that departed carrying women and children who fled fighting in Bucha and Irpin. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
Anna Panasyk and Dmytro Shybalov pose by a heart-shaped installation outside a marriage office before getting married in Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda) A Ukrainian soldier tries to disperse the crowd as they push to enter a train to Lviv at the Kyiv station, Ukraine, Friday, March 4. 2022. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)
A man gestures in front of an evacuation train at Kyiv central train station on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Sergei Chuzakov/AFP via Getty Images) Refugees coming from Ukraine arrive at the North Railway Station in Bucharest, Romania, early March 4, 2022. (Photo by Mihai Barbu/AFP via Getty Images) Hungarian police officers escort refugee children across the dark tracks at Zahony train station as the influx of refugees from Ukraine continues through the night in Zahony, Hungary. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)
A Ukrainian refugee child rests on a camp bed in a temporary refugee centre at the local primary school in Zahony, Hungary, close to the Hungarian-Ukrainian border on early morning, on March 4, 2022. (Photo by Attila Kisbenedek/AFP via Getty Images) A woman is seen through a train window as refugees coming from Ukraine arrive at the North Railway Station in Bucharest, early March 4, 2022. (Photo by Mihai Barbu/AFP via Getty Images) A woman pushes a stroller at the border crossing in Medyka, Poland, Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photo/Visar Kryeziu)
People from war-torn Ukraine wait to board a bus that will take them to nearby Przemysl shortly after their arrival in Poland at the border crossing near Medyka, Poland. (Photo by Sean Gallup/Getty Images) Nigerian students, who just got evacuated from Ukraine, disembark from a chartered plane after landing at the Nnamdi Azikwe Airport Abuja, Nigeria on March 4, 2022.(Photo by Kola Sulaimon//AFP via Getty Images)
