Ukraine's president says Russian forces are attempting to seize control of Chernobyl plant

Shafaq News/ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted that Russian forces are attempting to seize control of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.

"Russian occupation forces are trying to seize the Chernobyl [Nuclear Power Plant]. Our defenders are sacrificing their lives so that the tragedy of 1986 will not be repeated," Zelensky tweeted.

"What we have heard today are not just missile blasts, fighting, and the rumble of aircraft. This is the sound of a new iron curtain, which has come down and is closing Russia off from the civilized world," he said.

Ukraine's leader has said a "new iron curtain" is falling and closing Russia off from the "civilized world" after it invaded its neighbor.

Zelensky said Ukraine's task was "for that curtain not to fall" on its territory.

The iron curtain refers to the division between Europe's communist east and capitalist west from the end of the Second World War to the Cold War.

He claimed Ukrainian forces had been successfully defending the eastern Donbas region. Still, He said the most problematic area was Kherson in the country's south, where Russian troops have moved north from annexed Crimea.

For the first time since the start of the action, Russia's Defense Ministry spokesperson Major General Igor Konashenkov confirmed the Russian ground troops had rolled into Ukraine, saying they advanced toward the city of Kherson, northwest of Crimea.

Konashenkov said Thursday the Ukrainian troops are trying to avoid participating in armed clashes and make agreements on corridors to leave the operation zone without weapons.

"The forces of the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics (DPR, LPR) continue their counteroffensive against the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the fire support of the Russian Armed Forces, facing resistance mostly from units consisting of radical nationalists," He said.

Konashenkov pointed out that the DPR and LPR forces continue their counteroffensive operations against the Ukrainian Armed Forces with the fire support of the Russian Armed Forces. However, at the moment, resistance is mostly coming from nationalist armed units.

Russia has destroyed 83 Ukrainian military facilities. He affirmed.