The Czech EU Presidency called on Saturday 17 September for the creation of an international tribunal for war crimes. In Zaporijjia, the nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the country’s electricity grid. Franceinfo looks back on the highlights of Saturday September 17 on the front of the war in Ukraine.
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant reconnected to the Ukrainian electricity grid
Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant has been reconnected to the country’s electricity grid, the IAEA announced on Saturday, after the site was deprived of a source of electricity, which increased the risk of an accident. “The repaired 750 kilovolt (kv) line supplies Europe’s largest nuclear power plant (…) with the electricity needed to provide reactor cooling and other safety functions”the International Atomic Energy Agency said in a statement.
Since it had been disconnected from the network, the plant, at stake in clashes between Russians and Ukrainians in recent weeks, and whose reactors have been stopped, could only count on a power plant supply to ensure the cooling of its installations. . The risk was that this power supply would be cut off.
EU presidency calls for war crimes tribunal
The Czech Republic, which currently holds the rotating EU presidency, called on Saturday for the creation of an international war crimes tribunal. The call follows the discovery of around 450 tombs on the outskirts of Iziouma town in eastern Ukraine retaken from the Russians last week, with some of the exhumed bodies showing signs of torture. “In the 21st century, such attacks against the civilian population are unthinkable and heinous”Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky said on Twitter.
“We must not ignore it. We are for the punishment of all war criminals”he added, “I call for the rapid creation of a special international tribunal”. Ukrainian authorities reported on Friday that “450 bodies of civilians bearing traces of violent death and torture” buried in a wood on the outskirts of Izioum. “There are several bodies with their hands tied behind their backs and one person is buried with a rope around their neck. Obviously these people were tortured and executed”regional governor Oleg Synegoubov said on Telegram.
Greenpeace NGO blocks Russian gas offloading in Finland
Greenpeace activists blocked an unloading of russian gas at a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Tornio, northern Finland, AFP learned from terminal operators and the environmental organization. “This is a cargo ship containing liquefied natural gas from Russia”, Olga Vaisanen, spokeswoman for the Finnish group Gasum, importer of the blocked delivery, told AFP. The action began in the early morning, said Mika Kolehmainen, director of Manga LNG, the terminal manager, contacted by AFP.
The operator said that activists were mounted on loading arms and that two boats were outside the terminal area, located very close to the Swedish border. Last week, Greenpeace activists also blocked an unloading of Russian gas at a natural gas terminal in Nynäshamn, near Stockholm, Sweden.
“It is totally unacceptable that Russian gas is still allowed to flow into Finland, more than six months after (Vladimir) Putin started his invasion of Ukraine”Greenpeace activist Olli Tiainen said in a statement. “The Finnish government and Prime Minister Sanna Marin must ban all Russian fossil fuel imports immediately”he added.