Live Updates: Australia Freezes $33 Million in Russian Funds | Technology

CANBERRA, Australia: Australia’s foreign minister says A$45 million ($33 million) has been frozen at an Australian financial institution under new sanctions in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

On Friday, Foreign Secretary Marise Payne declined to identify the institution or who the money belonged to.

Australia has imposed sanctions on more than 350 Russian individuals, including President Vladimir Putin. Australia has also targeted with sanctions 13 Belarusian entities and individuals, including Defense Minister Viktor Khrenin.

KYIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian authorities said on Friday that a fire at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant sparked by Russian bombing had been extinguished and Russian forces had taken control of the site.

The regional military administration said in a statement that the fire at the Zaporizhzhia power plant in Enerhodar has been extinguished and the compartment of reactor No. 1 is damaged, but this does not affect the safety of the power unit. .

No information was immediately available on the victims.

The military administration said Russian forces had taken control of the site and operational personnel were ensuring its safe operation.

Earlier, plant officials said shelling hit an administrative building and the No. 1 reactor.

The city’s mayor and state emergency department also said the fire was out.

KYIV, Ukraine — A Russian airstrike destroyed the Okhtyrka power plant on Thursday, leaving the city without heat or electricity, the region’s chief said on Telegram. In the early days of the war, Russian troops attacked a military base in the city, located between Kharkiv and Kiev, and officials said more than 70 Ukrainian soldiers were killed.

“We are trying to find a way to get people out of the city urgently, because in one day apartment buildings will turn into a cold stone trap without water, light or electricity,” said Dmytro Zhyvytskyy .

LONDON — British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s office has said it will call for an emergency meeting of the UN Security Council after Russian troops in Ukraine attacked a nuclear power plant and started a fire.

Johnson’s office said he spoke to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the early hours of the morning. He says Britain will raise the issue immediately with Russia and its close partners.

Johnson’s office says he and Zelenskyy agree that Russia must immediately stop attacking and allow emergency services unimpeded access to the plant. Both agree that a ceasefire is essential.

“The Prime Minister has said that the reckless actions of (Russian President Vladimir) Putin could now directly threaten the security of all of Europe,” Johnson’s office said in a statement. “He said (the UK) would do everything it could to ensure that the situation did not deteriorate further.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says he also spoke with Zelenskyy about the attacks on the power plant.

“These unacceptable attacks from Russia must stop immediately,” he said on Twitter.

KYIV – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he informed the leaders of the United States, Britain, the European Union and the International Atomic Energy Agency of the serious threat of a nuclear disaster after that Russian troops bombed a nuclear power plant.

“If there is an explosion, it’s the end for everyone. The end for Europe. Evacuation from Europe,” he said in a moving speech in the middle of the night.

“Only urgent action from Europe can stop the Russian troops. Don’t let Europe die from a nuclear power plant disaster,” he said.

He calls on politicians and citizens to pressure Russian leaders to stop Russian troops.

WASHINGTON — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy briefed US President Joe Biden on a nuclear power plant fire that was bombed by Russian troops.

The White House said Biden and Zelenskyy urged Russia to cease military activity in the area and allow firefighters and emergency responders access to the site.

Biden also received another update on the situation from the US Department of Energy’s Undersecretary for Nuclear Security and the Administrator of the US National Nuclear Security Administration.

VIENNA – The International Atomic Energy Agency said on Twitter that it had been informed by Ukraine’s nuclear regulator that “no changes were reported in radiation levels” at a bombed nuclear power plant by Russian troops.

The agency says chief executive Rafael Mariano Grossi was in contact with Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Schmygal and the Ukrainian regulator and operator about the situation at the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Grossi “calls for an end to the use of force and warns of grave danger if the reactors strike,” the IAEA said in another tweet.

The agency says Ukraine told it the fire did not affect “essential” equipment and that plant personnel were taking mitigating measures.

An official in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s office, not authorized to speak publicly and speaking on condition of anonymity, says the reactors have not yet been damaged and radiation levels are normal.

ENERHODAR, Ukraine — Russian troops in Ukraine are bombing Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.

“We demand that they stop the firing of heavy weapons,” Andriy Tuz, spokesman for the Enerhodar plant, said in a video posted on Telegram. “There is a real threat of nuclear danger at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant.”

The plant accounts for about a quarter of Ukraine’s electricity production.

Tuz told Ukrainian television that shells fell directly on the Zaporizhzhia plant and set fire to one of the facility’s six reactors. This reactor is being renovated and not working, but there is nuclear fuel inside, he said.

Firefighters can’t get near the blaze because they get shot at, Tuz said.

A security camera streamed live from the nuclear power plant’s homepage showed what appeared to be armored vehicles entering the facility’s parking lot and shining spotlights on the building where the camera was mounted. There is then what appears to be bright muzzle flashes from vehicles and then near-simultaneous explosions in surrounding buildings. The smoke then rises and drifts through the frame.

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korea said it secured a waiver from recently extended U.S. sanctions against Russia in exchange for tightening its own export restrictions against the country following a growing invasion from Ukraine.

South Korea’s Ministry of Commerce, Industry and Energy confirmed the deal on Friday after Commerce Minister Yeo Han-koo traveled to Washington this week for meetings with senior U.S. officials.

The Biden administration last week announced a series of sanctions aimed at cutting off Russia’s access to foreign technology products such as semiconductors, lasers, aircraft and communications equipment in response to its invasion of China. ‘Ukraine.

To enforce the measures, Washington imposed a regulation called the Foreign Direct Product Rule, which allows US authorities to restrict sales of foreign-made products to Russia from any country if the items are made with the American technology.

The South Koreans had requested an exemption from the regulations to minimize the impact of U.S. sanctions on large South Korean companies, whose technology exports drive the country’s trade-dependent economy.

South Korea had previously banned the export of strategic materials to Russia and joined international efforts to cut off major Russian banks from global payment systems. US officials also told their South Korean counterparts that consumer goods such as smartphones, passenger cars and washing machines are not subject to US sanctions as long as they are used by Russian citizens or businesses. private and not by military users.

Follow AP’s coverage of Russia-Ukraine tensions at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine