من الأشهر اليوم؟

Nato foreign ministers were meeting in Brussels on Friday to discuss Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as Kyiv called on Western allies to implement a no-fly zone or provide them with more planes to protect civilians and infrastructure including nuclear plants.
The call came after Russian forces seized the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, Zaporizhzhia, after a building at the complex was set ablaze during intense fighting with Ukrainian defenders, according to Ukrainian authorities.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskiy has consistently called for a no-fly zone since Moscow’s invasion more than a week ago, but Nato allies have resisted the step which could drag them into the war with nuclear-armed Russia.
Speaking ahead of the meeting in Nato’s Brussels headquarters, Lithuania said the alliance would be dragged into the war if it were to enforce a no-fly zone.
“All encouragements for Nato to get involved into the military conflict now are irresponsible,” said Lithuanian prime minister Ingrida Simonyte.
Canadian foreign minister Melanie Joly said that Nato’s red line was to avoid triggering a wider international conflict, but said all scenarios should be discussed.
France’s presidential office described a no-fly zone as “a very legitimate request and very difficult to satisfy”.
On Thursday Mr Zelenskiy said that if allies wouldn’t meet his request to protect Ukrainian air space, they should instead provide Kyiv with more war planes.
While Russian president Vladimir Putin’s land assault on the capital Kyiv has stalled, Russian forces have shelled residential blocks and key civilian infrastructure, including in Ukraine’s second-largest city of Kharkiv in the northeast.
The Azov Sea port of Mariupol has been encircled and left without electricity or running water by heavy Russian bombing, Ukrainian officials said.
Appeal to Russian people
Mr Zelenskiy appealed to Russians on Friday to stage protests over the nuclear power plant seizure.
“Russian people, I want to appeal to you: how is this possible? After all we fought together in 1986 against the Chernobyl catastrophe,” he said in a televised address, evoking memories of the world’s worst nuclear disaster.
“You have to . . . take to the streets and say that you want to live, you want to live on Earth without radioactive contamination. Radiation does not know where Russia is, radiation does not know where the borders of your country are.”
Russia’s defence ministry blamed the attack at the site of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a monstrous provocation. – Reuters