Limited cease-fire reached for civilian evacuations as Russian forces cut off key cities

At approximately 1:30 a.m. local time Friday, multiple bright, white flashes illuminated the space in front of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar, as seen on a live stream of the area verified by The Washington Post.

At least eight military vehicles were positioned on the street leading directly to the plant. White and ashen-gray smoke clouded the soundless feed.

Ten minutes later, Enerhodar Mayor Dmitry Orlov posted on his Telegram channel that the power plant was on fire.

Video clips of the live stream posted as late as 11 p.m. showed an empty street — suggesting the vehicles had moved into the area before the flames.

For about an hour after 1:30 a.m., more vehicles arrived, some outside the view of the camera, and headed toward the plant. The view then panned right to show that a white building — a training center, according to Google Maps — appeared to have caught fire, with a bright blaze obscuring the entrance.

Shortly afterward, multiple munitions could be seen being fired across the screen. Two blasts appeared to make contact — the latter striking the top of the building nearest to the camera.

Several hours later, there was still activity on the scene. At 3:30 a.m., figures were seen moving in between the military vehicles, and other vehicles appeared to be driving up to the facility. Later, a crowd of people emerged, appearing to move away from the plant even as others headed toward it.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson early Friday demanded that Russia “cease its attack” on Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station and said he would seek an emergency session of the United Nations Security Council “in the coming hours” to discuss the fire at Europe’s largest nuclear plant in terms of power generation capacity.

London will also immediately raise the issue with Moscow, Downing Street said in a statement.

The remarks came shortly after a phone call between Johnson and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Ukraine said Russian forces had shelled the site, though the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog later said the blaze had not affected “essential” equipment and that Ukraine’s regulator reported no change in surrounding radiation levels.

Days after Russian national and club soccer teams were suspended from international competition, some of those clubs have lost players and coaches in the week since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began.

Six months after landing the top job at Lokomotiv Moscow, coach Markus Gisdol quit the team on Tuesday in protest of the invasion. Ukrainian defender Yaroslav Rakitskiy requested his release from reigning Russian Premier League champion Zenit St. Petersburg, which the club granted on Wednesday. That same day, Krasnodar lost coach Daniel Farke and three of his assistants, who left the team after less than two months on the job.

Krasnodar, a team in southwestern Russia, was unable to play a league game last week because of airport closures in the region following the invasion of Ukraine. Come Thursday, eight players decamped less than 24 hours after Farke left. The group includes top players Rémy Cabella of France and Sweden’s Victor Claesson. They agreed with the club to suspend their contracts, allowing them to live and train outside of Russia, although they are still tethered to the team.

Polish teammate Grzegorz Krychowiak could reportedly join them. In a social media post last week, Krychowiak said he would boycott Poland’s World Cup qualification match against Russia, originally scheduled for later this month.

Fire broke out at Europe’s largest nuclear power plant after Russian forces shelled the site in southeast Ukraine, according to plant and Ukrainian officials, who called early Friday for an immediate cease-fire and warned of a potential catastrophe.

But the United Nations’ nuclear watchdog soon said the blaze had not affected “essential” equipment and that Ukraine’s regulator reported no change in surrounding radiation levels. U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm tweeted that the Energy Department was monitoring the situation but had “seen no elevated radiation readings near the facility.”

“The plant’s reactors are protected by robust containment structures and reactors are being safely shut down,” Granholm said.

A spokesman for the Zaporizhia plant said in an email that the site was “under artillery fire” and confirmed fires broke out. A live stream of the site, verified by The Washington Post, showed a white blur of flames and smoke rising into the sky early Friday morning local time. The International Atomic Energy Agency had convened an emergency meeting Wednesday as fighting closed in on the site in Enerhodar and as experts said a strike could trigger disaster.

ON THE UKRAINE-MOLDOVA BORDER — Her body was shaking as she crossed the border, a mix of cold and fear and everything she was running from. She had scarcely slept in six days. She hadn’t eaten in two. But now finally, amid the snow and chaos of volunteers, Ira Ivanitskaia and her son were safe.

She had spent the previous seven days focused on escaping the war, on getting away from the rockets she’d heard howling at night. But the cost of the conflict was about to become apparent in new ways.

“A dividing line between my old life and new,” Ira, 46, would later call it. On the new side, all she had were muddy duffel bags of clothes, a few tools she needed as a hairdresser, and two unfamiliar men flagging her down.

The volunteer van drivers.

Ira started to sob.

Scores of Venezuelans on Thursday protested Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in what appears to be the first demonstration in a Russian-allied nation.

Carrying sunflowers, posters and Venezuelan and Ukrainian flags, the demonstrators screamed “Putin, you’re an assassin” and “no to the invasion,” videos shared across social media show, as they gathered in front of the European Union’s representative headquarters in Caracas.

Their message of solidarity to Ukraine was a stark contrast to the support their country has pledged to Russia — a nation that has purchased Venezuela’s oil exports and provided it with foreign aid, arms sales and loans.

Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said he spoke on the phone Tuesday with Russian President Vladimir Putin — tweeting a photo of the two shaking hands in a message blaming Ukraine’s conflict on “the destabilizing actions of NATO.” Maduro has also affirmed Venezuela would provide any military or financial support Russia requires.

But Thursday’s protest brought back parallels from 2014 — a year marked by increased solidarity between Ukrainian and Venezuelan opposition groups as they both attempted to topple their authoritarian governments.

“We will always remember how in 2014, while thousands of Venezuelans were in the streets defending democracy, our flag was raised in the streets of Ukraine in the middle of Maidan Square,” said opposition leader Juan Guaidó, who is recognized as Venezuela’s president by the United States and dozens of other nations.

During Thursday’s protest Guaidó said his government had assembled a volunteer mission to provide medical help in Ukraine’s borders. So far, he said, the group counts with 11 people who emigrated from Venezuela.

"Although it’s a modest contribution, from a country that is under a dictatorship, for us it’s deeply significant given our situation,” Guaidó said.

Russia’s last independent news and radio stations folded this week as journalists and other newsroom staffers left their positions to flee their country as the war against Ukraine intensifies.

TV Rain suspended its coverage Thursday, its director general, Natalya Sindeeva, announced in a statement on the station’s website and on the air.