Specter of nuclear nightmare emerges on Friday, following attack on plant in east-central Ukraine

The shocking and tragic events taking place in Ukraine, on the ninth day of a Russian invasion of the east European country, continued to dominate the world’s attention and concern.
The specter of a nuclear nightmare emerged on Friday, when footage showed a fire, following an attack, on the massive Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in east-central Ukraine.

Russia’s defense ministry nevertheless blamed an attack on what it claimed were Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a “monstrous provocation”.

The embattled and under-siege Ukrainian government in Kiev underlined, however, that it was invading Russian forces who attacked the plant in the early hours of Friday, setting an adjacent five-storey training facility on fire.

The incident provoked further international condemnation of Moscow, ninth days into its invasion of Ukraine.

Western news sources said they could not yet independently verify either the Russian or the Ukrainian account of the incident.

According to Radio Free Europe, the regional Ukrainian administration in Zaporizhzhya later confirmed that Russian troops had seized the plant and that “…operational personnel are monitoring the condition of power units.”

Kiev also confirmed that Russian forces entered the complex.

Russian Metropolitan issues encyclical for prayer in supplication for peace 

In a related development, the Russian Orthodox Church’s Metropolitan of Voskresensky His Eminence Dionisije, on Thursday conveyed an encyclical to bishops and clergymen of the Moscow Patriarchate, instructing that a special prayer for peace be recited during the Divine Liturgy.

The encyclical follows a plea for prayer by the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, His holiness Kirill, hours after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Archbishop of Canada Sotirios 

Reactions by Primates of Orthodox Churches around the world also continued, with the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Canada, His Eminence Sotirios, this week calling on the faithful to donate to a fundraising effort aimed at supplying humanitarian aid to the war-afflicted.

Patriarch of Bulgaria Neofyt 

Elsewhere, and also in a related development, the Patriarch of Bulgaria, His Holiness Neofyt, on Thursday conveyed his wish for peace throughout the world, in a message on the occasion of the annual March 3 Day of Liberation of Bulgaria from the Ottoman Dominion.

His Holiness referred directly to the war in Ukraine, calling on the faithful, each based on his abilities, to open their hearts to all brothers and sisters suffering, and to people chased from their homes due to the conflict.

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