Live updates: Governor: Russians destroyed Chernihiv Bridge | nation

LVIV, Ukraine – Russian forces bombed and destroyed a bridge in the encircled city of Chernihiv, the region’s governor Viacheslav Chaus said.

The destroyed bridge had been used to evacuate civilians and deliver humanitarian aid. It crossed the Desna River and connected the city with the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv.

Chernihiv authorities on Tuesday said the encircled town had no water or electricity, calling the situation there a humanitarian disaster.

Explosions and gunfire shook Kyiv on Wednesday morning, and heavy artillery fire could be heard from the north-west, where Russian forces were trying to encircle and take the capital’s suburbs.

KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN THE RUSSIA-UKRAINE WAR:

— Ukrainian leaders accuse Russia of detaining 15 workers from an aid convoy

– Biden embarks on a trip to Europe as Russia’s war in Ukraine falters and challenges mount

— Small signs of defiance are emerging amid Russia’s new crackdown

— A new fund focuses its support on Ukraine’s long-term needs

– Security Council adopts Russian resolution on Ukraine crisis as assembly hears competing resolutions

— For more coverage, see https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

LVIV, Ukraine – Russian forces destroyed a laboratory at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant that was working on improving radioactive waste management, Ukraine’s authority in charge of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone said on Tuesday.

The Russian military seized the decommissioned facility at the start of the war last month. The Exclusion Zone is the contaminated area surrounding the facility, scene of the world’s worst meltdown in 1986.

The laboratory, which was built with the support of the European Commission for 6 million euros, opened in 2015, the state authority said.

The lab contained “highly active samples and samples of radionuclides now in enemy hands that we hope will harm themselves and not the civilized world,” the agency said in its statement.

Radionuclides are unstable atoms of chemical elements that emit radiation.

Ukraine’s nuclear regulatory agency said Monday that radiation monitors around the facility were no longer working.

WASHINGTON – Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied that Russia’s invasion has stalled.

Asked on CNN what Russian President Vladimir Putin has achieved in Ukraine, he said: “Well, not yet for a start. He hasn’t achieved it yet.” But he insisted the military operation proceeded “strictly in accordance with previously established plans and purposes.”

Peskov reiterated that Putin’s main goals were “to get rid of Ukraine’s military potential” and “to ensure that Ukraine turns from an anti-Russian center to a neutral country.”

LVIV, Ukraine – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Russian forces on Tuesday not only blocked a humanitarian convoy trying to reach besieged Mariupol with much-needed supplies, but also captured some of the rescue workers and bus drivers.

He said the Russians had previously agreed to the route.

“We are trying to organize stable humanitarian corridors for Mariupol residents, but unfortunately almost all of our attempts are thwarted by Russian occupiers, shelling or deliberate terror,” Zelenskyy said in his nightly video address to the nation.

Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk said the Russians seized 11 bus drivers and four rescue workers along with their vehicles. She said her fate is unknown. The numbers could not be immediately confirmed.

More than 7,000 people were evacuated from Mariupol on Tuesday, but about 100,000 remain in the city “in inhumane conditions, under a total blockade, without food, without water, without medicine and under constant shelling, under constant fire,” Zelenskyy said.

Before the war, 430,000 people lived in the port city on the Sea of ​​Azov.