Free Republic

Europe faced the prospect of a radiation disaster on Thursday when a Russian-occupied nuclear plant was disconnected from Ukraine's power grid, President Volodomyr Zelensky has said. It was only due to back-up electricity kicking in that the Zaporizhzhia plant was able to operate safely, he added. Fires had earlier damaged overhead power lines, cutting the plant off. There is growing concern over fighting near the complex, which is the largest nuclear plant in Europe. "If the diesel generators hadn't turned on, if the automation and our staff of the plant had not reacted after the blackout, then we would already...

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko said on Friday that his military's SU-24 warplanes had been modified to carry nuclear weapons and that Minsk would react immediately if the West caused it any problems. -snip- "They (the West) must understand that if they opt for escalation no helicopters or planes will save them," Lukashenko was quoted as saying. "Everything was ready," he said, referring to the work to modify Belarusian warplanes to carry nuclear weapons. "It's not a good idea to escalate things with Belarus because that would be an escalation with the Union State (of Russia and Belarus) which has nuclear...