Feb 28, 2022: The UN nuclear watchdog says missiles have hit a radioactive waste disposal site in Kyiv, but there are no reports of damage to the buildings or indications of a release of radioactive material.

In a statement, International Atomic Energy Agency Director General Rafael Grossi said Ukrainian authorities informed his office of the overnight attack and the agency expects to receive the results of on-site radioactive monitoring soon. A day earlier, an electrical transformer at a similar disposal facility in Kharkiv was damaged.

Such facilities typically hold low-level radioactive materials such as waste from hospitals and industry, but Grossi says the two incidents highlight a “very real risk.” He says if the sites are damaged there could be “potentially severe consequences for human health and the environment”.

As the world watches, the fifth day of the biggest assault on a European country since World War Two rages on multiple fronts in Ukraine while its western allies pile sanctions against Russia while Australia has announced it will provide “lethal” military equipment to Ukraine to help the Ukrainians resist the Russian invasion. The move follows an offer on Friday of non-lethal military equipment, medical supplies and a $3 million contribution to a NATO trust fund for support of the besieged country.

Joining the EU and the West, Singapore has announced it intends to impose “appropriate sanctions and restrictions” on Russia, foreign minister Vivian Balakrishnan has told parliament, the Straits Times newspaper reported. Balakrishan said Singapore, a major financial and shipping hub, would impose export controls on items that could be used as weapons to harm or subjugate people in Ukraine, the report said.

Along with Singapore, South Korea has decided to tighten export controls against Russia by banning exports of strategic items, and join Western countries’ moves to block some Russian banks from the SWIFT international payments system, Seoul’s foreign ministry announced.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno says Japan was asked to join in measures blocking Russia from SWIFT by Western nations and was working with them to make the measures effective.

Moreover, Australia has imposed sanctions on more than 350 Russian individuals, including Russian President Vladimir Putin since Thursday.

Australia has also targeted with sanctions 13 individuals and entities in Belarus, including that country’s Defence Minister Viktor Khrenin.

Meanwhile, blasts were heard in Ukrainian capital of Kyiv and in the major city of Kharkiv this morning, according to Ukraine’s State Service of Special Communications and Information Protection.

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