WORLD BRIEFING: April 8, 2024

A new drone attack on Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia power plant has raised the risk of a "major nuclear accident", the UN's atomic watchdog has warned. Russia said Ukraine was behind the attack, which it said injured three people. Ukraine has denied involvement. The giant Russian-held nuclear plant, with six reactors, is on the frontline of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. The UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) has repeatedly warned against such attacks. IAEA head Rafael Grossi said Sunday's drone strike was "reckless" and "a major escalation of the nuclear safety and security dangers" facing the plant. The Zaporizhzhia plant, in southern Ukraine, is the largest in Europe. Russian forces seized it shortly after launching their February 2022 full-scale invasion and have occupied it ever since. The facility stopped generating power in 2022, but needs a constant supply of electricity to cool one of its reactors which is in a state of "hot conservation", meaning it is not fully offline. The IAEA, which has a team of experts at Zaporizhzhia, confirmed "physical impact of drone attacks" at the plant, including at one of the reactors. The plant's Russian-installed administration said radiation levels were normal and that there was no serious damage. The IAEA said the damage had not compromised nuclear safety, but it warned that "this is a serious incident with potential to undermine [the] integrity of the reactor's containment system". - BBC

The Israeli military says it has withdrawn its ground troops from the southern Gaza Strip, including Khan Younis, amid conflicting reports about the scale and duration of the disengagement. “Today, Sunday April 7th, the IDF’s 98th commando division has concluded its mission in Khan Younis. The division left the Gaza Strip in order to recuperate and prepare for future operations,” the army said in a statement on Sunday. “A significant force led by the 162nd division and the Nahal brigade continues to operate in the Gaza Strip and will preserve the IDF’s freedom of action and its ability to conduct precise intelligence based operations,” it said. The military confirmed the reported withdrawal to Reuters news agency, but added that one brigade has remained, without giving further details. An Israeli brigade is typically made of a few thousand soldiers. It was unclear whether the reported withdrawal would delay a long-threatened incursion into the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which Israeli leaders have said is needed to eliminate Hamas - Al Jazeera

Voters in Slovakia on Saturday strengthened the grip of Russia-friendly political forces in Central Europe, handing victory in a presidential election to a candidate who opposes providing military and financial aid to Ukraine. With 99 percent of the votes counted, the official tally showed Peter Pellegrini, an ally of Slovakia’s populist prime minister, Robert Fico, the winner with 53 percent of the vote in a presidential runoff. Despite the presidency’s limited powers in Slovakia, the election was widely watched as a test of strength between political camps with starkly different views on Russia. The defeated candidate, former Foreign Minister Ivan Korcok, is a stalwart supporter of Ukraine and critic of Mr. Fico, a pugnacious veteran politician who has aligned with Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary in opposing aid to Ukraine and challenging mainstream opinions within the European Union. With Mr. Fico at his side, Mr. Pellegrini declared victory early Sunday, soon after Mr. Korcok conceded defeat. - NYT

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron will warn that the US is risking the West’s security by holding up a new package of aid for Ukraine when he visits Washington DC next week. During a face-to-face meeting, the Foreign Secretary will urge Mike Johnson, the House of Representatives speaker, to stop his Republican colleagues from continuing to block the support. Earlier this year, the UK announced another £2.5 billion in aid to help Ukraine fight the Russian invasion, while the European Union has pledged a further €50 billion (£43 billion).But Joe Biden’s $95 billion (£75 billion) Bill, which includes security assistance to Ukraine, is being blocked by the US president’s Republican opponents in the House of Representatives, one half of the US Congress. Lord Cameron and Stéphane Séjourné, his French counterpart, issued a rallying cry to boost support for Ukraine in a Telegraph article marking Monday’s 120th anniversary of the Entente Cordiale alliance between the nations. They wrote: “We are both absolutely clear – Ukraine must win this war. If Ukraine loses, we all lose. The costs of failing to support Ukraine now will be far greater than the costs of repelling Putin. But, as discussed during the Paris Conference in February, we must do even more to ensure we defeat Russia. The world is watching – and will judge us if we fail.” They said “it is not for France and Britain alone to solve these challenges” and “we can rally others to join us in overcoming them”. Foreign Office sources said that, during his visit to the US, Lord Cameron will echo a message posted on social media last week in which he said: “Britain’s put forward its money for Ukraine this year. So’s the European Union. America needs to do it. That is blocked in Congress. “Speaker Johnson can make it happen in Congress. I’m going to go and see him next week and say we need that money, Ukraine needs that money. It is American security, it’s European security, it’s Britain’s security that is on the line in Ukraine, and they need our help.” - Daily Telegraph

On Sunday, Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian president, warned that his nation would lose unless Congress passed the military assistance package. Mr Zelensky said: “It is necessary to specifically tell Congress that if Congress does not help Ukraine, Ukraine will lose the war. If Ukraine loses the war, other states will be attacked.”

Norway does not rule out potentially sending troops to Ukraine. This was stated by the head of the Foreign Ministry of Norway, Aspen Barth Eide. "At the moment we are not planning to send troops. I don't think many countries have such plans. But on the other hand, in the very long term, I don't think we should rule anything out in principle," Eide said.

US House Speaker Mike Johnson is facing down yet another pivotal week of his speakership as he confronts both the threat of an ouster and mounting pressure to decide whether he will finally move ahead on aid to Ukraine, which he’s been pledging to pursue for months.Throughout the two-week Easter recess, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene has kept up her attacks against Johnson as she continues to warn the speaker against pursuing any Ukraine aid package. But Johnson has also been working behind the scenes in an effort to thread the needle and find a package that could pass. The issue for Johnson remains that any aid to Ukraine will need a large number of Democratic votes. Creating legislation that could attract enough Democratic support to get Ukraine across the finish line and included funding for Israel could be difficult, especially in the wake of an Israeli strike that killed World Central Kitchen aid workers last week. Following the strike, more Democrats have signaled they are open to attaching conditions to aid for Israel, a dynamic that could complicate future efforts to approve Israel aid through Congress. Johnson isn’t expected to move to pass Ukraine aid this week, instead focusing on passing a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but even that effort could be rife with party infighting and once again put the speaker at odds with members of his right flank. - CNN

The port of Baltimore will be reopened by the end of May, less than three months after the Francis Scott Key bridge collapse, Maryland's governor declared on Sunday. The bridge collapsed on 27 March, killing six construction workers who were repairing roads and shutting down all sea lane access to the Port of Baltimore, one of the largest freight seaports on the East Coast. The federal government has already authorised $60m in relief funding for the disaster response effort, with hundreds of millions more expected to be needed before the project is completed. - The Independent