UN rights body approves probe into alleged Russian violations in Ukraine
The Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council has voted in favour of a resolution condemning alleged rights violations during Russia’s offensive in Ukraine and setting up a commission of inquiry to investigate them.

“It is our common duty to ensure accountability by mandating the documentation and verification of Russia’s crimes and identification of those responsible,” Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva, Yevheniia Filipenko, told the Council minutes before the vote.

Russia has denied targeting civilians in Ukraine. Its own delegate, Evgeny Ustinov, told the Council that the resolution’s backers “will use any means to blame Russia for the events in Ukraine”.

Russia blames attack at nuclear power station on Ukrainian saboteurs
Russia’s defence ministry has blamed the attack at the Zaporizhzhia plant on Ukrainian saboteurs, calling it a “monstrous provocation”.

Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the facility was operating normally and claimed the area had been under Russian control since Monday.

“However, last night on the territory adjacent to the power plant, an attempt was made by the Kyiv nationalist regime to carry out a monstrous provocation,” Konashenkov said.

“On March 4 at about 2 am during a patrol of guarded territory adjacent to the … plant, a mobile patrol of the National Guard came under attack from a Ukrainian sabotage group,” he added.

“To provoke return fire on the building, heavy small arms fire was opened on Russian National Guard servicemen from the windows of several floors of a training complex located outside the power plant.”

Konashenkov said the Russian patrol returned fire to suppress the attack, and the “sabotage group” abandoned the training complex, setting fire to it as they left.

His account was diametrically opposed to the version of events put forward by Kyiv, which said Russian forces attacked the plant in the early hours of Friday, setting an adjacent five-storey training facility on fire.

Al Jazeera could not independently verify either the Russian or the Ukrainian account of the incident.

Italy’s Draghi condemns ‘atrocious’ Russian attack on nuclear plant
Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has condemned what he described as Russia’s “atrocious attack” on the Zaporizhzhia plant, saying it threatens “everyone’s security”.

“The European Union must continue to react united and with the utmost firmness, together with its allies, to support Ukraine and protect European citizens,” Mario Draghi’s office said in a statement.

Belarusian forces will not take part in the Ukraine war, Lukashenko says
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has said that his country’s troops are not currently taking part in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, adding they will not participate in the offensive in the future either.

A close ally of Moscow, Lukashenko said he spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin at length by telephone on Friday.

Russia has used Belarusian territory to carry out its multipronged invasion of Ukraine.

No radiation release at Ukraine plant, UN nuclear watchdog says
The head of the UN’s nuclear watchdog says there has been no release of radioactive material at the Zaporizhzhia plant following Russia’s alleged attack on the site.

Director-General Rafael Mariano Grossi said the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) had been in contact with the Ukrainian nuclear regulator and staff at the Zaporizhzhia plant.

Addressing reporters at the IAEA’s headquarters in Vienna, Grossi said two people on the site were injured in the blaze.

He added that the plant’s operators and the Ukrainian regulator have warned the situation at the site “continues to be extremely tense and challenging”.

Only one of the plant’s six reactors is operating, at about 60 percent of its potential, Grossi said.

Of the plant’s reactor units, Unit 1 is shut down for maintenance, Units 2 and 3 have undergone a controlled shut down, Unit 4 is operating at 60 percent power and Units 5 and 6 are being held “in reserve” in low power mode, according to the IAEA.