The International Atomic Energy Agency is calling on Russia and Ukraine to immediately halt fighting around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which Russia has occupied since March. On Thursday, Ukraine reported at least 10 shells exploded near the sprawling Zaporizhzhia nuclear complex — the latest in a series of attacks that have threatened to trigger a nuclear catastrophe. In Kyiv, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said Thursday Russia had taken the whole world hostage.

President Volodymyr Zelensky: “Russia has again hit the bottom in the world history of terrorism. No one else has used a nuclear power plant so obviously to threaten the whole world and to put forward some conditions.”

Earlier today, Russia’s ambassador to the United Nations said he does not support international calls for a demilitarized zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

Elsewhere in Ukraine, residents of Kharkiv continue to come under heavy shelling, with people reporting missiles struck a crowded neighborhood Thursday.

Olena Ostapets: “There are no military vehicles here. It’s the center of Kharkiv. People live here. It’s usually very quiet, with no military objects nearby. I have no idea why our yard was shelled.”