Kremlin: No Heavy Weapons at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

Members of the Ukrainian National guard demining team Battalion Dnipro 1 navigate in mine fields, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, December 12, 2022. (Reuters)
Members of the Ukrainian National guard demining team Battalion Dnipro 1 navigate in mine fields, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, December 12, 2022. (Reuters)
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Kremlin: No Heavy Weapons at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant

Members of the Ukrainian National guard demining team Battalion Dnipro 1 navigate in mine fields, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, December 12, 2022. (Reuters)
Members of the Ukrainian National guard demining team Battalion Dnipro 1 navigate in mine fields, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, in the northern part of the Donetsk region of Ukraine, December 12, 2022. (Reuters)

The Kremlin said on Tuesday that Russia had not placed heavy weapons at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine.

Kyiv has repeatedly accused Russian forces of using the nuclear facility, which Russia seized in the first days of the conflict, as a de facto weapons depot. Both sides have accused each other of shelling the plant, Europe's largest nuclear power station.

In a conference call with reporters on Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov also said Russia remains in contact with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which is trying to broker the creation of a demilitarized zone around the power station.

The Kremlin also said Ukraine must take into account the "realities" that have developed in the Ukraine conflict for there to be peace between the two sides.

Peskov dismissed a reported three-step proposal from Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy to bring about peace, adding that progress was not possible "without taking realities into account".

He was responding to a request by Zelenskiy to leaders from Group of Seven powers on Monday for more military equipment, support for financial and energy stability, and backing for a peace solution that would start with Russia withdrawing troops from Ukraine.

Russia has repeatedly said it is willing to hold peace talks but that it does not see Ukraine and the West, which is supplying Kyiv with weapons, as ready to do so. Ukraine says Russia must halt its attacks and withdraw from all territory it has occupied.



Chinese Navy Helicopter Flies within 10 Feet of Philippine Patrol Plane Over Disputed Shoal 

A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
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Chinese Navy Helicopter Flies within 10 Feet of Philippine Patrol Plane Over Disputed Shoal 

A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)
A Chinese military helicopter flies close to a Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic (BFAR) aircraft above Scarborough shoal on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025. (AP)

A Chinese navy helicopter flew within 10 feet (3 meters) of a Philippine patrol plane on Tuesday in a disputed area of the South China Sea, as the Filipino pilot warned by radio: “You are flying too close, you are very dangerous.”

The helicopter was attempting to force a Cessna Caravan turbo-prop plane belonging to the Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources out of what China claims is its airspace over the hotly disputed Scarborough Shoal off the northwestern Philippines.

An Associated Press journalist and other invited foreign media representatives on the plane witnessed the tense 30-minute standoff as the Philippine plane pressed on with its low-altitude patrol around Scarborough with the Chinese navy helicopter hovering close above it or flying to its left in cloudy weather.

“You are flying too close, you are very dangerous and endangering the lives of our crew and passengers,” the Philippine pilot told the Chinese navy helicopter by radio at one point. “Keep away and distance your aircraft from us, you are violating the safety standard set by FAA and ICAO.”

The pilot was referring to the standard distance between aircraft required by the US Federal Aviation Administration and the International Civil Aviation Organization to prevent air disasters.

The Philippine Coast Guard and the Bureau of Fisheries said in a statement that they remain “committed to asserting our sovereignty, sovereign rights and maritime jurisdiction in the West Philippine Sea, despite the aggressive and escalatory actions of China.”

They referred to the Philippine name for the stretch of waters in the South China Sea closer to the Philippines’ western coast.

Chinese officials did not immediately comment on the incident, but in past encounters they have steadfastly asserted China's sovereign rights over the Scarborough and surrounding waters and warned that its forces would protect the country's territorial interests at all costs.

Tuesday's encounter, which is expected to be protested by the Philippine government, is the latest flashpoint in a decades-long territorial standoff in one of the world’s busiest trade routes, which involves China, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.

Confrontations on the high seas have spiked between Chinese and Philippine coast guards in the last two years at Scarborough, a traditional fishing area, and the Second Thomas Shoal, where a grounded Philippine navy ship has served as a territorial outpost since 1999 but has since been closely watched by Chinese coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships.

China deployed its coast guard, navy and suspected militia ships around Scarborough after a tense standoff with Philippine ships in 2012.

The following year, the Philippines brought its disputes with China to international arbitration. A 2016 decision by a United Nations-backed arbitration panel invalidated China’s expansive claim in the South China Sea based on the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

China, a signatory to the UNCLOS like the Philippines, refused to participate in the arbitration, rejected its outcome and continues to defy it.