Overnight Defense & National Security: Attack on Ukraine nuclear plant rattles Washington

It’s Friday! Welcome to Overnight Defense & National Security, your nightly guide to the latest developments at the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and beyond. Subscribe here: digital-stage.thehill.com/newsletter-signup. 

An attack on Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine rattled Washington on Friday as Russia’s invasion of its neighboring country intensifies.

We’ll break down what happened, plus Senate Republicans threatening to hold up a government-funding measure over vaccine mandates for military personnel, medical workers and federal employees.  

For The Hill, I’m Jordan Williams. Write to me with tips at jwilliams@digital-stage.thehill.com.  

Let’s get to it! 

Attack on Ukraine nuclear plant shakes US

Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the largest such plant in Europe, was attacked early Friday morning, sparking new concerns about Russia’s already worsening invasion.

The plant, located in the city of Enerhoder, was shelled by Russian troops, and a fire broke out. The Kremlin later claimed that it took control of the site.  

‘Reckless and dangerous:’ U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield condemned the attack on the power plant as “reckless and dangerous,” and called for Russian President Vladimir Putin to withdraw troops from the plant and cease his military attack on Ukraine.  

“Russia’s attack last night put Europe’s largest nuclear power plant at grave risk. It was incredibly reckless and dangerous. And it threatened the safety of civilians across Russia, Ukraine and Europe,” Thomas-Greenfield said during an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Friday. “Nuclear facilities cannot become part of this conflict.”    

No radiation released: Rafael Grossi, head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, said the attack did not result in any radiation being released into the air. 

The attack did not hit a nuclear reactor, but a training center in the facility, which accounts for about a quarter of the power generated in Ukraine.  

Russia’s intentions: A senior U.S. official told reporters on Friday that the U.S. was “deeply concerned” about Russia’s near term “intentions” after the attack on the Zaporizhzhia plant.

“We are in no position to refute claims that they are in control of the nuclear power plant. But we don’t know exactly right now what that control means and what it looks like,” the official told reporters. 

“That’s one of the things that deeply concerns us … we don’t know what expertise they have, what they’ve applied to this, what their intentions are in the near term.” 

Harris headed to Poland, Romania  

Vice President Harris will travel to Romania and Poland next week as Ukraine faces a massive invasion by Russia, sources tell The Hill’s Amie Parnes. 

Harris will leave for the region on Wednesday, the sources say, and will return two days later. 

The Hill reported on Thursday that the White House was actively discussing sending Harris to the area to visit troops stationed in Romania and to the border, where a refugee crisis has seen more than 1 million people flee the country since the Russian invasion. 

The vice president’s office declined to comment on Harris’s travel plans. But a White House official told The Hill that Harris has been “deeply involved in the administration’s engagement with allies and partners.” 

Harris, who recently returned from the Munich Security Conference, spoke this week to the prime ministers of Poland and Romania as well as other leaders from European allies to discuss the response to Russia’s invasion. An official said those talks were meant “to underscore the strength and unity of our alliance.”

“You can expect the vice president will continue to engage with allies and partners on these issues,” the official said. 

Read the story here.

 

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Republicans threaten to block funding bill over vaccine mandate  

A group of 10 Senate conservatives led by Republican Steering Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) are threatening to hold up a government-funding measure and possibly trigger a federal shutdown unless they can vote on an amendment to defund President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. 

Lee and nine other Senate Republicans circulated a “Dear Colleague” letter Friday afternoon threatening to object to procedural requests to speed up passage of a funding bill before the Mar. 11 deadline unless leaders allow them to vote on an amendment to defund the Biden administration’s vaccine mandates for medical workers, military personnel, federal employees and federal contractors.   

The demands: “We are writing to let you know that we will once again not consent to a time agreement that eases passage of a CR or Omnibus that funds these mandates,” the GOP lawmakers wrote in the letter. “At the very least, we will require a roll call vote on an amendment that defunds the enforcement of these vaccine mandates for the spending period covered by the government funding measure.”

The senators led by Lee noted that while the Biden administration recently rescinded an Occupational Safety and Health Administration COVID-19 vaccine mandate for large employers following an adverse decision by the Supreme Court, the mandates for medical workers, military personnel and federal employees and contractors remain in place. 

“These COVID-19 vaccine mandates amount to a serious abuse of both federal power and executive authority. They also further strain the economic and social pressures our society currently faces, while completely ignoring existing evidence-based data on natural immunity from previous COVID19 infection,” the senators wrote.   

OTHER REPUBLICANS WEIGH IN

Also on Friday afternoon, a group of nearly 40 House Republicans sent a letter to Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) announcing they will oppose “any federal government funding measure that funds the enforcement of COVID-19 vaccine mandates.” 

“So far, Congress has not leveraged the full ‘power of the purse’ to end the COVID-19 vaccine mandates that continue to harm tens of thousands of Americans – most notably our medical workers, military personnel, and federal workers such as Border Patrol,” the lawmakers wrote.  

They added that it is troubling to force troops to get COVID-19 vaccination shots at a time of potential military conflict in Eastern Europe.   

“It is particularly troubling for the President to ask thousands of those troops to amass in Eastern Europe while simultaneously finger-wagging at them to get a politicized vaccine or be fired,” they wrote.   

Read the full story here.

ON TAP FOR MONDAY

• The Stimson Center will host a discussion on “U.S.-Japan Alliance Cooperation in the Post-Pandemic World” at 8 a.m. 
• Michèle Flournoy, former Undersecretary of Defense for Policy, will discuss her recent trip to Taiwan with the Center for Strategic and International Studies at 10 a.m.  
• The Center for Strategic and International Studies will host “Global Security Forum: Foreign Policy in an Era of Domestic Division” at 2 p.m. 
• The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will receive a full update on the Russian Invasion of Ukraine at 6 p.m. 

WHAT WE’RE READING

• The Hill Opinion: What the UN General Assembly vote in Ukraine tells us 
• The Hill Opinion: More sanctions are needed to bring Putin to the negotiating table

Well … that’s it for today! Check out The Hill’s defense and national security pages for the latest coverage. See you Monday.

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