(Bloomberg) -- US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Russia’s decision to seize Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant was a “flagrant breach” of its past commitments to safety.

Blinken called on Russia to withdraw from the plant and “remove its troops from Ukraine’s internationally respected borders.”

The comments come as voting begins in four Moscow-occupied territories, including Zaporizhzhia, on whether to join Russia. The ballots have been condemned by the United Nations as a violation of international law.

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