Engineers repairing one of three damaged power lines linking Europe's largest nuclear power plant to Ukraine's electricity grid expect work to be completed by early next week, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant on March 4, damaging two high-voltage external power lines. A third lost connection last week but is expected to be reconnected Tuesday.

All safety systems at the plant remain fully functional, and there are no safety concerns, IAEA said.

In Kharkiv, a nuclear research facility previously damaged by shelling continues to have no external power supply. Personnel remain at the facility, which is used for research, development and radioisotope production for medical and industrial applications. 

Overall, eight of Ukraine's 15 reactors are operational, the agency said, and radiation levels are in the normal range.

President Joe Biden on Friday warned Chinese President Xi Jinping against aiding Russian President Vladimir Putin's assault on Ukraine.

In a video conference, Biden "described the implications and consequences if China provides material support to Russia," the White House said.

The two leaders also discussed Taiwan. Russia's invasion of Ukraine has stoked fears that China could use military force to annex that self-governing democratic nation.

"The President reiterated that U.S. policy on Taiwan has not changed, and emphasized that the United States continues to oppose any unilateral changes to the status quo," The White House said in a brief summary of the video call.

In a Friday morning video call, Chinese President Xi Jinping told President Joe Biden that China is committed to international norms regarding Ukraine, the Chinese foreign ministry said in a statement. 

It said the two leaders spoke about the situation in Ukraine, on which China has taken a neutral position. The U.S. has been concerned that China is considering supplying Russia with military equipment to bolster its invasion.

"China stands for peace and opposes war. This is embedded in China’s history and culture. China makes a conclusion independently based on the merits of each matter. China advocates upholding international law and universally recognized norms governing international relations. China adheres to the UN Charter and promotes the vision of common, comprehensive, cooperative and sustainable security," the ministry said. 

Xi told Biden the U.S. and NATO should have a dialogue with Russia about what precipitated Russia's invasion into Ukraine, the ministry said, and Xi also expressed concerns about sanctions. 

"Sweeping and indiscriminate sanctions would only make the people suffer," he said, in part, according to the ministry. If further escalated, they could trigger serious crises in global economy and trade, finance, energy, food, and industrial and supply chains, crippling the already languishing world economy and causing irrevocable losses."

Mykhailo Podolyak, a Ukrainian presidential adviser and negotiator in the peace talks with Russia, told experts on Friday to "take a break" from commenting on how to wage war against and negotiate with Russia, suggesting that doing so implies Ukraine's leaders are unclear about what actions to take.

"Please, stop the 'experts' blabbering about how to wage a war or negotiate properly while hiding in an unknown place," he tweeted. "We know what we’re doing & we‘ll correct all their mistakes."

"We have everything in order," Podolyak said in a video posted with the tweet. "We are absolutely defending our freedom."

"If we continue what we have been doing for many years, when we split our country, we can get a very insignificant result, and we only need a winning result," he added. 

Podolyak said the war has united Ukraine and shows the country's strength.

"Look, we all know, we understand very well what values are in Ukraine now, what a powerful country Ukraine is, and we will definitely not give up any interest, especially for our children who are sitting in basements under Russian fire and for our heroes who die in the battles," he said. "Please finish splitting our country apart."

While hundreds of well-known companies like McDonald's and Coca-Cola are shutting down or suspending their operations in Russia in the wake of its invasion of Ukraine, a Kansas-based oil, gas and manufacturing giant is sitting tight for now.

Koch Industries, whose subsidiary Guardian Industries operates two glass-manufacturing plants in Russia that employ 600 people, said closing up shop now would put its workers there “at greater risk and do more harm than good.”

“The horrific and abhorrent aggression against Ukraine is an affront to humanity,” Koch Industries President Dave Robertson said in a statement, adding that the company is “complying with all applicable sanctions, laws and regulations governing our relationships and transactions within all countries where we operate.”

But Koch Industries, which has contributed millions of dollars to the Republican Party and has a couple of other operations in Moscow that employs a dozen more people, is hardly the only well-known firm bucking the tide of iconic companies exiting Russia, according to a list compiled by Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, a senior professor at the Yale University School of Management. 

As of Friday, there were 26 other companies that Sonnenfeld has categorized as “digging in” and defying international calls to get out of Russia.

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