War in Ukraine: Russians pound area around Zaporizhia nuclear power plant

by

The Russian military turned the facility into a camp, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kulpeba said

Russian artillery bombarded Ukrainian cities across the river from its nuclear plant Zaporizhia overnight, local officials said today, raising residents’ anxiety as reports of shelling around the station fueled fears of a nuclear disaster.

The Russian Defense Ministry said today that Ukrainian forces have bombed the area around the plant again in the past 24 hours, just a day after Moscow and Kyiv exchanged accusations of targeting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, sparking international concern.

The Ukrainian nuclear energy company Energoatom reported that it does not have any new information about attacks in the area of ​​the station.

The station complex, seized by Russian troops in March but still run by Ukrainian personnel, on the war’s southern front, is one of the biggest flashpoints in the war, now in its seventh month.

Regional governor Oleksandr Starukh told Telegram today that Russian forces hit residential buildings in the region’s main city of Zaporizhia, about a two-hour drive from the station, and the town of Orihiv further east.

Yesterday, Saturday, Starukh told Ukrainian TV that residents were instructed how to use iodine in the event of a radiation leak.

The Ukrainian military reported shelling nine other towns in the region across the Dnieper River from the station in its daily report, while the Russian Defense Ministry said its air force hit a Motor Sich unit in the region, according to the RIA news agency. where helicopters are repaired.

Reuters cannot confirm these reports.

Russian Defense Minister Igor Konashenkov said nine shells fired by Ukrainian artillery in two separate attacks landed in the area of ​​the nuclear plant.

“Currently, technical personnel are constantly monitoring the technical situation at the nuclear power plant and ensuring its operation. The radiation situation in the area of ​​the nuclear power plant remains normal,” it said in a statement.

The United Nations and Kyiv have called for the withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the station to ensure it is not a target.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said Russian forces had turned the station into a military base, putting the entire continent at risk, and that they had no business there.

“Russian military must leave the station,” he tweeted.

On Ukraine’s eastern front, Ukrainian forces halted a last-ditch Russian push into the city Slovianskthe Kiev military said in its daily report.

The area’s defenders thwarted Russian efforts to advance around the strategic city of Bakhmut in order to expand control of its perimeter Donbass after Moscow’s capture of Severodonetsk and Lisitsansk a few weeks ago, the military said. According to regional governors, the cities of Kramatorsk and Sloviansk in Donetsk province were shelled overnight by Russian forces, but there were no reports of new casualties.

Reuters cannot confirm these reports.

RES-EMP

You May Also Like

Recommended for you