KYIV, Ukraine (AP) – Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas along the Dnieper River from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday.
Shortly after the start of the war, Russian troops took control of the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and held the adjacent territory on the left bank of the wide river. Ukraine controls the right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marganets, located about 10 kilometers from the plant.
Valentin Reznichenko, governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region, said that intense nighttime shootings left parts of Nikopol without electricity. About a dozen residences in Marganets were destroyed by rocket attacks, said the head of the regional administration, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, which is home to about 45,000 people.
Russia and Ukraine accuse each other of attacking Europe’s largest nuclear power plant https://t.co/uWX3SU7gtp
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 7, 2022
City council member Anatoly Kurtev said that the city of Zaporozhye, about 40 kilometers up the river from the power plant, was also bombed overnight, injuring two people.
The governor of the Donetsk region, Pavlo Kirilenko, said that the large and strategic cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, where Russian and separatist forces tried to take control, were burned without loss of life in eastern Ukraine.
Most of the Donetsk region is controlled by Russian and separatist forces. It is one of two regions of Ukraine recognized by Russia as sovereign states.
Russia asks Ukraine to “stop bombardment” of nuclear power plant, allows international inspectors https://t.co/119NvUbAJ2
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) 14 August 2022
Authorities began distributing iodine tablets last week to residents near the Zaporozhye plant in case of exposure to radiation that could cause health problems.
Most concerns center on the power plant’s nuclear reactor cooling system. The systems need power to operate, and the facility was temporarily closed on Thursday as officials said a power line was damaged by the fire. Failure of the cooling system can lead to a nuclear meltdown.
Russian troops occupied the nuclear power plant complex at the start of the 6-month war, but local Ukrainian workers held it. The Ukrainian and Russian governments have repeatedly accused each other of bombing the complex and neighboring areas, raising fears of a possible disaster.
Ukrainian nuclear power company Energoatom said on Saturday that the plant’s infrastructure has been damaged by periodic explosions. “There are risks of hydrogen leakage and radioactive explosion, there is a high fire hazard,” the report said.
The UN Atomic Energy Agency is trying to reach a deal to send a team to inspect the facility and secure it. Officials say preparations for the visit are underway, but it remains unclear when it might take place.
Boris Johnson says ‘absolutely vital’ taxpayers continue to fund war in Ukraine during surprise visit to Kiev https://t.co/lB0p7Gl48b
— Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 24, 2022
Source: Breitbart
