Ukraine and Russia once more accuse each other of firing on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
kyiv and Moscow once more exchanged charges on Saturday of firing on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, occupied by Russia and targeted several times for a week.
“Limit your presence in the streets of Enerhodar! We have received reports of new provocations from the occupiers” Russians, said on Telegram the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom, republishing the message of a local leader of Enerhodar – city in which the plant is located – who remained loyal to kyiv.
“According to the testimonies of the inhabitants, shelling is once more underway in the direction of the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia (…) The interval between the start and the arrival of the shots is 3 to 5 seconds”adds the message.
For their part, the occupying authorities installed by Russia in the invaded areas of the Zaporizhia region unsurprisingly accused the Ukrainian forces of being behind the firing.
“Enerhodar and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are once more under fire from militants [du président ukrainien Volodymyr] Zelensky »said on Telegram a member of the pro-Russian military and civil administration, Vladimir Rogov.
The projectiles fell “in areas located on the banks of the Dnieper and in the power plant”he said, without reporting any casualties or damage.
The Dnieper River (Dnipro, in Ukrainian) separates areas in Russian hands from those controlled by Ukrainian authorities.
Several bombings of which the two parties mutually accuse each other have targeted the Zaporizhia power plant since last week, raising fears of a nuclear disaster and provoking a meeting of the UN Security Council on Thursday.
The first strikes, on August 5, notably hit a high-voltage power line transformer, causing the automatic shutdown of reactor No. 3 of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant and the start-up of its emergency generators. The latest strikes on Thursday damaged a pumping station and sensors for measuring radioactivity.
The Ukrainian authorities, supported by their Western allies, are calling for the demilitarization of the area and the withdrawal of Russian troops who have occupied the site since March, Volodymyr Zelensky denouncing the “Russian nuclear blackmail”.
