Limitate your presence on the streets of Energodar! We have received reports of new provocations from the occupiers” Russians, the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom said on Telegram, republishing the message of a local leader of Energodar – the city in which the plant is located – who remained loyal to kyiv.
“According to the testimonies of the inhabitants, shelling is again in progress in the direction of the nuclear power plant of Zaporijjia (…) The interval between the departure and the arrival of the shots is 3-5 seconds”adds the message.
For their part, the occupying authorities installed by Russia in the areas it occupies in the Zaporizhia region unsurprisingly accused the Ukrainian forces of being behind the firing.
“Energodar and the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant are again under fire from militants (of Ukrainian President 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 accuse each other have targeted the Zaporijjia 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”.