The Russian army is increasingly focusing on the southern part of Ukraine, and enemy troops are also advancing in the south-east of the country. According to «The Guardian» Putin’s soldiers have already captured 70 percent of Zaporizhia Oblast.
On Tuesday, Petro Kotin, head of Ukraine’s nuclear power company Energoatom, reported that Russian missiles had been sighted at low altitudes over the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant — not only the largest nuclear power plant in Ukraine, but in Europe. An incident at the power plant could end fatally for everyone, says Kotin. “Eventually, missiles could hit one or more nuclear facilities, threatening a nuclear and radiation catastrophe around the world.”
However, the rockets over the nuclear power plant were not the only Russian attacks in the oblast on Tuesday: in Polohy, too, eight houses went up in flames after a Russian shell, a passenger car of a train was damaged in Molochansk, and a gas station burned in Vasylivka. In the region around the city of Orikhiv, there were also several fires after attacks. This was announced by the military administration of Zaporizhia Oblast on Tuesday on Telegram.
Russian army moves towards Zaporizhia
Only Zaporizhia itself, the capital of the oblast of the same name, has been largely spared from Russian attacks lately. The city was rarely hit compared to other eastern Ukrainian cities such as Kharkiv or cities in the Donbass. Until now. Here, too, hits by Russian rockets were reported on Tuesday, and an aluminum plant in the city is said to have been damaged. Will it fall now, the last fortress in Southeast Ukraine?
British intelligence reports that Ukrainian forces are strengthening their defenses in front of the city in preparation for a possible Russian attack. “The Guardian” also reports on trenches, sandbags and a large number of Ukrainian soldiers in front of the city, which awaits the arrival of the enemy.
According to the newspaper, grenades fall three to five kilometers from the city at regular intervals. However, the citizens are just as unconcerned as the soldiers. So far it is believed that a Russian offensive on the city could be stopped. Soldiers stationed outside the city, however, did not expect the fighting to reach them so quickly.
“The city is prepared, but there will be no attack,” said Ivan Ariefyev, spokesman for the Zaporizhia regional military administration, at a training course for residents on how to use weapons and learn the basics of first aid repeat. Despite the immediate vicinity of the Russian troops, Ariefyev does not want to hear anything about an evacuation. «Nobody is evacuated from the city itself. Only civilians from other towns are leaving the oblast,” he is quoted as saying by the newspaper.
Ukrainian soldiers don’t have enough equipment
Ukrainian soldiers who are not at the front paint a completely different picture. A look at the army’s equipment shows that Zaporizhia would not be able to withstand a Russian offensive for long. Ukrainian troops have only a fraction of the medical equipment they need. For 23 soldiers, they only have six hard hats and six tourniquets, the soldiers said. When asked if they thought the Russians would advance soon, they only said that they expected a fight.
The spokesman for the hospital in Zaporizhia also warns that Tuesday’s rocket attack had a “slightly minor” outcome. “Fortunately, most of the missiles were intercepted by anti-aircraft systems. If they had struck as intended, we would have seen many, many more wounded,” he is quoted as saying by The Guardian.
In order to be able to withstand the Russian troops in Zaporizhia, weapons “from our western comrades” are absolutely necessary, the soldiers on site urge. Because: “The Russians have much too old Soviet equipment.” With Western weapons, a successful defense of the city is certain. “In case you haven’t noticed, they hit Kharkiv and Kyiv, surrounded Sumy and Chernihiv – four huge regions – and we kicked them out. They were considered a powerful army, but we took them down.” (chs)