Ukraine and Russia again accuse each other of firing on the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant
kyiv and Moscow again 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, the Ukrainian nuclear agency Energoatom said on Telegram, republishing the message of a local leader of Enerhodar – 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 Zaporizhia (…) The interval between the departure and the arrival of the shots is 3-5 seconds”adds the message.
At the end of the day, Ukrainian military intelligence claimed that “the occupants [russes] bombard the nuclear power plant (…) from the village of Vodiané, located in the immediate vicinity, on the right bank of the Dnieper”the river that separates the areas in Russian hands from those controlled by the Ukrainian authorities.
One of the strikes damaged a pumping unit and another “resulted in the partial destruction of the fire department responsible for the safety of the nuclear power plant”according to a military intelligence statement which also accuses the Russian forces of “preparing provocations under the Ukrainian flag”.
For their part, the occupation authorities installed by Russia in the areas it has conquered in the Zaporizhia region have unsurprisingly accused the Ukrainian forces of being behind these firings.
« Enerhodar and the nuclear power plant in Zaporizhia are again 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.
In his daily address, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky denounced a “Russian blackmail” around the nuclear site. “The occupiers are trying to intimidate people in an extremely cynical way by using the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” said the president who affirms that the Russian forces « hide” behind the plant to bomb the Ukrainian-controlled towns of Nikopol and Marganets.
“Every day spent by the Russian contingent on the territory of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant and neighboring regions increases the nuclear threat to Europe”he warned, calling for “new sanctions against Russia” in order to “block the Russian nuclear industry”. He added that officials of the ” blackmail “ should “to be tried before an international court”.
Several bombings, of which the two parties 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.