Zaporizhia power plant damaged again. “Powerful explosions” occurred in the Ukrainian power plant sector, Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) announced on Sunday. In the aftermath, Russia and Ukraine mutually accused each other of having bombed the site.
“The information is extremely disturbing. Explosions have occurred at the site of this large nuclear power plant, which is totally unacceptable,” said Rafael Grossi in a statement, expressing alarm at the situation of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe, which is militarily occupied by Russia.
Difficult to know, this Sunday afternoon, who is solely responsible for the attacks. For Moscow, the only culprit remains the “kyiv regime”. He “does not stop provocations in order to create the threat of a disaster at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant”, judges the Russian army in a press release. On Saturday and Sunday, Ukrainian forces fired more than 20 “large caliber shells” at the plant, she said.
A “compliant” radiation level
These shells would have exploded between energy blocks number 4 and 5 and targeted the roof of a “special building” located near these blocks. Despite these bombardments, “the level of radiation in the area of the plant remains within the norm”, underlines the press release.
For its part, kyiv firmly accuses Moscow. “This morning of November 20, 2022, following heavy Russian bombing, at least 12 strikes were recorded at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant site,” Energoatom said, accusing the Russians of “once again organizing a nuclear blackmail and put the whole world in danger”.
These mutual accusations are not new. For several months, Russia and Ukraine have respectively accused each other of bombing the area, under Russian control but located not far from the front line.