Status: 08/27/2022 3:02 p.m
Again there are reports of a shelling of the occupied Ukrainian nuclear power plant Zaporizhia. The operator sees safety at risk and warns that radioactivity could escape.
Russia and Ukraine have again accused each other of shelling the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant occupied by Moscow’s troops. According to the state-owned Ukrainian energy company Energoatom, the plant was fired on “several times”. As a result, the infrastructure of the largest nuclear power plant in Europe was damaged. According to the operator, there is a risk that radioactivity could escape from the nuclear power plant.
According to the operator, the nuclear power plant was running “with the risk of violating radioactivity and fire protection standards” around Saturday noon. Enerhoatom said: “The Ukrainian NPP personnel continue their work and make every effort to ensure nuclear and radiation safety.”
Russia and Ukraine report shelling
On the other hand, the Russian Ministry of Defense announced that the nuclear power plant had been shelled three times by artillery from the Ukrainian side within 24 hours. Four projectiles hit the roof of a facility that stores nuclear fuel from the US company Westinghouse, said ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov in Moscow. This could not be checked independently.
The spokesman also said that other projectiles fell near storage facilities with fuel rods and radioactive waste. However, the radiation situation is still within the normal range.
The governor of the Dnepropetrovsk region, Valentyn Resnichenko, said Russian troops have again fired rockets and artillery shells at Ukrainian-controlled areas near the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The shells fell in the towns of Nikopol and Marhanets, each about ten kilometers from the nuclear facility on the other bank of the Dnipro.
Nuclear power plant back on the grid
After the nuclear power plant was temporarily disconnected from the Ukrainian power grid after an emergency shutdown on Thursday, two blocks are now back on the grid and producing electricity, Enerhoatom said. At the same time, the operator complained that the Russian occupiers were putting pressure on the staff. Ukraine is calling on the world community to force Russia to hand over the nuclear power plant, the statement said, “in our country’s control for the safety of the whole world.”
According to both sides, the reason for the interim shutdown of two reactors was a damaged high-voltage line. Ukraine cited Russian artillery shelling as the cause. The occupiers spoke of a fire as the trigger for a short circuit. They did not say what caused the fire.
Zelenskyy: Situation “risky and dangerous”
Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned against another interruption in the power supply to the nuclear power plant: “The situation there is still very risky and dangerous,” Zelenskyy said in a video speech in the evening. Another shutdown of the reactors due to a lack of electricity would once again bring the nuclear power plant to the brink of a catastrophe.
He reiterated his demand for an early visit by international experts and for the withdrawal of Russian troops from the nuclear power plant site. “Any repetition (…) will again bring the power plant to the brink of disaster,” he said, referring to Thursday’s incident. .
With a total of six blocks, Zaporizhia is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. In March it was captured by Russian troops. Since then, Moscow and Kyiv have repeatedly accused each other of shelling the facility. Concerns about a nuclear catastrophe are growing internationally.
British Intelligence: Increased Russian Attacks
Meanwhile, Russian attacks on Ukraine continue unabated: in southern Ukraine, one person was killed in a Russian attack on Mykolayiv on the Black Sea, according to local administrative authorities. The governor of Donetsk in the east reported two dead in Russian shelling of the city of Bakhmut.
According to British information, the Russian army has recently intensified its attacks in eastern Ukraine. In the past five days, the intensity of Russian attacks near the city of Donetsk has increased again, the Ministry of Defense in London said, citing intelligence findings.
Shaded in white: advance of the Russian army. Shaded in green: Russian-backed separatist areas. Crimea: annexed by Russia.
Image: ISW/08/26/2022
With the attacks, the Russian troops probably wanted to tie up additional Ukrainian troops in the east in order to complicate an expected Ukrainian counter-offensive in the south of the country, it said. There was heavy fighting near the cities of Siwersk and Bakhmut north of Donetsk. Troops of the Moscow-loyal separatists have probably advanced further into the center of the village of Pisky near the destroyed Donetsk airport, it was said. Overall, however, the Russian units only gained a little ground.