War against Ukraine: Massive attacks – Nuclear power plants back in emergency operation

Air alert, rocket fire and explosions: Ukraine reports massive attacks by the Russian army in many cities and regions. People were roused from their sleep. The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant had to be disconnected from the grid.

Rocket attacks, some massive, were reported from large parts of Ukraine during the night and in the morning. According to local authorities and the media, the attacks were again primarily aimed at facilities that serve the energy supply. There were power outages in several regions. The Ukrainian railway company also reported restrictions and delays due to power outages.

Russian rocket fire was reported from southern, northern and western Ukraine. The capital Kyiv was also affected. Air alert was sounded across the country.

Via the online news service Telegram, Kiev’s mayor Vitali Klitschko announced that the Holosiiv district in the south of the city had been hit by rockets in particular. Rescue workers are on duty. As a result of the attacks, around 15 percent of the city’s population was cut off from electricity.

Zaporizhia nuclear plant is running on emergency power

In southern Ukraine, the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant near the city of Enerhodar had to be shut down again. The plant, which is occupied by Russian troops, is now being supplied with electricity by means of diesel generators, according to the Ukrainian operator Enerhoatom. The fuel is enough for ten days. According to the company, this is the sixth time since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine that the nuclear power plant has had to go into emergency operation.

Reports of attacks in almost all parts of the country

The port city of Odessa, also located in the south of Ukraine, was also the target of the rocket attacks, as the governor of the region of the same name, Maxym Marchenko, announced. “The regional energy infrastructure and residential buildings” were damaged by the shelling. There were “fortunately none” fatalities. As the AFP news agency reported, citing rescue workers, at least two people were injured.

At least 15 attacks were reported in and around the city of Kharkiv in the north-east of the country. As a result, a facility needed for the power supply and a residential building were also damaged, according to Governor Oleh Synyehubov. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov told Telegram that there were electricity problems in some parts of the city.

Other attacks were reported from the city of Chernihiv in the north and from the Lviv region in the west of Ukraine, as well as from the cities of Dnipro, Lutsk and Rivne. Explosions were also reported in the media in the Ivano-Frankivsk and Ternopil regions.

Ukraine’s Energy Minister Herman Halushchenko condemned the “barbaric, massive attack” by Russia. According to the dpa news agency, rocket attacks of this magnitude were last seen in Ukraine in mid-February.

Battle for Bachmut of “particular strategic importance”

The heaviest fighting in the Russian war of aggression, which has now been going on for more than a year, is currently taking place around the town of Bakhmut. Reports from the front are difficult to verify. According to the latest information from the Wagner mercenary group, which acts for the Russian military, their own fighters are said to have taken over the entire eastern part of the city. This has not yet been confirmed by the Ukrainian side.

In an interview with US broadcaster CNN, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Bakhmut said it was of particular strategic importance. Should the Russian troops take the city, they could advance further, Zelenskyj warned – to Kramatorsk or Sloviansk. Deputy Defense Minister of Ukraine Hanna Maljar sees it as a success that the country’s own troops have been able to defend their position around Bakhmut for months.

However, in view of the increasingly critical situation for his own military, Selenskyj pushed for more international support, above all for more arms deliveries. He also pointed out again that his country must also receive fighter jets from the West and called this step “crucial to the war”.