Russia and Ukraine accused each other this Sunday of bombing the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe, located in an area controlled by the Russian Army in southern Ukraine. The director of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossiwarned that the situation is “extremely worrying” and considered that the attacks on the plant were “absolutely deliberate and selective”, in an interview with the French channel BFMTV.
During the last months, Moscow and kyiv repeatedly accused each other of bombing this plant located near the front line. The Russian Ministry of Defense denounced that “the kyiv regime does not stop its provocations for the sake of creating the threat of a catastrophe at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant”.
large caliber shots
According to a Kremlin statement, The Ukrainian Army fired between Saturday and Sunday more than twenty “large-caliber howitzers” against the center These shells exploded between energy blocks number 4 and 5 and were aimed at a “special building”, in which there is a nuclear fuel deposit, the same source indicated.
“Reinforcement structures are already being built. There is a concrete wall that has been hit by shrapnel. Luckily the structures were high enough. Otherwise, the fragments could have entered the warehouse itself,” explained Renat Karchaa, spokesman for the Russian nuclear agency Rosenergoatom.
At the moment the level of radiation continues within normal parameters. “Thank God so far there have been no radiation emissions”Karchaa said in this regard.
“Nuclear Blackmail”
For its part, the Ukrainian nuclear agency accused Russia of having bombed the area of the plant. “This morning of November 20, 2022, after numerous Russian bombardments, at least twelve shots were detected in the area of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant,” he said. the state-owned Energoatomthat accused Russia of “once again organizing nuclear blackmail”.
“The nature and the list of the damaged facilities at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant indicate that the attackers disabled exactly the infrastructures necessary for the restoration of the plant’s production to meet Ukraine’s needs,” they pointed out from Energoatom. Also, Ukraine reported that more than 160 Russian servicemen were injured as a result of shooting at a “gathering” of Russian forces in the Zaporizhia region.
Ten units of military material of different types and an ammunition depot were destroyed in the operation. The death toll remains to be confirmed, the Ukrainian General Staff said in a statement posted on Facebook. In addition, Ukraine reported the downing of an Orlan-10 drone and an attack on a command post and a fuel depot.
IAEA: “They are playing with fire”
IAEA experts present at the nuclear power plant reported on more than a dozen explosions in a row on Sunday morning and they were even able to observe some from the window of their place of residence. Some buildings, systems and equipment suffered damage, but these are not critical for nuclear safety at the moment, says the United Nations agency.
IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi noted that the situation in Zaporizhia continues to be very worrying, without attributing responsibility to any side. “There have been explosions on the grounds of this large nuclear power plant, which is completely unacceptable. Whoever did it must stop immediately. As I have said many times, they are playing with fire.“, raised Grossi.
The head of the international organization reiterated his call to Moscow and kyiv to agree as soon as possible on a nuclear safety zone around the plant, an agreement that he has been seeking for months through intense consultations with both sides, so far without success. The Zaporizhia plant is currently under the control of Russian troops, but its surroundings have suffered attacks since the start of the military conflict with Ukraine on February 24.
More than 70 neighborhoods without electricity
As a result of the attacks, in the Zaporizhia region there are still a total of 71 neighborhoods without electricity, 206 without gas supply and 33 without centralized water supply according to the regional military administration. The message on Telegram collected by the Ukrinform agency adds that in the Orijiv district new damage was reported to the electrical networks, which left another 455 subscribers without service and in the city of Zaporizhia there were 207 cuts.
Due to the “actions of the local occupation authorities”, the regional energy company Zaporiyiaoblenergo “does not have access to electricity networks and up-to-date information on their status” at branches in Vasylivskyi, Mykhailivskyi, Berdiansk, Prymorskyi, Melitopol districts , Yakymivskyi, Kamiansko-Dniprovskyi and Tokmakskyi, stressed the military administration.
Source: Pagina12
