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Ukraine And Russia Trade Accusations Over Shelling Of Nuclear Plant [1]
["Rfe Rl'S Ukrainian Service"]
Date: 2022-08
Ukraine's state energy company says the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant has been shelled again, blaming Russian forces, while the Russia-backed local administration said Ukrainian forces were to blame.
Enerhoatom said in a statement on August 11 that the plant's area was struck five times, including near storage facilities for radioactive materials. The shelling was followed by five more strikes that hit in an area of a fire station not far from the plant, the company said.
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There were no injuries and the situation at the plant was under control. Enerhoatom added in its statement posted on Telegram that reports that workers fled the plant in panic were "fake and manipulative."
Earlier on August 11 the Russia-backed local administration said it was Ukrainian rocket fire that struck the plant.
"Zelenskiy's militants once again struck the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant and territory near the nuclear facility," said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed regional administration, referring to the Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy.
Neither side's claims could be independently verified.
The Zaporizhzhya plant, which was captured by Russian forces in the opening stages of the war, was hit by shelling last weekend, which also prompted the two sides to trade blame.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres again called for an immediate end to military activity near the plant.
"Regrettably, instead of de-escalation, over the past several days there have been reports of further deeply worrying incidents that could, if they continue, lead to disaster," Guterres said in a statement on August 11.
"Urgent agreement is needed at a technical level on a safe perimeter of demilitarization to ensure the safety of the area," Guterres said.
The statement comes ahead of a UN Security Council emergency meeting called for by Russia to address the crisis at the plant.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said Director-General Rafael Grossi would brief the Security Council meeting "about the nuclear safety and security situation" at the plant as well as his "efforts to agree and lead an IAEA expert mission to the site as soon as possible."
Heavy fighting was reported earlier on August 11 around the eastern Ukrainian town of Pisky, some 10 kilometers northwest of the city of Donetsk.
“It is hot in Pisky,” wrote Danil Bezsonov, a member of a Russia-backed separatist group that calls itself the Donetsk People's Republic, on Telegram early on August 11. “The town is ours, but there remain scattered pockets of resistance in its north and west.”
Ukrainian officials said their troops were still control the town. Presidential adviser Oleksiy Arestovych said in an interview that Russian forces had tried to move into Pisky “without success.”
Neither report could be independently verified.
After forcibly annexing Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014, Moscow fomented separatist movements in parts of eastern Ukraine’s Donetsk and Luhansk regions, collectively known as the Donbas.
The Kyiv-backed governor of the Luhansk region, Serhiy Hayday, said in an interview on August 10 that Russia had boosted its forces in the area, including by sending in a large number of mercenaries from the Vagner group, a private security company with close ties to the Kremlin.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk predicted on August 11 that more mandatory evacuations would be ordered for a number of areas affected by fighting.
Vereshchuk reported that, as of August 11, 3,908 people were evacuated from the Donetsk region, including 777 children.
She said mandatory evacuations had been carried out for the first time and it is likely they will take place in other regions.
"We see now the deterioration of the situation. And with the beginning of the autumn-winter heating period, it will definitely worsen" as it becomes more difficult to provide heating, she said during a briefing.
Zelenskiy said last month that hundreds of thousands of people were still living in areas of Donbas where fighting has been intense.
With reporting by Reuters and AP
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[1] Url:
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