Oekraïne op hol terwyl skulpvuur om Zaporizhzhia kernkragaanleg weerklink

Officials from the United Nations Nuclear Watchdog were still waiting to be allowed to visit the site on the southern frontline of the war, despite the risk.

Oleksandr Starukh (the governor of Zaporizhzhia), stood beside a crater in a school that was largely reduced to rubble. He said that Ukrainian television viewers were being taught how to apply iodine to prevent radiation from leaking.

He spoke in Zaporizhzhia two hours from the plant. It is located along the Kakhovka reservoir, on the Dnipro River.

The plant was seized by Russian forces in March, shortly after the invasion of Ukraine. However, its operations are being continued by Ukrainian personnel. Both countries have been blaming each other for the shelling that occurred near the plant in recent weeks.

Energoatom, Ukraine's nuclear state company, said that Russian troops had shelled the site again in the past 24 hours. Telegram posted Energoatom's statement that "the damage is currently being assessed".

On Saturday, the Russian defense ministry accused Ukrainian forces for shelling the plant complex three more times in 24 hours. According to the statement, 17 shells were fired and four of them hit the roof of the building housing U.S. Westinghouse nuke fuel.

advertensie

The report stated that 10 shells were reported to have exploded close to a dry storage area for spent nuclear fuel, and three at a building housing fresh nuclear fuel storage. The radiation situation at the plant was normal, it said.

Reuters was unable to verify the reports of either side.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, said on Friday (26 August) that the situation at Zaporizhia was still "very risky" following the reconnection of two reactors to the grid after the shelling caused the nuclear plant to go offline for the first time.

Rafael Grossi (head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, IAEA) said that on Thursday (25 August), the UN agency was very close to being able send officials to inspect and verify the plant.

Energoatom stated that its workers at the plant were under "increased pressure" in the lead up to the visit. They wanted "to hush their testimony about the crimes committed at the station by the occupiers and using it as an army base."

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for the withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the plant this month to ensure that it is not a target.

The Zaporizhzhia-plant is on the opposite shore, and the towns of Nikopol, Marhanets, were struck by shells Saturday (27 August) afternoon and evening, Nikopol Mayor Yevhen Yevtushenko stated on telegram.

Further south, Russian forces tried to resist a Ukrainian counteroffensive centered around Kherson. This was the first large city to be captured since the invasion began six months ago.

The Ukrainian strategy has been to destroy four bridges that Russian forces must maintain in order to supply Kherson at the southern end.

Russian-appointed Kherson region head Vladimir Leontyev said that Ukrainian forces had shelled the Kakhovsky Bridge over a hydropower dam.

The Ukrainian southern command claimed that it had launched successful artillery, missile and rocket attacks in the area on Sunday. It said 35 Russians were killed and that it destroyed a howitzer and a self-propelled gun.

It stated that two ammunition depots were also destroyed and one field supply point was destroyed.

The Ukrainian defense forces continued to resist Russian attempts to penetrate the eastern front of Ukraine to take control over the Donbass region.

Russian forces have now shifted their attention to Bakhmut, having taken Lysychansk and Sievierodonetsk. According to a Ukrainian military report, the town, home to around 80,000 people, was again shelled on Saturday.

According to the report, Ukraine stopped advances in two other major cities, Sloviansk or Kramatorsk.

According to the Ukrainian military, its forces in Avdiivka, a coal-producing city, had been able to resist an attack by Russia despite air and artillery strikes.

In a daily briefing, the Russian defense ministry stated that it had destroyed a large ammunition storage facility in Ukraine's Dnipropetrovsk area. It contained U.S.-made HIMARS rocket system systems and shells for M777 Howitzers.

According to the ministry, a MiG-29 plane was shot down by the Russian Air Force in the Donetsk area of Donbas. Six missile and artillery weapon depots were also destroyed in the Donetsk and Mykolaiv regions.

Vladimir Putin declared that Russia's neighbor was invaded by him on February 24, declaring that a "special operation” was necessary to demilitarize the country and eliminate security threats.

This was dismissed by the West and Ukraine as an absurd pretext for an imperialist war to conquest.

Deel hierdie artikel: