Ukraine and Russia on Friday accused each other of strikes near a reactor at Ukraine’s Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, the day three new shipments of grain, crucial for global food security, were departed from Ukrainian ports.
As of Tuesday, the International Atomic Energy Agency was concerned about the growing tensions around the Zaporijjia power plant, under Russian control since March. The situation became more and more dangerous day by day she thought. This Friday, these fears materialized: bombings took place near the largest nuclear power plant in Europe.
It was first the Ukrainian state company Energoatom which mentioned ” three strikes “. A high voltage line was damaged, one of the reactors was shut down. And the risk of fire is raised » judges society. In the evening, the Ukrainian president accused Russia of having struck ” twice ” the power plant. ” A shameless crime, an act of terror said Volodymir Zelensky.
In a statement, the Russian Ministry of Defense assured him that the shots were Ukrainian. He claims that 20 shells were fired from Ukrainian positions. ” It’s pure luck “that the shots did not hit the oil and fuel tanks and the oxygen production station, estimates Moscow. “ This helped to avoid a possible radiation accident “, Estimates the Ministry of Defense. Earlier in the day, Russia called on the IAEA director to go there to see ” who defended the reactor ” and “ who attacked him “.
Convoys in the Black Sea
At the same time, five days after the departure from Odessa of a first cargo ship – expected in Lebanon on Sunday – transporting Ukrainian cereals since the outbreak of the Russian offensive, three other shipments, also of corn, left Ukraine in convoy, announced the Turkish Ministry of Defense. A series of regular rotations should follow to supply agricultural markets.
The three ships will serve Ireland, England and Turkey, the Turkish ministry said. Simultaneously, he pointed out, a building is on its way, also to load grain, towards the port of Chernomorsk (southern Ukraine), which it must reach on Saturday, said the Ukrainian Minister of Infrastructure, Oleksandr Kubrakov.
Russia and Ukraine have signed two separate agreements, validated by Turkey and the United Nations, which allow the export of Ukrainian cereals immobilized by the conflict and Russian agricultural products despite Western sanctions. They are expected to help ease the global food crisis, which has seen prices soar in some of the poorest countries due to the blocking of Ukrainian ports.