During the weekend, attacks were carried out in the area of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, which damaged parts of the nuclear power plant. Ukraine and Russia blame each other for the attacks.
15:57•Updated 16:05
On Sunday, Russia fired rockets at the storage field of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, where spent nuclear fuel is stored.
This was reported by the Ukrainian state nuclear power company Energoatom. According to the company, none of the 174 containers containing radioactive nuclear waste have been damaged and no radioactive leakage has been detected.
However, according to Energoatom, three radiation sensors were damaged in the impact. This means that the detection of radiation and nuclear leaks may be delayed, says Energoatom.
In addition, one employee of the nuclear power plant was injured in the attack.
As a result of Friday’s attack on Zaporizhia, a high-voltage line was damaged and one of the nuclear power plant’s reactors shut down. In addition, the auxiliary building and the station, which contains oxygen and nitrogen, were damaged in the attack. Energoatom assesses the risk of fire in the area as high.
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi on Sunday demanded additional sanctions on Russia due to nuclear terrorism.
Ukraine and Russia blame each other for nuclear strikes
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located in southeastern Ukraine on the banks of the Dnieper River, south of Dnipropetrovsk.
Russian troops occupied the southern parts of the Zaporizhzhia region right at the beginning of the Ukrainian war in March.
The media has obtained video footage showing the movements of Russian military vehicles in the area of the nuclear power plant and the unloading of the cargo.
Dnipropetrovsk regional governor Valenty Reznichenko by (you switch to another service)the Russians fired at least 60 rockets at Nikopol on the west bank of the Dnieper on Thursday, i.e. the day before the first nuclear strike.
Ukraine recently launched a counterattack in the south, but military experts say Ukrainian forces cannot respond with fire because the risk of damaging the nuclear power plant is high.
On Saturday, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said it was very concerned about the situation at the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. The IAEA appealed to the parties, saying that strikes on the site of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant increase the risk of a nuclear disaster.