The fear of a nuclear disaster in Ukraine is growing while the Zaporijia power plant, the largest in Europe, has again become, since Friday August 5, the scene of daily clashes. Moscow and kyiv mutually reject responsibility for the shootings which did not cause a radioactive leak on Tuesday. Images released by Russian media show undetermined projectile impacts on the territory of the nuclear power plant, and the rear part of a large-caliber (notoriously inaccurate) rocket planted in the ground.
The Russian Defense Ministry says Ukrainian artillery fired at the nuclear power plant on Saturday August 6 at 12:40 p.m. from the right bank of the Dnieper. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Monday denounced actions “with catastrophic consequences for vast territories, for all of Europe”. Further heightening the climate of concern over nuclear power, Moscow immediately informed Washington of the shutdown ” temporary “ visits to all Russian military sites subject to US inspections under the New Start nuclear disarmament treaty.
On the Ukrainian side, the state operator of the nuclear sector, Energoatom, claims on the contrary that Russian artillery targeted a high voltage line connecting the plant to the Ukrainian electricity grid. President Zelensky has returned the ball to the Russian court. “There is not a single nation in the world that can feel safe when a terrorist state [la Russie] bombs a nuclear power planthe reacted in his daily video on Sunday.
Its American ally also points the finger at Moscow: “We continue to call on Russia to cease all military operations in and around Ukrainian nuclear power plants and to return control of them to Ukraine”urged the White House on Monday. “Any attack on nuclear power plants is a suicidal thing”warned for his part the Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres.
“Sanctuary” arms depots
The Ukrainian general staff regularly reports the bombardment of localities located on the banks of the Dnieper (Nikopol and Marganiets) by Russian artillery based in the nuclear power plant. The Russian-speaking survey site The Insider (close to the Russian opposition) published images on Tuesday of a major deployment of Russian equipment on the territory of the plant. We see trucks unloading military equipment.
These images seem to confirm the assertions of the mayor of Enerhodar (municipality where the plant is located), who explained to the World in June that the Russian forces were storing ammunition there. This is for the occupants of “to sanctuary” arms depots otherwise vulnerable to increasingly precise Ukrainian artillery strikes as Western weapons pour in. Five hundred Russian soldiers are currently based on the territory of the nuclear power plant, as well as several dozen armored vehicles and anti-aircraft defense systems.
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