On Saturday night, the Russian army shelled the Ukrainian city of Nikopol. It is likely that Russia fired the rockets from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, the site of which has been converted into a military base.
The cooling towers of the Zaporizhia NPP. From here, Russia is supposed to shell the other side of the river, which is in Ukrainian hands. (Image from 2019.)
It was already clear in the first days of the war that the Russian army was very reckless in dealing with the danger of a radiation catastrophe in Ukraine: On March 4, Russia captured the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant near the southern Ukrainian city of Enerhodar.
Dramatic scenes played out during the occupation: the Russians used artillery, and a fire broke out. An employee begged the attackers over the radio: “Stop shooting immediately, you are endangering the safety of the whole world!”
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. 11,000 people work in the power plant. Three of the six 950-megawatt reactors are said to remain in operation.
Four months later, the Russian carelessness hasn’t changed much. On the contrary, Petro Kotin, head of Energoatom, said on Friday that the Russian army is bringing additional artillery to the Zaporizhia NPP site. The state-owned company Energoatom operates all Ukrainian nuclear power plants. Even under Russian occupation, the Ukrainian garrison in Zaporizhia continued to work, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) recently announced.
kotin said according to the Ukrainian news agency Interfaxthat in addition to the heavy weapons there were up to 500 soldiers in the nuclear power plant and that Russia would shell the Ukrainian city of Nikopol from there. This is on the other bank of the Dnipro, only about five kilometers away from the nuclear power plant.
According to the governor of the Dnipropetrovsk province, 53 rockets were fired at Nikopol on Saturday night. The shelling was said to have been carried out with a multiple rocket launcher system. The head of the military administration of Nikopol, Yevhen Yevtushenko, shared on Telegram that two people were killed in the attack.
It is still unclear whether these rockets were fired from the nuclear power plant. But the assumption is close. Because in the last four months, Russia has converted the site into a military base and moved new multiple rocket launchers there. From here, the Russian army shells the front that runs directly along the nuclear power plant.
The nuclear power plant as a protective shield
The American “Wall Street Journal” also reported that Russia has reportedly moved trucks, tanks and artillery to the site. In addition, Russian soldiers had mined the area around the cooling reservoir and dug trenches. The newspaper was able to speak to workers at the power plant, their families and local officials.
If Ukraine wants to avoid possible damage to the nuclear facility and leakage of radioactivity, it cannot attack Russian artillery on the site. Former Ukrainian Defense Minister Andri Zahorodniuk told the Wall Street Journal that the Ukrainian army would find it difficult to recapture the nuclear power plant: “The only option would be to surround the site, occupy the surrounding areas and ask the Russians to withdraw.”
Russia’s tactic appears to be to use the nuclear power plant as a shield, cementing its control of the front line.
Unclear security situation
Since the beginning of the war, the IAEA has not been able to visit the Zaporizhia nuclear facility, despite repeated requests from Russia by Secretary General Mariano Grossi. The Russian Federation is a member of the Atomic Energy Agency, which reports to the UN. The situation at the nuclear power plant is currently extremely difficult due to the constant pressure on Ukrainian employees, the IAEA said.
Since the Russian occupation, data transmission between the nuclear power plant and the IAEA has broken off twice. Normally, the organization receives images from surveillance cameras and security data from the nuclear power plant. On July 4, the Atomic Energy Agency reported that it was again receiving data from Zaporizhia. Before that, the organization groped in the dark for a week.
It is at least clear that Russia does not want to give up control of the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant. Mid-June informed Energoatomthat from September 1 the nuclear power plant will be operated by the Russian Agency for Atomic Energy, Rosatom.