Ukrainian authorities on Thursday accused Russia of carrying out artillery strikes on Energodar, the city where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located, on the day when a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due there. to return.
Ukrainian authorities on Thursday accused Russia of carrying out artillery strikes on Energodar, the city where the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant is located, on the day when a mission from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is due there. to return. “The Russians are carrying out artillery strikes on the route by which the IAEA mission must go to the Zaporijzhya power plant” occupied by the Russians, accused on Telegram the mayor of this city in exile Dmytro Orlov affirming that the delegation could not “continue on its way” to the plant “for security reasons”.
An IAEA mission is to go Thursday to this power station, the largest in Europe, which is under Russian occupation and whose site has been bombed several times raising fears of a nuclear disaster. “We demand from Russia to stop its provocations and to give the IAEA access to this Ukrainian nuclear facility,” Orlov continued.
The emergency system has been activated and unit number 5 shut down
From early morning, the Russians “fire on Energodar using mortars, automatic weapons and bombard with rockets”, he accused earlier in the morning in a separate message on Telegram publishing photos damaged buildings and plumes of black smoke. The Ukrainians had already accused the Russians, who control Energodar and the power plant, the day before of having bombed the city with the intention of placing the responsibility on the Ukrainian forces.
At 01:57 GMT, following “a mortar bombardment on the site of the Zaporijjia power plant, the emergency system was activated and unit number 5, stopped”, even indicated Energoatom in a statement on Telegram.