KYIV —
Ukraine and Russia traded fresh accusations of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia
nuclear power plant on Saturday, as its operator warned of a radioactive leak
risk at the atomic facility.
اضافة اعلان
The Zaporizhzhia
plant in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since early
March.
Kyiv and Moscow
have repeatedly accused each other of rocket attacks in the vicinity of the
plant — Europe’s largest — located in the city of Energodar.
On Saturday its
Ukraine operator Energoatom said Russian troops “repeatedly shelled” it over
the past day.
Russia’s defense ministry issued a counter-claim
that Ukraine’s troops were responsible for a salvo of 17 shells landing on the
site.
“As a result of
periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged, there
are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the
fire hazard is high,” Energoatom said on Telegram.
The agency said
that as of midday Saturday (9am GMT) the plant “operates with the risk of
violating radiation and fire safety standards”.
Russia’s defense
ministry said
Ukrainian forces “shelled the territory of the station three
times” from the town of Marganets across the Dnipro River.
In a communique
the ministry accused Kyiv of “nuclear terrorism” and said shells landed near
areas storing fresh nuclear fuel and radioactive waste.
Radiation levels
at the plant “remain normal” the ministry said.
On Tuesday
residents in Khortytskyi district — 45km north-east from the power plant — were
given iodine pills to reduce radiation risk in case of a leak.
Residents closer
to the plant told AFP earlier this month that they received iodine pills at the
very start of the war.
Power out
On Thursday, the Zaporizhzhia plant was cut off from Ukraine’s national
power grid for the first time in its four-decade history due to “actions of the
invaders”, Energoatom said.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the power cut was caused by Russian shelling
of the last active power line linking the plant to the network.
It came back
online on Friday afternoon but Zelensky warned “the worst case scenario ... is
constantly being provoked by Russian forces”.
The
International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is urging for a mission to the plant
“as soon as possible to help stabilize the nuclear safety and security
situation there”.
Agency head
Rafael Mariano Grossi has said he wants to visit the site within days, warning
of potential disaster.
Ukraine energy
minister adviser Lana Zerkal said an IAEA inspection “is planned for the next
week”.
But Zerkal told
Ukraine’s Radio NV late Thursday she was skeptical the mission would go ahead,
despite Moscow’s formal agreement, as “they are artificially creating all the
conditions so that the mission will not reach the site”.
Diverting energy
Britain’s defense ministry said satellite imagery showed an increased
presence of Russian troops at the power plant with armored personnel carriers
deployed within 60m of one reactor.
Kyiv suspects
Moscow intends to divert power from the
Zaporizhzhia plant to the Crimean
peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. Washington has warned against any such
move.
“The electricity
that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine,” State Department spokesman Vedant
Patel told reporters, saying attempts to redirect power to occupied areas were
“unacceptable”.
Russia’s
invasion of Ukraine — which this week entered its seventh month — has also
prompted a wider global energy crisis.
Anxiety over gas
and oil supply has sent prices soaring.
Meanwhile the EU
— which declares itself a staunch ally of Ukraine — has vowed to wean its 27
member states off Russian energy to protest the nation’s attack on its
neighbor.
On Friday both
Germany and France reported that they expected electricity prices next year to
increase tenfold over those this year.
French finance
minister Bruno Le Maire pledged on Saturday to keep electricity costs in check.
Paris has put in
place an energy price cap to shield households until December 31 and Le Maire
said that next year’s expected hikes would be “contained increases”.
The EU
presidency has said it will hold an emergency summit to address the crisis as
the winter months approach.
Meanwhile on
Saturday, Russia published a decree that makes it easier for Ukrainian citizens
to live and work in Russia by scrapping work permits and allowing indefinite
residency.
Moscow says 3.6
million Ukrainian nationals, including 587,000 children, have come to Russia
since the start of the offensive in late February.
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