ZAPORIZHZHIA, Ukraine – Artillery fired back on Sunday from the direction of a nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine, with shells hitting a town from which Ukrainian troops were unable to return fire, for fear of causing damage. a disturbance or radiation at a plant.
Hours before the attack, there were reports that conditions were taking place in and near the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Civilian flights out of the area accelerated on Saturday.
The plant was the first operational nuclear power plant in the combat zone. The United States and the European Union have called for a demilitarized zone, as fighting in and around the plant and operating reactors and stored nuclear waste has raised concerns. special deposit.
Ukraine’s President, Volodymyr Zelensky, said in his nightly speech on Saturday that Russia had used “nuclear blackmail” at the plant, reiterating a Ukrainian analysis that Moscow was using it to slow down the conflict. Ukraine’s counterattack against the Russian-occupied city of Kherson, where Russia’s conventional military defenses are increasingly shaky.
Contrary to fear of some analysts When Moscow launched its invasion in February, the more pressing nuclear threat in the current Ukraine war appeared to be the destruction of civilian factories by Russia, rather than the deployment of its own nuclear weapons. Russia says that it is Ukrainian forces that are shelling the factory.
Engineers say that the meter-thick reinforced concrete containment structures protect the reactors from direct impacts. However, there is international concern that the shelling could cause a fire or other damage leading to a nuclear accident.
The six pressurized water reactors at the complex retain most of the radiation sources, minimizing risk. Dmytro Gortenko, a former plant engineer, said that after the pressurized water reactor failed at the Fukushima nuclear plant in Japan in 2011, Ukraine upgraded the Zaporizhzhia site so it could be shut down immediately. even when cooling water is lost from outside the containment structures.
Ukraine’s military intelligence service said on Saturday Russian artillery hit a pump, damaging a fire station and igniting fires near the plant that could not be immediately extinguished because the station was not immediately extinguished. damaged fire brigade.
In fields near the Russian-controlled town of Enerhodar, near the factory, long lines of cars carrying fleeing civilians formed on Saturday, according to social media posts, according to social media posts. and another former factory engineer who still keeps in touch with local residents.
“Locals are abandoning town,” said the former engineer, who asked to be identified only by his first name, Oleksiy, because of security concerns. People have been leaving for weeks, but the pace has picked up in the wake of Saturday’s fires and blazes, he said.
Since Russia captured the plant in March, its military has taken control of the facility, while Ukrainian engineers have continued to operate it.
Oleksiy, who left in June, said the Ukrainian employees did not flee but took their families. Enerhodar was built for factory employees during the Soviet era and had a population of about 50,000 before the war.
Ukraine has accused Russia of orchestrating artillery attacks on Ukrainian towns across the Dnipro River from the factory starting in July, as Ukraine’s counterattack to the south intensified.
In a Telegram post, Yevheny Yetushenko, the governor of Ukraine’s military, said that from night to Sunday morning, Russian artillery shells opened fire on the Ukrainian town of Nikopol, which is located opposite a reservoir of the power plant. .
The Ukrainian military said it had few options to return fire. In July, it used a self-destructing drone to attack a Russian missile launcher located about 150 meters from one of the plant’s reactors.
