The biggest nuclear complex in Ukraine and also in Europe has stopped supplying electricity to the territories controlled by Ukraine, the Kremlin-backed authorities reported today, quoted by the AP agency.
The Russian-appointed municipal administration in Enerhodar, where the Zaporijia factory is located, justified the situation with an alleged bombing by Ukrainian troops this morning that destroyed an important power line.
“The supply of electricity to the territories controlled by Ukraine has been suspended due to technical difficulties”, indicated the municipal administration. It is unclear whether electricity from the nuclear complex is however reaching Russian-controlled areas. Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Kremlin-appointed regional administration, said a projectile hit an area between two reactors. Such claims could not be immediately confirmed by other sources. In recent weeks, Ukraine and Russia have blamed each other for bombings in and around the unit, while also accusing each other of attempts to boycott the visit of UN experts, who arrived at the nuclear complex on Thursday.
The International Atomic Energy Agency's mission is to help protect the site. The Russian Defense Ministry accused Ukrainian troops of having made an attempt on Friday to seize that space, despite the presence of IAEA experts, by sending 42 boats with 250 special forces soldiers and foreign "mercenaries" to try to disembark on the shore of the reservoir near Ka-khovka. The Russian Ministry indicated that four Russian fighter jets and two helicopters destroyed around 20 boats and the others fell back on course. He also reported that Russian artillery hit the right bank of the Dnieper River, controlled by Ukraine, to hit the landing group that was in retreat. The same ministry claimed that the Russian military killed 47 soldiers, including 10 “mercenaries” and wounded 23.
This data could not be independently verified through other sources. Russia had previously said about 60 Ukrainian soldiers had attempted to land near the factory on Thursday and that Russian forces had prevented that attempt. As of this morning, neither the Ukrainian government nor the country's nuclear power operator, Enerhoatom, has commented on these allegations. The nuclear complex has repeatedly suffered complete disconnection from Ukraine's power grid since last week, with Enerhoatom blaming the bombing and mortar fires near the site. The local Ukrainian authorities, in turn, accused Moscow of attacking with 'rockets' two cities close to the nuclear complex, on the other side of the Dnieper River, an accusation that has been made repeatedly in recent weeks.
In Zorya, a small village about 20 kilometers from the Zaporijia factory, residents on Friday heard the sound of explosions in the area. However, it is not the bombing that worries them the most, but the risk of a radioactive leak from the factory. “Yes, the factory is the scariest part,” Natalia Stokoz, a mother of three, told AP, explaining: “Children and adults will be affected, and it’s scary if the nuclear complex explodes.” During the first weeks of the war, authorities gave iodine pills and masks to people living near the factory in case of possible radiation exposure. Meanwhile, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan offered today to assume the role of “facilitator” on the Zaporijia nuclear complex issue, in a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to a statement from the presidency. turkish At the same time, the Ukrainian military reported today that Russian forces pressed through the country's industrial east overnight, while also trying to hold captured areas in northeastern and southern Ukraine, including the Kherson region.
They said Ukrainian forces had repelled about half a dozen Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, including near two cities that had been identified as key targets in Moscow's effort to capture the rest of the province. The Donetsk region is one of two that make up the industrial heartland of Ukraine's Donbass, alongside Lugansk, which was invaded by Russian troops in early July. On the other hand, a Russian bombing killed an 8-year-old child and wounded four others in a southern Ukrainian town near the Kherson region, according to Ukrainian authorities.