He launched several projectiles this Sunday against a Kharkov research center that houses 37 nuclear fuel cells that could cause a “catastrophe”
Russia continues with its road map of controlling Ukraine’s main energy sources while fueling the threat of a nuclear disaster. If on Friday the Kremlin Army attacked the largest plant in Europe, Zaporizhia, this Sunday it launched projectiles against an experimental nuclear reactor in Kharkov. In that facility there are 37 nuclear fuel cells, which could cause “a large-scale ecological catastrophe”, according to the Ukrainian secret services.
The authorities of the Kharkov province also confirmed the attack by the Kremlin military forces. “On March 6, the Russian Army fired a rocket launcher at the National Research Center of the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology, where there is an experimental nuclear reactor,” they said.
This offensive sowed alarm in the area due to the risk that the projectiles could have damaged the reactors. The Ukrainian government has opened a criminal investigation for a crime of genocide included in the country’s criminal code and stressed that “it continues to collect information for subsequent presentation in The Hague”, headquarters of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the Criminal Court International (CFI).
The attack leaves no room for doubt that Putin is willing to take the risk of nuclear catastrophe in his battle to dominate Ukraine. With the seizure of the Zaporizhia plant, there was still doubt as to whether it was a specific action to intimidate the world, since Putin himself assured that it was not his objective to bomb nuclear reactors. But the firing of missiles at another atomic facility clearly indicates his intentions: he wants to control, at whatever cost, all the energy production centers in Ukraine.
The troops have been advancing since Saturday towards the Yuzhnoukrainsk nuclear power plant, in the city of Mikolaiv located in the south of the country. In fact, the siege of that city is one of the fronts to which the Russian military has dedicated the most forces in recent hours. Ukraine would be at its mercy if Russia seizes that second plant, in addition to those in Rivne and Khmeltniski, which produce more than half of the country’s energy.
Safety in Zaporizhia
The Russian Army also has other non-nuclear power generating facilities in its sights. The General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces warned on Sunday that Kremlin troops want to seize a hydroelectric plant in the city of Kaniv, 130 kilometers south of the capital.
energy monitoring
The Russian Army is heading towards other nuclear power plants in Ukraine, one of them in Micolaiv, a city already surrounded by Kremlin troops
This dam located on the Dnieper River is another of Russia’s objectives in its offensive strategy, according to a report by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In the direction of Kozelets, which is located about 70 kilometers northeast of Kiev, the movement of 100 units of weapons and other military equipment, including numerous rocket launchers, was observed yesterday.
In the midst of all the uncertainty caused by the threat of atomic catastrophe, the National Inspectorate for Nuclear Regulation of Ukraine reassured about the situation of the
Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, in Russian hands. “Security systems continue without problems and radiation levels continue to be normal,” he said in a statement posted on his website.
The Ukrainian authorities detailed that two of the six reactors are connected to the network, while one is turned off and the other three are closed. “The operational personnel of the Zaporizhia plant carry out the supervision of the reactors and guarantee their safe operation,” they indicated.
Given the seriousness of the situation in Ukraine, the director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), Rafael Grossi, has called for a meeting at the Chernobyl plant with delegations from Ukraine and Russia to address security guarantees in nuclear facilities.