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On Monday, November 28, the Kremlin rejected reports from kyiv that Russian troops would be “packing their bags” to leave the Zaporizhia nuclear plant. Meanwhile, Moscow continues to attack Ukraine’s energy infrastructure and President Volodimir Zelenski warned that the attacking country will continue to attack “until it runs out of missiles.”
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant is under Russian control and “will remain so.”
With these words, the Kremlin challenges reports from kyiv indicating that Moscow troops are preparing to leave the place, the focus of international concern about the risk of an atomic catastrophe due to assaults in its vicinity, of which they are accused. both sides of the conflict.
“There is no need to look for signs where there are none and cannot be,” said the spokesman for the Russian Executive, Dmitry Peskov, on Monday, November 28.
His remarks came after the head of Energoatom, Ukraine’s state-owned nuclear power company, said on Sunday there were signs that invading troops may be preparing to evict Europe’s largest nuclear facility. A place that Moscow seized by force since last March, shortly after President Vladmir Putin ordered a war against his neighboring country.
The version was ratified by the adviser to the Ukrainian Presidency, Mykhailo Podolyak, noting that he had no doubts that Moscow would leave the site where Ukrainian personnel still work.
“The defense line is beginning to withdraw to the borders of the Russian Federation,” Podolyak told local television, adding that Ukraine would retake the plant.
Assaults around the facility have intensified since Putin annexed four Ukrainian regions under full or partial control of his troops last September, including Zaporizhia and the recently liberated Kherson, both in the south of the country, after widely held referendums. criticized by the international community.
Russia and Ukraine, which suffered the world’s worst nuclear accident at Chernobyl in 1986, accuse each other of bombing the complex, which has six reactors.
The UN International Atomic Energy Agency is trying to create a buffer zone around the facility.
Russia “Unilaterally Postpones” Nuclear Talks
Meanwhile, Russia “unilaterally postponed” talks with the United States aimed at resuming nuclear weapons inspections at a meeting in Cairo, a US State Department spokesman confirmed.
Negotiations between US and Russian officials were scheduled to begin on Tuesday, November 29. The Russian Foreign Ministry confirmed in a statement that the dialogue would no longer take place this week.
The spokesman assured that the US government is ready to reschedule the meeting of the Bilateral Consultative Commission under the New START Treaty between Washington and Moscow as soon as possible.
Zelensky: “Russia will not stop the attacks until it runs out of missiles”
Russian forces continue to shell civilian infrastructure, including power facilities and residential sites.
Ukrainian President Volodimir Zelensky warned that Kremlin soldiers will soon launch a series of new attacks, so he asked his defense forces and citizens to be prepared.
Zelenskiy warned of another week of darkness and extreme cold as missiles from Moscow specifically target certain facilities to cut off electricity and heat for civilians, when thermometers in several cities register temperatures below freezing. In fact, Brussels has accused the Kremlin of using winter as a weapon of war.
“We understand that the terrorists are planning new attacks. We know for sure (…) And as long as they have missiles, unfortunately, they will not calm down,” stressed the Ukrainian head of state.
In kyiv, snow fell and temperatures hovered near freezing on Monday as millions of people in and around the Ukrainian capital deal with power outages.
Kherson is another of the most affected towns, from where hundreds of people flee in their vehicles or trains. Despite its recent liberation, after being the only regional capital that remained under the control of the Russians, the attacks are incessant and the damage to the energy and hydraulic installations that prevent citizens from accessing electricity and water make them stay in that place something unsustainable.
Although local authorities indicated that experts were close to completing the restoration of those crucial services, the high levels of consumption also mean the imposition of some blackouts.
On the battlefront, the official arrival of looming winter is bringing a new phase of the conflict with intense trench warfare along heavily fortified positions, after several months of Russian withdrawals.
In its latest update, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) indicated that Russian troops are digging trenches and strengthening their positions in preparation for a possible Ukrainian counteroffensive in eastern Kherson.
With Reuters, AP and local media
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