Russian artillery last night bombed Ukrainian towns separated only by a river from the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant, local officials said, adding to the suffering of residents, as reports of shelling around the plant raised fears of a radiological disaster.
The Russian Defense Ministry said on Sunday that Ukraine had been subjected to more bombardments in the past 24 hours, just one day after Moscow and Kiev exchanged accusations of targeting Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, which raised grave international concerns.
The Ukrainian state nuclear energy company Energoatom said it had no new information about attacks on the plant. Russian forces took control of the station in March, but it is still run by Ukrainian staff.
The station on the southern front line has become one of the main hot spots in this six-month-old conflict.
The region’s governor, Oleksandr Staruch, said via the Telegram app on Sunday that Russian forces had bombed apartment buildings in the region’s main city of Zaporizhia, about a two-hour drive from the station, and the town of Orekhev to the east.
On Saturday, Staruch told Ukrainian television that residents were being educated about how to use iodine in the event of a radioactive leak.
According to the Ukrainian military’s daily report, nine other towns in the area on the other bank of the Dnipro River were bombed.
The Russian Information Agency quoted the Ministry of Defense as saying that the Air Force bombed a factory belonging to the Motor Sitch company, where helicopters are maintained.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said that nine shells fired by Ukrainian artillery in two separate attacks landed on the nuclear plant’s territory.
“Currently, technicians are monitoring the technical condition of the nuclear plant around the clock and ensuring its operation,” he said in a statement.
The radiological situation in the area of the nuclear power plant remains normal.” The United Nations and Kiev called for the withdrawal of military equipment and personnel from the plant to ensure that it is not targeted.
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