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Safety is deteriorating at Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, the UN’s nuclear watchdog has warned – after a drone strike hit the road next to Europe’s largest facility.
The warning from International Atomic Energy Agency director general Rafael Grossi came after a drone strike hit the road surrounding the plant, landing close to the essential cooling water sprinkler ponds and the only remaining 750 kilovolt power line supplying the plant.
Moscow seized the nuclear facility in the early days of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It has been shut down by Russian troops but needs external power to keep its nuclear material cool to prevent a meltdown.
With Ukraine’s invasion of Russia’s Kursk region now in its second week, Kyiv rejected Russian claims that it is planning to attack a nuclear plant in the Russian region and blamed the “provocation” on Moscow as “insane” propaganda.
Using British tanks, Ukraine has taken hundreds of square miles since launching its audacious incursion on 6 August.
Russians had ‘complete intelligence failure’ in Kursk, analyst says
The idea that Ukraine could burst through into Russian territory on the scale it has in Kursk seemed unthinkable to many observers prior to last week, with the shock operation raising questions about the effectiveness of Russia’s surveillance, as well as the calibre of its border fortifications and forces.
“The Russians had a complete intelligence failure here,” Yohann Michel, a research fellow at the Lyon-based Institute of Defence and Strategy Studies, told Reuters.
With Ukraine’s forces retreating in eastern Ukraine, one of the most strategic sectors of the front line, Moscow may well have assumed Kyiv would not make a high-stakes gamble that even now it is far from clear will pay off, Mr Michel said.
“I would understand if it was difficult for the Russians to think something that big could happen,” he said.
Safety ‘deteriorating’ at Europe’s largest nuclear power station after drone strikes, IAEA warns
The safety at Russia-occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP) is “deteriorating” after drone strikes near the facility, according to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
IAEA said its team visited the site, under Russian occupation since March 2022, and found that the damage at Europe’s largest nuclear facility seemed to have been caused by a drone carrying explosives.
While there are no reported human casualties near the plant or damage to equipment, military activity near the ZNPP has been “intense” in recent days, according to the agency’s report.
“Nuclear power plants are designed to be resilient against technical or human failures and external events including extreme ones, but they are not built to withstand a direct military attack, and neither are they supposed to, just as with any other energy facility in the world,” IAEA director general Rafael Mariano Grossi said.
Watch: Zelensky says Ukraine is strengthening position in Russia’s Kursk region
Russian cruise missile injures two and sparks blaze in city of Sumy, officials say
A Russian missile sparked a blaze in the northeastern Ukrainan city of Sumy that injured two people and also damaged cars and nearby buildings, Ukraine’s State Emergency Service said.
The service said that the hit had involved an Iskander-K cruise missile and an aerial bomb.
Ukraine’s air force also said on Saturday it had shot down 14 Russian drones overnight, including over the Kyiv region.
Russian bloggers claim Kursk bridge destruction will impede – but not sever – supply lines
Russian military bloggers said that the destruction of a bridge in Kursk would impede deliveries of supplies to Russian forces, but not cut them off completely.
“No one has cancelled the pontoons,” said Alexander Kots, military correspondent with the pro-Kremlin newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda, stressing that the Seym River is smaller than Ukrainian waterways such as the Dnieper River. “And there are still smaller bridges.”
Full report: Ukraine destroys key bridge as troops leave ‘trail of destruction’ in Russia incursion
Ukraine’s invading forces in the Russian region of Kursk have destroyed a key bridge and supply route for Moscow, as reporters described a “trail of destruction” left in the wake of Kyiv’s incursion.
Some 12 days into the largest invasion of Russia since the Second World War, Kyiv’s troops are strengthening their positions in the Kursk region, Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky said on Saturday.
Artillery fire has blown chunks out of a statue of Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin that stands in the town of Sudzha, which is now occupied by Ukrainian forces. Buildings were pockmarked with bullet holes and the streets, which were strewn with debris, were mainly empty as residents retreated to basements.
Read more on Saturday’s developments in this report:
Ukraine repelling dozens of Russian attacks in Donetsk, Zelensky says
Ukrainian troops have repelled dozens of Russian attacks along the frontline in Donetsk, president Volodymyr Zelensky has said in his daily video address.
The Ukrainian military said 51 Russian attacks were stopped near Pokrovsk, a major logistics hub in the eastern region, and another 13 near the town of Toretsk in the last 24 hours.
Ukraine reaping ‘huge political gains’ from incursion into Russia, Polish minister says
Ukraine is reaping “huge political gains” from its military offensive into western Russia but the incursion is not altering the “anti-escalation approach” of the West, Poland’s interior minister has said.
Asked whether Kyiv’s military gains could change its allies’ stance on the use of arms they supply for its war with Russia, Tomasz Siemoniak told Reuters: “This offensive does not change the anti-escalation attitude of the West.”
He added: “I think that for Western countries this is an event in terms of changing the image of Ukraine – Kyiv’s political gains are huge after less than two weeks.”
The US so far deems Ukraine’s incursion into Kursk region a protective move appropriate for Kyiv to use US equipment, officials in Washington said this week, but they expressed worries about potential complications as Ukrainian troops push further into enemy territory.
Warsaw has been one of the staunchest allies of Ukraine and Polish premier Donald Tusk struck a similar tone to Washington earlier this week, saying Ukraine had full right to carry out its war response in a way that would effectively paralyse Russia.
Russia’s Kadyrov equips Tesla Cybertruck with machine gun for war
Fighters in Chechnya have turned a Tesla Cybertruck into a fighting vehicle, and are thanking Elon Musk for creating it.
On Saturday, Ramzan Kadyrov, the leader of the fighting forces in Russia’ Chechnya region, posted a video of himself on a Cybertruck with a machine gun mounted to the vehicle. In the video he said he planned to send the vehicle to fight in the Russian-Ukraine war.
“The Cybertruck will soon be sent to the SVO zone, where it will be in demand under the appropriate conditions. I am confident that this ‘beast’ will greatly benefit our soldiers,” he wrote in a Telegram post. The “SVO zone” refers to the Ukraine warzone.
Kadyrov praised the vehicle — and Musk — in the Telegram post, according to Reuters.
Our US reporter Graig Graziosi reports:
UK should be proud of Ukraine using British weapons to defend itself, says Healey
The UK “should be proud” of British weapons being used by Ukraine, despite the country’s incursion into Russia, defence secretary John Healey has said.
Writing in the Sunday Express, Mr Healey said: “The bold incursion by Ukrainian troops into Russia in recent days – to defend against further Russian strikes on Ukrainian towns and cities – has exposed vulnerabilities in Russia’s military and put Putin under pressure.
“Let me be very clear: under Article 51 of the UN Charter, Ukraine has a clear right of self-defence against Russia’s illegal attacks. Providing international law is followed, that does not rule out operations inside Russia.”
He added: “We should be proud of Britain’s support for Ukraine’s struggle. We should be proud that British-donated equipment, in the hands of brave Ukrainians on the front line, is helping them to defend their country and push back Putin.”
Source: independent.co.uk
