The six-reactor Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant came under the control of Russian forces early in the war that began in February, but is operated by Ukrainian personnel. The plant and surrounding areas have been hit repeatedly by shelling that Russia and Ukraine blame on each other’s forces. The last power line connecting the plant to the Ukrainian power grid was cut on Monday, leaving the plant without an external source of electricity and drawing power for its own safety systems from the only one of the six reactors that remains operational. Energoatom, the state nuclear operator, said on Friday that repairs to external lines were impossible due to the bombing and that operation on the so-called “island” posed a “risk of breaching radioactivity and fire safety standards”. “Only the withdrawal of the Russians from the plant and the creation of a safety zone around it can normalize the situation at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Only then will the world be able to breathe,” Petro Kotin, the head of Energoatom, said on Friday. Ukrainian TV. Kotin explained in an interview with The Associated Press on Thursday that the only operating reactor “could shut down completely” at any time, and as a result the only power source would be a diesel generator. WATCHES | Ukraine nuclear plant needs safety zone to avoid disaster, UN agency says:
Ukraine’s nuclear plant needs buffer zone to prevent disaster, UN agency says
The UN atomic watchdog has urged Russia and Ukraine to create a nuclear safety and protection zone around the Zaporizhzhia power plant to prevent a Chernobyl-level disaster after inspectors found that the bombing had destroyed six different areas of the factory – some near reactor buildings. There are 20 generators on site and enough diesel fuel for 10 days. After that, about 180 tons of diesel fuel would be needed daily for the generators, which he said is “impossible” while the plant is occupied by Russian forces.
Conditions ‘increasingly precarious’
The head of the UN atomic watchdog on Friday said conditions at the power plant were “increasingly precarious” and that a safety zone must be immediately established around it to prevent a nuclear accident. Rafael Grossi, director of the International Atomic Energy Agency, called for an immediate end to the bombing of the area, which he said had caused a “total blackout” in Enerhodar, the town where the plant is located. Grossi also said there is little chance of restoring reliable off-site power lines to the plant. The bombing has caused a total blackout in the pic.twitter.com/7djejJe80G —@rafaelmgrossi Meanwhile, fighting continued Friday in parts of southern and eastern Ukraine and in the north, where Ukraine claims it recently pushed Russian forces out of some areas.
The hospital was hit, says the governor
Russian planes bombed the hospital in the town of Velika Pysarivka, on the border with Russia, said Dmytro Zhyvytskyi, governor of the Sumy region in northeastern Ukraine. He said the building was destroyed and there were an unknown number of casualties. In the eastern Donetsk region – one of two that Russia declared sovereign states at the start of the war – eight people were killed in the city of Bakhmut last day and the city has been without water and electricity for a fourth straight day, Governor Pavlo Kyrylenko said. . Four people were killed in shelling in the Kharkiv region, two of them in the city of Kharkiv, Ukraine’s second-largest city, according to regional governor Oleh Syniehubov. The shelling of the city continued on Friday afternoon, Mayor Ihor Terekhov said, injuring 10 people, including three children.
Evacuation from the Kharkiv area was reported
A Russian official in the Kharkiv region said on Friday that civilians were being evacuated from three Russian cities in the region under threat from a Ukrainian counterattack. Vitaly Gadchev told state TV host Vladimir Solovyov’s daily live broadcast that civilians were being evacuated from the towns of Izium, Kupyansk and Veliky Burluk. Ukraine this week claimed to have regained control of more than 20 settlements in the Kharkiv region, including the small town of Balakliya. Posts on social media showed crying and smiling residents of Balaklia hugging Ukrainian soldiers. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Friday declined to comment on the alleged recapture of Balaklia, redirecting all questions about it to the Russian Defense Ministry. Gadchev confirmed on Friday that “Balaklya, in fact, is not under our control”. He said “fierce fighting” was continuing in the city and that Russian forces were trying to drive out Ukrainian troops. WATCHES | Surviving the relentless bombing of Mykolaiv, Ukraine:
Months of surviving shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine
Frequent shelling has driven out much of the population of Mykolaiv, Ukraine, a city on the country’s southern coast. Those who remain survive with the help of foreign aid. They say they are scared, but hopeful. Ukraine’s National Guard also confirmed on Friday the recapture of Volokhiv Yar, a village 19 kilometers from Balakliya. Ukraine’s presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak told Ukrainian television on Friday that Ukrainian forces are trying to regain control of Kupianksk — a key city in the Kharkiv region through which Russian troops in the region receive all their supplies. “It’s a key transportation hub that we have to recapture and then see if we have to go north or a little further down south, breaking up this group of Russian troops” and preventing them from replenishing their supply stock, Podolyak said. . Helicopters and fighter jets swooped down over the rolling plains of the Donetsk region, with the planes headed in the direction of Izium, near where Ukrainian forces are launching a counterattack in the Kharkiv region. The jets shot out flares while black smoke rose in the distance.
