Fierce fighting in Donetsk region

Slovyansk, August 28

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Russian rocket and artillery strikes hit areas across the Dnieper River from Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, Ukrainian officials said on Sunday as fears persisted that fighting in the vicinity could damage the plant and cause a radiation leak.

Russian forces took control of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant soon after the war began and hold adjacent territory along the left bank of the river. Ukraine controls the right bank, including the cities of Nikopol and Marhanets, each 10 km from the plant. Russian Defence Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said the Ukrainian forces had shelled the plant twice over the past day and that some shells fell near buildings storing reactor fuel and radioactive waste.

Heavy firing during the night left parts of Nikopol without electricity, said Valentyn Reznichenko, governor of the Dnipropetrovsk region. Rocket strikes damaged about a dozen residences in Marhanets, according to Yevhen Yevtushenko, the administration head for the district that includes the city of about 45,000.

Zaporizhzhia, 40 km upriver from the nuclear plant, also came under fire, wounding two. Downriver from the nuclear plant, the Kakhovka hydroelectric plant and the city adjacent to it were hit by Ukrainian rockets three times on Sunday, said Vladimir Leontyev, the head of the Russia-installed local administration. The plant’s dam is a major roadway across the river and a potentially key supply route for the Russian forces. The dam also forms a reservoir that provides water for the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant.

In eastern Ukraine, where Russian and separatist forces are trying to take control, shelling hit the large and strategically significant cities of Kramatorsk and Slovyansk, but no casualties were reported, said Pavlo Kyrylenko, governor of the Donetsk region.

Much of the Donetsk region is held by Russian and separatist forces. It is one of the two Ukrainian regions that Russia has recognised as sovereign states. Authorities last week began distributing iodine tablets to residents who live near the Zaporizhzhia plant in case of radiation exposure, which can cause health problems.

Much of the concern centres on the cooling systems for the plant’s nuclear reactors. The systems require power to run, and the plant was temporarily knocked offline because of what officials said was fire damage to a transmission line. A cooling system failure can cause a nuclear meltdown. — AP