Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant goes offline amid fighting

Zaporizhzhia, September 3

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Ukraine’s and Europe’s largest nuclear plant was once again knocked offline in the early hours of Saturday amid sustained shelling that destroyed a key power line and penetrated deep into the plant’s premises, local Russian-backed authorities said.

The claims came barely a day after a team of inspectors from the UN nuclear agency arrived at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which has been caught in fierce recent fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces, six months after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine. The IAEA’s mission is meant to help secure the site as Moscow and Kyiv continue to trade blame for shelling at and around the nuclear plant.

Not the first time

• The plant has repeatedly suffered complete disconnection from Ukraine’s power grid since last week, with Enerhoatom blaming mortar shelling and fires near the site
• Ukrainian authorities accused Moscow of pounding two cities that overlook the plant across the Dnieper river with rockets
• In Zorya village, 20 km from the plant, residents heard the explosion. The risk of a radioactive leak scares them, they said

“The Dneprovskaya power line has been hit. The nuclear power plant has switched to servicing its own needs,” Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Kremlin-appointed regional administration said, adding that a shell had struck an area between two reactors.

His claims could not be immediately verified.

Late on Friday evening, the Russian-backed authorities reported that the plant had been under fire for about two hours, blaming Ukrainian forces in the latest of a series of similar claims.

As of Saturday morning, neither the Ukrainian government nor the country’s nuclear energy operator, Enerhoatom, commented on these allegations.

It’s not the shelling that scared residents the most, but the risk of a radioactive leak in the plant. Natalia Stokoz, a mother of three, said: “The power plant is the scariest because the kids and adults will be affected and it’s scary if the nuclear power plant is blown up.”

Oleksandr Pasko, a 31-year-old farmer, said: “There is anxiety because we are quite close.” Pasko said the Russian shelling has intensified in recent weeks.

During the first weeks of the war, authorities gave iodine tablets and masks to people living near the plant in case of radiation exposure.

Recently, they’ve also distributed iodine pills in Zaporizhzhia city, 50 km from the plant. — AP