Images reveal damage to the roof of the Russian-occupied nuclear power station in Zaporizhzhia, with Putin’s soldiers blaming Ukrainian artillery for the impending disaster.
Russia accuses Ukraine of indiscriminately bombarding the Zaporizhia nuclear power plant.
Photos surfaced on the eve of the International Atomic Energy Agency’s inspection to the site, and Kiev accuses Moscow of storing troops and heavy weapons near the reactors.
As fears of a potential nuclear disaster in southern Ukraine rise, new photographs have emerged revealing gaps in the roof of the Russian-occupied nuclear power station in Zaporizhzhia.
Satellite and mobile phone images reveal a hole in the roof of what is believed to be Special Building No. 1 at Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, where fresh fuel for nuclear reactors is stored.
According to Russia’s TASS news agency, Russian soldiers, who captured the facility near the Ukrainian city of Enerhodar on the southern bank of the Dnipro River in March, accused Ukrainian troops of shelling the site on Monday.
According to the Russian-installed local officials, two 155mm shells fired from the Ukrainian-held city of Nikopol burst near a spent fuel storage structure at the plant.
In retaliation, Ukrainian authorities accuse the Russians of constructing military outposts adjacent to the reactors and using them as nuclear hostages from which to bombard Ukrainian positions.
The roof damage occurs as inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency prepare to visit the site later this week.
“We must preserve the safety and security of the largest nuclear site in Ukraine and Europe,” said Rafael Grossi, the agency’s general director.
A building near the reactors of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility has developed roof holes.
Satellite imagery appears to validate the strike locations that Russian authorities attributed to Ukrainian shelling.
Satellite and mobile phone images reveal a hole in the roof of what is believed to be Special Building No. 1 at Europe’s largest nuclear power facility, where fresh fuel for nuclear reactors is stored.
The distinctive red roofs of the six nuclear reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power facility are visible.
The fourteen-member team intends to gain an accurate, first-hand understanding of the site’s environment and the threats posed to both the site’s employees and wider civilian populations.
Vladimir Rogov, the commander of the Russian occupying forces in the region, stated, ‘The top of Special Building No. 1 of the Zaporizhzhya NPP was penetrated by Zelensky’s fighters.
This structure contains fresh fuel for ZNPP reactors.
The images, for which there is no independent confirmation, were released on the eve of the IAEA’s international visit to the Energodar facility.
Ukraine and Russia have frequently accused one other of threatening a nuclear disaster by bombing Europe’s largest nuclear power station.
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station has six independent nuclear reactors, unlike the Chernobyl nuclear power facility, which experienced a radioactive meltdown in 1985, only had four.
Despite the absence of a nuclear mushroom cloud, enormous quantities of ionising radiation were discharged into the atmosphere in the form of a poisonous cloud, greatly raising the incidence of cancer among those exposed.
Satellite images allegedly show Russian armored personnel trucks parked irresponsibly near the reactors, and Kyiv has accused Moscow of storing heavy armaments and arming the facility with approximately 500 soldiers.
This weekend, emergency services in the Ukrainian-held city of Zaporizhzhia conducted simulations of simulated evacuations and decontamination drills in preparation for a nuclear disaster.
Meanwhile, to the west of the volatile situation, Ukrainian forces claimed to have launched a massive fresh counteroffensive and burst through Russian lines.
Vladimir Rogov, the pro-Russian administrator of the Zaporizhzhia region, blamed Ukrainian shelling for the damage to the nuclear power plant’s roof.
Yesterday, August 29, this satellite image from Maxar Technologies shows armored personnel carriers near reactors at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in Russian-occupied Ukraine.
The ‘Kakhova’ Ukrainian military force reported seeing pro-Russian separatist fighters’retreat’ from their positions in Kherson.
On March 3, Russian forces captured Kherson, the first major city to fall after Putin’s brutal assault.
Today, the southern military command stated that the long-awaited maneuver had been executed, indicating Kyiv’s rising confidence as Western military aid continues to flood in.
“Today, there was a powerful artillery bombardment on enemy positions in… the entire occupied Kherson region,” Sergey Khlan, a local deputy and assistant to the regional governor, told Ukraine’s Pryamyi TV.
This is the declaration of the beginning of the de-occupation of the Kherson region, which has been anticipated since the spring.
Khlan declared that Ukrainian forces now held ‘the upper hand’ on the southern front.
In recent weeks, many strikes have targeted bridges in the region in an effort to impede the logistics of the Russian military.
Ukraine has initiated a counteroffensive to retaliate against the Russian forces in the south (pictured: Ukrainian servicemen in Donetsk yesterday)
Late in July, Khlan predicted that Ukrainian forces would recover the territory by September.
Natalia Humeniuk, a spokesperson for the Southern Command, stated that Ukraine’s recent attacks on Russia’s southern logistical corridors had “undeniably crippled the adversary,” adding that more than ten Russian munitions dumps had been attacked in the past week.
However, she declined to provide any information regarding the new offensive.
“Any military operation requires silence,” she added, adding that Russia’s soldiers in the south are “quite potent” and have been amassed over a long period of time.
In sharp contrast to its failed attempt to conquer the capital of Kyiv, Russia quickly captured large portions of Ukraine’s south near the Black Sea coast, including Kherson, during the early stages of the war.
Ukraine has employed advanced Western-supplied weapons to attack Russian ammo depots and disrupt supply lines.
Humeniuk stated at a press briefing on Monday that Ukraine had targeted more than ten such ammo depots in the previous week, adding that the strikes had “undeniably crippled the enemy.”
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