Plant a ‘nuclear shield’ for Russia

BLAME GAME: INVADERS DENY SHELLING AROUND PLANT

UN fears the ‘grave’ crisis unfolding around Zaporizhzhia.

Kyiv and Moscow have exchanged blame for fresh shelling around Europe’s largest nuclear facility, which is in Russia’s control and has come under fire in the past week.

The Zaporizhzhia plant in southeastern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian forces since March. Kyiv has accused Moscow of basing hundreds of soldiers and storing arms there.

During a televised address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky accused Russia of nuclear “blackmail” and using the plant to “intimidate people in an extremely cynical way”.

“They arrange constant provocations with shelling of the territory of the nuclear power plant and try to bring their additional forces in this direction to blackmail our state and the entire free world even more,” Zelensky said.

He added Russian forces were “hiding” behind the plant to stage bombings on the Ukrainian-controlled towns of Nikopol and Marganets.

Ukraine’s nuclear agency Energoatom warned residents in the city of Energodar, where the plant is located, to stay off the streets to avoid ongoing Russian shelling.

“According to residents, there is new shelling in the direction of the nuclear plant ... the time between the start and arrival of the shelling is three to five seconds,” Energoatom said in a message shared on Telegram from a local chief in Energodar city.

But pro-Moscow officials in the occupied areas of Zaporizhzhia blamed the shelling on Ukrainian forces. “Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant are again under fire by Zelensky’s militants,” said Vladimir Rogov, a member of the Moscow-installed administration.

The missiles fell “in the areas located on the banks of the Dnipro river and in the plant”, he said, without reporting any casualties or damage.

The river divides the areas occupied by Russia and those under Ukraine’s control.

Kyiv and Moscow have traded accusations over several rounds of shelling on the plant this month, with the strikes raising fears of a nuclear catastrophe.

The United Nations Security Council held an emergency meeting over the situation last Thursday and warned of a “grave” crisis unfolding in Zaporizhzhia.

Ukraine has called for a demilitarised zone around the plant and demanded the withdrawal of Russian forces.