Russia denies plan to give up nuclear plant
The Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in southern Ukraine is still under Russian control and will remain so, the Kremlin said on Monday, after a Ukrainian official suggested Russian forces were preparing to leave.
The head of Ukraine’s staterun nuclear energy company said on Sunday there were signs that Russian forces might be preparing to vacate Europe’s biggest nuclear plant, which they seized in March, soon after invading Ukraine.
The Kremlin dismissed the statement. “There’s no need to look for signs where there are none and cannot be any,” spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in a briefing on Monday.
Russia and Ukraine, which both suffered from the world’s worst nuclear accident in Chornobyl in 1986, have accused each other of shelling the complex, which has six reactors.
Both sides have warned of the danger of a nuclear catastrophe. The UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, wants to create a protection zone around the plant.
Ukrainian presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak said late on Sunday that he had no doubt Russian forces would leave the plant, where Ukrainian staff are still working.
“The defence line is starting to retreat to the borders of the Russian Federation,” Podolyak told Ukrainian television, adding that Ukraine would take the plant back.
Ukraine’s military said last
week that about 30 Russian servicemen had been wounded near Enerhodar, the town closest to the plant.
Ukraine prez warns of more Russian attacks
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cautioned on Sunday that Russia was “planning new strikes” on his country, urging defence forces and citizens to be prepared to withstand a new week of strain on the power grid amid freezing temperatures.
Moscow has targeted vital infrastructure in recent weeks, sparking power outages and killing civilians.
Strikes last Wednesday caused the worst damage so far in the nine-month conflict, leaving millions without light, water or heat as temperatures fell below 0 degree Celsius.
“We understand that the terrorists are planning new strikes. We know this for a fact,” Zelensky said in his nightly video
address on Sunday. “And as long as they have missiles, they, unfortunately, will not calm down.” The coming week could be as difficult as the previous one, he added.
There was no response from Moscow to Zelensky’s claims.
In Kyiv, snow fell and temperatures hovered around freezing on Sunday as millions in and around the Ukrainian capital struggled with disruptions to electricity supply and central heating caused by the waves of Russian airstrikes.
City authorities said workers were close to completing restoration of power, water and heat, but high consumption levels meant some blackouts had been imposed.
The Kremlin last week denied its attacks on Ukraine’s electricity network were aimed at civilians, but said Kyiv could “end the suffering” of its population by meeting Russia’s demands to resolve the conflict.