‘Powerful’ blasts heard around nuclear plant in Ukraine
“Powerful explosions” were reported around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant in eastern Ukraine on Saturday and Sunday, ending a “period of relative calm” there and raising new concerns of possible accidents, the International Atomic Energy Agency said. Russian state news agency Tass, citing a Rosenergoatom official, reported that Ukrainian forces were firing at the nuclear plant. Ukrainian energy agency Energoatom blamed Russian forces for the shelling. The Washington Post could not independently verify these claims.
U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin framed the Western position on Ukraine as one of “moral clarity” in a fiery speech and painted a dark picture of what a world in which Russia triumphed would look like – stressing that nuclear proliferation could become a reality.
Speaking Saturday at the Halifax International Security Forum in Nova Scotia, Canada, Austin said, “Putin’s war of choice shows the whole world the dangers of disorder.” The U.S. official called out North Korea and Iran, accusing the nations of supporting Russia’s assault on
Ukraine.
Russia’s war on Ukraine is “a direct challenge to sovereignty everywhere,”
Austin said. “Make no mistake: We will not be dragged into Putin’s war of choice, but we will stand by Ukraine as it fights to defend itself,” he said.
“We will defend every inch of NATO territory.”
IAEA chief Rafael Mariano Grossi said those responsible for the strikes in Zaporizhzhia are “playing with fire.” Experts with the United Nations nuclear watchdog reported “what appeared to be renewed shelling” near and at the nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest, which is operated by Ukrainian workers but under the control of Russian forces. Site employees reported “damage to some buildings, systems and equipment” to the IAEA – though, as of Sunday morning, nothing that was “critical for nuclear safety and security,” it said in a statement.
Austin said Russia’s invasion “could drive a dangerous spiral of nuclear proliferation.” In Canada on Saturday, the U.S. defense secretary warned that other world leaders with nuclear ambitions
“are watching” the war unfold in Ukraine and “could well conclude that getting nuclear weapons would give them a hunting license of their own.”
Several regions of Ukraine are facing prolonged power outages this weekend, President Volodymyr Zelensky said, adding that workers are attempting to restore energy. Ukraine’s energy minister
said Sunday that energy supply in the country is “difficult” but “under control” and urged people not to panic. Zelensky has accused Russia of targeting energy infrastructure in an apparent attempt to compensate for its battlefield setbacks, including a retreat from the southern city of Kherson.
Zelensky said Sunday the retreat of Russian forces from Kherson is a turning point for Ukraine, a day after the first train arrived in the city from Kyiv to jubilant crowds. The train’s arrival was part of a campaign by Ukrainian Railways to show the country and the world the railroad’s ability to quickly resume services cut off by nearly nine months of war. Russia ordered the retreat from Kherson city and its surroundings this month amid a Ukrainian counteroffensive.
Iran will help Moscow build drones on Russian soil for the war against Ukraine, The Washington Post has reported. Moscow has deployed more than 400 Iranian-made drones since August, according to three Western officials interviewed by Post reporters.
Russian forces left western Kherson “in relatively good order” compared to
past major retreats, the British Defense Ministry said. As its troops left, they destroyed most of the equipment they had to leave behind so Ukrainian forces could not use it, and their “vehicle losses were likely in the tens rather than hundreds,” the ministry said.
Russia is reinforcing its troops in the occupied areas of Luhansk, Donetsk and eastern Zaporizhzhia with forces withdrawn from Kherson or recently mobilized by Moscow, according to Ukraine’s military and local officials. Analysts from the Institute for the Study of War think tank said Russia will probably continue to use these mobilized and redeployed troops to “reignite” offensive operations in Donetsk and maintain defensive positions in Luhansk.
Ukraine’s military said it is continuing to repel Russian attacks in the Donetsk region, amid a persistent barrage of strikes on civilian infrastructure and housing. Russian forces continued offensive operations Saturday around Bakhmut, in Donbas, despite reports of high losses on the front line. Ukraine’s military said about 500 wounded Russian servicemen arrived in regional hospitals.