KYIV
\nUkraine and Russia traded fresh accusations of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Saturday, as its operator warned of a radioactive leak risk at the atomic facility.
\nThe Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since early March.
\nKyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of rocket attacks in the vicinity of the plant, Europe\u2019s largest, located in the city of Energodar.
\nOn Saturday its Ukraine operator Energoatom said Russian troops \u201crepeatedly shelled\u201d it over the past day. Russia\u2019s defence ministry issued a counter-claim that Ukraine\u2019s troops were responsible for a salvo of 17 shells landing on the site.
\n\u201cAs a result of periodic shelling, the infrastructure of the station has been damaged, there are risks of hydrogen leakage and sputtering of radioactive substances, and the fire hazard is high,\u201d Energoatom said on Telegram. The agency said that as of midday the plant \u201coperates with the risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards\u201d.
\nRussia\u2019s defence ministry said Ukrainian forces \u201cshelled the territory of the station three times\u201d from the town of Marganets across the Dnipro River.
\nIn a communique the ministry accused Kyiv of \u201cnuclear terrorism\u201d and said shells landed near areas storing fresh nuclear fuel and radioactive waste. Radiation levels at the plant \u201cremain normal\u201d the ministry said.
\nOn Tuesday residents in Khortytskyi district, 45 kilometres north-east from the power plant, were given iodine pills to reduce radiation risk in case of a leak.
\nResidents closer to the plant said earlier this month that they received iodine pills at the very start of the war. On Thursday, the Zaporizhzhia plant was cut off from Ukraine\u2019s national power grid for the first time in its four-decade history due to \u201cactions of the invaders\u201d, Energoatom said.
\nUkrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said the power cut was caused by Russian shelling of the last active power line linking the plant to the network. It came back online on Friday afternoon but Zelensky warned \u201cthe worst case scenario is constantly being provoked by Russian forces\u201d.
\nThe International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) is urging for a mission to the plant \u201cas soon as possible to help stabilise the nuclear safety and security situation there\u201d.
\nAgency head Rafael Mariano Grossi has said he wants to visit the site within days, warning of potential disaster. Ukraine energy minister adviser Lana Zerkal said an IAEA inspection \u201cis planned for the next week\u201d.
\nBut Zerkal told Ukraine\u2019s Radio NV she was sceptical the mission would go ahead, despite Moscow\u2019s formal agreement, as \u201cthey are artificially creating all the conditions so that the mission will not reach the site\u201d.
\nBritain\u2019s defence ministry said satellite imagery showed an increased presence of Russian troops at the power plant with armoured personnel carriers deployed within 60 metres (200 feet) of one reactor.
\nKyiv suspects Moscow intends to divert power from the Zaporizhzhia plant to the Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia in 2014. Washington has warned against any such move.
\n\u201cThe electricity that it produces rightly belongs to Ukraine,\u201d State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters, saying attempts to redirect power to occupied areas were \u201cunacceptable\u201d.
\nRussia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine \u2014 which this week entered its seventh month \u2014 has also prompted a wider global energy crisis. Anxiety over gas and oil supply has sent prices soaring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
KYIV Ukraine and Russia traded fresh accusations of shelling at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on Saturday, as its operator warned of a radioactive leak risk at the atomic facility. The Zaporizhzhia plant in southern Ukraine has been occupied by Russian troops since early March. Kyiv and Moscow have repeatedly accused each other of rocket […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280166,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-280143","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n