Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of attacks around factory that United Nations considers “suicidal”
“Any attack on a nuclear power plant is suicide.” The appointment belongs emphatically to the Secretary-General of the UN, the Portuguese António Guterres. “Ukraine and Russia are playing with fire,” he criticized this Monday from Tokyo after participating in the weekend commemorations for the 77th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima, the first atomic bomb attack in history. His warning came after the escalation of clashes between Kiev and Moscow, who are accused of attacking the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant, the largest in Europe. “I hope these attacks will stop and at the same time I hope that the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) will gain access to the factory and exercise the powers entrusted to it,” which guarantee the stability of the factory, the president said. added Portuguese.
The paradox is that the two opposing sides to the conflict are aware of the delicate situation, but neither acknowledges being the author of the attacks. “There is no nation in the world that can feel safe when a terrorist state shoots at a nuclear power plant. God forbid, but something irreparable can happen and no one will stop the wind that will spread radioactive contamination,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned on Monday. He therefore called for a response “now” from the international community. A very similar message to that of the Kremlin. His spokesman, Dimitri Peskov, called on the countries “with absolute influence” over Kiev to mediate to end the attacks.
The factory is located in the city of Energodar, in the south of the country, in the Zaporizhzhya region. It was taken by Russian troops in early March at the beginning of the invasion. It is currently guarded by some 500 Russian soldiers and 50 heavy vehicles, tanks and trucks, according to the head of Ukraine’s nuclear agency -Energoatom-, Petro Kotin. When it was captured, the international community was warned by the successive bombings that took place in the area.
Last Friday, tension returned to the area. Kiev and Moscow blame each other for a series of attacks on the plant’s reactors. On Saturday, one of them – he has six – had to be stopped after being hit. Russia’s defense ministry said on Monday that the latest bomb attack, which took place on the night of Saturday to Sunday, damaged a power line supplying electricity to two regions of Ukraine. The installation is particularly vulnerable because it remains connected to the electrical system via a single line, which is dangerous because if it were permanently disconnected from the system, the installations would be exposed. A scenario you want to avoid at all costs.
“There should be a peacekeeping mission involving experts from the IAEA and other security organizations,” Kotin requested Monday. The head of Energoatom also called for the creation of a “demilitarized zone” around the factory site. “If the situation gets out of hand, it will be like in Fukushima or Chernobyl,” he warned.
The nuclear power plant has attracted all the attention in recent days because of the massive disaster that could happen if one of the two sides in the conflict makes a miscalculation. But the war continues on other fronts. One of these is Kherson, a region that exactly borders Zaporizhzhya. Ukrainian forces continue their counter-offensive launched last week to retake control of the region occupied by Russian troops. This Monday they destroyed the Antonovski and Kajovski bridges, as confirmed by the spokeswoman for the southern command of the Ukrainian army, Natalia Gumeniuk.
Both infrastructures are strategic points, but especially the first, the Antonovski Bridge. Located on the Dnipro River, on the outskirts of the town of Kherson, it is critical to the town’s supply as it is the only one connecting the south bank of the river to the rest of the region. Kiev has already partially destroyed critical infrastructure in another bomb attack on July 27. The area is strategic because it borders the Crimean Peninsula, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014. By occupying Kherson, Russia was able to connect both areas.
The pro-Russian authorities in Kherson, and since Monday also in Zaporizhzhya, have set up electoral commissions to hold referendums on the accession of both regions to Russia, as happened eight years ago in Crimea. The plebiscite was not recognized by the international community, but it ‘de facto’ incorporated the peninsula into Russian territory. Now Moscow plans to do the same with Kherson and Zaporizhzhya. The consultations are scheduled for September.
“If the occupiers follow the path of these ‘pseudo-referendums’, any possibility of negotiating with Ukraine and the free world will be ruled out,” threatened Volodymyr Zelensky, who warned that “anyone who helps the occupier will answer to Ukraine.” “We will not give anything of ourselves,” said the Ukrainian leader.
Source: La Verdad
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