Russian troops who captured in March Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, could mine its territory. About this on the evening of August 5 wrote The Insider with reference to his own sources at the occupied station.
One of the interlocutors of the publication spoke about the arrival of a convoy of Russian military trucks at the nuclear power plant on August 2, which stopped between the first and second power units. After some time, part of the convoy, one by one, began to enter the territory of the turbine hall of the first power unit through its cargo gates. The source believes that the machine room was mined. In a video released by The Insider, trucks can be seen pulling into the station.
The second source of the publication says that the area around the station is mined by the RF Armed Forces. He estimates the size of the Russian group stationed at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant at 500 Russian soldiers equipped with armored personnel carriers, anti-aircraft guns and radiochemical intelligence equipment. According to these data, GRAD batteries are deployed near the village of Vodyanoye, which is closest to the nuclear power plant, and the Russian military stores mines and ammunition in close proximity to the power units. Whether any power unit was mined at the same time, the second interlocutor of The Insider does not know.
Energoatom warns of the danger of spraying radioactive substances
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian state energy company Energoatom on August 6 warnedthat Zaporozhye NPP operates with the risk of violation of radiation and fire safety standards, after fired twice from MLRS Russian troops.
“As a result of the shelling, the nitrogen-oxygen station and the joint auxiliary building were seriously damaged. There are still risks of hydrogen leakage and radioactive spraying, and the fire hazard is also high,” the ministry said in a statement. At the same time, Energoatom emphasized that the Ukrainian personnel of the nuclear power plant “continues to work and make every effort to ensure nuclear and radiation safety, as well as eliminate the consequences of damage.”
The Russian side denies any involvement in the shelling of the station. Occupational “administration” of the city of Energodar accused in this strike of the APU. The American Institute for the Study of War (ISW) in its summary of August 5 wrotethat it is still impossible to establish which of the parties actually fired at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant.
Zelensky called for sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry
The situation at ZNPP concerned at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). Its CEO, Rafael Grossi, told AP on August 3 that “if not all, then most” of the security measures at the Russian military-occupied power plant were violated. Because of this, the Zaporozhye NPP is “extremely vulnerable” to a meltdown of the reactors, the expert emphasized.
Meanwhile, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky, in his evening video message on August 5, urged impose sanctions against the Russian nuclear industry because of the situation at the plant.
“Today, the occupiers have created another extremely risky situation for everyone in Europe – they fired at the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant, twice a day,” the president said, recalling that this is the largest nuclear power plant in Europe. – “Any shelling of this object is a frankly daring crime, an act of terror. Russia should be responsible for the very fact of creating a threat to the nuclear power plant.” The President of Ukraine called the shelling of the plant “an argument in favor of applying tough sanctions against the entire Russian nuclear industry – from Rosatom to all related companies and individuals”: “This is a purely security issue. Anyone who creates nuclear threats to other nations is definitely not capable of safe use of nuclear technology.”
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Russian Yunarmiya members at the monument to the victims of World War II in Mariupol
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Author: Sergey Gushcha
