Due to shelling Zaporozhye NPP there is a “very real danger” of a nuclear catastrophe, says the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi on Saturday, August 6th. “I am extremely concerned about yesterday’s shelling of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, highlighting the very real risk of a nuclear catastrophe that could threaten public health and the environment in Ukraine and beyond,” Grossi said.
According to him, from the data received from Ukraine it follows that as a result of shelling the reactors were not damaged and no radiation release was recorded, but areas on the territory of the nuclear power plant were affected. “Military actions that endanger the safety of the Zaporizhzhya NPP are completely unacceptable and must be prevented at all costs. Any military fire action directed at or from the facility would be tantamount to playing with fire, with potentially catastrophic consequences,” Grossi stressed, who called again Russia and Ukraine to ensure admission to the IAEA mission station.
Both sides blame each other for the attacks.
The Zaporizhia nuclear power plant was shelled on August 5, in which Russia and Ukraine blamed each other. Ukrainian NPP operator Energoatom saidthat the Russian military, with the help of strikes, want to destroy the infrastructure of the station and disconnect it from the energy system of Ukraine.
“The shelling is aimed at destroying the infrastructure of the station, damaging all power lines that are used to transmit electricity to the energy system of Ukraine, as well as cutting off electricity in the south of the country,” the organization said in a statement.
The “temporary administration” of Energodar, where the nuclear power plant is located, appointed by the Russian side, indicated that the station was fired upon by the Ukrainian military.
Both sides reported that the missiles hit the station site near one of the power units where the nuclear reactor is located. Energoatom clarified that the nitrogen-oxygen station and the auxiliary building of the station were seriously damaged. One of the three operating power units of the nuclear power plant was turned off after the shelling.
The prosecutor’s office of Ukraine began a pre-trial investigation
The Prosecutor General’s Office of Ukraine announced August 6, which began pre-trial proceedings under the article on violation of the laws and customs of warfare.
“According to the investigation, on August 5, 2022, military personnel of the armed formations of the aggressor country, disregarding the norms of international humanitarian law, using rocket and artillery weapons fired at the territory of a nuclear power facility located in the temporarily occupied Energodar <...> Pre-trial investigation in criminal proceedings carried out by investigators of the SBU Department in the Zaporozhye region,” the agency said.
Yana Dabizha, manager of the Energodar city council, noted that on Saturday the shelling of the station continued. Energoatom, in turn, admitted that the shelling of nuclear power plants would not stop, as Russia seeks to leave the southern regions of Ukraine without energy from nuclear power plants.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Over 90 percent of all buildings destroyed in Mariupol
Even at the beginning of the fourth month of the war, the Russian military continue to claim that they are striking exclusively at military infrastructure, as well as at the places of deployment of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and imaginary “Ukrainian militants.” At the same time, most of the cities captured by Russia in the east of Ukraine – Mariupol, Rubizhne, Popasna, Severodonetsk – are almost completely destroyed.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Cemetery on the outskirts of Mariupol
Another Kremlin propaganda claim: the Russian army does not shell residential areas. According to the mayor of Mariupol, Vadim Boychenko, during the almost 80-day Russian siege, more than 22,000 inhabitants died from artillery shelling in the city, the city was destroyed by more than 90%.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
A blow to the theater in Mariupol
The next assertion of Russian propaganda is that the civilian population in Ukraine is not the target of the Russian army. On March 16, an air strike was carried out on the theater building in Mariupol, which was used as a bomb shelter. “Children” was written in large letters in front of the building, the inscription was visible in the pictures from space. The impact killed about 600 people who were hiding in the theater.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Destroyed residential buildings in Severodonetsk
Russian propaganda calls the war in Ukraine “liberation” of the local population from “Ukrainian Nazis”. In the coming days, Severodonetsk in the Luhansk region may be completely captured by Russia. Before the war, 100 thousand people lived in the city, of which, according to the Ukrainian authorities, 85 thousand left without waiting for their “liberation”.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Ukrainians flee from “liberation” in the west of the country or in Europe
The attitude towards the Russian “liberators” is also clearly shown by the flows of Ukrainian refugees fleeing the war. In three months, about 13 million Ukrainians left their permanent place of residence, about 90 percent of them went to the regions of Ukraine controlled by Kyiv or to European countries (6.8 million people). According to the UNHCR, about 1.1 million Ukrainians left for Russia.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Russian shelling of the Zaporozhye nuclear power plant
Another assertion of Russian propaganda: the Russian army does not shell vital non-military infrastructure. However, on March 4, the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant in Energodar was shelled, then it was still under the control of the Ukrainian authorities. The administrative building of the power plant burned down.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Residents of Kherson protest against Russian occupation
The arrival of the Russian “liberators” was not welcomed by the inhabitants of the occupied Kherson region. Kherson saw numerous peaceful protests by local residents against the occupation in March and April. In April, local activists and city officials began to disappear in Kherson.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Kherson region is transferred to settlements in rubles
The authorities of the Russian Federation, including Putin, have repeatedly stated that the purpose of the “special operation” is not the occupation of Ukraine. But in the Kherson region, captured in early March, they announced the transition to Russian rubles from May 1. And from September, the region will completely abandon the hryvnia, the occupying authorities said. A similar situation is in the Zaporozhye region (in the photo – a supermarket in Melitopol).
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
“Non-occupation” of Kherson and Zaporozhye regions is accompanied by the issuance of Russian passports to residents
How Russia “does not plan” to occupy Ukraine: On May 25, Russian President Putin signed a decree on the simplified issuance of Russian passports to residents of the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions. On May 30, the first division of the Russian Federal Migration Service opened in Melitopol. At the end of May, the heads of the Russian-appointed administrations of both regions announced that both regions “will take a course towards becoming part of Russia.”
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Humanitarian aid with propaganda added
Another sign of occupation: receiving humanitarian aid in Russian-occupied cities is impossible without forced familiarization with the programs of Russian state television channels. In the photo: a truck with a video screen broadcasting Russian TV, at the point of distribution of humanitarian aid in Mariupol.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Putin’s statements for residents of occupied Mariupol
… or with the statements of Putin, on whose orders the Russian military invasion of Ukraine was launched. In the photo: a van with a large TV screen on one of the central squares of Mariupol.
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War in Ukraine: what is happening in Russian-occupied cities
Russian Yunarmiya members at the monument to the victims of World War II in Mariupol
Another sign of Russian occupation is the guard of honor of the Yunarmiya, an organization that does not exist in Ukraine, with Russian, Soviet and “DPR” flags at the monument to those killed in World War II in Mariupol.
Author: Sergey Gushcha
