Ukraine says it disconnected generator at Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant

Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces fired at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest atomic facility, twice on Friday and called for sanctions against Moscow’s nuclear industry. Meanwhile, Russia blamed the attack on Ukraine.

Ukraine’s nuclear power authority said it disconnected a generator at Europe’s biggest nuclear power plant from the electrical grid after the facility’s grounds came under Russian shelling. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Moscow’s shelling of the facility was “an act of terror.” Russia blamed the attack on Ukraine.

A view shows the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant in the course of Ukraine-Russia conflict outside the Russian-controlled city of Enerhodar in the Zaporizhzhia region, Ukraine on August 4, 2022. REUTERS/Alexander Ermochenko

President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said Russian forces fired at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, Europe’s largest atomic facility, twice on Friday and called for sanctions against Moscow’s nuclear industry.

“Any shelling of this facility is an open, brazen crime, an act of terror,” Zelenskiy said in his nightly video address. “Russia should bear responsibility for the very fact of creating a threat to the nuclear power plant.”

The UK military said Russia’s almost six-month old war on Ukraine is “about to enter a new phase” with a front paralleling the Dnieper River from Zaporizhzhia to Kherson.

Well into the conflict’s sixth month, Ukraine is forcing Russia to reallocate forces and re-prioritize efforts in response to Kyiv’s counteroffensive operations. Russian forces in the past 24 hours pursued an offensive aimed at seizing key locations in Donetsk, the Ukrainian military said on Saturday.

Russian artillery and aviation struck targets in the direction of Bakhmut and Avdiivka, it said on Facebook. Artillery fire also hit various locations in the direction of Slovyansk, the general staff of the Ukrainian army said.