The city of Enerhodar located in the occupied part of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region was shelled. Ukraine and Russia accuse each other of having conducted the shelling. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) mission is expected to arrive in Enerhodar to visit the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Station soon — they will inspect the station and assess its safety level.
Enerhodar’s head Dmytro Orlov said that the Russian troops had been shelling the city non-stop since 5 AM; there are injured people.
“From 5 AM, there have been constant mortar attacks on the city. The sound of automatic weapons is being heard. There are reports of several civil objects having been hit. There are people who were injured! We are investigating how many,” Orlov wrote in a post on his Telegram channel.
Photo: social media
Head of Ukraine's Zaporizhzhia region military administration Oleksandr Starukh said that the Russian forces were shelling the pre-agreed route of the IAEA mission towards the nuclear station. “The UN advance party is unable to continue their movements for security reasons. Ukraine continues to make efforts to ensure safe access for the international IAEA mission. We demand the Russian Federation cease its provocations and provide unimpeded access to the Ukrainian nuclear object,” wrote Starukh in a post on his Telegram channel.
The occupation government of the city claims that the shelling is being conducted by Ukraine’s Armed Forces.
According to their information, three people were killed.
As a result of the shelling of Energodar, two kindergartens caught fire and six explosions in two city districts were documented, the so-called “civil-military administration” of the city claims. Pro-Russian “head” of the city Alexander Volga told Russian state news agency RIA Novosti that the Ukrainian troops had landed [in the city] and that “the aviation was working” on them.
Russia’s Defence Ministry claims that “at about 6 a.m. Moscow time, Ukrainian troops with two sabotage groups of up to 60 soldiers in seven boats landed on the coast of Kakhovskyi reservoir three kilometres north-east of Zaporozhye NPP and attempted to seize the power plant.”
A correspondent for Russian news agency Interfax reports that the shelling had started at around 6 AM, the blasts were heard in different parts of the city every 3-4 minutes, including residential districts and near administrative buildings in the centre of the city.
A mission of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headed to Ukraine’s Enerhodar to assess the situation at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant on 29 August. In mid-August, the authorities of the European Union and 42 countries called upon Russia to withdraw its troops from the territory of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. The call came after multiple accusations of shelling the power plant against each other from Russia and Ukraine.
On 28 February, the Russian Ministry of Defence reported to have taken under its control the city of Enerhodar, where the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant is located. The Russian forces also said to have captured Berdyansk, Melitopol, and the territory around the power plant. The power plant itself came under their control on 4 March.
