NUCLEAR TERRORISM BY KIEV’S REGIME REMAINS UNPUNISHED

The Kiev regime continues to commit acts of terrorism in areas over which it has lost control. In recent days, Ukrainian forces have shelled nuclear facilities in the Zaporozhye region several times. On August 7, the Zelensky’s regime committed a new act of nuclear terrorism at the energy infrastructure facilities of the Zaporozhye NPP to create a humanitarian catastrophe in the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions, the Russian Ministry of Defence claimed. The attack was carried out at about midnight. The AFU used the Hurricane MLRS. Fragments and a rocket engine fell 400 meters from the operating power unit of the station. Striking elements damaged administrative buildings and the adjacent territory of the storage. A voltage surge at the plant caused smoke on the open switchgear of the station. The security system turned off the power supply. As a result of the Ukrainian shelling, the Kakhovskaya high-voltage line, which provided electricity to the Zaporozhye and Kherson regions, was damaged. Ukrainian units of the 44th Artillery Brigade fired at the Zaporozhye NPP from the area of Marganets on the opposite bank of the Kakhovsky reservoir. The military-civil administration of Energodar noted that every day the artillery strikes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are being applied closer to the power units on the territory of the Zaporozhye NPP. The nuclear fuel storage is in the affected area. At the moment, about 156 containers with a total of 3,744 fuel elements are stored in the open air at the Zaporozhye NPP, at the storage site of spent fuel elements. The attacks pose a threat to hundreds of thousands of civilians on the territory of Ukraine, as well as countries in Europe and Asia. In order to prevent disruption of the operation of the nuclear power plant, the capacity of the 5th and 6th power units was reduced to 500 MW. Earlier, on Friday the AFU fired three times at the area of the Zaporozhye NPP. A fire broke out, two power lines necessary for the operation of power units were cut off. UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called the shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP by Ukraine a “suicidal act.” “We hope that this will stop,” he added at a press conference in Tokyo. The Zaporozhye NPP, the largest in Europe, is located in the steppe zone on the shore of the Kakhovsky reservoir in the Energodar of the Zaporozhye region, which is controlled by allied Russian and DPR forces. The station has six power units with a total capacity of 6,000 MW. Annually, the plant generates about 40 billion kWh of electricity – about 20% of its production in Ukraine. In total, four nuclear power plants are currently operating in Ukraine. According to the head of the administration of the Zaporozhye region, the leadership of the IAEA is aware of the risks caused by the shelling of the Zaporozhye NPP by Ukrainian troops, but does not take real measures to prevent them. The local authorities addressed both the IAEA and the United Nations, but received no replies and no actions have been taken by the international organisations to secure the facility.