Shelling near nuclear plant raises worries in Ukraine

Ukrainians carry bottles of water after filling them in a store Thursday in Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine.
(AP/David Goldman)
Ukrainians carry bottles of water after filling them in a store Thursday in Pokrovsk in eastern Ukraine. (AP/David Goldman)

KYIV, Ukraine -- Russian forces shelled a Ukrainian city close to Europe's biggest nuclear power plant Thursday, reinforcing warnings from the U.N. nuclear chief that the fighting around the site could lead to a disastrous accident.

Dnipropetrovsk's regional governor said Russia fired 60 rockets at Nikopol, across the Dnieper River from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, which has been under Russian supervision since Moscow's troops seized it early in the war.

Some 50 residential buildings were damaged in the city of 107,000, and residents were left without electricity, Valentyn Reznichenko wrote on Telegram.

Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, had warned on Tuesday that the situation was becoming more perilous daily at the Zaporizhzhia plant in the city of Enerhodar.

"Every principle of nuclear safety has been violated" at the plant, he said. "What is at stake is extremely serious and extremely grave and dangerous."

He expressed concern about the way the plant is being operated and the danger posed by the fighting going on around it. He cited shelling at the beginning of the war when it was taken over and continuing instances of Ukraine and Russia accusing each other of attacks there.

Experts at the U.S.-based Institute for the Study of War said they believe Russia is shelling the area intentionally, "putting Ukraine in a difficult position."

"Either Ukraine returns fire, risking international condemnation and a nuclear incident -- which Ukrainian forces are unlikely to do -- or Ukrainian forces allow Russian forces to continue firing on Ukrainian positions from an effective 'safe zone,'" the think tank said.

The Russian capture of Zaporizhzhia renewed fears that the largest of Ukraine's four nuclear power plants could be damaged, setting off an emergency like the 1986 Chernobyl accident, the world's worst nuclear disaster, which happened about 65 miles north of the capital, Kyiv.

Also in the Zaporizhzhia region, Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Lt. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russian military struck two Ukrainian munitions depots near the village of Novoivanivka and a fuel depot near the Zaporizhzhia railway station.

In northern Ukraine, the country's second-largest city, Kharkiv, was shelled by the Russians, Ukraine's presidential office said. Several industrial sites were hit in the city, which has been a frequent target. In the nearby city of Chuhuiv, a rocket hit a five-story residential building.

Fighting continued in the fiercely contested Donetsk region in the east, with Ukrainian authorities saying a school was destroyed in the village of Ocheretyne. The attacks have disrupted supplies of gas, water and power, and the region's residents are being evacuated.

In the town of Toretsk, artillery shells hit a bus stop, a church and apartment buildings, killing at least eight people, regional Gov. Pavlo Kyrylenko said.

In the city of Donetsk, Russian-backed separatist authorities accused Ukrainian forces of shelling the central part of the city Thursday. The area hit was near a theater where a farewell ceremony for a prominent separatist officer killed a few days ago was being held. Donetsk Mayor Alexei Kulemzin said six people were killed.

Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, denied Ukrainian involvement. He alleged, without offering evidence, that Russian or separatist forces were responsible for the shelling.

Russia and Ukraine have repeatedly accused each other of firing on territories under their own control.

Russian forces have already seized the Luhansk region that neighbors Donetsk. Its Ukrainian governor, Serhiy Haidai, said on social media that local residents are being mobilized by the Russian side to fight against Kyiv's forces and that "even indispensable mine workers are being taken."

Ukrainian authorities reported another abduction of a mayor who reportedly refused to collaborate with the Russians in the southern Kherson region, which is also almost entirely occupied.

The reported kidnapping of Serhiy Lyakhno, mayor of the village of Hornostaivka, comes as Russia amasses more troops in the area in anticipation of a counteroffensive by Kyiv and ahead of a planned referendum on the region becoming part of Russia.

CHINA'S SILENCE

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy urged Chinese leader Xi Jinping to hold direct talks, noting Beijing hasn't replied to such requests since Russia invaded his country some five months ago.

The last time the pair spoke was one year ago, Zelenskyy told the South China Morning Post in an interview published Thursday. Since Russia's invasion on Feb. 24, he said, the Ukrainian side had "asked officially for a conversation" with Xi but hadn't received a response. Such a dialogue, he added, "would be helpful."

The leader of the world's second-largest economy has refused to condemn Russia's war in Ukraine and declared a "no limits" friendship with Putin weeks before the invasion, making any call with Zelenskyy potentially awkward. Xi and Putin spoke within days of the war's beginning, and the Russian leader called Xi on the latter's birthday in June.

Dialogue between Ukraine and China has been limited to lower-level diplomatic exchanges, such as those between Foreign Minister Wang Yi and his Ukrainian counterpart.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said China had maintained communication with "all relevant parties on the Ukraine crisis," at a briefing in Beijing on Thursday. When asked whether there had been direct talks between the two presidents, she said China and Ukraine communicate "through diplomatic channels."

While Beijing has maintained it respects Ukraine's right to sovereignty, it voted against a United Nations court order in March for Moscow to immediately suspend its military operations, refused to join a U.S.-led sanctions campaign to isolate Putin's regime and framed Washington as the "culprit" of the conflict for encouraging the eastward expansion of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.

Zelenskyy, 44, said there was still room for China to play a positive role in ending the conflict.

"China, as a big and powerful country, could come down and sort of put the Russian federation in a certain place," he told the Post, adding that his countrymen shared fundamental values with the Chinese.

"Everyone loves their kids," he said. "Everyone wants to live in peace."

Information for this article was contributed by Susie Blann of The Associated Press along with Jenni Marsh of Bloomberg/WPNS.

  photo  A woman stands amongst the debris after the Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, shelling it twice over the past 24 hours, Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim reported. The shelling damaged a pier, an industrial enterprise, residential buildings, a garage cooperative, a supermarket and a pharmacy, Kim said. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov)
 
 
  photo  People attend a performance in support of the captured Ukrainian defenders of Mariupol in Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/Andriy Andriyenko)
 
 
  photo  A man fixes a broken apartment window shattered in a recent Russian shelling in Kramatorsk, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
 
 
  photo  Ukrainian service members pack sandbags to be used as fortifications in the Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. (AP Photo/David Goldman)
 
 
  photo  People stand in front of destroyed buildings after the Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. According local media, supermarket, high-rise buildings and pharmacy were damaged. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov)
 
 
  photo  An investigative committee officer stands inside a building damaged by shelling in Donetsk, which is under control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. (AP Photo)
 
 
  photo  A couple reacts after the Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. According local media, supermarket, high-rise buildings and pharmacy were damaged. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov)
 
 
  photo  A woman stands in the aftermath of the Russian shelling in Mykolaiv, Ukraine, Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022. Russian forces kept up their bombardment of the southern Ukrainian city of Mykolaiv, shelling it twice over the past 24 hours, Mykolaiv regional governor Vitaliy Kim reported. The shelling damaged a pier, an industrial enterprise, residential buildings, a garage cooperative, a supermarket and a pharmacy, Kim said. (AP Photo/Kostiantyn Liberov)
 
 
  photo  Investigative committee officers inspect an area of shelling as a lifeless body lies covered on the ground, in Donetsk, which is under control of the Government of the Donetsk People's Republic, eastern Ukraine, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022. (AP Photo)
 
 


  photo  Family members grieve at the casket of Ukrainian soldier Serhiy Marchenko during burial services Thursday in Pokrovsk in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine. Marchenko, 26, was killed July 28 while serving with an artillery squad in Donetsk. (AP/David Goldman)
 
 


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